On Sunday the farmers market had 8 artichokes for a dollar!  My daughter picked up the package, squealed with delight and practically begged me to buy them to make one of her favorite dishes – stuffed artichokes.  I couldn’t pass up my daughters puppy dog face OR the 8 for $1 deal – so in the basket they went. I was pretty busy Sunday making the hamantaschen that I really didn’t want to make stuffed artichokes AND a protein so I decided to incorporate the protein rich quinoa into the stuffing along with some vegetables.  Judging by the moans of  enjoyment and the humming of “yum”as the kids ate it was definitely a success and very filling!

This recipe will fill 4 large artichokes or 8 small ones. I didn’t measure any of the ingredients as I made this but they are close approximates.

Ingredients

• 4 large artichokes or 8 smaller ones
• 2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dry cooked to package directions)
• 1 carrot diced
• 1/2 orange or yellow pepper chopped
• 1 small red onion finely diced
• 4 garlic gloved finely diced
• 1 stalk celery finely diced
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 oz grated asiago cheese
• 1 cup gluten free panko crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Lemon

How to

• Preheat oven to 350
• Prep the artichokes: Fill a bowl with cold water and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon and drop in the lemon halves.  Wash the artichokes, cut off the stems, cut 1/2 to 1 inch off the top of the artichoke, remove any of the dry tough leaves (1 to 2 layers), remove the choke by digging out the pretty purple flower like center. Place in lemon water until ready to stuff.

• Prep the stuffing: In a large bowl mix together quinoa, vegetables, cheeses, parsley bread crumbs, salt and pepper.

• Stuff the artichokes: Separate the leaves and stuff the mixture between each.

• Bake the artichokes: Stand upright in a baking dish with an inch of water at the bottom. Top with a bit of cheese.  Cover the dish and place in oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour until leaves are tender adding more water if needed.

Serve artichokes:  Drizzle some olive oil over each artichoke, serve and enjoy!