Have you ever dug down to the bottom of your pantry? Or looked way in the back at the stuff shoved up against the wall? I was amazed at the weird things I encountered when I did this. Not weird in the sense that I would never eat them but weird in the sense of "when and why did I buy this?" If you are anything like me, frugal to a fault, you shudder at the thought of tossing it out just because you didn't know you had it or, better yet, had no idea how to cook it. I decided to eat my pantry clean. Not in one sitting of course, but over time. Today I mixed up some falafel mix and cooked it into 4 oz patties at about 190 calories each. Douse with a bit of Mrs. Dash and a little lemon juice, add a couple slices of fresh tomato and cucumber and serve with a side of sliced beets and - voila - a vegetarian dinner that comes in at less than 300 calories. And I now no longer need to care why, when, or where I bought the falafel mix. I also have leftovers for a midnight snack or for lunch tomorrow.

My plan is to go pantry spelunking again next weekend to see what kind of treasure I can find. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. One thing that I found was a large bag of Nestles milk chocolate chips. I plan to divide this up into small piles of about 50 calories each in a lined muffin pan, add a couple of small pretzels, stick them in a warm oven (previously used to roast something healthy) until they fuze into a lump then freeze them in a zip lock bag for special treats. This will get them out of the pantry and am less tempted to just pour them in a bowl to be scarfed down during the next Ravens game. The plan is to take all the unhealthy junk that I have accumulated and find ways to fit it into my new healthier eating plan. It is all about portion control and a little imagination - and a willingness to eat some unusual combinations of things at a single meal.