Glorious cheese!

I love cheese. I also know that to lose weight, I can't eat as much of it as I want.

So I grate or shred cheese, Into my salads, my morning egg-white omelet, or to perk up roasted vegetables. What is absolutely fantastic about cheese is that a little goes a long way -- as long as you use cheeses with full flavor. All my graters/shredders are made by Microplane, and come in all shapes and sizes, from the no-nonsense version that resembles a carpenter's rasp, to the box grater, which sports holes from fine to coarse.

Of course, if I am pressed for time, I but already shredded cheese. It's hard to imagine that in the not-so-distant past, those packages of shredded cheese did not exist.

But my biggest problem with pre-packaged cheese is that I use so little, the cheese in the bag often turns into a chemistry experiment. But there is a solution: Store it in the freezer and use what you need without defrosting, because cheese defrosts and melts so quickly. What could be easier? Cheese will keep in the freezer up to six months.

And now for the simplest breakfast or lunch in the world: Spray a saute pan with spray cooking oil, place a flour tortilla in the pan, and heat it up a bit. Sprinkle with cheese -- I like a mix of Cheddar and Jack. For a bit of heat, add a few chopped slices jalapeno peppers. Fold in half and heat until melted. Serve with salsa.