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.

John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominister, Massachusetts. If you are scratching your head, wondering who he is, then you might know his nickname: “Johnny Appleseed.” People my age will remember the Disney version of his story and Girl Scouts might remember singing “The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord...” as a grace before meals. Why his he associated with apples? Apples are not native to the Americas [try Kazakhstan!], but early settlers brought them over and soon the East was full of them. Settlers going West into Ohio would be given 100 acres if they settled down and planted apple trees. Chapman was a saavy real estate dealer – he walked out to the frontier [yes, with a bag of seeds], bought land, and planted apple trees. When the settlers got there, he sold them the land and he moved on. The apples he planted were for making cider, not pies. They were hard and sour, more suitable for a bar-room beverage than for pie with the parson. But those apples were what people wanted and Chapman knew it. Johnny Appleseed was a real person who helped to settle the upper Mid-West, one apple tree at a time, eventually becoming ‘as American as apple pie’.

Naturally today’s menus will involve apples: in a Norman-style omelette for breakfast and with pork for dinner. John Chapman would understand and approve.

Omelette Normande: 174 calories 11 g fat 1 g fiber 10 g protein 9 g carbs [8.2 g Complex] 46 mg Calcium  PB GF Cooking in Normandy naturally involves apple and cream, even at breakfast. This is the breakfast version of a Norman dessert omelette.

1 ½ eggs HINT: If you are serving one person, crack three 2-oz eggs into a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Whip up those eggs and pour half of their volume, into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week. 1-1/2 tsp heavy/whipping cream + ¼ tsp cinnamon 1-1/2 oz apple, peeled and sliced thinly ½ tsp butter + ¼ tsp sugar 1 oz peach  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] NO smoothie today

Peel and slice the apples and cook them slowly in a saute pan with the butter, sugar, 2 Tbsp water, and a healthy spray of non-stick spray. Add more water if the pan gets dry – you don’t want the apples to stick or scorch. Cook until the apples are almost soft and there is no more liquid in the pan. HINT: You can do this the night before. Whisk the eggs with the cream, cinnamon, and a little salt while the apples heat/stay warm in the saute pan. Pour in the eggs and let them cook undisturbed until done. Fold and plate with the peach or other fruit of 11 calories. Picture apple trees in bloom.

Pork with Apples: 273 calories 8.1 g fat 4 g fiber 22.7g protein 18.8 g carbs 84 mg Calcium  PB GF Long a favorite combination in lands where local meats and local fruits are blended in hearty meals. The flavor of pork with apples is a winner.

3 oz pork tenderloin, raw or cooked 2 oz round slices of apple, unpeeled + ½ oz cubed apples, unpeeled 4 oz chicken stock 4 Tbsp Bechamel sauce, no cheese [see Sidekicks I, 17 September 2017] thyme + sage + salt + pepper to taste 1 oz broccoli florets + 1 oz cauliflower florets + 1 oz carrots

Poach the apple slices in the stock until they are tender. TIP: if cooking for 2, this may require poaching in 2 batches. Remove slices and reserve. Slice the pork into rounds about 1/4” thick. If pork is raw, braise it briefly in the hot stock, and remove from stock. Put 1 Tbsp stock in the oven-proof pan in which you will cook the dinner. Combine diced apples, Bechamel, seasonings, and remaining stock in the sauce pan, stirring until apples are soft and sauce is medium-thick. Adjust seasonings. Arrange alternating slices of pork and apple in the baking pan. Nap with the sauce and bake at 350 until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Steam the vegetables and enjoy a hearty autumn meal.

Ingredients for next week: Breakfast, single portion for Monday ……………… single portion for Thursday:

1 two-oz egg	whipped cream cheese
onion + sweet potato	herring marinated in white wine
white whole wheat flour/GF flour	Finn Crisp crackers
applesauce + Canadian/back bacon	cherries
Optional smoothie	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

Dinner, single portion for Monday: ………………… single portion for Thursday:

beef liver	potato + carrot
onion	onion + egg white
butter	nutmeg + rye bread + milk
green beans	3%-fat ground turkey
Sparkling water	Sparkling water