Intuitive Eating: Checking with your body, your “felt sense”:

What do I want to eat?” And cooking without recipes, by “the feel of it all.”

Volumetrics: Eating Large Quantities of Low-Cal Veggies At Meals or Snack

Forget about celery and carrots!

Making Salad Delicious

You can have a huge salad with every meal, lettuce (Sam’s Club: Romaine Hearts or Spring Mix), tomatoes (try not to refrigerate -kills the taste and texture), sweet onions (Vidalia, Red, or other), and low-fat dressing (WalMart’s Great Value Fat-Free Italian: 10 Calories in 2 T)-not interested? Find that “one thing” that turns bland into delicious: a Tablespoon of Blue Cheese or Cheddar or Parmesan? An egg? Beets? Just one thing!

Roasted Cauliflower

Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Rinse and break cauliflower (or two) into flowerets. Spray casserole dish lightly with Canola (or other) oil. Add ½ cauliflower pieces. Spray top, then sprinkle with crushed Reduced-Fat Wheat Crackers. Add rest of cauliflower. Spray top again and sprinkle with Crackers. Roast uncovered for about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally as browns on the top, until as soft as you like it. Remove from oven and stir in a handful of Parmesan cheese. The less crackers and cheese, the fewer calories. Reheat and eat with meals or as snack

Grilled Peppers and Onions

Slice into long strips two each of yellow, orange, and red sweet peppers (Sam’s Club sells in packages) and two sweet onions. Place in a bowl, spray with a little Canola oil, and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning or another favorite seasoning. Toss to coat.

Fire up a gas or charcoal grill (or preheat oven to 420 degrees). Use a grill pan (sheet with holes). Spread pan with veggies (may need to do in two batches) and grill on medium for 10 minutes. Stir. Grill some more, until slightly blackened but not burned. If you want them softer, turn off the flame under the grill pan and let sit in the closed grill. Eat a mountain! Very few calories. Especially great with chicken (Sam’s Club: Emeril’s Chicken and Apple Sausages) or turkey sausages. You can grill a big batch of sausages at the same time and reheat as needed.

Sorry I am such a Sam’s Club shopper, but I live in Northwest Arkansas, where WalMart was born and is, for us, like our “neighborhood” store (the Waltons, WalMart founders, have poured millions into trying to raise Arkansas up, culturally and educationally, and that is not a bad side of the story…..)

Got favorite recipes? Or WalMart commentary (beleive me, I used to live in Eugene, Oregon, home of “boutique” food shopping and defenders of mom-and-pop stores)