Date and Nut Truffles!

nuts of choice - walnuts are my fave - soaked for 8-10 hours
dates


This is the easiest recipe ever. Blend up the nuts. Blend up the dates. Mush them all together in a big bowl. (If you're feeling a little lazy you can use tahini or nut butter instead of fresh nuts.) With your hands, scoop out some of the date-nut mixture and roll it into a cute little ball. Then, to be extra fancy, roll the ball in the coating of your choice - cocoa powder, coconut, sesame seeds, whatever! You can even get all nouveau and roll them in crazy stuff like curry powder. Anything goes! Enjoy.

Lemony-Buttermilk-ey Linguine

Look, Rachel, I posted it!

This one is adapted from a recipe from epicurious.com . . . it tastes really bad for you, but it's not! How exciting!

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

a handful of broccoli florets
a handful of green beans, trimmed, cut into 2-inch-long pieces
8 ounces linguine

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

Place yolks in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in lemon juice, then buttermilk.

Cook broccoli and green beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using sieve, transfer vegetables from pot to large skillet. Return water to boil. Add pasta; boil until tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid.

Add pasta to skillet with vegetables. Whisk 3/4 cup cooking liquid into yolk mixture. Add yolk mixture, 3/4 cup cheese, and parsley to skillet. Toss over medium heat just until sauce thickens and coats pasta, about 4 minutes, adding more cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if dry. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing additional cheese alongside.