I make Chicken cacciatore in my crock pot…and serve it over whatever pasta I feel like using.
Ingredients are a little different…Chicken, onion, red and green peppers, marinara sauce. I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t add artichokes…I would add the mushrooms and spinach the last half hour.
Chicken picata: http://www.thedomesticcurator.com/2014/09/chicken-piccata-with-artichokes.html I make extra butter/garlic/caper/mushroom sauce that keep in the saute pan and mix my cooked pasta in.
More importantly, what kind of cake are you having? 
Happy Birthday, to your son! <:-P
This is a great pasta and it’s really easy to make. The recipe here is taken from Marcella Hazan, The Classic Italian Cookbook.
https://leggycooks.com/2014/10/08/2014102fettuccine-with-gorgonzola-sauce-for-cheese-mongers/
Wow some of these are going to be keepers whether they are for tomorrow night or not! Thank you for sharing so many yummy ideas! I will see how my work morning goes and then make my decision before I head to the grocery store.
BB, that would be crack up - he insisted tonight that he doesn’t want me to go to to much trouble…so Kraft Mac and Cheese fits the bill on that!!!
And the cake by request from him again…yellow layer cake with my homemade decadent chocolate frosting!
Chicken piccata is quick easy and elegant!
I ADORE chicken piccata - but H would absolutely hate it. So unfortunately can’t consider that one!
All these wonderful suggestions are making me hungry. I need to limit my “carbs” as I’ve gotten older and pasta is a rare treat in our house.
For jarred sauces I like The Silver Palate brand and also Rao’s. Both of which I only buy if they are on sale.
This dish is different but husband and I really like it - the combo of the raisins and pine nuts with the sausage and rabe is a great balance. I often lame it with broccolini or regular broccoli as some don’t like rabe’s bitterness. I think you could substitute in some fresh spinach right at the end of the cooking as well.
http://www.ouichefnetwork.com/2010/01/gemelli-with-sausage-broccoli-rabe-and-raisins.html
You can be hip and serve it in portable cones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LFH1_8kF5Y
Do the box mac one better and get the microwave version- it’s awful…
That Marcella Hazan gorgonzola recipe has been one of my favorites since the book came out in 1976. 
I think it is best served as a first course, though.
Fettuccine or Linguine prepared. Purchase 8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms, 1 can of artichoke hearts (drain and quarter them) saute mushrooms in a small amount of olive oil until they sweat, add artichokes. Add in 1, 9 oz. container of refrigerated Fettuccine Alfredo sauce heat through. Add to prepared pasta and serve with crumbled blue cheese or gorganzola.
@VeryHappy “I have a yummy recipe for linguine carbonara that I got from – believe it or not – a Seventeen magazine many years ago. It’s very eggy and cheesy, with mushroom, onions, frozen peas and bacon. It’s not quick to pull together, but it is yummy, and you can do lots of the prep (the chopping) the day before. LMK if you’d like me to post the recipe.”
could you please post it? thanks!
Here you go!
Linguine Carbonara*
1/2 lb bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 slices ham, sliced into thin strips
1 can chicken broth
2 eggs
1/2 to 1 cup grated fresh parmesan
1 pound linguine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Cook onion until golden. Add mushrooms and peas and cook until mushrooms start to sweat. Beat eggs and add all ingredients except linguine and parsley. Cook linguine. Toss mixture into linguine; top with chopped parsley.
*From Seventeen magazine, sometime in the late '70s!
^^^This is going to happen in my kitchen! I’ll have to plan my calories and exercise before and after to enjoy it though!
So as the OP poster, my S’s birthday pasta dinner was last night. I ended up doing a layered marinara/fresh basil/pasta and ricotta blend dish that bakes in the cast iron skillet. I also pan fried flattened chicken breast with some other fresh herbs. I then removed the chicken and in the juices sauteed garlic and onion and added white wine and reduced to a sauce - added the chicken back in and finished off in the oven for a few minutes. I also sauteed on stovetop mushrooms and artichokes so those that wanted could add it in. Everyone seemed happy - especially S who was salivating over the smells in the kitchen - the smell of marinara and garlic gets them everytime!!
Love many of these suggestions though and will be trying a few.
Yum!!
It may be too late to weigh in but I want to put in a plug for the best pasta dish possible: perfectly cooked fresh made noodles or ravioli, drizzled with high quality olive oil and table side grated real parmesan reggiano. Sprinkle with fresh, julienned basil optional. Finding the pasta may not be possible but if you live near a good Italian deli or high end grocery you could be set. Meat, like grilled sausage, is served on the side. Nothing hides the pasta.
The best pasta I’ve ever had was basically @Otterma 's recipe but had red pepper flakes and finely chopped garlic sprinkled on top. When I make it I add mushrooms. VERY easy and fast.
^^^Nice. I’ve used the pepper flakes on carbonara type dishes but I could see it on this too.
Sad thing for me is that I have celiac so the pasta element of the dish is never nearly as wonderful as it could be. I like to live vicariously through other people’s enjoyment of it though. (I also love the Great British Baking Show for the same masochistic reasons.)