You may have noticed that Cooking Light's food staff is fond of marinating fish, beef, pork, poultry, and vegetables. We think this technique is a terrific way to add flavor, and turn ordinary food into something spectacular. It's simple: We douse the chosen food with flavorful liquids, spices, and condiments, stick it all in a zippy bag, and let it sit as we go on about our business. It's the best way we know to build great taste without a lot of effort.

And without a lot of fat. While many traditional marinades contain oil, it's the other ingredients -- citrus juice, vinegar, soy sauce, wine, herbs, and spices -- that actually impart the flavor. As a result, the marinades we develop for Cooking Light typically contain little or no fat.

Yet readers ask us, time and again, how we calculate the amount of calories, fat, and so on that a marinade adds to a dish. We used to measure the original amount of marinade, and then the amount remaining after the food was removed. Logically, the remaining amount should reflect how much was absorbed, but it didn't tell us exactly how much of each ingredient actually penetrated the food.

After years of experience, we concluded that 50 percent is a good (and generous) estimate of the amount of marinade absorbed. So if there's a cup of marinade, we calculate 1/2 cup in the recipe's nutritional analysis. If the marinade is also served as a sauce on the side we calculate the nutritional profile for the entire marinade yield.

For reasons of food safety, just remember to boil any marinade that has been used with beef, pork, poultry, or fish for one minute before serving it on the side.