Italian Stuffed Artichokes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and stress free Black Friday. I enjoyed time with my family and ate far too much and then Friday I went to the tree lot and got a gorgeous 8ft tree for my living room. Unfortunately, now it's back to reality. I just gave my two Corgis baths, which was exhausting and near impossible to wrangle those two into the bathroom. Now they are sadly staring at me while being locked up in the kitchen so that they can dry off. As my reward for all my hard work I'm going to eat the last stuffed artichoke I saved.

My all time favorite Thanksgiving food has always been stuffed artichokes. I love them and my grandma makes them every year for big holidays. Unfortunately this year I am 3,000 miles away in California and I had to make them myself. After talking to her many times about the recipe I got it down pat and was able to make them for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients

1 (oz.) Can of Progresso Italian Bread Crumbs

3 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil

5 Artichokes

Other great things to add to the stuffing: fresh parsley, mushrooms (I would have loved adding some mushrooms but Brian doesn't like them), mozzarella cheese, and/or nuts. 

 Start by cleaning and cutting the artichoke. 

Cut the stem so that it can sit flat in the pot. Cut the points off of all of the leaves. Then rinse the artichoke and bang it upside down so that you get the dirt all the way down at the bottom, it will also open it up so that you can stuff it more. 

In a large bowl mix the bread crumbs, the Parmesan cheese, the garlic cloves, and the basil. 

Add just a bit of olive oil so that the bread crumbs are moist. 

Then spoon into each leaf of the artichoke with a spoon.

Spread the center of the artichoke open and stuff with bread crumbs.

Put the artichokes in a large pasta pot and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Make sure that the pot has about 2-2.5 inches of water (about 1 1/2 cups) at the bottom at all times so that they don't burn. 

Cook for about an hour or until a leaf comes off easily when pulled.

I love stuffed artichokes. When I went to Italy last year artichokes were everywhere my absolute favorite were in the Roman Jewish Ghetto. They were deep fried in Olive oil, and garlic. 

It was heavenly.