The man behind the Best Restaurant in America is surprising everyone with a new frozen food line. The folks at Bloomberg are reporting that Thomas Keller — owner of The French Laundry and Per Se — has designed and placed his name on two frozen dishes for FiveLeaf, a unit of Cuisine Solutions Inc. The first one, Mac and Cheese Lobster with Orzo will be pitched to retail stores soon.

In addition to his new frozen food line and two fancy pants fine dining establishments, Keller has two bistros, an American family-style spot, two bakeries and a catering operation. If this sounds like too much for one man to control, I might mention that Keller is also planning to open a meat shop, an inn at the French Laundry and a hamburger and wine restaurant.

When asked why he's willing to spread out his empire, Keller explained that it was mostly due to his staff. By creating advanced placement possibilities for his current employees.

"To maintain the consistency and quality of the staff, you have to give them opportunities."

However, all of this Keller leaves some food critics skeptical. San Francisco Chronicle editor Michael Bauer made comparisons to Wolfgang Puck and wondered if the fine dining brand could work with frozen food.

"Once you get into frozen food and pizzas, your fine dining brand gets a little fuzzed out."

Either way, I know I can't wait to try Keller's fancy mac and cheese, how about you?

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The days are getting shorter, and I've noticed a cold nip in the air. While it's not yet time to bring out my boot collection, it is time to start making delicious comfort foods. Chicken pot pie, with its creamy filling and flaky crust, is one of my all time fall favorites. It's classic, retro, and soothing-to-the-soul. As tempting as it is to pop a frozen pot pie in the oven, why not take a few extra minutes to make your own homemade version? I've found two tasty recipes: one that comes together easily, and another that is much more challenging. Choose the one that best suits your needs and skills as a cook.

To take a look and make one of these scrumptious recipes this fall, please read more

Just reading the recipe for this tomato crumble makes my mouth water. It's not quite a tomato pie, but I'm loving it. - Lobstersquad

Is it just me, or does Halloween arrive earlier each year? My local stores have already created their candy aisles and the costume shops are ready for business. In fact, yesterday I received the new Halloween-filled Williams-Sonoma catalog and, judging from the contents of the Yum Market, I wasn't the only one. TeamSugar member tatti33 must have received her copy too, as she has bookmarked nearly every single item in their Halloween collection!

Some of my faves include the Great Pumpkin Pan, the 3-D Cookie Cutter Set and the Kid's Spiderweb Apron. What do you think? Which is your favorite?

One of the best things about fall are ripe apples off of the tree. What would be even better is if they were baked in maple syrup. - The Wednesday Chef

Each year the folks at Santa Sweets hold an Ugly Tomato contest. The contest, which is to celebrate their UglyRipe variety of tomatoes, brought in many entries that they actually named eleven winners. The tomatoes were yellow, red, green and some contained many weird lumps. The odd shaped fruit surprised everyone, including Joe Procacci, CEO of Procacci Brothers Sales Corp (the parent company to Santa Sweets), who had this to say:

"I've been in the tomato-growing business for over 60 years and I have never seen tomatoes this ugly!"

Here are a few of my favorites, but be sure to check out all the winners when you have a chance.

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To properly welcome the arrival of fall, I'm hosting a harvest themed dinner party. Everything about this dinner will be warm, cozy, and inviting. In terms of food, the evening will begin with goat cheese balls, marinated olives, crisp flatbreads, and toasted pumpkin seeds. These easy appetizers — all store bought except for the cheese balls — will be awaiting the guests arrival. A simple, but tasty, pear-spinach salad with mustard vinaigrette will be served before a classic roast chicken and baked sweet potato fries. To learn how to make these lush autumnal recipes for your friends and family, read more