The prep work is the most time-consuming part, but all in all it's still a fairly simple meal. This was also the first time we'd ever cooked up kale -- and 14 cups of uncooked kale is a CRAPLOAD of kale (as you can see in the ingredients photo)! And then it withers down to nothing.

The meal was delicious! The garlic bread crumbs were a perfect topper.

Ingredients gathered together	Julia frying up the pancetta
Garlic bread crumbs	Wilting the kale
Adding cannellini beans and pancetta	Voilà!

Recipe source: America's Test Kitchen

Jonas has been watching what he's eating the past few weeks, so today we decided to try a recipe from ATK's light cookbook.

(If you're not familiar with ATK's "schtick," they take popular recipes and experiment with them over and over in order to determine the very best way to prepare it in terms of time, ease of cooking and -- most importantly -- taste. In general, they do not sacrifice taste in favor of healthiness, so although they deigned to publish a light cookbook, the recipes inside should still taste pretty darned good.)

Spaghetti and meatballs is about as simple as it gets. The most arduous part is probably mixing the meat, spinach and herb mixture by hand, especially if you don't let the meat cool to room temperature first (agh! cold hands! cold hands!). After that, it's a snap: fry 'em up, cook the sauce, and there you go.

Julia modeling her new apron	Jonas rolling meatballs
Jonas looking decidedly mischievous	Yummy homemade meatballs, just out of the frying pan
Homemade tomato sauce	Light(er) spaghetti and meatballs with grated parmesan

Recipe source: America's Test Kitchen's The Best Light Recipe cookbook

Julia needed an easy appetizer to bring to a work party, and this fit the bill!

Not too many ingredients needed for this recipe	Spreading the herb and butter mixture on the biscuits
Twisted and all ready to go into the oven	Beautifully golden brown!

Recipe source: Simple 1-2-3 Appetizers