Artichoke adventures

I have never made artichokes before. 

I didn't realize how easy they were!

I got the recipe from my MIL. 

Cut off the stem to the base

rip of one or two of the bottom layers of leaves

Cut about a half inch of the top to get rid of the little stickers!

I used my kitchen scissors to cut the tops of the outside leaves off too...but you can skip this step or pull them all off. But why waste those delicious leaves?!

In a small bowl, chop up some garlic into really tiny pieces. I used like 6-7 cloves. 

Add a little salt, a little pepper and a little oil 

"spread" the leaves apart so that there are gaps inbetween all of them (even into the middle of the artichoke) 

Using your fingers, spread the garlic mixture all over and into the gaps. 

Place them in a large pot with about 1-2 inches of water in it. 

Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for about 20-30 minutes

(I cooked mine for 20 minutes and the heart was just a bit under-cooked)

I covered the pot also.

My MIL said you can also use parsley but we didnt do that. 

Serve with melted butter (YUM) 

mayo or a mixture of mayo and ketchup (My husband says it's great...I prefer the butter!) 

Easy peasey lemon squeezy! 

Enjoy!

Oh...and don't forget your garbage bowl for the leaves! :)