7,057 light recipes

Grand Central oyster stew cooked in a double boiler with fresh oysters, clam juice, Worcestershire, and half-and-half. A classic New York recipe where the oysters barely curl before serving.

Warm baked blue cheese dip with cream cheese, bacon, garlic, and chives, topped with chopped smoked almonds. The party appetizer everyone fights over the bottom of.

Green corn tamales made from fresh corn ground with Monterey Jack cheese, whipped with lard and butter, filled with roasted green chiles and cheddar, steamed in the husks.

Grandma's sweet and sour chicken simmered on the stovetop in a homemade pineapple, vinegar, and brown sugar sauce with crisp-tender peppers and onion. A from-scratch take on takeout, over rice.

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.

Sole fillets stuffed with salmon, poached in white wine, and topped with a creamy mushroom sauce. An elegant microwave method that keeps the fish perfectly tender.

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

Bacony creamed spinach folds finely chopped spinach into a half-and-half béchamel built on bacon-fat sautéed onion, garlic, and a flick of cayenne. Crispy bacon crumbles stirred in at the end. Steakhouse-style side at home.

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.

Cookie tacos are crisp buttery tuile shells shaped into taco folds while hot, then stuffed with lime-scented sour cream and lemon pie filling and piled with sugared strawberries. A playful dessert that draws every eye at the table.

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.