I kick off my December Food Challenge with a vegetable I’ve never tried — Bok Choy. Image courtesy of SOMMAI and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

It’s December and I’m on to my second food challenge. What I came up with isn’t as difficult as my November Fish Eating Challenge but I’m hoping it’s just as rewarding and I discover a love of new foods!

The challenge? Eating one new vegetable a week.

I came up with the idea Sunday while at the grocery store. I’m making a stir fry this week and while picking up my standard veggies, I came across baby bok choy. It looks like a leafy celery stalk to me. But since it sits with the cabbage at the store, I’m pretty sure it’s not celery.

I’ve never tired it. It looked pretty. In the basket it went.

If you look at my grocery list, you’ll find about 15-20 seasonal fruits and veggies that are staples in my diet. I never deviate from the list.

Well that just makes life a little too predictable.

It seems like my grocery store is adding new produce each week. And it’s a shame that I’m not sampling any of it.

Freshly cleaned baby bok choy! It’s mild flavor is perfect for stir fries and soups!

Veggie of the Week — Bok Choy
Bok choy is a mild tasting Chinese cabbage perfect for soups and stir fries (woohoo!). It’s loaded with vitamins A and C (1 cup equals your daily allowance of vitamin A — dang). You can eat both the leafy greens and the stalk, but you need to separate them when cleaning.

Speaking of cleaning produce, I usually wash my produce when I get it home. It’s part of my food prep so everything healthy is ready to go. Not so with bok choy. It stays fresh in your fridge for about 6 days provided you don’t clean it.

Bok choy graced my table last night in a chicken stir-fry.  It’s not as strong a flavor as regular cabbage. It seemed to take on the taste of the stir-fry – it’s the tofu of cabbages! But I really enjoyed the texture it added to my dish.

Sorry there isn’t a photo of my stir fry, but my stir fry dishes are never photo worthy. I need to work on that.

Will I use it again? 
Yes! I’ve read different ways you can prepare bok choy. I’m looking forward to making it a part of my regular rotation of veggies. Also it’s pretty cheap. I picked up 5 baby boks for about $0.50 at my grocery store.  With the cost of fresh produce going up, that’s a great price.

Next week, something more challenging – Mushrooms!  Yuck.