Avocada Pesto with Whole Wheat Linguini

If you need dinner really fast, there's nothing better than pesto. All you have to do is throw all your ingredients in a food processor, blend, and toss over hot pasta. It's three-step deliciousness.

I had to try this recipe from VegNews.com because it has avocados in it, and I never thought of that before. But avocados are amazing, so it makes sense. Adding avocados makes this otherwise ordinary pesto sauce mild and rich, and I also feel like I am eating more vegetables this way, even though it's a fruit. This dish tastes great the next day, but because of the avocados it will turn a little brown, which is all the more reason to invite some friends over and eat it all right away as soon as you throw it together.

I also made my own pasta because I didn't have linguini and I didn't feel like going to the store, but dried pasta would be okay/faster/easier.

Avocado Pesto with Whole Wheat Linguini (serves 6)
Adapted from VegNews.com

For The Pasta:

4-5 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
1-2 cups warm water

For The Pesto:

1 bunch basil leaves (about 3 ounces)
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 of a lemon)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Pour oil over the flour and stir with a fork until evenly distributed. Gradually stir in the water with a fork until it begins to hold together and form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is firm and smooth, adding more water or flour as necessary to get the consistency right (it should be pliable but not too delicate). Cover with plastic and let rest at room temperature for an hour or so. The dough can be made in advance and left overnight if you wish.

Roll out the dough using a pasta machine like this one and spread noodles out on a large floured surface so they can dry out a bit.

Boil a large pot of salted water. Meanwhile, combine all pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined.

Cook pasta for 2-3 minutes, until the noodles rise to the top and boil for a minute or so. Drain pasta and toss with the pesto sauce. Top with chopped sun-dried tomatoes if desired.

Turkey Meatballs

When I was little I was an omnivore. I had a grill-master, chocolate-devouring father and a vegetable worshipping, lobster loving mother, so my taste buds enjoyed broccoli as much as they did steak. In fact, beef was one of my favorite things to eat. My mom still talks about the family trip to Yellowstone when I was 12; I ate prime rib every night for a week, except for the one night when the restaurant had run out and I had to settle for spaghetti.

Not long after that (or at least that's how the timeframe goes in my admittedly shoddy memory), there was the mad cow outbreak. My mother, the nurse, declared that all beef would be banned from the house. In fact, no one in the house was be allowed to eat beef, even if it was at a restaurant. Eventually mad cow disappeared from the newspaper headlines and the months passed, but I never felt the urge to bite into a hamburger to slice into a steak. I eventually segued into the vegetarian stage of my adolescence, and although vegetarianism is a bandwagon I have since fallen off of, I never have returned to eating certain meats.

I do, however, love meatballs. I make mine with ground turkey, which is just as satisfying and as full as flavor as beef. Even better, they're quick to make and freeze easily. I was in a time crunch making this batch (I have to do all my cooking in the morning before heading off to work), so I plated them over al dente pasta with Newman's Own Marinara sauce. It made for an extremely simple and tasty meal, although next time I will definitely attempt making my own pasta sauce.

Turkey Meatballs (serves 4-6)
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)
pinch salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, minced
your choice of sauce and pasta

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until lightly browned.

In a separate bowl, combine ground turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, and onion and garlic mixture. Mix well. Form mixture into balls (you choose the size; I made mine slightly larger than a ping pong ball). Place meatballs in a pan heated with the remaining two tablespoons of oil. Be careful not to crowd the meatballs.

Cook meatballs over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until browned, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent sticking.

Serve meatballs with sauce and pasta.