2,674 light recipes

Smoked trout crackers with lemon-dill mayonnaise top thin whole-grain crackers with sliced smoked trout and a bright lemon-dill aioli. A five-ingredient elegant appetizer.

A velvety, creamy garlic soup loaded with 2 cups of garlic and caramelized onions, thickened with stale French bread and finished with half and half. Inspired by New Orleans chef Susan Spicer. Even better the next day.

Stir-fried flank steak with ginger and scallions tossed with noodles, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, and celery in a light soy sauce. Better than takeout beef lo mein in 40 minutes.

No-bake chocolate peanut butter squares with a hidden ingredient: pureed kidney beans for added fiber and protein. Loaded with marshmallows, walnuts, and cinnamon. Gluten-free friendly.

Great asian style pasta, nice side dish, very healthy.

Old-fashioned raisin nougat made with hard-crack sugar syrup, marshmallow cream, and cocoa butter. A vintage homemade candy with chewy raisins folded throughout.

Snickers pie is a no-bake freezer pie with melted Snickers bars, peanut butter, and whipped topping folded into a graham cracker crust. A potluck dessert that disappears before the coffee pours.

Deep-dish apple pie with a single top crust hiding a heap of brown sugar and cinnamon-spiced apples. Old-fashioned simplicity served with cream or hard sauce, just the way grandmother made it.

Creamy peanut butter fudge made in just 15 minutes with brown sugar, marshmallows, and vanilla. No candy thermometer stress, just smooth, melt-in-your-mouth squares.

Lemon sticky buns made with frozen bread dough, lemon-corn syrup glaze, and cinnamon-nutmeg sugar swirl. Bright citrus twist on classic sticky buns, baked golden and inverted onto the plate.

I used Cornish Game Hens, but you could also use a cut up chicken. If you can't get winter melon, watermelon will work. Winter melon is white, very mild tasting and a tad denser than watermelon. I think you could get away using something like Honeydew too.

Irish cream balls combine crushed vanilla wafers, toasted pecans, cocoa, and Irish cream liqueur into no-bake boozy bites rolled in powdered sugar. The grown-up holiday cookie tray staple.

Turkey sausage and vegetable medley in a ginger-soy glaze served over rice. Smoked sausage with crisp-tender mixed vegetables in a glossy brown sugar sauce ready in 15 minutes.

A Korean stir-fried cucumber side dish (banchan) tossed in sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili powder. Quick, savory, and a refreshing change from raw cucumber salads.

Peanut fudge is old-school stovetop chocolate fudge made with milk, corn syrup, and unsweetened chocolate, beaten to the classic soft-ball stage and loaded with salted peanuts.

Old-fashioned marshmallow fudge with unsweetened chocolate, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Cooked to soft ball stage, beaten until thick, then studded with marshmallow pieces.