Artichoke and Tomato Pasta With Garlic

Life Lessons 

Have there been times in your life when you have asked, either out loud or quietly to yourself, what did I do to deserve this?  Maybe it was because you were experiencing something wonderful, heartwarming or thrilling.  Maybe it was because you were experiencing something awful, heart wrenching or aggravating. I much prefer the first one, but as we all know, along with the good comes the bad.  The bad helps us to appreciate the good, as many say.  Many also say, and I have to agree, that the bad brings with it important life lessons.  The life lessons that beg for our attention because they contain within them the opportunity to learn and grow.  Life lessons can teach us to change our thoughts, actions or words so that we live a fulfilling and joyful life.  Unfortunately, for various reasons we do not always see the lessons as they are presented to us.  At times our emotions can feel so overwhelming that we can’t see beyond them.  We can’t feel anything except the anger, sadness, disappointment or grief we are experiencing at that moment. We need time to pass. The time may be a few minutes, a few days or a few years but,  until some time has passed, the smoke has cleared and emotions have calmed, we can not wrap our heads around trying to find the life lesson within the situation. Many of us figure out the lesson we are supposed to learn and do our best to learn it. It has been my experience that if we don’t make an effort to learn from these situations, they will continue to reoccur with the relentlessness of a baby in need of attention, bill collectors or robo calls.  If you spend some time thinking about situations in your life when you were angry, sad, disappointed or grieving, you will probably start to see a connection between these moments in time and the life lessons that were presented to you. Sometimes they are easy to see and sometimes it takes quite a bit of reflection and questioning of oneself.

My Driveway

I absolutely love where I live.  I have lived in this house and on this property for over a decade and I don’t ever lack appreciation for my home because I know what it took to get here.  It took us 5 years to sell our townhouse located about 15 miles from where we live now.  After we sold our townhouse, we moved into a rental house while we searched for our next home.  We spent the next 6 months studying each and every listing that came available and we probably visited about 50 properties until we found the right one. I should also mention that we had a very hard working, patient and generous realtor who had our back every step of the way.  When we viewed our current home for the first time, I knew it was the right one. I didn’t love the carpets, the paint colors or the countertops but I really didn’t pay any attention to that because everything else was perfect.  The house was the perfect size and style. The property had plenty of land for gardens and orchards and for making our dream of having a little farm of rescue animals come true.  I didn’t pay much attention to the ugly carpets, the color of the walls or the long and hilly driveway.  I love that the house is off the road and I don’t mind that it's about ¼ mile long.  For most of the year, I don’t mind that both ends of the driveway have steep hills.  What I do mind, is dealing with my hilly, long driveway in the winter time when it is covered in ice and snow.  There have been too many times to count that I have white knuckled my way up and down this driveway during the winter months.  There have been many times when we have not been able to get up or down the driveway because the conditions were beyond passable.  There have been many times that I had very little food left in the house and was planning a trip to the grocery store when the driveway conditions made it impossible to get there.  It really should have only taken once for our driveway to hold us hostage with very little supplies on hand for me to have a plan.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  It took several.  Several times of eating dry cereal, stale bread or canned peaches for dinner because I failed to plan ahead.  I failed to realize that I needed to prepare for times when we could not leave our property until the driveway was plowed or sanded,  which we would have to wait until the person we hired to plow and sand got to us.  The life lesson that was screaming for my attention, be prepared.  Plan ahead so your family will  have what they need.  I did finally learn this lesson and not a moment too soon either.  About a year ago, we had a December snowstorm which walloped us with almost 2 feet of snow in less than 24 hours.  We were completely snowed in for over 24 hours and we didn’t mind a bit, other than the shoveling.  We didn’t mind because I had planned ahead and had plenty of food on hand to keep things running smoothly.  As we are headed into another winter, I have begun to stock up on our favorite non perishable snacks, drinks, and meal ingredients because more likely than not, we will be snowed or iced in again.

Being Prepared

Artichoke Tomato Pasta With Garlic is one of my favorite stock up for winter meals.  Every ingredient is non-perishable or shelf stable and inexpensive.  This meal is fail proof too.  Even if you don’t consider yourself much of a cook, this meal will have you rethinking that.  This pasta dish comes together quickly so it's also a great meal when you are pressed for time. You can easily make this gluten free by simply using gluten free pasta.  You can use any style of pasta you like.  I usually use linguine or spaghetti.  Rotini, macaroni or penne would also work well. If you have some fresh basil on hand, which I usually do not during the colder months, that would be a fantastic addition to the top of this dish.  My favorite veggies are fresh veggies, but canned veggies can be a wonderful substitute, especially when you are in need of shelf stable ingredients for healthy meals.  If you enjoy Italian food, consider adding this to your menu.  I think you will enjoy it. 

Artichoke Tomato Pasta with Garlic

Ingredients

• Two 14 oz Cans of Artichokes, Drained
• One 28 oz Can of Diced Tomatoes
• Four Cloves of Garlic
• Two 12 oz Boxes of Pasta
• Oil or Broth for Sautéing
• Salt and Pepper to Taste 

Directions

1.  Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.
2. While the pasta is cooking, dice the garlic and sauté on medium high heat in oil or broth until it begins to release aroma.
3. Add the tomatoes, artichokes, salt and pepper and cook until it bubbles or just begins to boil, then simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.
4. After pasta has been cooked and drained, put it back in the pot and add the tomato and artichoke sauce and stir until combined.
5. Serve and enjoy.  Serves 4.

Check out the Facebook Live I did with this dish.

Artichoke and Tomato Pasta With Garlic Facebook Live

Show Us Yours

If you make this we would love to hear about it!  Send us a pic on Facebook Messenger or Instagram Direct Messaging at Grow Your Lunch Oh.  Who knows, your picture could be featured (with your permission of course)  in one of our upcoming posts, emails or newsletters!