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

Some parts of this recipe turned out well, but there are some things we'd change: Reduce the time that the pizza crust goes into the oven during its initial bake so that the edges don't turn out as crispy after the final. The pizza is also quite topping-heavy, so it might be better to reduce the ground sirloin from 1.5 to 1 pound. Also, this is way more than four servings! Rachael Ray is crazy when it comes to portion sizes.

The popcorn was super yummy, but SPICY! It'd make a good party snack on its own.

Ingredients for mega meatball pizza and zippy Italian popcorn	Raw pizza crust seasoned with oil, rosemary and salt
Ingredients for mega meatball pizza and zippy Italian popcorn

Recipe source: Rachael Ray's 365 No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners

It was time to try another of ATK's lasagna recipes. (We had tried the skillet lasagna some time ago.) This one went in the oven, and required a few more steps, but was ultimately a delicious success. We served it with a store-bought crusty herb bread.

Lasagna ingredients ready to go!	Julia plopping down ricotta dollops during lasagna assembly
Applying the finishing touches of mozzarella	Served with herb bread

Recipe source: America's Test Kitchen

Julia found this recipe in a very small Rachael Ray cookbook at the library. It is also available online (see source below). Bucatini wasn't carried by my local Rainbow, but Jonas found some at Byerly's, the local high-end grocery, and saved the day.

There are only three photos. I think we got so excited to eat the final product we forgot to take any more.

Bucatini ingredients lined up	Cooking the pancetta in oil
Adding the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes

Recipe source: Rachael Ray on Food Network

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

We were looking for something simple but hearty, and skillet lasagna seemed to fit the bill.

Most of the lasagna ingredients, measured and assembled.	Onions and red peppers sautéing.
Browning the meat	Adding the noodles and diced tomatoes
Adding large dollops of ricotta cheese

Recipe source: America's Test Kitchen