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.                                                                      Greetings to the group of frequent visitors from India. I hope this blog helps your on your Fasting journey.

On February 4, 1938, Thornton Wilder‘s play Our Town debuted. This is one of my all-time favorite plays, which I directed three times in 10 years at the high school where I was Drama Coach. Wilder is said to have based the play’s characters and location, “Grovers Corners, New Hampshire,” on Peterborough, NH which he knew when he was a resident at the MacDowell Colony there.  Certainly the play has a real small-town New Hampshire feel and many mentions of local towns [Contoocook, Jaffery] and landmarks [Mount Monadnock]. Like his contemporary, the artist Norman Rockwell, Wilder was working during the turbulent and troubled Depression Era, evoking nostalgia for a simpler, more idyllic life in turn of the century America.  And people responded to those images of their remembered youth.  Despite its unusual lack of fancy sets, the play was a hit and has been popular ever since its opening which featured the author in the lead role of “Stage Manager.”  It tells a highly relatable story of young love, of death, and of life. I would tell my players that if I wasn’t crying by the 3rd act, they weren’t doing their part. Sure enough, night after night the Third Act would have me in tears. Hug those near and dear to you, and be sure to “… realize life while [you] live it…every, every minute.”                                                           In their gardens, Mrs Webb and Mrs Gibbs would surely have grown rhubarb [more efficacious than the ‘lots and lots of Comfrey’ grown to ease constipation], so we will have some of that for breakfast.  Thornton Wilder had studied French at Yale. He must have had fun writing Mrs Gibbs’ line about wanting a trip to France: she longs to “visit a country where they don’t talk English and don’t even want to!”  He spent a time in Italy after college studying archaeology, so we will dine ‘in Italy’ on Parmesan Fish.

Rhubarb Pudding:  283 calories  3.6 g fat  2.7 g fiber  17 g protein  46.7 g carbs [36 g Complex] 406 mg Calcium   PB GF – if using GF flour      Hayden Pearson has a wonderful dessert call “Blanche’s Super Rhubarb Pudding” in his iconic Country Flavor Cook Book. This is a scaled-down version that is fit for breakfast: slightly tangy, lightly sweet.  NB: This recipe makes enough for two [2].  

6 Tbsp cooked, mashed rhubarb                                                                                                                 1 two-oz egg + 1 egg white                                                                                                               1-1/2 Tbsp sugar                                                                                                                                             2 Tbsp flour OR 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour                                                                            2 Tbsp milk                                                                                                                                       ½ tsp baking powder                                                                                                                          per person:1 slice Canadian Bacon [= ½ oz back bacon]                                                       blackish coffee or blackish tea or lemon in hot water                                                                      5-6 oz fruit smoothie, green smoothie or natural apple cider

Cut up 1 cup rhubarb and stew it in a little water. Drain thoroughly and mash. Measure the 6 Tbsp you need and save the remainder for another use. {Add to a smoothie; serve with yogurt] Whisk the egg and white, then add all the other ingredients [but not the bacon!] Spoon into a baking dish which has been sprayed with non-stick spray. HINT: I did all this the night before. A real time-saver.Bake at 350F. Until the batter is firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. While the pudding bakes, cook the bacon and prepare the beverages. Delicious.

Parmesan Fish:  238 calories  2.6 g fat  4.7 g fiber  31 g protein  11.4 g carbs  242.5 mg Calcium   PG GF – if using GF bread    A new version of the restaurant classic, made suitable for Fasters. And it is delicious.

4 oz fish, firm-fleshed variety                                                                                                            1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated                                                                                                      1 tsp dried oregano and/or thyme                                                                                                 ¼ oz whole-grain breadcrumbs, fresh not dried                                                                                1 Tbsp milk                                                                                                                                      ¼ cup marinara sauce, homemade or jarred                                                                                 ¾ oz mozzarella, grated                                                                                                                    2 Tbsp low-fat cottage cheese                                                                                                             2 oz green beans

Heat the toaster oven to 350F. Spritz an oven-proof pan with non-stick spray or olive oil. Pour the milk onto a small plate. On another plate combine the Parmesan, herbs, and bread crumbs with salt and pepper. Cream the other two cheeses together until well-combined. Dip the fish in the milk on both sides. Dredge the fish in the crumb/cheese mixture to coat it completely. Place on the oven-proof pan and spray with olive oil. Bake the fish about 10 minutes, until golden. Top the fish with the marinara sauce, then mound the cheese over it. Broil for 5 minutes until the cheese is melty and starting to brown. Prepare the green beans and plate with the fish. For atmosphere, light the candle stuck in the wine bottle .