Vary Your Food Choices In The Coming New Year

I know a woman who reviews her wardrobe on New Year’s Day. If an outfit hasn’t been worn in the last year, she discards it. She cleans out her closet and clutter to start the new year on the right foot.

Many of us take stock of ourselves at this time of the year. The reality of a harsh winter sets in and we take a second look at our attitudes and behaviors.

The foods we eat are often a focus. Our dissatisfactions with life may be externalized to foods we consume. It’s easier to look at how much chocolate we eat than to change our reactions to that driver who cuts in front of us.

Here are some food ideas to try as the new year blooms with snowcrusted pine trees, smooth-skating lakes and clear, lung-stimulating air:

Try new soups. There are low-fat soups, vegetarian soups and packaged dry bean soup mixtures that warm the heart as well as stomach.

Double your veggies. Automatically serve two different vegetables at dinner, if you’re used to having just one. Complement a starchy vegetable, such as corn, with a good fiber source such as broccoli. Frozen veggies are fine.

Share a recipe. Call that neighbor with the wonderful chicken casserole she served at your last block party. Exchange your favorite recipes and enjoy some variety.

Buy a new cookbook. Half the fun of cooking is finding the perfect recipe. A new cookbook stimulates the imagination with new versions of favorite foods.

Go vegetarian. There are some excellent vegetarian restaurants in our area; check the Yellow Pages for choices.

Visit the meat counter. People who deal with meat and fish have a ton of knowledge about what’s good to eat and how to cook it. Find out how they fix those free samples you love.

Shop with a friend. See what they put in their cart; it might give you ideas.

Following is a new recipe, featuring shrimp, that you might want to add to your repertoire. Here’s to 1997 and a year of exciting challenges!

Easy Shrimp Sandwiches

Adapted from “Deliciously Healthy Favorite Foods Cookbook” (Health Cookbooks).

1/4 pound small cooked shrimp

4 ounces grated fat-free mozzarella or Cheddar cheese

4 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

2 tablespoons minced green onion

4 English muffins, cut in half and toasted

Mix shrimp, cheese, mayonnaise and green onion. Spread an equal amount of shrimp mixture on each toasted muffin half. Broil or microwave until cheese begins to melt.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 120 calories, 0.75 grams fat (6 percent fat calories), 10 grams protein, 14 grams carbohydrate, 24 milligrams cholesterol, 360 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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