Make your Friday nights lighter with these four frozen pizza pies.

If pizza is your no-cook movie-night choice, good news: The latest batch in the frozen-food aisle is healthier and tastier. And they're easy to jazz up with extra toppings.

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Gluten-Free Pizza

Mongolian Beef

Serve this slightly spicy dish over wide rice noodles to catch all the garlic- and ginger-laced sauce.

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients

2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 pound sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain
16 medium green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces

See More: The Best Superfast Recipes

Preparation

1. Combine first 8 ingredients, stirring until smooth.

2. Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced ginger, minced garlic, and beef; sauté for 2 minutes or until beef is browned. Add green onion pieces; sauté 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture; cook 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly.

Photo by Kimberley HasselbrinkBy Ariel Kanter, Bon Appétit

The last eight weeks were pretty great, eh? From Thanksgiving to Christmas to Hanukkah to New Year's Eve, it seemed like the feasting would never end, right? Well, now it has. The holiday parties and cold-weather baking frenzies are over (mostly), and this morning, we bet, you discovered you couldn't fit into your skinny jeans. (Or maybe that already happened back in December!) Face it, you're bloated.

Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup

There are, however, ways to stave off the bloat by turning to natural diuretics and anti-inflammatories, according to nutritionist Carolyn Brown of FoodTrainers NYC. Many of these can even be woven into what are the heavier wintertime meals you're still probably eating, or can form the basics of a healthful post-holiday diet, keeping you muffin-top-free through January and beyond.

1. Ginger
If after a feast you're feeling a little queasy, ginger can be a fast-acting antacid. It's also an anti-inflammatory, so keep adding it

Source: Cooking For Shorter Days and Longer Nights

Winter's officially begin, and it's clear as you-know-what that nights have become much longer, and days, shorter. The earlier sunset can often translate into not wanting to cook at night: coming home to a pitch-black house and cooking dinner from scratch can be daunting during these cold weather months. On the flip side, however, eating out every night can be harmful on wallets (and waistlines!). With a little bit of planning and prep work, we can all look forward to delicious home-cooked meals. Here are five tips for Winter weeknight cooking.

• Prep on the weekends. After your weekend trip to the grocery store, wash and prepare your produce for the week ahead. Greens should be rinsed, wrapped in paper towels, and stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. If possible, avoid pre-cutting produce, as fruits and vegetables rapidly begin to lose nutrients once they are cut.
• Live by the one-pot meal. Cooking meals in only

YumSugarSource: Culinary Resolutions, Week 1: Eat Lighter

For many of us, today marks the first workday of 2013. But that's not all: it also happens to mark the beginning of our brand-new series, Six Weeks of Culinary Resolutions, in which, in an effort to improve ourselves over the course of the New Year, we master a different gastronomic goal each week.

To kick things off, we'll be focusing on eating lighter this week. Sure, holiday merrymaking brings to mind menorahs, tree lights, sleigh bells, and stockings - but it also conjures up images of yule logs, cookie swaps, standing rib roast, and way too much eggnog. It may not be possible to erase December's overindulgences, but healthier cooking in January is as close as we'll ever get.

Stay tuned all week to learn about lighter cooking techniques, wholesome grains, and of course, our favorite healthy recipes.


Related Content:
Natural Detoxing Tips to Kick Off the New Year
Detox Deliciously: Apple and Cabbage Salad


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Source: Know Your Techniques: Cooking en Papillote

Cooking en papillote (French for "in parchment") is a method of hand-sealing protein and vegetables in parchment paper, then oven-roasting them. While liquids aren't typically added to the pouch, ingredients seep out their own liquid and effectively steam in their own juices, resulting in a healthy meal that's bound to be filled with both moisture and flavor. In addition, other flavoring agents, like herbs and aromatics, get enveloped in the same steam-filled vessel, amping up the delicious factor.

To create a parchment paper pouch, arrange your ingredients on one half of a large piece of parchment (this method works with aluminum foil, too). Fold the other half on top of your ingredients. Fold up the open edges of the packet in pleats, working from one end to the other. Don't worry too much about how the package looks, as long as it's tightly sealed. When you open your parchment-wrapped meal, you'll find a moist, flavorful, and

Slap Fries? Srirachannaise? Viblanco's heavily spiced oven fries just sound like a party, and in fact they do taste just exactly the way they sound! And as for daisyt13's feta and cumin-topped lamb sliders, well, they simply demand to be held in one hand while you sip your beer with the other (this is pub food, after all). A marvelous -- and marvelously delicious -- meal that, as always, comes together in just about an hour. Cheers!

The Menu

Lamb Sliders with Feta Cheese, Red Onions and Cumin Mayo by daisyt13

Makes 6 sliders

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons ground cumin, more or less, to taste
1 pound ground lamb
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil, as needed
6 thick slices Greek feta cheese
Red onion, thinly slice, to taste
6 mini or "slider" buns

1. Preheat cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.

2. Combine the mayonnaise and ground cumin in a bowl and set aside.

3. Season lamb with salt (not too much since the

With the holidays complete, it's time to get your eating habits back on a healthier track. There's no better way to do that than by adding a bit of greens to mealtime. And it just so happens that winter offers a ton of great, seasonal fruits and vegetables to kick your regular salad up a notch. Whether you're a sucker for clementines or love a good fennel dish, we rounded up 8 seasonal salads your palate -- and your waistband -- will thank you for. - By Elizabeth Stark and Brian Campbell

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