Ever working to improve their image and put their best foot forward with the public, McDonald's has introduced nine meals to its Australian menus that have all been given the seal of approval by the National Heart Foundation. It's an historic event, to be sure, since the company has never had their approval before and fast food is not known for being heart-healthy - or healthy in general, for that matter. The meals include salads, Chicken McNuggets and some hamburgers, but no french fries.

Critics say that the "the Heart Foundation should feel 'duped'" for going along with McDonald's "marketing ploy." While it is true that McDonald's is paying to get the NHF's approval - fees that go towards testing the food, according to the NHF - the organization is still placing their reputation on the line and has no reason not to support the fast food company if their meals meet the NHF's standards. And if some regular McDonald's eaters switch to healthier fare, that's a positive change whether it came from a "marketing ploy" or not.

Easy meal prep is hot right now. By this, I am referring to the make-and-freeze dinner businesses that are thriving all across the US. With names like Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Supper Thyme USA, What's for Dinner and Dinner by Design, all appeal to the "busy family demographic, where people want to have home cooked meals but don't necessarily feel that they have the time to do it themselves. These businesses offer kitchens with lots of partially assembled meals and ingredients that you can put together in combinations that your family will like. Typically, meals are prepared for a week or two in advance and everything can be frozen. Heating instructions (and any other cooking suggestions, if needed, are included.

The trend is so popular that it is starting to spread out of the US. In London, a chain called Dinners Made is springing up and gaining popularity with those who are looking for food to make in advance and freeze, and also with those who want to entertain and don't have time (or perhaps the ability) to cook everything from scratch without some assistance. Using Dinners Made means that the recipes are included, prep is done and cleanup is taken care of, as they are at every similar easy meal prep shop. Combining the convenience of working in the store with below-restaurant prices, a flexible menu and fresh ingredients, it's not hard to see why the idea is spreading so rapidly.

New year, new episode of Bravo's Top Chef. The season picked up again this week with only seven of the original fifteen competitors still in the competition. At this point, the chefs have been living together for several weeks and, as in many situations where you have a group of type-A personalities, things are getting a little tense. Everyone in the group seems to oscillate back and forth between feeling compelled to act as a team trying to screw over everyone else so that they, as individuals, can get ahead. It makes things more interesting from a dramatic standpoint, but the chefs really need to get a grip on their tempers if they want to end up as Top Chef.

As the episode started out, one of the first things that we got to see was that Michael had a wisdom tooth pulled. He made it sound like he went to a less-than-reputable individual for the procedure, but seemed to be getting along fine aside from the pain and swelling. Medicated, Michael was much less feisty than usual. He noted that he hoped the challenges weren't too long and the rest of the tired-looking competitors agreed.

While we're all busily listing the best restaurants we've eaten at in the last year, Adam Platt, from New York Magazine, already has a list put together of where to eat in New York during the next one. He gives his picks for the best eateries in fifteen different categories: Vegas on the Hudson (Buddakan, Del Posto), The Out-of-Towners (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon), Neighborhood Chic (The Little Owl), Haute Italian (Café Boulud), Haute Barnyard (Telepan), Real Barnyard (Daisy May's BBQ USA), Gourmet Bar Food (Degustation), Makeover Madness (Tocqueville), Designer Steaks (Craftsteak), Nightclub Chinese (Shun Lee West), The Great Lunch (Adrienne's Pizza Bar), Brooklyn Ramble (The Farm on Adderley), Breakfast Ramble (Zucco: Le French Diner), Cocktail Madness (Employees Only), Dessert (Russian Tea Room, Pinkberry and Chikalicious) . And there are many more listed in each category!

Individual and themed picks aside, there are also lists of the ten best new restaurants in NYC (all contained in the above list), the ten most decadent dishes in town, the best up and coming chefs and the five best egg dishes in New York.

Take Platt's advice and you'll be eating out every day for the rest of the year. But if his picks are on the money, you probably won't mind one bit.

After a whole day of preparation, baking, cooking and waiting, the meal of the year finally came together. There was a brief struggle as I snagged the turkey platter for photographs before the bird could be carved, but that aside, everything went smoothly. The soup was light and refreshing, the side dishes - which included roasted green beans with caramelized onions, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing (baked both in and outside of the bird) and cranberry sauce - were all extremely well liked, and the turkey and gravy were just right. Of course, I was a big fan of the dessert - but that almost goes without saying.

Click past the jump for pictures of the whole meal!

There is more than one way to cook a turkey, just as there is more than one way to cook just about every other type of meat, but because there is some pressure on Thanksgiving to produce a big, beautiful bird for family and friends, it's hard to know whose advice to take when prepping the turkey for the big day. If you roast it, should you brine if first? Should it be braised? Can you cook it in the microwave?

To answer these questions, you can take a look at the Turkey for the Holidays guide from the University of Illinois. They cover everything from turkey-cooking techniques, which includes guides on eleven good techniques and reasons to avoid a few bad ones, to turkey nutritional information and turkey history and trivia. Aside from the cooking techniques, which might be the most useful tips on the site for cooks, the turkey carving instructions are going to be helpful even if you buy your bird. The site seems to be a great Thanksgiving resource overall, and anything that helps decrease holiday stress really is something to be thankful for

This year, the big question for Thanksgiving is not about how to make the gravy, keep the turkey moist or whether to serve yams or mashed potatoes with dinner, but whether dinner is going to be cooked at all. According to some food researchers, "Everyone wants to know: How do I get out of this and still make it seem homemade?" Their solution is to order the whole dinner in.

It's a sad thought for those of us who enjoy cooking in general or at least enjoy cooking for a special event with friends and family. Last year, 5 percent of consumers in the US ordered Thanksgiving to-go, and this year more than 6 percent are expected to do so. They order from local upscale restaurants or natural food grocery stores, if they're looking for organic or free-range birds. Some order the whole meal online and have it shipped to them. Others opt for make and take meal assembly stores or even local fast food places. And about 20 percent of all those who order in try to take credit for the meal.

Is it really so difficult to cook something yourself, especially considering there are so many resources to help? I know that there are at least a couple of people in my own family (who shall remain nameless) who really prefer to buy the dinner, not make it, if anyone will be heading to their house. Do you prefer to do Thanksgiving it this way, or do you stick with tradition?

Although some children will be quick to point out which foods are healthy ones to their parents, not all children have reacted so positively to the recent changes in school lunches. At least, they haven't in the UK. The BBC conducted a survey of secondary schools (middle and high schools) and found that at 60% of them, there had been a drop in the number of students that were opting to buy the school-provided lunch since the switch to a healthier menu. Only 10% of schools had an increase in the number of students taking lunch since the change.

It's too bad that there isn't any US data on this phenomenon after so many schools and school districts have placed restrictions on what types of food are appropriate for kids to have access to during the day, but it seems likely that the problem would be a similar one, especially with older kids who can easily leave campus or go out after school to get the fries and pizzas that they have always had access to at school until now.

The problem is one that will gradually go away over time, as the kids who were used to the "old way" of doing things graduate and the number of students who think that they are entitled to something greasy and unhealthy will decrease compared to he number of children who might actually look forward to a healthier lunch.

The single biggest factor that prompts people into overeating is portion size, and when more and more meals are eaten outside of the home, it is restaurant portion size that can cause a problem. Not only are the portions often huge, but they set a benchmark that distorts what people perceive as an appropriate amount of food.

An obesity researcher at Penn State University had 300 chefs from fine and casual dining restaurants take a survey that asked what things influence what size they make their portions. 4 out or 5 served more than the recommended portion sizes. 70% said that presentation was the biggest concern, getting a "wow" factor into the dining experience that might cause a customer to return. Value and portion size are often connected in the minds of the consumers, so larger servings come into play more than the actual plating. 65% said that cost influenced how much food they served, and 52% cited "expectations, which was primarily true of chain-restaurants and categories (like steakhouses, for example) that are known for being generous. Only 16% considered calories.

Chefs are not necessarily dieticians and their job is not to tell you what to eat or how much of you plate to clean before taking the rest home. It does make you wonder, however, if our priorities and theirs are in the right place when a 1-pound "serving" of pasta starts to look normal.

A few months ago I wrote about a beef and potato sundae, which many found to be at the very least bizarre, if not completely unappetizing. Worth1000, the Photoshopping web site, has just wrapped up a contest that involved combining dinner with dessert. I came across it while trolling the web last night and, thus, haven't seen the results yet.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, the contestants didn't actually cook anything, rather they manipulated images to combine dinner and dessert. The entries I looked at made the meat sundae seem like a four-star meal. They ranged from a corn dog coated with ice cream and chocolate to Sundae Side Up, a fried egg with stripes of hot fudge whose yolk has been replaced with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

But the, er, best was the herring in aspic pictured here. Clearly the chocolate coating studded with nuts and the stick were meant to riff on high-end ice cream pops. I fear it may be a while before I look at herring as appetizing.

Today is National Dessert Day. It doesn't seem like we really need a whole day to celebrate dessert, but any excuse is a good one, right? Even though it is considered to be a traditional part of a dinner, only 14% of families regularly sit down to it, as opposed to 24% only two decades ago. But this number may be a little misleading because studies show that younger people, under the age of 45, eat dessert foods more often, occasionally having them in place of regular meals instead of only in that window of the day traditionally reserved for dessert.

Another reason that people seem to be eating fewer desserts is that "75% of adults said they were trying to cut down or eliminate fat from their diet," so fewer people are going for the huge dessert servings that are offered at some restaurants. This has helped to fuel the trend for smaller desserts, including cupcakes, which may pack in the same calories, but seem much smaller and more manageable than a large piece of cake or creme brulee.

Breakfast might not be that important after all, as some scientists and nutritionists are beginning to question principles that have been the mainstays of diet and health for years and years. The doubts are arising from the fact that there is little to no scientific proof - just anecdotal evidence - that eating breakfast is definitely better for you. As Marion Nestle put it in What to Eat, " What you eat - and how much - matters more to your health than when you eat." Some even notes that there are more than a handful of people who would do well to skip a meal or two once in a while.

There is no proof that skipping breakfast is better for your health either, however, and studies show that many people who skip breakfast are likely to binge later on in the day, with snacks or overly generous lunches. People who eat breakfast are less likely to have certain nutritional shortfalls in their diets, since breakfast foods are often high in fiber, calcium, iron, protein and frequently include fruits, which provide many other nutrients. "There isn't any downside to eating a healthy breakfast," said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and assistant professor at Boston University specializing in weight management.

One of the best things about leftover chicken is that it is perfect for making sandwiches with. Actually, just about any leftover meat (or vegetable) can be incorporated, somehow, into a sandwich because bread and condiments go a long way in making old food seem as good as new. A good illustration of this is this Chicken Salad Sandwich from Cheap Eats. The sandwich is dead-easy to make, mixing shredded chicken, diced celery and green onions with mayonnaise, salt, pepper and a dash of paprika. Once you have the basics, you can augment the filling with hard boiled eggs, dried cranberries or raisins, lettuce, tomatoes or bell peppers. Ever budget-conscious, Cheap Eats also served the sandwich up with a side of leftover smashed roasted garlic potatoes, but as for all sandwiches, a bag of chips makes a perfect acceptable side dish.

Potatoes seem to have gotten some bad publicity over the last couple of years, since the tubers are high in carbs and carbs became the enemy of many, even some who never really followed a strict no-carb diet. But potatoes are versatile and nutritious. A potato contains lots of potassium (40% more than bananas) and up to 40% of the RDA of iron, in addition to being high in B and C vitamins and low in fat.

The Ultimate Potato Book capitalizes on the versatility of the potato to provide an astounding number of ways to incorporate this very nutritious food into your diet. The potato is used in basic side dishes and long-time favorites, like hash and potato skins, but the book mostly uses it as the centerpiece for a meal, rather than as a side. There are lots of international recipes and variations on basic themes, although the basics are always included, so it is a volume that you will definitely get a lot of use of. All of the recipes are easy to follow, with clear and well-written instructions.

The UCLA School of Public Health recently finished a study that found that men and women who ate a cup of salad each day had higher concentrations of folic acid, vitamins C and E, lycopene and alpha and beta carotene in the bloodstream than men and women who did not. Because many people do not get enough nutrients even when taking nutritional supplements, this is good news to anyone who can make room in their diet for an additional 90grams (1 cup) of salad on a daily basis.

Salad, as it was counted in the study, is considered to be raw vegetables, salad greens (lettuce, etc) and dressing. Scientists say that the results of this study should help to dispell the concerns that they body may have difficulty absorbing nutritents from raw vegetables, though a little bit of low fat dressing couldn't hurt - not to mention that salads are just a little bit more interesting with an added layer of flavor.