I shared a US written recipe to a friend in Sweden and realized that I did so without thinking. They, more than likely, use the metric system and the US system uses something else entirely. When I lived in Germany, I dealt with this every day. After two years of living there, I started to think of my recipes in terms of kilos, grams, liters, and milliliters and it took me a while to get used to the US system again after moving back.

Making conversions became so natural, I stopped thinking about it. I tried to explain it but realized that there had to be an easier way.  So there are a few ways you can go about making the conversions. The first, is to commit all the measurement conversions to memory. For example, 30 grams is roughly 1 ounce and 250 ml is roughly 1 liquid cup.

If that’s too cumbersome or math frustrates you, you can try using a conversion calculator such as this one which I found on the Southern Food site at About.com. Since I was confronted with the need to make the conversions nearly every day, I found it easier to commit everything to memory.

Another great tip is to use a scale such as the one pictured here . This one has both kilograms and pounds so you can make the accurate conversion automatically. I use this method sometimes as I have a good scale on hand.

How many times have you gotten a recipe that a friend or relative scratched out that you were in the middle of following - only to get halfway through and realize that it’s unreadable? So, you try to call your friend for clarification - meanwhile the cake batter is just sitting there getting ruined…

I know. Frustrating. The thing is, I was a mess at writing recipes until I realized the trick. Follow these tips and you’ll be writing recipes people will be happy with.

• Ingredients. Write them in the order that they appear in the recipe with the exact amounts listed.

• Instructions. Make these clear and concise as possible. Read a few recipes so you can get a feel for the lingo.

• Cooking times. Give estimated cooking times including how to tell if something is done cooking. Each oven is different so the cook will need a visual cue.

• Double check. Read through the recipe and try to use it to make the dish before you start passing it out.

And that’s it. With practice, you’ll be an expert recipe writer in no time!

One thing I’ve learned in my quest to understand Greek food is that the recipe is secondary to the process of cooking, the ingredients, and the experience of eating it. Does it sound like I’m talking nonsense? Let me explain.

Cooking Together - Leaving a Legacy

I grew up learning how to cook from my mom and yiayia (grandmother in Greek). My grandmother especially cooked mainly from feel. The only recipes she really ever used were for things like the Easter rolls we’d cook once a year. Otherwise, she would cook up delicious Greek cuisine sans instructions. It drove my mother crazy.

My mother wanted a record of my grandmother’s recipes so she spent time writing down what my grandmother was doing as they’d cook together. Yiayia has passed on now and those recipes are our legacy. Cooking with both of them is a real pleasure.

Even though my mother wanted to preserve those recipes, it wasn’t really the exactness of the recipe that mattered. It was about celebrating my grandmother’s life and sharing family together. Now that my grandmother is gone, these foods will remind my family of those times.

Fresh Ingredients in Greek Food

Another important element of Greek cooking is the fact that Greek chefs value fresh ingredients. They go to the store every day so they can get the highest quality and tastiest fruits and vegetables possible. For example, stuffed tomatoes and peppers are at their best in the summer when the tomatoes and peppers are fresh out of the garden. It’s all about making food taste as good as you can.

In other words, it isn’t about finding the recipe and buying the ingredients. It’s about looking to see what’s fresh and looks delicious and building your meals around that.

 If you want to eat healthy, you could be sabotaging yourself. Sometimes we cook in ways that are counter to eating healthy. For example, I just made Bolognese sauce for pasta. My secret ingredient? Bacon. And I didn’t even use turkey bacon or lean ground beef. Everything has the full fat.

I’m not eating it. It’s for my husband. If I wanted to eat something high in fat, I’d eat chocolate cake. For me, it’s about balancing my calories. Then again, I need to lose weight - not him. And at least I am using high fiber pasta.

This evenings dinner got me thinking about healthy recipes. What should I have for dinner? When this question arises, I have a few places that I look.

• American Heart Association Cookbook . This is my all time favorite healthy cookbook. They have a lot of great bread recipes including an oatmeal bread that’s delicious. Not quit like the classic Fanny Farmer oatmeal bread, but close.

• Epicurious.com - This website features recipes from several magazine. When I want to eat healthy I am most interested in the recipes from Self and Cooking Light. However, Bon Apetit and Gourmet magazines both have healthy selections

• Eating Well . I visit the online version as well as purchase the magazine occasionally. Not only are the recipes healthy but they’re also fun. Eating well also has a cookbook designed to teach you the ins and outs of low fat cooking.

I’ve also learned how to modify my recipes. I use nonstick pans even when the recipe doesn’t say to. I scale back on the butter in recipes - or eliminate altogether in favor of olive oil. I boost the nutrient content of food by adding ground flax, wheat germ, or extra spices where appropriate. I didn’t always have this skill, though. It’s something I learned through trial and error. One healthy recipe leads to another!

With it being Valentine’s Day I thought I’d make a molten chocolate cake for dessert. My husband and I are both fans of this cake, especially when it’s made well. Besides the overall flavor of the cake, the most important part of it is the center. It needs to ooze out onto the plate and form a warm pool of chocolate. But it can’t ooze too dramatically. It needs to ooze slowly.

It’s really hard to get it just right. I made one version which involved a low flour cake mix that comprised of sugar, egg white, flour, and melted chocolate. I filled a ramekin with batter and dropped in a ball of frozen ganache. It was okay but not the best. The two best versions that we’ve had have been at The Chart House and Morton’s respectively.

Aside from trying yet another recipe, I could always try a mix like the one pictured here from Shop.com for $7.99. As you can see from the picture, the cake is photographed doing exactly what it should - oozing it’s chocolate onto the plate. A mix is a real asset because when done from scratch, the cake can be incredibly time consuming. If you don’t want to do mail order, I notice that Dr Oetker has a mix - I find it in supermarkets in the states sometimes even though it’s a German company.

If you do want to make hot chocolate cake from scratch how do you go about doing it? First, when looking for recipes understand that there are two different kinds. One includes only one batter, the other includes batter plus ganache. The one batter version is simpler but may not ooze as much. If you can find the Morton’s Cookbook , I’d start by trying that recipe since the cake is very good. My own version didn’t come out nearly as good as the one in that cookbook.

Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to drop pounds? Are you still going strong? If so, congratulations - you reached a milestone. A lot of people seem to give up one February hits. Me? I am still going strong. I eat balanced meals. I exercise. It’s been a fun process.

I find that in order to keep myself motivated, I find that I need to try new recipes every few days. For me, I love to cook. I look forward to learning new cooking skills and trying new foods. I’m also the same way with exercise - I find I need to vary my routine. It makes me look forward to my workouts.

So where do I find healthy recipes? I have several favorite places. Sparkpeople is a great resource because you can find others who are also working on losing weight. I also regularly visit epicurious.com - the recipes from Cooking Light and Self Magazine get posted on there. Do you have any favorite resources for finding new recipes?

With the Superbowl coming up, I thought I’d hunt online for some Superbowl recipes that you can serve during the big game. So what are your plans? Are you staying home by yourself, having people over, attending a party? No matter what your plans are, the day will be much improved with some of these Superbowl treats.

When I think of football food, a few things come to mind - chili, nachos, pizza … but if you know me by now, you understand that I always search for the best. So, I thought I’d share some recipe websites that feature tasty looking Superbowl recipes.

These Superbowl party recipes all come from sources that I’ve consistently had success with. I am tired of following recipes that will end in disaster and unfortunately, I seldom trust a recipe that wasn’t written by a professional.Don’t get me wrong. Home cooks have some great dishes, but I’m tired of being halfway through and realizing that the cook forgot to include an ingredient in the list, or the instructions aren’t clear.

Anyway, here’s the list:

• iVillage Big Game recipes 

• Superbowl Recipes at Epicuriuous.com

• Football recipes on About.com 

Can you think of some that I’ve missed? Feel free to share by putting them in the comments.

The Superbowl is coming up! For most people that means gathering with friends and watching the game while eating your favorite football foods. For me, football food means:

• Chili
• Guacamole
•  Nachos
• Various junk foods

But as you know, I am on a quest to eat healthier. The good news is that all of the favorite foods have low fat ingredients. Here are some ideas:

•  Serve a veggie platter
• Make chili with ground turkey, or serve a vegetarian version.
• Guacamole is a good choice as is. Here’s my recipe .
• Serve lower fat nacho chips.
• Make nachos from low fat cheese.

I have more ideas on how to eat healthy at a Superbowl part over at eHow.

As you may or may not know, I am the Herbal Medicine Expert at eHow. Everything I write there has to do with herbal medicine in some way. Today, I thought I’d share with you some of my recipe articles. Not everything about herbal medicine has to do with having and fixing ailments. I use herbs, even medicinal herbs, in cooking all the time.

So, I thought I’d share with you some of my recipes. Most of them involve making tea blends and punches but I do have at least one smoothie recipe.

My Recipe Articles on eHow

• Healthy Version of Russian Tea 

• Sparkling Green Tea Punch Recipe 

• Ginger Tea Recipe 

• Spicy Hot Chocolate Recipe 

•  Energizing Spearmint Tea Recipe

• Flower Petal Mint Tea

• Herbal Fruit Smoothie Recipe 

• Ginger Mango Green Tea Recipe

I have more. I’ll share them some other time because I don’t want to give you an overwhelming list.

So, you’ve been “good” all week. You eat balanced meals, healthy snacks, and exercise. That’s the Utopian formula of a great lifestyle that will lead to balance and weight loss. But you know what? It’s no fun to always be “on”. Sometimes you just need to have a day where you don’t worry about what you eat.

Even the Body for Life plan says to eat whatever you want one day a week. The only rule is - if you buy chips, cookies, etc and eat them on Sunday, through them away so they aren’t around on Monday. Most people report that after a while, they don’t even desire the junk. Even still, it’s nice to have one night a week where you can kick back and relax.

For someone like me, the one day to “eat whatever” may result in me baking. Today I plan on making apple crisp with some apples I need to use.  I won’t make my full fat version. I’ll scale back on the butter and use some olive oil mixed with a tiny amount of butter instead. I’ll post the results of the healthier apple crisp if it actually tastes good. If you don’t see a recipe - well then you’ll know why.