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.

My attention is always piqued when a book that is not a cookbook starts talking about food. In the Christian Bible and the Jewish Tanakh and the Muslim Qu’ran, there are several general mentions of food, but the Gospels get really specific in stories about Jesus. ‘Loaves and fishes’ show up in the Feeding of the 5000 [Matthew 14, verses 13-21]. Jesus eats a Passover Seder Meal at the Last Supper with his closest friends. There is surely food at the Marriage at Cana [John 2, verses 1-12 ] but all we know about is the wine. Recently, John 21, verses 1-14 caught my eye. After his Resurrection, Jesus meets his disciples on the beach after they have been fishing all night in the Sea of Galilee. They have caught no fish. He tells them to fish on the other side of the boat, and they catch 153 fish right away! “They saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread…Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat breakfast’.”

You have been invited, so here is a version of that meal. One of the fishes in the Sea of Galilee is tilapia. You could use that for a dinner meal of Loaves and Fishes. For our dinner, we will cook ‘the fatted calf‘ from the Parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15, verses 11-32]. Both meals use portions of the same batch of bread –very handy. I think that these meals are suitable for the season of Lent which began last week.

Loaves & Fishes: 146 calories 3 g fat 2.7 g fiber 12.4 g protein 18 g carbs 89 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  From the Gospels come descriptions of people eating bread and fish for breakfast and dinner. Try this for a change of routine. For authenticity, the fish should be charcoal-grilled, but that doesn’t work in my kitchen.

2 oz smelts, boned, heads and fins removed 1½ tsp za’atar + 2 tsp sumac powder 1.6 oz gozleme bread** 2 deglet noor dates   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

Remove the heads, fins, and backbone from the smelts. Lay them flat/opened out on a cutting board. Combine the sumac and za’atar thoroughly and sprinkle half of it on the fish. Turn the fish over and sprinkle with the remaining spices. Heat a heavy skillet and spray it with cooking spray. Cook the fish on both sides until done. Plate with the bread and dates and time-travel back to 32 CE on the shores of Galilee.

**Gozlema Bread makes six 1.6 oz flat-breads or use larger amounts of dough for filled Gozlemas  1 of 6 sv = 26 calories 0 g fat 1 g fiber 1.4 g protein 5 g carbs 20 mg Calcium

1¼ c white whole wheat flour ½ tsp salt	Combine in a 2 cup-sized bowl.
¼ c water ¼ c plain yogurt	Whisk yogurt with the water, and stir into the flour until well-combined. Add a bit more water if too dry.
	On a floured surface, knead ~3 mins, until smooth and elastic. Cover and let sit for a few mins on the counter OR overnight in a cool place.
	Divide into six pieces, each about 1.6 ounces in weight. On a floured surface, roll dough into flat breads. Cook on an oil-sprayed skillet 3-4 mins per side until turning brown in spots. Freeze what you are not using today.

 

Veal with Dried Fruit:  270 calories 4.5 g fat 5 g fiber 27 g protein 28.5 g carbs 80 mg Calcium  PB GF – if not serving the bread  All the ingredients [except the tomato paste, which you could eliminate] are mentioned in the Bible. Is this the dinner that was cooked when the ‘fatted calf’ was killed? It seems celebratory to me. It is based on a recipe from lacucinaitaliana.com This is delicious.

Serves 2
3/4 c. carrots ½ c. onion ½ tsp olive oil 1 bay leaf + 1 sprig rosemary	Prepare the vegetables. Brown in a saute pan with oil, bay leaf and rosemary. Cook 5 mins.Season with salt + pepper.
1/3-1/2 cup hot water  2 dried apricot + 1 dried fig + 2 dates	Cut fruits in half or quarters. Add water and fruit to pan. Cover pan and simmer over low heat, around 15 minutes.
6 oz lean veal filets Aleppo pepper + kosher salt	If fillets are more than ½” thick, pound the meat to thin it. Sprinkle the veal with the pepper and salt/
1/3 c.white wine 1 tsp. tomato paste	Stir wine, tomato into the pan, then lay veal on top. Cover partially and simmer on low until meat is cooked and sauce has thickened. Turn the meat to ensure that it cooks through.
2 oz cucumber per person sumac powder 1.6 oz gozleme bread per person	Divide meat, fruit, and sauce between 2 plates. Sprinkle cucumbers with sumac. Plate the cucumbers and gozleme bread.

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

2 two-oz eggs + pumpkin puree	1 two-oz egg
brown + white sugar + allspice	corned beef + cabbage
skimmed milk + mace + nutmeg	Laughing Cow cheese
36-calorie chicken breakfast sausage	raspberries
ground ginger + ground cloves + cinnamon	optional smoothie
optional hot beverage	optional hot beverage

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

6 eggs + cooked salmon	lamb shoulder + onion + dry red wine
zucchini + onion + dill weed	white whole wheat flour + carrot
reduced-fat ricotta + plain yogurt	tomato paste + turnip + pearl onions
side salad with tomato, carrot, beet	potato + thyme + bay leaf
Sparkling water	Sparkling water