Baked Cheese Stuffed Artichokes

These cheesy stuffed artichokes, filled with their own
sauce, make a wonderful appetizer or cocktail accompaniment.

I recently saw an episode of
Everyday Italian where Giada made artichokes stuffed with a creamy cheese sauce. Wow, it looked delicious. So I made them tonight. Actually, they're still in the oven so the
final verdict is still out. But somehow,
I managed to already choke on the choke. This recipe calls for two-part cooking. Once boiled, then de-choked, stuffed, and finished in the oven. When I was doing the de-choking, I realized I
took a big chunk of artichoke heart out, which I couldn't let go to waste. The most delicate girly bite (I assure you)
somehow resulted in a bit of choke being swallowed. I'm still breathing, but all I can tell you
is if swallowing continues to feel like this, I will be one skinny girl. Here is my version of the stuffed chokes.

Baked Cheese-Stuffed
Artichokes 

Serves 2

• 2 artichokes
• 2 Lemons
• Salt

Stuffing:

• 3 oz. pepper jack cheese,
  grated (room temperature)
• 3 oz. goat cheese (room
  temperature)
• 3 chives, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cream
• Warm bread slices (optional)

Bring large pot of water to
boil. Add salt. Trim artichokes -- cut off 1 inch from top,
then remove stem. Pull off lower leaves
and snip tips of remaining hard leaves. Drop into pot of boiling water. Squeeze lemon juice into water and add lemons. Boil 30 minutes. Remove from water and allow to drain and cool
(enough to handle).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to
400 degrees. Mix together cheese,
chives, garlic and cream in small bowl. When artichokes are cool, scoop out choke (all of it!), leaving the
heart that is attached to bottom of choke. Pour in cheesy filling, and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Use leaves to dip into melted filling. Eat filling and artichoke meat from  inside of leaves. Dip is good with bread too.