Cooking Light has been one of my long-time sources of inspirations for giving classic dishes a much needed “light” make-over. When Ricki stumbled upon their recipe for Zucchini-Pineapple Bread she couldn’t believe the genius combination, but she was shocked at the amount of sugar included in this “light” recipe (2 cups!!) So, Ricki took it upon herself to lighten the already-lightened version, and the outcome was phenomenal! On her blog, Diets, Desserts and Dogs, she claims, “this bread treads the very limits of moistness; any more moist, and it might not qualify as a solid.” Wow…. now that is something I have got to experience!

Kids don’t always have to be the pickiest eaters. In fact, they might even surprise you sometimes. That’s what happened to Jen when she asked her teenage niece to leaf through a couple of cookbooks and pick out a few recipes for dinner. One of the side dishes she chose was a recipe for Corn Cakes, not just any corn cakes, though. These corn cakes are loaded with vegetables like zucchini, onion, and roasted red pepper.

So how is it that a teenager can find a veggie-laden side dish appetizing and delicious? Well, the fact that they’re fried might have had something to do with it ;). Using a combination of vegetable and olive oil, Jen fries the corn cakes until they’re crispy and golden.

Though the corn cakes were served as a side, I know they’d work as appetizers too. Like Rediscovering the Pleasures of Food with other family-friendly recipes? Then check out Jen’s blog!

This past Christmas I took a trip to Israel. While I was there I tasted some of the most delicious foods! Everything was so fresh and made you feel healthy and energetic. I guess that’s a pretty sad commentary on my usual American dining practices. I try to maintain a healthy diet, but my sweet tooth just never seems to stop aching!

I have been a long-time fan of hummus, and have worked on my own recipe for quite some time. But, nothing can compare to the hummus I ate while in Israel. It was so light and creamy….uh, just thinking about it makes my mouth water! I have created some decent recipes for cilantro-lime hummus and red pepper hummus, but I seem to fall short every time I attempt to make a simple and plain hummus spread. When I stumbled across Alisa’s recipe it took everything within me not to go home and try it out immediately. Her addition of yogurt is (of course!) the perfect ingredient to achieve that light and creamy texture! Finally, a recipe to tide me over until my next trip to Israel! Alisa’s alias as The Meat and Potatoes Foodie is full of brilliant suggestions for even the most simple of dishes (check out her recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Toast).

Sherry of What Did You Eat? had a knack for coming up with savory comfort food recipes, like Meatballs with Ginger Root and Radish Greens. Although I never had the chance to meet her personally, I can say the she had a real passion for cooking great food; the many delicious entries on her food blog are evidence of this.

Key Ingredient would like to extend its condolences to Sherry’s family.

From one food blogger to another: Sherry, thank you for sharing your creative recipes with the world; you will be missed.

Victoria didn’t let the Salmonella scare stop her from using the cherry tomatoes she’d purchased earlier on. Instead of throwing them away, she cooked them up to kill off any lingering bacteria microbes and added them to her homemade pasta sauce. Victoria says that her Pasta with Quick Creamy Sauce ‘is creamy and comforting but not artery clogging’. After encountering that claim on her blog, Feed Yourself, I felt a bit perplexed and wondered if it was truly possible to create a light creamy sauce, can those two descriptions really go together in the same sentence?

Yep, they certainly can. Victoria combines a variety of ingredients to create a sauce that’s far from watery. So where does the richness come from? Parmesan and goat cheese provide the creaminess while the little bit of olive oil and crunchy pine nuts add dimension. Even though cheese isn’t usually associated with the word ‘light’, it can be when used in moderation. By adding a little of this, and a bit of that, Victoria prepares a pasta meal that has a whole lot of flavor.

I have a quaint little potted herb garden….well, I had a quaint little potted herb garden. The cruel Texas heat has murdered most of my herbs. I began with seven variations, but only two have survived: basil and chives. My father (a landscaper) would be so disappointed. I don’t know if I have developed a love for basil because of its fresh and sweet taste, or because it simply survived. Either way, Allen’s addition of basil to this simple couscous dish sounds amazing!

Allen talks about how couscous serves as the perfect replacement for white rice or pasta on his blog, Eating Out Loud. Couscous is becoming increasingly more popular as a starch replacement; it also has the benefit of being high in fiber, and as Allen says, “it doesn’t taste like bark or twigs.” I’ve been a long-time fan of couscous, so I can’t wait to try this recipe out! It doesn’t hurt that I get to incorporate my surviving basil too! (If it’s still alive when I get home!)

The storage system that Key Ingredient uses to store images, Amazon’s S3, is currently having some trouble. Because of this, a large number of recipe photos and user icons are not available.

Rest assured, your content is safe and will be back online soon. Amazon’s S3 service has been very reliable and situations like this are very rare. Even so, we are investigating ways to combine resources with S3 to ensure hiccups like this don’t happen in the future.

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Update:

Key Ingredient is back to full strength. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Lynn, also known in the blogging world as The Gluten Free Gastronaut, knows how to bake a cake that’s out of this world :). As a gastronaut, she’s explored galaxies of flavor combinations that are truly stellar. For instance, how do you take two of my personal favorite sweets and combine them into one big bang of a dessert? You make a cake, a Baklava Opera Cake.

Lynn didn’t take any shortcuts when she adapted her cake recipe, in fact, she went above and beyond the call of duty and made it gluten-free. She replaced the flour with xanthum gum and baking powder. So if you’re not on a gluten-free diet, you can go ahead and add the flour back in but omit the other two ingredients, as she explains.

But I imagine I wouldn’t be missing the flour if I took a bit out of Lynn’s cake, I’d be too busy getting lost in the deep flavors of cardamom mixed with pistachios resting in a cakey layer of sweetness and buttercream…drenched in a sweet honey syrup…and… Yep, that’s quite a bit to get lost in! I’d say it’s much better than getting lost in space :).

The name of Irene’s blog, Of Dreams and Sweets, suggests that it should be filled with all things delicious mixed with hints of sugar and spice…and everything nice! It’s true, take her Apple Frangipane Tart, for instance, it would even make the sugarplum faeries swoon. “Beautiful, elegant, [and] delicious” are just three adjectives she uses to describe a dreamy dessert that nicely combines the buttery flavor of almonds with the sweetness of warm baked apples.

But how would one describe the center of this tart, other than delicious? Buttery, I imagine, but the butter is just there to enhance the nutty texture of the almond paste. These yummy ingredients are then combined with apples and…apricot jelly.

The next time you’re looking to impress your friends with something other than a pie, try Irene’s tart. It looks like it takes hours to prepare, but, thankfully, Irene’s posted instructions that are thorough but easy to follow!

Too much of a good thing…is a good thing! Preeti would definitely agree with me, especially if ricotta cheese is the ‘thing’! With the leftover ricotta she had left over from a previous kitchen adventure, Preeti was able to effortlessly whip up a Spinach-Ricotta Lasagna. Just by checking out all the recipes on her blog, My Kitchen Stories, you’ll be able to see that Preeti has the uncanny ability to create a meal that’ll do more than please the palate! Spinach and ricotta are, unarguably, mean to be together, but that’s not all that goes into this tomato sauce-free and deliciously cheesy concoction.

Chopped tomatoes, garlic, and onion are familiar ingredients that give a firm nod to an Italian meal, but with a bit of chili powder and dijon mustard, Preeti makes the flavor of this lasagna completely original. Take a look at this lasagna’s creamy layers…now try looking away — it’s not easy :). Speaking of trying, I think it’s time you give this recipe a try!