FYI:  I make my noodles as I go, so this recipe only includes directions for meatballs and tomato sauce.  You should follow package directions for preparing your pasta.

I love Italian food.  It is my favorite cuisine to eat and cook BY FAR.  This is my go-to weeknight meal.  I never get tired of it. I like a chunky sauce, so this recipe reflects that.  If you don't, replace the canned diced tomatoes with canned sauce.
Meatball Ingredients
2 lbs ground turkey (for additional flavor, try 1 lb. of ground turkey and 1 lb. of turkey italian sausage, removed from the casing)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 2 tsp of minced garlic, available in a jar in the spice or produce aisles of your grocery store)
2 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup  bread crumbs
1.5 tbsp. fresh italian flat-leaf parsley (substitute 2 tbsp dried parsley flakes available in the grocery spice aisle)
2 tsp.of salt  (general rule of thumb is 1 tsp. of salt per pound of meat)
2 tsp. of black pepper 
1.5 cups lukewarm water
1 cup of olive oil (for frying)

Tomato Sauce Ingredients
One 15 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes
Two 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
One 6 oz. can of tomato paste
One medium sized white onion
4 garlic cloves, minced (or 4 tsp jarred minced garlic)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped (or 2 tsp dried thyme, available in grocery spice aisle)
2 tbsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste (start with 1 tsp. of each)


Directions:  Since your sauce needs to simmer to develop its flavors, let's start there.  Chop your onion using a small dice.  Here's an efficient way to do this.  Next, mince your garlic.  Heat a heavy bottomed pot or saucepan to medium high heat and add the oil.  Once the oil starts to shimmer, add the onions and garlic and cook 5 minutes until softened.  Then add the salt, pepper, thyme, and brown sugar and stir until combined.  Cook for 3-4 more minutes.  The brown sugar is added to balance the tart, acidic flavor of the canned tomatoes. I always make this sauce instead of buying jarred sauce because I can skip excess sugar and preservatives.  I can't even remember the last time I bought a jar of spaghetti sauce.

Now the key to the sauce is its deep rich tomato flavor.  You'll accomplish this by caramelizing the tomato paste.  Stir the tomato paste in with the vegetables, thyme, and sugar and allow it cook until it turns a dark red color.  You may need to reduce your heat a little here.  You want to "brown" the paste a little bit without burning it.  Tomatoes have a lot of natural sugar and sugar burns at high heat, not to mention the sugar you already added.  Once the tomato paste has darkened, stir in your diced tomatoes and sauce and bring to a boil.  Reduce to moderately low heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While your sauce is simmering, you can prepare your meatballs.  You'll need a large mixing bowl, a wide plate or pan sprayed with cooking spray or brushed lightly with oil, heavy bottom skillet with high sides (I always use cast iron), and tongs.  Honestly, the less you handle this mixture, the more tender your meatballs will be.  Since that's the case, I dump all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl, I spray my hands with cooking spray and I just dive right in and mix with my fingers.  The spray keeps the meat from sticking to your hands.  Also, your fingers apply less pressure to the meat than a spoon.  First break the meat up with your fingers, then incorporate all of the ingredients until they are evenly distributed. This may feel and look gross, but trust me, it's the most efficient way to mix this large quantity of ingredients without overworking your meat.  Overworked meat = tough, hard meatballs.  Nobody wants to eat turkey flavored stones!  Now, when you are working any meat, especially poultry, you want to protect against contamination, so wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before you handle anything else.  In fact wash them now.  

Hey, you should check on your sauce and stir it at this point!

Next, spray your hands with cooking spray again or rub them together with a little cooking oil.  Again, this is the prevent the meat from sticking to your hands as you form your meatballs.  Dig back into the bowl and roll out your balls one by one, placing them on the oiled plate/pan you prepared earlier.  The oil keeps your meat from sticking to the plate.  I like to make large meatballs, so this mixture gives me about 25.  The photo above shows what mine look like after I roll them out.  

This might be a good time to check on your sauce and stir it!  

Next, heat 1 cup of olive in your heavy skillet over medium high heat. Fry your meatballs until cooked all the way through, making sure to turn them for even browning.  It takes about 8-10 minutes per batch.  I use a large cast iron skillet and I can fit 8-9 meatballs in it a time, with adequate space in between.  You don't want to crowd them.  Crowding lowers the temp of the oil and causes your meatballs to soak up more oil than necessary.  After the come out of the oil drain them in a large bowl or on a large platter lined with paper towels.  Once you're done with your  meatballs, stir and taste your sauce.  You might want to add salt, pepper, or a little more brown sugar to adjust the flavor.

Now, some people, like to simmer their meatballs in their sauce.  I'm sorry, but I don't.  I just feel like, why would I go through all this trouble to get a beautiful sear on these meatball and then ruin it by sinking it in sauce?  I usually make my pasta next, by boiling it in water flavored with seasoning salt and olive oil.  The oil keeps the noodles from sticking together.  I cook my noodles in a saucepan using very minimal water (usually half or 1/3 of the package directions for water).  With pasta, it's always better to add water if it cooks out too quickly than it is to take water away from overcooked or oversoaked noodles.  Once the noodles are just shy of al dente and the water has cooked out, you should have slick noodles with all of their starchy goodness.  DON'T RINSE THEM!!!!!  That starch serves as "sauce glue".  Once the water cooks out, add your sauce and combine it with the noodles, cooking for 3-4 more minutes until the noodles are done.  You should have perfectly seasoned pasta with a sauce that doesn't slide off.  I usually spoon my pasta into a bowl, top with 2 meatballs and top those with a little extra sauce.  Yuumy!

My new favorite!  I like flavor in my chicken salads, but not too much, so I eliminate the onions and celery that most tarragon chicken salad recipes include.  Most recipes also call for poached chicken (also known as throwing your chicken in a pot and boiling it for 20 mins), which is absolutely flavorless in my opinion.  Instead, I grill boneless, skinless chicken breasts and add sweet dried cherries, warm toasted pecans, chives, and lowfat mayo.  
So what is this "tarragon"?  See those feathery green herbs in the photo above?  That's tarragon.  It's kind of hard to describe the taste unless you've eaten a vegetable that's similar in flavor but probably just an unfamiliar: fennel.  Both tarragon and fennel have this fragrant and unique licorice flavor.  Once you have it, you'll be converted!

Ingredients
2 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts or breast tenders
2 tbsp. of chopped tarragon
2 tbsp. of chopped chives
1 cup of dried cherries or cranberries (or other tart dried fruit)
1 cup of pecans
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
3/4 cup of light mayo (or regular, it's your call)
2 tbsp. of white wine vinegar (plain white vinegar or lemon juice may be substituted)

Directions: Heat a stovetop grill or heavy bottom skillet (cast iron is better) on medium high heat.  Drizzle the chicken with a tablespoon of olive oil or other light cooking oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.  (There will be salt and pepper in the dressing as well, so go light here).  Grill or saute the chicken in batches until cooked through.  Remove from heat and allow the chicken to thoroughly cool.  While the chicken is cooling, take a handful of tarragon, remove the leaves from their stems, and chop.  Do the same with the chives.  You can also substitute the fresh chives with 1.5 tablespoons of dried chives available in the spice aisle of your grocery store.  Given the delicate nature of these herbs, you want to ensure that you are using a sharpened chef's knife.  You don't want to crush them.  Place the tarragon, chives, and dried cherries in a bowl and set aside.  


Next, take your pecans and roughly chop them.  They don't have to be pretty, just small enough to combine thoroughly in the salad.  Alternatively, you can wrap them in a kitchen towel and crush them with a meat mallet.  Also, most grocery stores sell chopped pecans in the baking goods aisle.  Buying those will expedite this process.  After chopping the pecans, place them in a wide pan and toast on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.  Watch this process closely because you don't want burned pecans.  When they are ready, they should be slightly more browned and smell toasty.  Add them to the bowl with the herbs and cherries.


In a small mixing bowl combine the mayo, vinegar, salt, and pepper until it becomes a thick dressing.  Again, remember that you seasoned the chicken earlier, so be judicious with the salt and pepper here.  You don't want an inedible chicken salad.  This mixture should produce a tart dressing.  If it is too tart for you, try mixing in a teaspoon or two of honey or white sugar.  I do this often to balance and soften flavors that are too acidic for me.  You should add any sweetener slowly and taste as you go, ensuring that the flavor has mellowed to your taste.


By now your chicken should be cool enough to handle.  Cut it up and add it to the bowl with the herbs, pecans, and cherries.  I like a small dice on my chicken.  You can cut yours up to suit your taste.  I've had chicken salad with huge dices and to me, that takes away from your ability to taste all of your flavors in a single bite.  After adding the chicken, pour the dressing over the mixture and stir to combine.  This salad tastes better after allowing it sit for a few hours.  You should make this from 4-24 hours in advance.  Bon appetit!

My favorite way to eat fruit.  I adapted this recipe from an episode of Bobby Flay's "Brunch @ Bobby's".  I typically use mango as the base of this salad, but it works equally well with peaches or other firm stone fruit.  Ginger simple syrup give it an unexpected spice and sweetness, mint chiffonade lends a refreshing herbal pop, and sliced almonds provide the texture that fruit salads (in my opinion) always need.  Add other tropical fruit and berries of your choice and you have a huge salad that works well as breakfast or a snack.

Ingredients
3 medium to large mangos, peeled and sliced into chunks
6 small to medium kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced 
1 pint of strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 pint of blueberries or black raspberries
One 4 oz. package of sliced almonds
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp. of lemon juice
One 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
Handful of fresh mint, chopped

Directions:  Prepare the ginger simple syrup first by peeling and slicing fresh ginger. Put to the side. In a small pot, bring the water, sugar, ginger, and a teaspoon of lemon juice to a boil and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat and refrigerate until cold.  Since I make this salad a lot, I typically buy large pieces of ginger and quadruple the sugar, water, and lemon juice to make a large batch of the syrup.  It keeps well in the fridge for several months.

While the syrup is cooling, cut up all of the fruit and add it to a large mixing bowl.  If you are using one cutting cutting board, it is a good idea to wipe and dry it after dicing the fruit but before chopping the mint.  These types of fruit have a lot of natural moisture and might make a small mess as you cut them up.  Not to mention that wet mint is hard to chop.  Mint is also difficult to chop with a dull knife, so make sure you are using a chef's knife with a really sharp blade.  This will not only expedite the fruit-slicing, but will ensure that you do not crush and ruin your mint.  I prefer to "chiffonade" my mint, which just means to cut it into small, thin ribbons.  To do this, take a small handful of mint leaves (about 10-15), stack them up, roll them up, and keeping you knife close to the board, thinly slice the roll.  Add the mint to the mixing bowl.  

When it comes to the sliced almonds, you can find a small bag of sliced almonds in the baking aisle of your grocery store.  I like a crunchy salad, so I add the entire 4 oz. package to the bowl.  You don't have to use as much or, if you are allergic to nuts, you can eliminate them all together.  It's really the ginger and the mint that make this salad anyway.  

And speaking of the ginger, by now, your ginger syrup should be cooled (it usually takes me 30-45 minutes to chop all of the fruit, mangoes take the longest, so I start with them).  Remove it from the fridge, strain, then discard the sliced ginger.  I love the spice of this syrup, so I use the entire bowl (per the sizes listed above), which amounts to about 4 tablespoons of the syrup.  Use a large spoon to gently combine the ingredients and evenly distribute the syrup, almonds, and mint.  You can chill it in the fridge or serve immediately.  This only keeps about 3 days max in the fridge.  These fruit tend to release a lot of their natural water, making the salad soupy the longer it sits.  While the salad is still edible, this also causes the strawberries to discolor and unpleasant to look at.  If you're concerned about the size of the salad and how long it will keep, I would cut the recipe in half.