How I used up my last can of artichokes

I made pizza last night, and I wanted to top it with artichokes. Unfortunately, I could not do this. Why? I already used my last can on a random last-ditch pasta dinner a few months ago. I forgot about the pasta dish afterwards, and the fact that in my pantry, there is an artichoke vacancy. That is, until last night, when my lack of artichokes jogged my memory and it hit me, I never did blog about that pasta dish either.

It was in the frenzy of last semester's end. I boiled up a box of whole wheat linguine and heated up a can of sauce into which I dumped the contents of my cupboards and freezer: mushrooms, peppers, kale, tomatoes, and of course, one can of quarted artichoke hearts, diced. It was a quick and easy Italian pasta meal, one that managed to bulk up my vegetable intake while still being low-key enough to evade the alarm of my seven-year-old. We ate well that night, and had plenty of sauce left over.

And so, a little less than a week later, I made pizza dough and threw the leftover pasta sauce on top with a smattering of cheese.

This is not the pizza I had last night. Last night's pizza had no artichokes, but this pizza--made in December, I believe--was delicious and proved the rule, in the same way my miso soup from Saturday did, that sometimes the leftover meal plan, with forethought, can be even better than the original meal.

Now, please excuse me. I really need to go find a sale on artichokes.