As others mentioned, the easiest way is to use an existing recipe and adapt it for the best blend of art (your changes) and science (established ratio of ingredients). Sarah Phillips - author of "Baking 9-1-1" and the great web site - http://www.baking911.com/ - made 100 different attempts before she came up with a low-fat White Cake recipe she liked. I made a form I use for creating new recipes, or for altering existing ones. I may have several pages of changes for the same recipe using this form before I am done. The form is divided into two columns. On the left side I'll place the original recipe (hand-written or a photo-copy), or sometimes I'll photo copy it on the back of the form if it's large). I may be adapting it to have high-fiber, low-fat, sugar-free, gluten-free, wholegrain, etc..., or it will be my first attempt, if it's an original recipe. On the left side I add my notes, after making the recipe, in boxes marked: -Ingredient changes (I made from the original recipe.) -Results - this is where my training as a Foods Judge comes in handy and I'll judge my recipe by those standards. -Next time - notes about changes I need to make or options I can use for the same recipe. I usually don't make more than three significant alterations on any one try. It's also beneficial to know some food science. For instance: -Additions of cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg ADDED TO THE DOUGH should be kept to around 1/4-teaspoon per cup of flour in yeast bread because too much can be detrimental to yeast growth. Now you know why the cinnamon is applied to the dough and rolled-up, not added to the dough in large amounts. -Bread dough characterized as sweet, salty or low absorption may require a special kind of yeast called Osmotolerant Instant Active Dry Yeast. Another helpful hint when making sweet breads and you don't have an osmotolerant instant active dry yeast product is to add 1/4 t. ascorbic acid or 3 t. lemon juice to assist in the rising. You'll also note sweet breads often call for more yeast because of the slow rise. -Adding an acid (ascorbic acid, lemon juice) to yeast breads that contain wheat germ, or whole wheat flour (which also contains wheat germ) will aid in preventing glutatione from forming, which can damage the gluten. Short heavy loaves of 100% whole wheat bread are a sign of gluten damage. -Just how much sugar CAN you add to a yeast bread before you damage the gluten? Two tablespoons of sugar per cup of flour is about the maximum you can add without major gluten damage. -How much milk or dry milk powder is too much in yeast bread? Milk affects the volume, symmetry, cellular structure, and texture. If the loaf looks more like a roller coaster ride, then there is too much dairy. You can overcome some of the effects of large amounts of dairy by scalding milk (which alters that protein in the whey of the dairy product), or using Special Dry Milk Powder from King Arthur Flour. -If you reduce the salt in a yeast bread recipe, you should also reduce the amount of yeast because salt regulates the yeast. So a general rule-of-thumb, if you reduce the salt by 50%, then reduce the yeast by 50% as well. -There is generally a ratio of ingredients used in most types of baking that is already well-established in the world of food science. There is generally a proportion maintained between ingredients that are tenderizers (fat and sugar) and those that are structure builders (flour and eggs). For instance, a standard plain cake has, by measure, one-third as much fat as sugar; two-thirds as much milk as sugar; and about three times as much flour as liquid. When I developed gluten-free cookie recipes, I first formulated a basic cookie recipe, and then made other changes to make many kinds of cookies from the same base recipe. I didn't have to reinvent the recipe each time, just alter it. You can also follow bakers' percentages for bread making. Following the same percentages you can make one loaf, or a recipe for 10 loaves. It's also good to know how much flour there is in different amounts of dough: 2-1/2 cups flour = 1-pound loaf 3-cups = 1-1/2-pound loaf 4-cups = 2-pound loaf -When you reduce fat and sugar you will be sacrificing tenderness, so find foods that may be substituted for those. For instance: *Whey-based milk substitute powder has a shortening effect on baked goods, so you can add it and reduce fat. *You can generally use 25% less coconut oil than butter or shortening and get the same effect. *Use Sweet Dairy Whey powder (not to be confused with whey protein powder) and you can significantly reduce the amount of sugar. -You don't always have to change the ingredient to change the recipe. When making bread if you add the fat early in the recipe it has a shortening effect on the gluten. The result is a closed-grain crumb, almost cake like, and a shorter loaf. Add the same amount of fat later, after the gluten has developed, and you'll get a higher loft and a more open crumb. Neither is right or wrong, but you'll get a different texture. Closed grain if you are going to use it for sandwiches dressed with mayo, and an open crumb for toast for all those openings for butter and marmalade to settle into. -Egg whites are drying, so when you try to lower fat and use egg whites only, you may have to add another ingredient to make up for effects found in the egg yolks. Yolks contain lecithin which have an emulsifying effect you can't get with whites. -Make low-fat baked goods in small amounts because they don't keep as well as those with fat. So instead of a 9x13-inch pan, make a recipe in a loaf pan or 8-inch square to avoid dried-out leftovers. -If I think I'll need to taste a batter that contains raw eggs, before I bake it, I'll use reconstituted pasteurized whole egg powder, or powered egg yolks or egg whites to avoid a food safety issue from tasting raw eggs. And a million other little things that come in handy with altering or creating recipes. -Grainlady

Blogs and bloggers don't have the same psychology as forums. When you are a member of an online community that you don't have control over -- meaning responses, comments, readership, *followers* you learn the ropes, the rules. Take lukki and me. In a forum you learn that not everyone *sees* things the same way. You learn to deal with it. i.e. Lukki and I are still friends (pretty sure) and we'll move on but now I know she takes things to heart a lil more dearly than I. So, to play nicely w/her in this sandbox (because I do care) I will remember that tidbit and put forth appropriate effort when I see her. Bloggers have not learned those same kind of lessons. They exist in these strange, very personal, often ego based, self created microcosms. Many filter out reality and use their blogs to spin their own version of the reality they want everyone *out there* to believe. Raw talent is raw talent. Articulate is articulate so it's not like a blog can be a total sham and head-twister because it can't. People are smart and do read between the lines. Like Seth Godin says, "the tribe can smell artifice." Albeit it can take a while in some cases. :) But like PW and the R word many bloggers -I think- get lost and the lines of their spun reality blur into the lines of real reality. That's when you see lapse in judgment. Prejuidiced or ignorant? I dunno maybe some of both? My guess is that PW was very successful in building an influential blog to the point that she herself was influenced and she came to believe that she could say and do almost whatever she wanted to. Up to the point of defining what she's entitled to, what's funny, tasteful, or whatever. Because as a blogger she learned that she can control everything about her online persona and presense so consequences and haters should have been within her supreme blogger authority and control as well. I'd imagine the sprouting of those parody blogs was quite the moment because there is absolutely nothing she can do about 'em. One more major factor of reality with regard to forum vs. a blog is that consequences are served up in real time from real people with giant doses of real honesty and objectivity. And there is no delete button. Trust me, I've looked.

The one website I subscribe to - definitely worth the cost - is Cook's Illustrated (www.cooksillustrated.com). They not only have equipment reviews, tasting results (which semi-sweet morsels are the best?), and a great recipe database, their recipes have explanations of what works and what doesn't. They typically begin with a description of a problem, (most breaded pork chops lose their breading etc...) then follow with the phrase "We cooked 100 (roasts, pound cakes, whatever)" and a solution (potato starch!!!). It's a must-have for both the experienced chef and the novice. For healthy recipes I love the free blog Nom-Nom Paleo (link below). Keeps me well fed, rail thin, and smiling :0 I am a culinary legend in my family because of Christmas Dinner, 2010 for which I served Bon Appetit's Mustard-Seed-Crusted Prime Rib Roast with Dijon Créme Fraîche and Roasted Balsamic Onions (recipe at the link below). I subscribe to the magazine for myself and a friend ($20 for 2@one year subscriptions - worth every penny; it's a beautiful mag) but the website is FREE to all. Here is a link that might be useful: Bon Appetit

"Stew" like meatloaf, are as individual as the people who make them. ;-) But there is some science to it, once you research the subject. Browning the meat - whether to dredge first or not? I dredged the meat before browning it because that was what my mother did. Then I followed a recipe from an old Farm Journal Cookbook that didn't dredge, and all the sudden it was a whole new game. After some research on the subject, I discovered the flour interferes with the browning process (you don't get a good sear on the meat), flour often burns at the high temperatures needed to brown meat, and also makes the bottom of the pan stickier due to adding the starch from the flour, and flour can give an undesirable "raw flour taste" to the stew. If you want to thicken your stew, wait until the end and add a slurry or zap part of the vegetables in a blender and add them back. Browning develops flavor in both the meat and the sauce. Make sure you have lots of heat for this step and don't crowd the pan. It may take 2 or 3 batches to get all the meat browned properly. If the pan and fat isn't hot enough, it won't do the job. If you don't brown the meat first, it will simply stew in its own juices instead of developing the flavors from searing. Browning meat caramelizes the sugar in meat (the Maillard reaction). FYI - searing the meat doesn't "seal in the juices" as we were taught in Home Economics, browning is for developing flavor - not juiciness. To salt, or not to salt.... If you dredge the meat with flour/salt/pepper mixture, the salt draws out more juices and the meat dries out. This is often why people who dredge or salt the meat first use large chunks of beef for stew - to compensate for the toll taken from salting before browning. If you wait to add the salt to the stew after the meat is browned, it produces juicier beef (and also pork if making a pork stew), and you can use smaller cubes of meat and still have moist, fork tender meat when done. The last thing I would purchase is so-called "stew meat", which is always over-priced "meat scraps" and from an unknown portion of the animal, probably the bottom round. I prefer a cut from the chuck, including the shoulder, the top blade, and the chuck eye. I'll also use top round or sirloin tip. Eat it with a spoon, or a fork and knife... I'm a spoon person for a stew (with lots of liquid), but that's just a choice, neither is right or wrong. I prefer meat and vegetables cut into 3/4-inch size pieces so I can get a little of everything on the spoon at once. I don't want to have to tackle a large chunk of meat with a knife and fork, then 1/2 a carrot or a small potato - I like it all together in one nice tidy package. Otherwise I would make New England Boiled Dinner. Variations... -If there is enough liquid, you might want to add some dumplings. My mother used to make tiny dumplings with sage in them when she made chicken stew that was to die for ;-). -There are recipes that add dried fruit (apricots or peaches) to lamb stew. - Add peas or lima beans - I usually add both. - A touch of Worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, are nice add-ins at the very end, along with fresh parsley.. Simmer the meat mixture for a couple hours, but add the vegetables later in the cooking process (about 30-minutes before it's done) so they don't cook to mush and retain some texture and individual flavor. I'll add peas and lima beans just long enough to cook through (10-15 minutes). Try leeks or shallots instead of onions for something different. Less meat.... I don't use a lot of meat in stew due to cost, and to compensate for that I'll add chewy/meaty vegetables like Portobello or shiitake mushrooms, eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, or even hominy. From "On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee - "Stew involves more liquid, smaller pieces of meat [than braising], and generally longer cooking times than the braise. In a stew, we want the flavor of the meat to permeate the large amount of liquid, so we tend to let the meat be cooked well beyond the point at which it is "done". In both cases, though, the end point in cooking is rather fuzzily defined as "fork tender," and so timings are not terribly precise." -Grainlady