cornmeal

A banana-berry or avocado-pear smoothie make sense for those on-the-go weekdays, but if you're looking to get your Saturday or Sunday off to a healthy start, try making your own pancakes at home.

I must admit I'm not the biggest pancake person, but this recipe for blueberry-cornmeal griddle cakes, which comes courtesy of the Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas, made me a total convert. There's something about the rustic cornmeal texture and the spicy-sweet chili honey that keeps me intrigued. Want to re-create a spa breakfast in your home? Read on.

I love ordering dishes that are served with polenta when I'm dining at Italian restaurants. However, the one time I tried to make polenta at home several years ago, it ended up a mushy flavorless disaster. Since then, I've avoided cooking polenta.

But, I hate limiting myself in the kitchen, so recently I decided to get over my fear. I looked to Alton Brown for guidance, and it turns out he has an easy, almost foolproof recipe that doesn't require standing over the stove for an hour. The polenta is baked in the oven and seasoned with sautéed red onions and parmesan cheese.

It's a great side dish to hearty Winter meats, like short ribs, or a wonderful appetizer canvas once cooled and grilled. To check out the recipe that has restored my polenta confidence, read more

This dessert isn't necessarily light in the "lite" sense, but with its delicate glaze and perky lemon profile, it's a bright and buoyant counterbalance to all the chocolate holiday confections. With some Meyer lemons from a friend's tree, I made this lemon cornmeal cake as an epilogue to Christmas, and it was unintimidating yet delightfully different.

Remembering another recipe I've been wanting to make for a polenta cake, I decided to take the Mediterranean inspiration and substitute olive oil for the butter, which gave the cake a rich, but exotic flavor. Though I planned to infuse the glaze with rosemary, I ran out of time, but still used a sprig as a festive garnish. Get the recipe when you read more

Serving fish lightly fried is a great way to introduce nonfish lovers to the pleasures of the sea. The technique is familiar — who hasn't had fried chicken?! — and the texture is ideal because it's both crunchy and soft.

This recipe takes fried catfish fillets and makes them even more accessible by slathering them with a quick Russian dressing and sticking them in between two pieces of toasted bread. It's a crisp and filling sandwich that makes a well-rounded meal. To check out the recipe, read more