Tomato and Artichoke Pasta

This recipe is one of my own creations.  It's really easy, a nice upscale to the typical college meal of pasta!  It's light enough to enjoy on summer evenings after spending a day outside in the heat, and leftovers also make a great lunch.  As an added bonus, it tastes great cold, so you can pack it for a school or work lunch and not worry about trying to find a microwave!  I usually make up two to three servings of this and keep each serving in its own tupperware in my fridge so that I can just grab them in the mornings on my way out the door.  Total cooking time is about fifteen minutes.

Ingredients:

(Yields 2 servings)

• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1 small can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta
• Garlic, oregano, basil to taste
• Parmesan (optional)

As you can see from this photo, I buy artichoke hearts in bulk because I love them. So I estimated that the amount I used would be about 1 small can.  I go for an equal amount of tomato and artichoke, so that after chopped it looks like this:

Directions:

• Cook the noodles as instructed on the package.
• Chop up the artichoke hearts and tomato.
• Mix the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olive oil, and spices.
• Drain the pasta and mix with the mixture of tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and spices.
• Drizzle with more olive oil (if desired) and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (if desired).