If you don’t already know, me and my 16yr old son are starting P90x.  This also means we have to eat healthier and the easiest, best way to eat healthy during the Summer, is to take advantage of the grill (and the man cooking..haha).  It’s no secret that Olive Oil is a healthy fat so we do try to use it often on everything from grilled vegetables to salad dressings.  Of course, we buy ours at Walmart and we use the Great Value brand mostly because of price but also use Mazola brand.  Do you have a favorite that you like?

Substituting olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, for saturated fats or polyunsaturated fats can:

• Reduce blood pressure
• Inhibit the growth of some cancers
• Benefit people at risk for or with diabetes
• Lessen the severity of asthma and arthritis
• Actually help your body maintain a lower weight

Just like anything else, cooking with heat can reduce the amount of nutrients but our mentality is – ‘it’s better than butter’.  We’ve, many times, slathered butter all over our vegetables before grilling and I know that this has to be a better option. We have used the Olive Oil spray and just sprayed them! And overcooking is not recommended….as you can see, we overcooked ours just a bit but that tends to happen when you’re watering plants, talking on the phone, and jumping on the trampoline in between!

I’d love to know how you use Olive Oil!  I’ve heard you can make lip balm using it and I know there’s an Olive Oil soap that is amazing.  I’d love to try other non-food ways to use the oil. Share if you know some!

You simple pour just a little bit of Olive Oil all over the Asparagus and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  You might even toss some Parmesan cheese too after they are grilled. YUM!

Ummm, yeah, stay focused when cooking people!! Clearly overcooked but still tasted great!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

This has to be the most fun cookbook I’ve ever read!  Not only that, the recipes in Eat, Shrink, and be Merry are wonderful.  What I love the most is the simplicity of them.  I mean, the ingredients are “normal”.  Not your hard-to-find type of ingredients.  They are ones that you can find in a small town grocery store like mine!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this book, maybe you’ve heard of Looneyspoons.  Unfortunately, that book is no longer in print but it’s the same ladies, who happen to be sisters.  Their story alone is amazing and I was inspired to say the least at how their whole project came about.  It’s totally worth the read and I encourage you to check it out.  I don’t get a lot of time to read but it was so real, so unbelievable, and it really tells you about who they are and what makes their cookbooks unique and special.  And not that this matters so much but I LOVE the size and colors of this book.  Very refreshing!

This cookbook rawks because it’s low fat eating and not your typical 2-ingredient no-fat-crappy ingredients recipe either.  It has good, real ingredients and the meals sound like eatable meals.  I cannot stress that enough!!! NORMAL, GOOD and HEALTHY recipes! Something that you need to remember when eating healthy or dieting, is that portion size is everything!!!!  You MUST watch your portions because it does no good to eat a giant plate of healthy food.   At the end of each recipe, you’ll find the ‘per serving’ information and how many the recipe actually serves which can be very beneficial if you are trying to lose weight.

The recipe titles crack me up.  To give you a few examples:

• Lord of the Wings
• Dunk `n` GoNuts!
• Kentucky Freud Chicken
• These Beets Were Made for Walkin’
• Pea Diddy

See what I mean?  They’re hilarious and the little cartoon drawings fit the titles and make it even more fun.  These and the little stories, song remakes, and tips that go with the each recipe make it an absolute hoot!

Don’t get me wrong either, just because the cookbook is fun and entertaining, doesn’t mean the nutritional value & information is not there.  For instance, did you that your fingernails grow faster on the hand you favor and that your nails can tell you if you have a vitamin deficiency??  Or do you know the real lowdown on Sweet-n-low?  I bet you think you do but you don’t!  Just more great reasons to read the book.

This is instantly one of my favorite cookbooks and you can bet that I’ll be creating these healthy dishes in my own kitchen and making sure that mom, who is a cookbook junkie, will be getting a copy of the book too.  After all, she and her man want more healthy meals added to their daily eating rituals!

If you wanna buy this book, they’re having a special 2 for 1!!!! That means TWO COOKBOOKS FOR THE SAME PRICE AS ONE!!! Keep one and give one away.  You know, Christmas is coming up folks!