I love artichoke hearts–canned, marinated, whatever, they’re delicious. But prior to this week, I’ve never attempted to make whole artichokes myself. Since I’m working on a blog redesign (yes, again–hush!) that centers around the humble artichoke, I figured it was a good time to buy some. So how did they turn out?
Steamed Whole Artichokes // Okay, I officially don’t understand why people like whole artichokes, other than for the fact that they’re super cool looking. They seem like a whole lotta work for a whole lotta nothing. What am I missing?!
Pineapple Jerk Tofu // This was originally a recipe for pork chops and I subbed in tofu instead. I was planning on making Jamaican rice and beans to serve with this, but I was lazy and made brown rice with cilantro in it instead.
Baked Rosemary Onion Rings & Veggie Burgers // Sorry about the awful photo–I wasn’t feeling well so I took two photos and hoped that they would turn out okay. But trust me, these onion rings are delicious and crunchy and you’ll never want to eat fried ones again. Make these now!
French Onion Soup Sandwiches // We never get tired of making these sandwiches!
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It all looks wonderful! I’ll take those onion rings and the french onion sandwich but not on the same day or it might get a little “musical” around here! Happy Friday!
Ha! You really need to make those onion rings–OMG, so good! I was surprised that they were even crispier than the fried kind.
Yes, such an AWFUL photo! Haha… it’s totally fine!
Steamed artichokes are sooo good! Did you use any dip for the leaves? I like lemon butter with mine. They do take awhile to make, but take up little of your attention so they’re not all that bad!
I guess I just don’t get it. There’s so little to eat on the leaves and I don’t really want a mouthful of sauce or dip and a teeny tiny piece of artichoke. I think I’m going to stick to the marinated artichoke hearts from now on…
Steamed artichokes are a lot of bother, but some of us love eating them if we get to dip the leaves in aioli. Probably defeats the purpose of eating such a large, healthy vegetable, but it’s sooo yummy! Hope you’re feeling better by now!
See, everyone who tells me they like artichokes mentions something they’re dipping the leaves in. So it’s not about the leaves! It’s the sauce!
I love artichokes but my husband would completely agree with you, he thinks they are an awful lot of work for not much payoff. Maybe because I grew up eating them and they were always such a big deal, I still love them. We also would dip them in cream sauce!! What a beautiful site you have! So great to find you on twitter, I’m now very happily following you and looking forward to finding some more great recipes. Thanks!
This confirms my suspicious that artichoke leaves are really only a clever sauce delivery mechanism.
Thanks for the kind words–can’t wait to check out your blog too!
I think your site already looks great, can’t wait to see what you have in mind for the blog redesign!
Aw, thank you!
The overall layout will stay the same, but I have a new logo & a new background. And I’m thinking about adding some stuff to the sidebar if it doesn’t slow things down too much…
Those onion rings look so tempting! I went to a steakhouse with some friends the other day and was “forced” to eat onion rings as part of my meal since veg options were out of the question. I felt like crap afterwards, so I’m determined to make some healthy ones myself!
Steakhouses are the worst for vegetarians & vegans! They usually have no veggie options at all other than the sides. We actually didn’t have enough egg to make this recipe so I used soymilk on some of the onion rings and they seemed to turn out just fine. And I say “seemed” because once I put them on the baking sheets, I have no idea which ones were the soymilk ones and which ones were the egg ones, but I guess that’s a good sign.
So I’m kinda glad to hear that about the artichoke – I can cross it off my list! But I am definitely try the French Onion sandwich.
P.S. I’m with on blog redesign obsession – i can’t stop either!
Well, it seems like I’m in the minority on the whole “artichokes are not worth the hard work” front, so maybe you shouldn’t cross it off your list.
As soon as I get a new blog design, I’m already thinking about the next one. It’s a sickness!
Baked onion rings?! A girl after my own heart!!
Ha! Well, if you like onion rings, you need to try these. They were seriously the best onion rings I’ve ever had.
I’ve always been too afraid to try peeling an artichoke. Those barbed-looking layers! Mine comes out of a freezer bag. lol Baked rosemary onion rings sound heavenly.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that–the artichokes were sharp too! Doesn’t that seem like a sign that you should just leave it be?
Wow, everything looks so delicious! That artichoke looks so pretty but I can’t figure out why people would bother with the whole thing. Too much work
I know, right? I was starting to think I was the only one who felt this way–so much work, for practically nothing!
You have me craving onion rings right now. Those look fantastic!
They really were! This recipe is definitely going into regular rotation in our household.
Oh yum!
I’ve never really known what to do with a whole artichoke – to me it’s so much easier to buy it already prepared/canned/in dip
I think this is one of the rare things where it actually tastes better when you buy it in a jar or can. At least in my opinion!
I love the marinated artichokes but have never steamed any. It sounds like it might be more effort than I want to put into it even though it looks really good.
It does look good, so at least there’s that.
But I’m sticking with the marinated ones from now on!
SO going to try those onion rings! &I’m totally craving the brown rice with cilantro now- two of my favorite things!
Yay, someone else who likes cilantro! So many people hate it, I’m always afraid to put it in my recipes.
Cilantro is always a SUPER love or SUPER hate thing. I could seriously eat it straight, I love it so much!
I’ve been wanting to try artichokes like that! It does look like a lot of work though.
Well, a lot of people here seem to like them, so maybe it’s just me.
Onions rings are my favorite…never thought about baking them. I have to get my husband to try those.
Usually I find that things I bake aren’t as crispy as things that are fried, but this is the first recipe where the baked version was much more crispy. And less greasy too!
Oh man – steamed/boiled artichokes are one of my favorite things, and lucky for me, I grew up a hop, skip, and jump from artichoke country. I love them so much I named my cat after them:)
Sometimes when I don’t cook them long enough, the outer layers of leaves don’t produce much meat so it seems like too much work for very little pay off. If I cook it until a fork can stick into the bottom really easily (about 45+ minutes), there’s always a ton of meat. Your artichoke was mighty – I wonder if you cooked it longer you’d have been happier with the amount of meat? How long did you steam them? I think they’re so delicious you don’t need all the extra dips!
Okay, I think you’re onto something. The instructions for this recipe were to steam them for 30 minutes. I was able to get a knife in the base, but a knife is sharper than a fork. Hmm. And you’re right, there was no meat to speak of on the leaves…
Ohhh I lurve artichokes, stuff artichokes are my favorite.
Baked rosmary onion rings?! I just died and went to heaven! Those sound amazing!! Loving your blog!
They are amazingly good–and guilt-free, too.
I tried whole artichokes last week. So not worth it. I agree, the only think g really good about it was the sundried tomato goat cheese dip I made, but I’d rather put that on something else. I’ll stick to the artichoke hearts.
THANK YOU! I’m so glad someone else agrees with me. I love artichoke hears too, but eating the leaves is like, well, eating leaves.