How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.                                                                     Welcome to Pamela who is now Following.

“Remember, remember the 5th of November,                                                                Gunpowder, treason, and plot…“

 Tomorrow will be Guy Fawkes Day, a time to remember the foiled “Gunpowder Plot” of 1605.  A group of Catholic Englishmen who disliked the idea of a Protestant monarch [James I of England, James IV of Scotland who was suppressing the Catholic religion] on the throne of England, decided to blow up the King and all the members of Parliament by putting barrels of gunpowder in the basement of the building where they were all to meet. Guy Fawkes, the original ‘fall guy,’ was captured as he waited to light the fuse on November 5. Rather than meet the traitor’s death of being first hanged, then drawn, then quartered, he fell from the scaffold to his death. His co-conspirators were also caught and executed, but Guy Fawkes gets the spotlight.  Today in England, merry children construct straw effigies, strut them through their neighborhoods asking for “A penny for the Guy?” [the money collected goes to buy candy], then burn the effigies on the Day.  This gives November 5th its other name of ‘bonfire night.’  A thoroughly wholesome and Christian entertainment for the whole family! Oh boy! Let’s celebrate sectarian violence while children play at burning people alive.                                                                                       For Guy Fawkes’ childhood in York, we will enjoy a cottage breakfast of egg and whole-grain pan muffin.  For dinner, we’ll eat Soup Royaume in honor of another foiled plot.  This is the soup that an elderly Protestant woman was cooking when the ‘papists’ tried to invade Geneva in 1602, and she sounded the alarm to save the city.

Cottage Breakfast: 298 calories   7.8 g fat   3.1 g fiber   13.6 g protein   43.8 g carbs   199 mg Calcium  PB   I wanted a breakfast that evoked a cottage in the English country-side, so here it is. The pan muffins are very good.

1 pan muffin [see …Not By Bread…posted 7-Feb-2018]                                                                                      1 oz applesauce                                                                                                                                                     one 2-oz egg                                                                                                                                                                       5-6 oz fruit smoothie or green smoothie or natural apple cider                                                           blackish coffee, blackish tea, or lemon in hot water

HINT: I prepared 8 pan muffins from the 10-grain mufffin batter, cooked them, and froze them. I made the remaining batter into muffins to eat on Slow Days.Take one pan muffin from the freezer the night before and let it thaw. Cook the egg to your taste and warm the pan muffin. Dish the applesauce, brew the hot beverage, pour the smoothie. What a sweet and easy meal.

Soup Royaume:  152 calories  0.3 g fat  6.3 g fiber  12.6 g protein  24.6 g carbs  84 mg Calcium PB GF  This fine meal for a cool night,  made hearty with autumn vegetables and lentils, is named after the old lady who saved Geneva from invasion by the Savoyards. Add as much seasoning as you wish. Any soup can be improved by preparing it ahead and letting it sit for 8-24 hours.

2.5 oz pork loin, raw or cooked                                                                                                                           ½ cup onion, chopped                                                                                                                                        3.5 oz dry lentils, small green ones from France if possible                                                                      3 oz rutabaga/turnip, cubed                                                                                                                                 2 oz carrot, diced                                                                                                                                                      3 oz parsnip, diced                                                                                                                                                   3 cups chopped cabbage                                                                                                                               mace +  dry mustard +  salt +  pepper + caraway seed [optional]                                                                ½ cup frozen spinach, chopped                                                                                                                               3+ cups water                                                                                                                                                                 per serving: several leaves of fresh spinach

Put the pork, onions, and lentils in a heavy saucepan with a little oil and cook until browned. Add the rutabaga/turnip, carrot, parsnip, cabbage and seasonings. Cover with water, using more if needed. Cover and cook for about 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Taste for seasonings, add the frozen spinach, stir well, and heat through. Divide into 4 equal servings and freeze the servings you don’t need today. Roughly chop the fresh spinach and put it on top of the soup when serving.