Pesto Pasta Salad

** From Rachael Ray's show 5-29-09

Ingredients:
1 pound penne pasta
1/2 cup (about a handful) pistachios, or any nut you really like, toasted
1/2 cup packed basil
1/2 cup packed mint
1 cup packed flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, grated
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
2 pints multi-colored cherry tomatoes

Directions:

Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring up to a boil to cook the pasta. Once at a boil, add some salt and the pasta and cook until al dente, according to package directions. Drain pasta thoroughly and cool.
While the pasta is working, add the toasted pistachios, basil, mint, parsley, garlic, salt and ground black pepper to a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Stream in 1/2 cup EVOO, pulse until combined, transfer into a large mixing bowl and stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano. Reserve.

To slice the tomatoes, place 2 container lids of the same size on the counter with the lip side up. Sit as many tomatoes that fit comfortably into the surface of the lid and place the other lid, lip side down, on top of the tomatoes. Press firmly, not enough to bruise the tomatoes, then gently glide your knife in between the two lids to cut the tomatoes in half precisely and in no time! Add your sliced tomatoes to the pesto bowl along with the cooled pasta, toss together and serve.

Herbed Whole Wheat Pasta w/ Lemon Butter

**I got this one from NieNie's food blog 'CuisineNie'.

Ingredients:
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, and chives
crumbled feta

Directions:
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente according to package instructions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Return pasta to pot.
Stir in butter, lemon zest, juice, and herbs; season with salt and pepper. Add some of the reserved pasta water to adjust consistency, if needed. Top with crumbled feta.

Simple Pasta & Meatballs

(I promise that's just liquid from the sauce under the meatballs...lol they really ARE cooked all the way through!)

We just make a basic pasta and sauce and then added the easy meatballs. ...We think they turned out really good... I'm not a big meatball fan in general, but I liked them, ....and Dan really liked them, so it was a big hit. I especially liked that it was easy and quick! That's always a big hit at our house! :)

The Pasta: For the pasta, we usually just use whatever pasta noodles we have around the house, and I usually make the sauce by 'tossing random stuff in' (example: basic tomato sauce in a can spiced all sorts of awesome by whatever I thought sounded good that night). So, just make whatever pasta you like, and 'experiment' making your sauce, or take the easy route and buy some pre-made pasta sauce in a jar.

Meatballs:
I got the recipe from my new friend, "The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook" (which I recommend if you're like us and need good ideas for 'budget-friendly healthy meals' ...I bought mine at Amazon.com, so that's where I linked the title too). The meatball recipe is actually titled 'New Favorite Meatballs'... but that sounded too cheesy so I just call them 'simple'. :) So here's the recipe with my comments:

Ingredients:
Olive Oil (**the book recommends for most their recipes that you keep your olive oil in a spray bottle and use it that way... for this one I was lazy and just used our regular pan cooking spray)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup cooking oats
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (**was good, but somehow I think you'll survive without it if you'd prefer)
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4+ teaspoon of salt (** I wrote the + because both Dan and I commented that they could use more salt, but again, its from a 'healthy' book, so less is probably better... but just keep that in mind if you're not planning on eating them all covered in sauce like I do...)
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (**again, something I'm sure you could live without, and we didn't have any so we went without... however, -I have a weird obsession with cinnamon and paprika-, so I tossed in a pinch of paprika 'just because'... we liked it)
1 pound extra lean ground beef
**The next time I made them I added some paprika and other misc spices, and increased the salt just a little bit and they were WAY good! :)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Lightly coat a non-stick pan (we used cookie sheet) with olive oil (we used regular cooking spray).In a medium bowl, using a fork, mix together egg whites, oats, and milk until well combined.
Add the parsley, onion, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes and mix well.
Mix in beef (with hands is easiest so Dan did this part because I have a raw meat phobia!).
Then roll into (about 32) uniform meatballs... about 1 1/4" in diameter it says (Dan just used his hands, but you could use spoons or a small ice cream scoop if you want to go all fancy). Arrange balls, not touching, on your greased pan. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until no longer pink inside. (took us a almost 11 minutes).