Photo: Ashley Beck

With Spring comes unpredictable weather–just as you begin to think we’re out of the frost, an Arctic wind blows through. I have a spectacular pasta recipe that will make it feel like this time of year should: garden parties, fresh flowers and the perfect combination of sun and cool breeze. Adapted from one of my favorite pasta recipes that typically calls for garlic and arugula to give flavor, I instead feature my favorite spring vegetable, ramps. These Alliums (Allium Tricoccum) magically contain the flavors of both their cousins, garlic and onion, in a fresh and delicate way. Even while chopping them the scent perfumes the air in such a way that you might not be able to wait the quick 20 minutes it takes to make this fresh spring dish. Read More

Is pasta your go-to weeknight dinner? For a lot of us, pasta is a quick meal that is not only economical but extremely tasty and filling. The problem with this hearty refined carb is that it pairs so beautifully with unhealthy sauces that add more calories than nutrition!

I love pasta–it’s simple, a great flavor vehicle and provides a fantastic weeknight dinner when time is of the essence. The key to making it healthy is to know that it can be just as tasty with smart choices. I pack loads of flavor, veggies and protein into this pasta tuna recipe. These additions will fill you up and you’ll find yourself eating less pasta and more of the delicious veggies and beans!

Other great recipes using tuna:

Deconstructed Salad Nicoise

Tuna Tartare with Potato Pancakes

Seared Tuna Steaks with New Potatoes

Photo: eatswellwithothers

Sometimes your taste buds want to sit down to a creamy dreamy pasta dinner. But your arteries don’t. I understand.

That’s where this sweet potato cream sauce comes in to save the day. It is made without even a single drop of heavy cream, using mashed sweet potato instead to thicken it and give it that great Alfredo-like texture. Total comfort food that your whole body can feel good about.

Photo: eatswellwithothers

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Joanne Bruno is a food writer and fourth year MD/PhD student. Find more of delicious ramblings over at her blog: Eats Well With Others.

It seems almost incomprehensible now, but yes I was that full-blooded Italian child who hated tomato sauce with a fiery passion and insisted on ordering alfredo sauce each and every time my family went out to dinner. Never mind that I only ever took approximately four bites before being forced to stop by its overpowering richness – I knew what I wanted. And apparently that was a bowl full of heavy cream and fettuccine that I could barely choke down.

Oh, how times have changed. These days, I wouldn’t order fettuccine alfredo off a restaurant menu if you paid me. In my opinion, it’s just not worth the calories. But every so often, a craving does strike, and to satisfy it, I make this roasted red pepper goat cheese alfredo sauce. With the tangy richness from the goat cheese, the sauce is creamy without being overly so, and the roasted red pepper infusion adds a breath of fresh air along with some extra nutrition. It may not be the lightest meal in the world, but I can promise that it’s worth every bite of creamy delicious indulgence.

Adapted from Closet Cooking

Joanne Bruno is a food writer and third year MD/PhD student. Find more of her delicious ramblings over at her blog: Eats Well With Others.

We’re reaching that time of year where you’re either totally fed up with zucchini and summer squash and bemoaning the fact that you have to think of new ways to cook them at least until after labor day (ugh how imposing can they be!).

Or you’re already mourning their sure-to-be imminent disappearance from the farmer’s market, never mind that summer truly does seem like it’s here to stay.

Either way, this is the dish for you. I know, pasta with summer squash and zucchini has been done before, many times over, so while it may seem like I’m not really reinventing the wheel here, I have to say that this recipe is something special.  The zucchini is grated rather than diced or chopped so that it kind of melts in with the pasta and all you really end up tasting is the bright fresh flavor of summer with a dash of parmesan.  It’s perfect no matter which side of the zucchini love/hate spectrum you happen to fall on this week.

Joanne Bruno is a food writer and third year MD/PhD student. Find more of her delicious ramblings over at her blog: Eats Well With Others.

While I try to be super PC about most things in my life, I have a confession to make: I occasionally judge my beans by their pod color. (Oops.)

But when they are just so vibrantly magenta and pretty-in-pink, can you really blame me? I didn’t think so. Fresh cranberry beans are just too pretty to pass up, and the good news is that their beauty is not only skin deep…they are delicious as well. They taste largely like white beans, but with a little less mushiness to them, and happen to meld perfectly with artichokes and zucchini in this pasta dish. Unfortunately the beans lose their color after cooking, making the finished dish seem a little ho-hum in comparison to its starting ingredients, but I can promise you that what it lacks in color, it makes up for in flavor.

Photos: Joanne Bruno

This dish comes complete with a little secret in that it’s actually salad with pasta. This healthy and fresh option for those looking to up their fiber intake is also vegetarian friendly.  Topped with feta cheese and almonds, this makes a filling and addictive super salad full of vibrant and nutty flavor.

Photos: Joanne Bruno

JoanneBruno is a food writer and third year MD/PhD student.  Find more of her delicious ramblings over at her blog: EatsWellWithOthers.

This fresh pasta with lobster and mint was inspired both by Mark Bittman and a dish at Mario Batali’s southern Italian restaurant Esca. In addition to being delicious, it involves no more than three ingredients—two of which you probably have in your pantry already. The third might require a trip to the market (try the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market) to snag the freshest ingredient you’ll need. While buying a live lobster might seem daunting, it’s not too traumatizing and really adds to the final quality of the dish, as the pasta that cooks in the water is also used to steam the lobster.

If the idea of liver is off-putting to your taste buds, this is a recipe that may just coax you out of your skeptical uncertainty.  If you’re lucky you can find everything you need at the Greenmarket like the perfect cipollini onions, beautiful sage, fresh butter and big bags of meaty chicken livers.

Fresh rigatoni is recommended, but dried noodles would work just the same. Dishes like this can make you an instant believer, as the buttery richness of the sauce mellows out any overwhelming tinges of liver that can be off-putting. This is a far cry from the liver and onions of yesteryear.

Photos by Laura Ratliff

Laura Ratliff and Ryan Smith are the authors of Smith & Ratliff, a New York City-based lifestyle blog. They write about food, cocktails, art, style and life in New York City. Follow them on Twitter: @smithratliff 

These little spring and early summer vegetables add a healthy pizazz to a refreshing buerre blanc over linguine. Low in calories and high in nearly every vitamin, use this superfood to build this pasta dish into a fantastic weeknight dinner.