At this very moment, seasonal bakers around the world are bookmarking cookie recipes, tracking down special ingredients, and panicking when they realise they forgot to leave the butter out to soften. Welcome to cookie swap season.

If you’re still afraid of the seasoning MSG giving you headaches, you should know you’ve bought into a decades-old myth. Don’t despair! Now that you know the truth, you can go celebrate with a meal at your favourite MSG-using restaurant, or treat yourself to a cute panda-shaped bottle of the stuff.

Stadium food is horrendously expensive and unhealthy, but it's part of the fun of a sports game. And even if you're trying to stick to a diet, you're going to be at the game for a couple hours - so as a human, you're going to have to eat something. Here's how to navigate the world of beer and meat pies.

Summertime is, to me, synonymous with spicy peanut noodles, which I've been making every summer since I was allowed to cook pasta by myself. I love them so much that they almost make suffering through vicious, swampy heat and humidity feel worthwhile. Almost.

It's that magical time of year again, temperatures are once again climbing to levels most accurately described as "dangerous" and "oppressive". What a time to be alive.

Last night, as I was watching my stepmother prepare supper, I spied a plate — not a dish nor a bowl — but a plate of melted butter. She then proceeded to dip slices of French bread in the pool of butter, coating them completely from edge to edge before popping them in the toasted oven.

It's frustrating when a recipe doesn't immediately turn out how I envisioned it, but I always learn something. Just last night, I was working on a meaty situation, though the meat was a little chewy for my liking, both the liquid and the vegetables in the bottom of the insert were delicious. Rather than remove the veggies and reduce the pot liquor, I decided to employ this expert trick from Alex Guarnaschelli, and pureed them directly in the liquid for a thick, rich sauce.

Make-ahead entrées are a godsend during holiday entertaining season, but for some reason, it’s not the default technique for special-occasion meals. It really should be: not only is a day-old hearty braise easier on the host, but it actually tastes better than it does fresh from the oven.

Everybody loves a cheeky chicken McNugget now and again. Perhaps, even, multiple McNuggets. Today I learnt that, for all the McNuggets I've ever eaten in my life, McDonald's only produces nuggets in four different shapes: The Bell, The Bow-Tie, The Boot and The Ball.

Mind. Blown.

Dear Lifehacker, I've decided I want to get healthier and shed some excess weight. I'm pretty time-poor, so I'll be mainly relying on diet microwave dinners from the supermarket (Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, McCain Healthy Choice, etc.) My question is: will these products actually help me lose weight? And are they considered healthy?

It's no secret that I am a big fan of parchment paper, but what of its less-expensive, but still non-stick friend, wax paper? Why does it exist? And do you need it?

Any day can be Doughnut Day if you try hard enough. Honestly though, I love any opportunity to talk about doughnuts, and would like to use this holiday to bring awareness to my favourite summer dessert: grilled doughnuts.

I don't really do resolutions like "running" or "clean eating," but I do enjoy the "take charge of your life!" energy that each January brings. Instead of harnessing that energy to start a diet, consider making a few resolutions that aim to improve your kitchen and kitchen-related skills.

Tasty, nourishing, work lunches are key for getting you through the workday, and Epicurious has a great idea for getting five a week. It's called a "lunch swap" and it will change your midday meal.

It's well-worn advice at this point that one of the highest-impact ways to eat more healthily, and also spend less money, is to get it together and prepare your own food. Which is fine, because it's true!

I have a good bit of tomato anxiety, particularly over beautiful, delicate heirlooms. I wait all year, dreaming of the simplest, most sublime tomato sandwiches, then promptly freak out when the moment arrives. After all, I don't want to pick the wrong tomato.

When you cook food at home, you know you have two hours — arguably four if you really want to push it — to get your food out of the room-temperature air and into your belly. Any longer, and that plate of chicken salad is a bacterial brouhaha. But if you're picnicking in 30C+ weather, food goes bad faster — a lot faster.

Toss out the cos; dump the iceberg while you're at it, too. Lettuce is crap. Lettuce has always been crap. And here is why.

Cos lettuce (also known as romaine lettuce in the US) is a bit of worry. There have been a spate of health scares relating to E. coli connected to the leafy salad green - both in Australia and abroad. Here's what you need to know.