I have a weird fear to confess. Back when I used to work in an office environment, I was always afraid to leave my slow cooker on while I was at work. Silly, isn't it? It's about as sensible as saying I'm afraid to put clothes in my washing machine. (I'm not afraid of that. Really. I'm not totally weird ... just a little bit.)

Now that I work from home, the slow cooker is my best friend. Sometimes I'll take a break from work mid-day, get dinner going, and then I get to enjoy the delicious smells of dinner cooking while I'm typing away on my computer.

Cooking Light has a series of healthful slow cooker recipes that I can't wait to try. The Vegetable and Chickpea Curry sounds delicious to me. How about you? Are you a fan of the slow cooker? If so, what is your favorite slow cooked meal?

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It must be fun to work at Cooking Light magazine -- concocting all sorts of healthful recipes and taste-testing all of them. Wait a minute. Maybe that's not so great. Even healthful recipes can land heavily on your hips if you do too much taste testing.

So, in lieu of trying it all myself, I'm happy to accept Cooking Light staffers' picks of the best recipes from 2008. There are 46 recipes in their Greatest Hits of 2008 list -- here are some of the recipes that are tempting my taste buds:

• Seafood Risotto. The three S's in this dish make me a bit weak in the knees: Shrimp, scallops, and saffron. Yum.
  
• Golden Winter Soup. Soup is a favorite in my house, and this one sounds particularly comforting.
• Korean Spiced Beef and Cabbage Rolls. My mother used to make a meat and cabbage "pie" when I was a kid, and I loved it. The Korean spices in this recipe would put a unique twist on a familiar taste.

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Sitting at a desk all day, it's not that hard to stay properly hydrated. I drink water before and after exercising in the morning, and then I keep a big glass of water at my desk all day long. I don't monitor exactly how much water I drink -- I'm not a big believer in getting a certain number of servings. Instead, I pay attention to my body and I know when I've had enough.

Probably the best way to gauge your hydration is by the color of your urine. Your urine should be pale yellow or nearly clear. If you find you need to hydrate a little more, but can't imagine drinking any more water, never fear. There are many foods that help you hydrate. Check out the gallery for some ideas. Cooking Light also has recipes incorporating hydrating ingredients.

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When you're watching what you eat, that doesn't mean snacks have to hit the highway. On the contrary, actually. Snacking can be part of a healthful diet. When you choose the right snacks, they can be helpful in maintaining stable blood sugar and can help ward off the cravings that hit when you get overly hungry.

Fresh fruit or veggies are always a good choice for snacking ... but that's kind of a no-brainer. If you're in the mood for more of a treat, it's not as easy to determine what your best options are.

Cooking Light did some side-by-side comparisons of relatively healthy treats. Take hummus and salsa for example. Two tablespoons of hummus with carrot sticks has about 60 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber, and 105 milligrams of sodium. Two tablespoons of salsa with tortilla chips has 147 calories, 7 grams of fat, 0.5 gram of fiber, and 187 milligrams of sodium.

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Tomatoes are abundant right now -- trust me. I have three large bags full of them from our CSA Farm, and some fresh tomato sauce simmering on the stove as I type.

Needless to say, I've been scouring the internet looking for some new tomato recipes to try that take advantage of the healthy tomato, bursting with vitamin C and lycopene. So I checked out the top 25 tomato recipes on Cooking Light, and what do you suppose I found?

Well, good and bag things, really. Here's a breakdown of the recipes that ... caught my eye, let's say, and what you might decide to substitute for a healthier choice.

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This summer I joined some friends on their pontoon for a day of cruising around the lake and docking in the shallows with about 30 other boaters. My friends told me we'd have lunch on the boat, so I had brought along some simple fare. Instead of keeping it simple, my friends attached a small grill to the back of the pontoon and grilled a fantastic lunch. In fact, they made so much that they filled a styrofoam cooler with the food and walked it through the shallows offering other boaters food from their floating restaurant. Needless to say, the other boaters were thrilled.

Just as my friends wowed their water-loving comrades, you can wow your fellow football fans when tailgating. Cooking Light has four great menus for you to try. You don't have to stick to hot dogs or cold sandwiches. The Cooking Light menus are much more ambitious -- not to mention delicious; salmon, cous-cous, barbecued chicken, and peaches with caramel sauce are just a few of the tasty treats they recommend.

Want more tailgating tips? Check out Kristin's post on vegetarian tailgating.

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For quite a while, my son refused to eat chicken. I didn't push him on it -- before I adopted him he lived on a ranch where one of his chores was to take care of the chickens. I can totally respect his not wanting to eat chicken because of ethical reasons (though I don't think he realized that's what he was doing).

So you can imagine my surprise when, all of a sudden, my son started expressing an interest in eating chicken again. Now it's one of his favorite meals. It makes things easier for me as many of my easy and healthful recipes revolve around chicken.

So, while I was relieved to be able to cook it again, I'm already starting to feel like I'm in a rut. I needed to add some new recipes to my chicken repertoire. Here comes Cooking Light to the rescue -- they have 20 tasty and healthful chicken recipes to try. Next up on my family's dinner plate? Peanut-Crusted Chicken with Pineapple Salsa.

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When I plan out meals for the week, I often look for ways to cut some corners on time. For example, if I'm going to brown ground turkey for lettuce wraps, I make sure to buy enough meat that I can reserve half of the browned meat for spaghetti or lasagna the next day. (If you're wondering about the lettuce wraps, I brown the meat, add teriyaki sauce and a little garlic, spoon the mixture into romaine leaves, and then top with shredded carrot -- delicious and healthy!)

Cooking Light has some ideas on how you can apply the "cook once, eat twice" principle to grilling. It's a great time saver and, when it comes to outdoor cooking, lighting up the grill only once for two meals is much better for the environment.

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