Vegetable and olive oils are all most cooks need to whip up a great meal, but sometimes it's nice to splurge on a little extra flavor.

Don't throw out those cooking liquids! They're just waiting to be repurposed.

I like nuts. I like them toasted in salads, baked into muffins and tossed with roasted vegetables (toasted walnuts with oven-roasted brussel sprouts is heavenly). What I don't like about nuts is how easily they go bad if you don't store them correctly. After a big bite into a rancid almond once, I have taken to only keeping my nuts in the freezer (the middle schooler deep inside of me giggles at that sentence). The cold keeps the oils in the nuts more stable so that they don't go bad nearly so quickly (especially important for really oily ones like pinenuts). You don't have to be like me and store them in jars (although it looks so pretty) plastic containers or bags work just as well. The important thing is to make sure that whatever vessel you use is air tight to prevent the nuts from acquiring that yucky freezer-y taste.

The New Year is always full of possibilities. There are meals to be eaten, recipes to try and, of course, a slew of new food trends that will shape the way we eat and what food issues will be at the forefront of the news. Of all the trends that seemed to be pushing towards the forefront in recent months, these are some of those that look like they're about to have a breakout year.

Single Origin Chocolates - Dark chocolate was the hot item last year, but more companies, including Hershey's, are introducing and promoting single origin chocolates with cocoa beans from one country - or even one plantation - for their unique flavor profiles.

Healthy Soft Drinks - Jones Soda has eliminated high fructose corn syrup from their recipes. Enviga has been fairly successful so far, thanks to the large amount of publicity that it has received, and Diet Coke Plus will be coming to stores in a few months. Look for other soda companies to follow suit.

Healthy Food Labels - Hannaford supermarket introduced a labeling scheme of their own to direct shoppers to healthier foods and the traffic light system was a success in the UK. Don't be surprised to see more obvious messages about what is and is not good for you.

Frito-Lay is changing its Lay’s line of potato chips to give them a healthier nutritional profile. The company is switching to frying in sunflower oil from cottonseed oil, a move that will reduce the saturated fat content in the chips by 66%. Though some people, analysts and consumers alike, worry about a taste change in the best-selling snack food, the company says that it has been selling sunflower-fried chips in Canada and the UK (under the Walker’s brand) with only positive feedback from customers. There are other brands, including Kettle Chips, which currently use sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is made from sunflower seeds and is higher in vitamin E than any other vegetable oil. There are three types of sunflower oils: linoleic, high oleic and NuSun, all created through selective cross breeding of sunflower plants. Linoleic sunflower oil is the original oil, with low saturated fat levels (11% saturated) and a clean, light taste. Because it is so high in polyunsaturates, it is susceptible to oxidation during frying. The high oleic oil is unusually high in monounsaturated fats (82% monounsaturated, 9% polyunsaturated, 9% saturated) and was created to preserve the benefits of traditional sunflower oil but to be better for frying, so as to have a greater commercial application. In fact, this is most likely the type of oil that is being used by Frito Lay. NuSun is the newest type of sunflower oil. It is shelf-stable without the need for hydrogenation and falls somewhere between the linoleic and high oleic oils, with 65% monounsaturated, 26% polyunsaturated and 9% saturate fat.

By comparison, cottonseed oil is 27% saturated fat.

This isn't turning potato chips into health food, per say, but it is a very positive change in the snack food industry. And that’s something that can really make you “get your smile on.”