Choose your favorite meat or use a combination of shrimp, chicken or steak as you cook up this sizzling dish paired with tortillas and toppings like salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Get the recipe: Gold Medal Sizzling Fajitas

Browse Food Network’s Cinco de Mayo feast for more Mexican-inspired recipes.

Marcela’s beer-battered halibut is fried to a golden crisp and then topped with shredded cabbage and salsa for the ultimate fish taco.

Get the recipe: Baja Style Fish Tacos

Browse Food Network’s Cinco de Mayo feast for more Mexican-inspired recipes.

When you think about it, dough is just a mixture of flour and water. Yes, we usually use fancy flours and extra ingredients, such as eggs or yeast, to transform dough from its original simplicity into pasta noodle or bread varieties, for example. Still though, making dough need not be an intimidating process. In fact, here are four fool-proof recipes for classic doughs – bread, pizza, pasta and doughnut – that you might typically purchase instead of making from scratch. So bake a loaf of bread, roll out your own pizza dough and fry your own doughnuts because with recipes like these, there’s no need to make a trip to the store.

Move over, counter space-hogging bread maker. Ellie Krieger’s Whole-Wheat Cinnamon-Raisin Bread from foodnetwork.com uses no special equipment and is still so simple to make and consistently produces swirly good results. Best of all, it is far healthier than its sugar-laden counterparts from the grocery.

Read on for more recipes

Creamy risotto is mixed with Bibb lettuce, Parmesan cheese and fresh lemon juice and can be served as a light main or hearty side — perfect for Mother’s Day. Tangy Italian cheese and asparagus top this Italian classic for an extra burst of flavor.

Get the recipe:  Risotto With Asparagus

Browse more of Food Network’s Mother’s Day recipes.

We all strive for the perfect roast chicken — juicy meat and a perfectly browned, crunchy exterior. This recipe combines parsley, cilantro, tarragon, dill, garlic, olive oil and chopped walnuts  — a mixture that is rubbed over and under the skin, sealing in flavor. The chicken is basted with its own drippings, creating that crispy skin everyone craves.

Get the recipe: Herb-Roasted Chicken with Melted Tomatoes

Browse Food Network’s chicken recipes for more dinner ideas.

Why not just use butter?

Fair question, especially since ghee is going to be more trouble to find (it’s hidden in your grocer’s international or natural foods aisles) and you’ll pay way more for it ($5 or more for a 7½-ounce jar).

Despite that, it’s an easy answer: — because ghee is a rich indulgence that is so totally worth the effort and expense.
Ghee is a form of clarified butter. Which means it is butter that was heated until the milk solids separated from the liquid. Then it was heated some more, until the liquid evaporated and the solids began to brown.

The result is a thick yellow-brown paste with a nutty and intensely — Are you ready? — buttery flavor. But it’s true. This is butter on steroids.

And yes, it’s easy to make your own (try Alton Brown’s recipe). And no, most of us won’t.

Find out what to do with ghee »

Alton’s guacamole is filled with fresh ingredients like onions, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic — he spices it up with ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Keep your guacamole bright green by tossing the avocados in fresh lime juice, the acid will keep the fruit from turning brown.

Get the recipe: Alton’s Perfect Guacamole

Browse Food Network’s Cinco de Mayo feast for more Mexican-inspired recipes.

Eating salad is a great way to slim down, especially during the warm months of spring in preparation for summer. However, salad dressings can often be packed with fat and calories. Food Network Magazine has decided to give your favorite dressings a makeover — transforming the classics into healthy, yet still flavorful options.

Get the recipes:

• Light Blue Cheese Dressing
• Light Italian Dressing
• Light Thousand Island Dressing
• Light Carrot-Ginger Dressing
• Light Ranch Dressing

What’s your favorite salad dressing? Tell us in the comments.

You would never guess that fruity olive oil is the secret ingredient in this light, lemony cake. Grated lemon zest and fresh thyme are added to the batter for sweet and savory combination, while a glaze of confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and butter is drizzled on top.

Get the recipe:  Mini Olive Oil Cakes With Lemon Glaze

Browse more of Food Network’s olive oil recipes.

Start preparing for Cinco de Mayo with this easy dessert. Using your favorite boxed brownie mix, add ground chipotle chile powder and cinnamon to the batter for a Mexican twist on a traditional dessert. Top each brownie with a scoop of dulce de leche ice cream.

Get the recipe: Mexican Brownies

Browse Food Network’s Cinco de Mayo feast for more Mexican-inspired recipes.