How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it: a simple way to lose weight and be healthier.
What did a clerk for King Louis XIV have to do with Puss in Boots? Everything. Charles Perrault was born in 1628, into a well-placed Parisian family. His father wished him to be a lawyer, so Charles sat for the exam. Although he passed, he never practiced law. Charles drifted a bit, then became a civil servant at court. He seemed to have an affinity for ‘academies’: he helped to found the Academy of Sciences, and resurrected the defunct Academy of Painting. As a side hustle, he was the secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions, which put mottos on monuments. One of his major contributions to Parisian life was that he convinced the government to open the Tuileries Garden, next to the Louvre Palace, to the public. At age 56, Perrault was forced to retire, so he devoted himself to his children. For some reason, he wrote a book containing popular folktales which he called “Tales of Mother Goose.” It was a huge hit, beloved by children and adults alike, each story followed by two morals. Although Perrault did not call them ‘fairy tales’, he made the genre popular. Five years later, he died on May 16, 1703, but his stories took on a life of their own. They were retold by the Brothers Grimm [who made them rather violent] in Germany in the 1800s, and, of course, reinvented by Walt Disney [who, well, Disneyfied them] in the 1900s. The best way I can think of to honor the Father of the Fairy Tale, would be to relax in the Tuileries Garden while reading Perrault’s Cinderella.
I always thought that the story “Blue Beard” took place in southern France, whence comes our breakfast. The dinner is a riff on a popular meal, just as subsequent authors riffed on Perrault’s tales, to make them their own.
Chicken Provincal Bake: 139 calories… 5 g fat… 2 g fiber… 10.7 g protein… 10.5 g carbs… 47.5 mg Calcium… NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages. PB GF What wonderful flavors! Based on the dinner of the same name.
++++ 1 two-oz egg ++++ 2 Tbsp crushed tomatoes, slightly drained ++++ ++++ ½ anchovy, canned fillets, rinsed and chopped ++++ 1 Tbsp low-fat cottage cheese ++++ ¼ oz cooked chicken breast, minced ++++ thyme, rosemary, pinch red pepper flakes ++++ 1 oz pear ++++ Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories] Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]
Spritz an oven-proof dish with non-stick spray and set the toaster oven for 350 degrees F. Whisk together the first 6 ingredients [not the pear!] and pour into the dish. Bake for about 15 minutes while you slice the pear and prepare your optional beverages. Great way to start the day.
Mackerel with Gooseberry Glaze: 276 calories… 16 g fat… 1 g fat… 22 g protein… 7 g carbs… 27 mg Calcium… PB GF This popular dish from Normandy usually features fresh gooseberries. Here in the USA, those are less common so we make a glaze of gooseberry jelly. The zucchini picks up the color of green gooseberries.
++++ 3 oz mackerel, frozen or fresh fillets ++++ 2 tsp gooseberry jelly/jam ++++ ++++ 4 oz zucchini ribbons ++++
Thaw the fish if frozen. Heat the oven to 400 F. Put fish on a baking tray and brush with melted jelly. Using a potato peeler, carve long, thin slices from the length of the zucchini until you have 3 oz. Toss the ribbons with salt and pepper. Place the ribbons on the baking tray in a heap [if they are in a thin layer, they will over-cook]. Bake the pan with the fish and zucchini for 5 minutes. Rearrange the zucchini so that the bottom of the heap is now on top. Bake 5 minutes more, or until the fish is cooked. Plate the fish with the zucchini ribbons. Sheet-pan dinners are so trendy these days.
Ingredients for next week: Breakfast, single portion for Monday …………………………… single portion for Thursday:
1 two-oz egg = US large | 1.5 two-oz eggs |
2 oysters | ground cumin |
scallion + strawberries | ground paprika |
American streaky bacon | Golden Berries |
optional smoothie | optional smoothie |
optional hot beverage | optional hot beverage |
Dinner, single portion for Monday:………………………….. single portion for Thursday:
bacon + onion | 6 felafel patties |
potato + fish stock | 2 servings of Side Salad |
cod or hake | tomato |
2%-fat milk + parsley | carrot + beets + feta cheese |
Sparkling water | Sparkling water |