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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Cooks discovered centuries ago that a good sauce makes the meal taste a lot better.  Today we will look at several sauces that can be part of a Fast meal: sometimes breakfast, sometimes dinner, sometimes either.                                                                                                                

There were people who would have said that Jesse James was a ‘saucy’ lad: despite the fact that he and his gang actually robbed banks and killed people, the pro-Conferedate newspapers sometimes portrayed him as a cheeky Robin Hood. On Dec. 7, 1869, James and his brother Frank robbed a bank in Gallatin, MO, marking the official start to their lives of crime.  In books and even movies, Jesse James has been written into American mythology as a man who wanted to right the wrongs against the common people.  His sympathies lay with the defeated Southern States and he was in fact continuing the war by targeting banks owned by Republicans, those who were pro-Lincoln.  James might not have been the fun-loving saucy populist, but we can add some sauce to our meals as we reflect tomorrow on the strange career of an American legend.

CHICKPEA RAGOUT: Pair with meat, poultry, or seafood           4 cups                                  ½ tsp olive oil                                                                                                                                                         ½ cup diced onions                                                                                                                                              ½ cup scallions, chopped                                                                                                                                      1 Tbsp garlic                                                                        2 cups diced tomatoes, fresh or canned                                         1.5 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed if canned                                                                                ½ cup chicken stock          +   ½ tsp salt    +      ½ tsp pepper                                    Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the onion, scallion and garlic. Stir briefly over the heat then add the tomatoes, chickpeas, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat until liquids are mostly evaporated.

HORSERADISH DRESSING: Great on Lamb or Beef Salad                                                              1 Tbsp mayonnaise made with olive oil                                                                                                                       1 and ½ tsp prepared horseradish   [the kind you purchase in a jar]                                                                            1 Tbsp buttermilk                                                                                                                                                       1 and ½ tsp lemon juice                                                                                                                               Whisk all ingredients together. 

MARINARA SAUCE:  From Gourmet magazine, this is a quick go-to sauce.       3 cups                                                                                                                                1 Tbsp olive oil                                                                                                                                     2 large cloves garlic, whole                                                                                                                        pinch crushed red pepper                                                                                                           one 28-oz can whole tomatoes                                                                                                              1.25 tsp salt                                                                                                                                          basil                                                                                Heat the oil then add the garlic and crushed pepper.  Cook on high for about 5 minutes or until the garlic starts to brown.  Remove the garlic and carefully add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands or a spoon.  Cook over low heat for 20 minutes and then add the salt and basil. Use now or freeze.

POPPY SEED DRESSING:  Delightful on Strawberry-Chicken Salad                                                 2 tsp red wine vinegar                                                                                                                                            1 Tbsp olive oil                                                                                                                                                     pinch salt                                                                                                                                                               ½ tsp dried mustard                                                                                                                                                 1 tsp poppy seeds                                                                                                                                               Whisk together vigorously.

PUTTANESCA SAUCE: With fish or meat or solo, this sauce is delicious.     4 cups                                                   1 cup onion, chopped                                                                                                                            2 garlic cloves, chopped                                                                                                                   2 tsp olive oil                                                                                                                                   5 cups whole plum tomatoes                                                                                              1 cup mushrooms                                                                                                                              2 anchovies                                                                                                                                                 1 cup halved canned black olives  [If using oil-cured olives, cut the amount in half]               +            2 Tbsp capers                                                                          Cook the onions and garlic in the oil until tender but not brown.   Add everything else.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

SHEPHERDS’ SALAD DRESSING: Perfect for this salad and many others.                                                                   3 Tbsp olive oil                                                                        4” rosemary                                                                               6 sage leaves                                                                                                                                                                                 4 smashed cloves garlic                                               pinch  of hot pepper flakes.                                                                          ½ cup red wine vinegar                                                         Put oil and herbs in a sauce pan and simmer 5-10 minutes.  Add the garlic and peppers and stir for a few seconds. Add the vinegar and boil down the whole recipe to 1/3 cup. Strain and cool.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg	1.5 two-oz eggs
blueberries	Danish Bleu cheese
raclette cheese	herring marinated in wine
1/4 slice bread	apple
Whatever you need for your smoothie	Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage	Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

Cabbage, onion, rutabaga or turnip	6 oz firm white fish +
carrot, parsnip, dry green lentils	side salad + broccoli OR peas + beans
pork loin, frozen spinach, dry mustard	Cheddar cheese
fresh spinach, mace, dry mustard
Sparkling water	Sparkling water