Who made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight? Come on, raise your hand.

Ok. So who’s already given up or getting close?

Losing weight generally means altering your diet, and if you love to eat that can sometimes be tougher than exercise.

Most people think that low-calorie food can’t taste good. Honestly, some of it doesn’t.

But, there are tons of ways to pack in the flavor and still knock out the fat.

Next time you’re looking for a light side dish, give this a try:

1 (8 ounce) package yellow rice mix

1 & 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Bring the rice, water and olive oil to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Mix together the beans, corn, lime juice and cumin in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked rice and serve. I like to add a little chopped cilantro in there, too.

Each serving has about 100 calories. You can also make a meal out of it by adding some tomatoes and using the mixture as taco filling. Of course, you can add beef or chicken but keep in mind the more things you add, the higher your calorie count.

One tortilla filled with the corn, rice and bean mixture will be roughly 125 calories. That’s not too bad for a quick and tasty meal.

Making low calorie meals taste good can be a challenge but it’s not impossible. Give it a try and you may be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Tiffany Cannon is a field editor for Taste of Home Magazine and owner of 2ate9 in Demopolis. She can be reached via email at tiffany@2ate9.com