As temperatures drop and snow starts falling there's really nothing more delicious than a hearty bowl of beef stew. It warms the body and is good for the soul -- true comfort food at its finest, really.

Even better is the fact that you can make it in your crock pot with this recipe from Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife. Filled with potatoes, vegetables, and chunks of sirloin, you just take a few minutes to toss everything in, then let it cook all day. When dinner time rolls around, you're ready to roll. Speaking of which, some rolls or bread would go great with it.

I recently lined my basement storage area with shelves, to systematically hold my large supply of grocery and toiletry items. Friends call it "Goss-Mart."A common question that I am asked is "how much [fill in the blank with a given food or toiletry item] must YOU go through?" or I get the comment "I can only imagine what your grocery bill is feeding EIGHT kids!"

I guess to a mom of a "normal" sized family (what is considered normal anyway?), our quantities are gargantuan, but to me, those large break-your-arms quantities feel very commonplace after this many years of lugging car load after car load of items in the front door!

If you want to throw a memorable dinner party, you need look no further than The Real Housewives of any and every city for inspiration. Over the years these women have thrown a host of dinner parties no one could ever forget. The fact that "from hell" is usually included in the memories shouldn't discourage you too much.

Here are just a few little touches we can glean from their fabulous parties to use in throwing memorable parties in our very own homes. Of course they have big budgets and lots of staff to help them orchestrate their affairs, but they can serve as inspiration nonetheless. Just pick and choose as you see fit.

I'm always suspicious of people who tell me they don't have a favorite food. Call me a crazed foodie, but come on, what's life without a little healthy obsession? Without feeling like your taste buds could take you to an otherworldly place, if only because you're enjoying your all-time most loved dish? One now semi-famous middle schooler totally knows what I'm talking about ...

His/her adorable note -- all about how much he/she adores fried chicken -- was posted to Reddit by someone who said, "My friend found this on the floor of her 8th grade classroom." Check it out ...

Here's a fun and delicious dinner idea -- individually baked pots of macaroni and cheese. First and foremost, the recipe from Simply Scratch (one of my most favorite food blogs!) is decadently delicious. It blows anything in a box completely away.

It contains a couple kinds of cheese, including the interesting addition of cream cheese, which gives it a great creaminess. It also calls for a bit of shallot, mustard, and hot sauce, which gives it some amazing flavor. The fact that you bake it up in individual little pots just makes it all the more fun. It's perfect for picky eaters, and also for portion control for those of us who have trouble resisting seconds ... and thirds. 

When it comes to dinner these days, I'm all about the soup. Even though it's still not exactly cold in Florida where I live, there's still something soothing about a nice, warm, comforting bowl of soup this time of year. And this southwest chicken chili is one of my all-time favorites that I make repeatedly.

From Simply Scratch, it's easy to make, but incredibly flavorful. It's full of all kinds of good, healthy ingredients that all blend together in one amazing dish. I love to serve it with all sorts of toppings like cheese, avocado chunks, tortilla chips, and green onions. It's perfect if you're hosting a Super Bowl party, or for dinner any night.

For years, we've known that tuna and even swordfish are more polluted with mercury than most seafood. And sure, knowing this has been a bummer for people who enjoy the occasional tuna salad sandwich or spicy tuna roll, but it really wasn't anything all that alarming. But now, new research has revealed a fact that anyone who likes to eat fish should find truly upsetting ... 84 percent of fish have unsafe levels of mercury, according to a study from the Biodiversity Research Institute in Maine and the International POPs Elimination Network. Ugh. This is no joke. It could have serious health implications for us.

But, okay, say you only really eat fish on Saturday nights when you go out for a hot date night with your honey ... or when it's on sale? So you should be safe -- for the most part -- right?

One of the things I look forward to most about winter is mashed potatoes. Big, soft mountains of warm potato comfort. They're like a cozy blanket for your mouth. Even better, my son loves them. Oh, the praise that is heaped upon me when I cook mashed potatoes! It totally makes up for those times when I cook Brussels sprouts (not popular).

I used to go through the trouble of peeling and cutting and boiling, and it's not really that much work. But then I figured out a mashed potato method that's way faster and easier. And it even tastes better! Here's my recipe.