Guest Blog by: Midge

My journey to preparing bok choy actually began with brussel sprouts.  The artichoke recipe from my guest blog two weeks ago was just the tip of the iceberg.  When my mom served brussel sprouts to me as a child, it was the type of veggie that might have been found hiding underneath my napkin before the meal was concluded.  Of course, my mom always knew (probably from my fat looking napkin) and I still had to eat this little green lettuce shaped vegetable.  But, after hearing some of my friends rave about cooking brussel sprouts I decided to try it!   Napkin or no napkin, this was my next cooking challenge.

This is what the Bok Choy looks like when you buy it from the store!

First, I slowly melted one full stick of butter in my large frying pan and added two bunches of green onions that had been sliced into small pieces.  Next, I diced three or four cloves of fresh garlic into miniscule chunks.  I added these to the butter and cooked them until they were tender.  While this was warming on the stove, I cut the brussel spouts into halves or fourths making sure to cut off the tough end or bottom section of the sprout then put them in the frying pan.  The next step was to place the lid on the frying pan and wait for them to steam and heat in the butter.  I kept my pan at medium low heat during this entire process, stirring the sprouts and adding more butter if the bottom of the pan became dry.  When the brussel sprouts felt tender and had a light to medium brown color to them, they were done.

My husband’s first comment was, “Wow, these are brussel sprouts?  You can make these every night!”  I was amazed I got it right on the first try!!!  Feeling full of pride, I bought a wide assortment of veggies and decided to do the same thing later that week!

I added fresh snap peas, green beans, zucchini, and a few other veggie odds and ends.  Adding the garlic was so successful, I thought I could try to add a little fresh ginger to the butter mix.  BIG MISTAKE.  Fresh ginger does not taste wonderful when you get a chunk of it in your mouth.  That part of this recipe definitely needs work!  Also, I tried to add asparagus and they ended up being quite tough.  Asparagus apparently need a bit longer to cook than the other veggies.

I love the coloring on the bok choy… it is so vibrant and healthy looking!

The big surprise to me during this process was the bok choy.  I bought it on a whim and almost abandoned the idea of using it until I discovered that cooking it was quite easy.  All I did was add the cut bok choy (which you cut similar to romaine lettuce but in smaller sections) to the frying pan during the last five minutes of cooking the other veggies.  According to this link, you know when the bok choy is ready because it should be slightly wilted and tender.

I added it to rice along with grilled chicken covered with my mother-in-law’s made from scratch teriyaki sauce.  Writing this blog is making me hungry for this dish all over again!

How do you cook your veggies?  What new veggies should I try next month?  Recently, our local store was running a special on turnips… how do you cook your turnips?