My Succulent Obsession

One week ago, I decided that I wouldn't be planting any flowers this year.  Idaho is too hot and dry, and everything ends up dead by the end of June.  My plans changed when I happened upon the idea of succulent container gardening.  Succulents like full sun, are drought resistant, and do well in containers.  A week later, and my yard is full of plants like this one:

And these:

And these, too:

We'll see if they make it through the month, but I'm hopeful.  I normally love plants with big, bright flowers, but I think there is something beautiful and understated about these plants (some of which will bloom).   

                                                       

Did you notice that some of the plants look like artichokes?  Maybe they subconsciously inspired me to make stuffed artichokes for dinner last night.

These are delicious, easy and look fancy enough to serve to guests.  If you do a search, you'll find a lot of different recipes for stuffed artichokes.  I originally made these a few years ago from a recipe I found online.  I can't find it anymore, so I just wing it, and they always turn out great.  

Stuffed artichokes, an un-recipe

-Rinse artichokes, cut off the the stem and trim the sharp tips from the leaves.  

-Boil artichokes until the bottom is tender (insert a knife into the stem area to check).  Mine took 25 minutes.  I added a bit of lemon juice and salt to the pot, but according to many recipes, you should also add a bay leaf.  

- Make a mixture of bread crumbs, fresh tomatoes (chopped), garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.  Sorry, I don't have any measurements.  Just eyeball it.   Oh, add some fresh basil, or if you realize that your basil has gone bad, use dried.  If you are out of dried basil, then dried parley does the trick.  And for pete's sake, add dried basil to the shopping list this time.

- Drain the artichokes and place in a baking dish.  Gently spread the leaves of the artichokes and spoon the filling mixture onto the leaves.  Drizzle with olive oil and cook at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until the mixture is golden brown.  

Yum!