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Dear Heloise: I'm always trying to find ways to lower my calorie intake. In a restaurant in my hometown, I saw a lady take out a small, plastic spray bottle and lightly spray salad dressing onto her salad. I thought that was a very clever idea and asked her about it. She said restaurants have a habit of using too much dressing, so to save calories, she uses her spray bottle of oil and vinegar.

If she feels like using ranch dressing or some other thick dressing, she has the restaurant put the dressing in a small, separate container. Then she dips her fork in the dressing before she sticks it into the salad and eats it. This is another way to enjoy dressing without a lot of calories. -- Lorrain B., Huntington Beach, California

SEND A GREAT HINT TO:

NO-MIX CHERRY PINEAPPLE NUT CAKE

Dear Readers: Looking for a quick recipe to serve company? Here is a very easy recipe that will have your guests begging for seconds:

No-Mix Cherry Pineapple Nut Cake

1 21-ounce can of cherry pie filling

1 package of yellow cake mix

1 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup

1 3-ounce can (or 1 cup) pecans, chopped

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Spread pineapple and its syrup evenly in pan. Spoon cherry pie filling evenly over pineapple. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over this mixture, then the chopped nuts. Slice the chilled butter or margarine in thin slices and put those slices evenly over the ingredients. Bake for 50 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

If easy recipes that take little time to make appeal to you, then you'll love my pamphlet "Heloise's Cake Recipes." It's so easy to get a copy, too. Just go to www.Heloise.com or send $3, along with a stamped, self-addressed, long envelope to: Heloise/Cakes, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You'll love having this handy little pamphlet at your fingertips. -- Heloise

Dear Heloise: In the '70s, I worked for a very small but upscale restaurant. The French trained chef would wash the greens (lettuce, cabbage, parsley and such), then shake out the excess water. After shaking out the water, he'd wrap each vegetable in paper towels, then store them in the crisper section of the refrigerator. I have used this method, and lettuce and parsley can last up to a month before being used up. No waste!

By the way, I enjoy reading your column in the Press-Enterprise here in Riverside, California. -- Nadia L., Riverside, California

Dear Heloise: For years, I have tried to get parchment paper to fit into the corners of a cake pan, and I never had any luck. Many of my cakes came out a little lopsided. Finally, a neighbor told me to wet the back of the parchment paper, then fit it to the cake pan. Sure enough, it worked like a charm! No more lopsided cakes. I wish I had known this trick before I baked that lopsided cake for the annual bake sale at church! -- Lisa K., Farmington, Utah

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