It’s time for a new recipe!

 

I was sitting around and talking to one of the surgical assistants at the hospital this week while I was waiting to start a cesarean. She follows this blog and reminded me that I hadn’t done a recipe in a while. So Toya, this one’s for you!

 

I love my greens. All of them. Kale, collards, brussels, cabbages, lettuce, asparagus – I could just keep going, but we need to get to the recipe! I’m convinced that if you don’t like a particular veggie, you probably haven’t had it prepared well yet. One favorite in my kitchen is bok choy. It’s fresh and juicy and can be used raw or cooked, in salads, and in stir fries. I love to eat bok choy raw in and asian salad with cabbage and nuts – Trader Joe’s has an easy bagged version. Raw veggies generally provide more of the antioxidants and vitamins that can be destroyed in cooking. There are some fruits and veggies that cooking actually helps make some of their benefits more bioavailable (like lycopene in tomatoes, fiber in broccoli for cholesterol reduction). So I eat lots of raw food, and adding cooked veggies on top of my salad mixes it up and keeps things interesting!

 

Since it’s getting cold and I like to have more cooked food in winter, I’m cooking the bok choy today. To keep the most health benefits of the vegetables, you want to lightly cook them, no matter how you do it. If you boil veggies (not my favorite), lots of the benefits of the veggies end up in the water. And since I live in Georgia and the sun is out, I can use my grill! I love my grill. I’ve been known to grill through the winter, even once or twice in a light rain! So I’m going to grill this bok choy, and we’re gonna flavor it up and make it savory and delicious.

 

Ingredients

1-2 heads of bok choy, 4 if using baby bok choy

1/4 cup olive oil and butter, melted (I used vegan butter)

1 teaspoon garlic paste or fresh finely minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

fresh ground black pepper to taste

 

 

Preheat your grill on high heat.

 

Trim and wash your bok choy. Just trim off the ends so the leaves stay attached and use a brush to wash off any dirt.

Just the ends…

 

Then cut them in half longwise.

 

Melt your butter and oil with the spices and brush on the surface of the bok choy.

 

Grill over high heat, allowing grill marks to form on one side and flipping to the other for 2-3 minutes. You don’t want to completely burn the leaves or overcook the juicy white ends.

 

After grilling, brush on the rest of your oil mixture and enjoy!

 

This was lunch the day I wrote this post – delicious!

 

What’s your favorite winter greens recipe? Please share in the comments below!