Artichokes are super good for you, with a whole (very filling) medium artichoke having 64 calories, 10 whopping grams of fiber, with no fat and 3 grams of protein.  However, ordering the “Fire Roasted Artichoke” from the Cheesecake Factory is a caloric nightmare, and even the “Light” artichoke is not good for you either.

I usually roast artichokes in the oven, throwing it in to slow roast with some meat.  If you do want to use the oven, its 75-90 minutes at 425.  However, with the warmer weather approaching I don’t want to have the oven on heating up my kitchen.  The slow cooker can be invaluable at times like these.

Artichokes are in season now.  When at the grocery store you can pick the freshest artichokes by squeezing the “leaves”  Really fresh artichokes will squeak when squeezed.

Since I am the only person in the family who eats artichokes I used my smallest slow cooker (I have 3-don’t judge).  However you could make this for a crowd and it would not take a lot of work.
Ingredients
Artichoke
2 cloves of peeled garlic per choke
1/2 lemon per choke
foil
olive oil
sea salt (Optional)

To Roast:

1. For each artichoke, cut off the stem and 1/3 of the top.  Trim the tops of the other leaves with a scissor
3. Shove the garlic cloves inside the top of the garlic clove
4. Oil or spray the foil with cooking spray, place the artichoke in the middle
5. Drizzle oil on the choke, sprinkle with salt and squeeze the lemon 1/2 on it.
6. Wrap the choke in the foil, sealing the foil and place in the oven
7. Cook for 4-6 hours on high 7-9 hours on low.
8. Remove and when the foil is cool enough to handle, remove foil and serve.

When you roast the artichokes they come out tender and delicious and you do not need any butter or garlickly mayo sauce.