If you weren't already totally freaked out about the food supply given all the recent recalls and studies coming out about bacteria in our meat and veggies, here's a new curve ball moms in particular are going to have to contend with ... The dairy industry, feeling the pressure of the war on obesity and feeling threatened by many schools' ban on high-cal chocolate milk, has decided to begin making more low-calorie, "milk-like" beverages with artificial sweeteners. They think replacing sugar in flavored milk with aspartame (aka Equal) or sucralose (aka Splenda, which was discovered when scientists were working with DDT) will help them compete with diet sodas. Good times!

But wait, it gets freakier ... 

Kraft Macaroni 'n' Cheese has been a dinner staple for moms for as long as we can remember. Kids absolutely adore it. Heck, parents adore it. It's a classic, iconic comfort food. I've literally had friends say that if their mac doesn't have that orange yellow-y signature color of Kraft's cheese, then it's just not the same. Still, it's that food coloring that's causing quite an uproar among some concerned consumers.

Two North Carolina food bloggers -- Lisa Leake and Vani Hari -- felt similarly warm and fuzzy about the product until they learned that the U.S. version contains the additives Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. In turn, they created an online petition in hopes of garnering support to demand a change. Amazingly, so far, more than 155K people have signed the Change.org petition, requesting that Kraft to made the U.S. version of the mac additive-free, too.

We all love a grilled cheese sandwich. And we love a crunchy BLT. So what happens when the two get together? We wonder why we hadn't thought of it before, that's what. Heidi Larsen came up with this gem of a recipe on her blog, Foodie Crush.

Heidi's BLT grilled cheese recipe calls for lacy Swiss cheese, which I think would go perfectly with bacon. But of course you can swap in any other cheese you like better. And if you're looking for a perfect tomato soup to go with that sandwich, here's a slow cooker tomato soup recipe from our big list of crock pot soups. And there you go! The ultimate snowy day weekend lunch, BLT grilled cheese with a side of cozy soup.

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 this CafeMom discussion about how to make a grilled cheese sandwich is any indication, there are as many ways to make that sandwich as there are ways to skin a cat. And that makes sense. We all have different ideas about what makes the "perfect" grilled cheese sandwich -- and what qualifies as a "good-enough" sandwich.

But I think most of us like ours golden and crispy on the outside, soft and melty on the inside, and not too greasy with butter. That's what I consider the ideal, anyway. So here's a few tips for what I think makes a darn-good, family-pleasing, classic grilled cheese sandwich.

Before I had my son, I was a healthy eater. A seriously healthy eater. I had been a vegetarian for over a year, stayed away from fried foods, and ate heaping portions of roasted vegetables every day. Of course that diet went out the window once my cravings kicked in. I wanted bacon every single day. Though I didn't worry about it. I figured I would get back to my old way of eating -- eventually. Who was I kidding?! It's only gotten worse because I constantly find myself picking at the nuggets, fries, and mac 'n' cheese my son doesn't finish eating. And I know I'm not alone.

I know food safety guidelines are important, but really now. When it comes to how I like my burgers, I do not want Uncle Sam having any say in the matter. I like 'em rare, juicy, and smothered in cheddar cheese. But if I were to try ordering that in London, I'd be shut down if a proposed law gets passed. Denied.

The Westminster council says it's cracking down on rare and medium-rare burger sales for food safety reasons, but it seems pretty draconian and over-the-top to me. Could something like that actually happen over here?

While Fifty Shades of Grey may have inspired many ladies to ask their husbands to get more, uh, creative in the bedroom, for some it's gotten them creative in another room in the house: the kitchen. Move over Christian Grey. This other guy's got bacon. A lot of bacon. A lot of hot, juicy bacon. 

The 15 Shades of Bacon burger, created by Matt Spencer, owner of the Custom House restaurant over in the U.K., was made for men, but holy crap! I personally would let someone tie me up if afterward I got to take a bite of one of those.