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: a simple way to lose weight and be healthier. 

Early in the settling of the North-Eastern United States, newly-arrived immigrants realized that they could not build houses here just like the ones they left behind in England/France/Germany. So they constructed a simple one-and-a-half-story dwelling that came to be known as the Cape Cod Style or simply, the Cape. The name came about in 1800, but in the 1600s and 1700s in New England, this was the house to have: it was easy to build and wood was plentiful. House Beautiful.com describes a Cape-style house this way: “…modest, one-room deep [?], wood-framed houses with clapboard or shingle exteriors (which, when weathered over time, turned that quintessential light gray color). They were low, broad structures with unadorned, flat-front facades….The classic Cape Cod cottage had a central front door with two windows on each side of it…The homes often had a large central chimney that linked to several rooms in the house, with a steeply pitched, side-gabled roof (meaning the triangular portions of the roof are on the sides of the house), which helped prevent snow accumulation. The ceilings of the single-story homes were low, which kept things cozy and also helped to keep living quarters warm.” The floor plan at the upper right shows the typical lay-out of the time: only three main rooms downstairs, around the central chimney. A ‘keeping room’ would be called the kitchen today or a ‘great room’/family room in modern decorating parlance. It was the warmest room in the house. That was where the cooking, eating, and everyday life occurred. The four rooms flanking the keeping room were for two pantries; a bedroom for a guest; and a smaller bedroom for a family invalid, or servant. A ladder or stairs lead to a loft for storage and for children’s sleeping quarters as the family grew. These houses continued in popularity into the 1800s, then the Cape-style had a revival in the 1900s. They are still built today, and not only on Cape Cod.

The early adapters of the Cape-Style house were subsistence farmers or fisherfolk. Our breakfast is from the farm and our dinner is from the sea.

Allium Bake:  136 calories 6.6 g fat 1 g fiber 10 g protein 9 g carbs 108 mg Calcium   PB GF The genus Allium contains all the onions and their relatives. This bake contains three of them along with two cheeses for even more succulent flavor.

One 2-oz egg  ½ oz sliced leek, green +/or white parts  ½ oz minced onion 1 Tbsp minced chives    1 Tbsp cottage cheese  1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese  pinch or two red pepper flakes  2 oz peach

Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]

Spritz an oven-proof ramekin [for 2 people, Dear Husband likes to use a 6×4” oval casserole] with non-stick spray and set the oven for 350 degrees F. Slice/chop the leeks and onions. Spray a skillet/saute pan with non-stick spray and cook the alliums until they are limp. Put them, along with the chives and any seasonings you like, in the prepared oven-safe dish. Whisk the egg with the red peppers and the two cheeses, and pour over the alliums. Bake 12-15 minutes or until done as you like it. Plate with the peach, pour your beverage of choice, and savor a flavorful day.

Halibut with Fruit Relish: 182 calories 5.5 g fat 1.5 g fiber 25 g protein 6.4 g carbs 82 mg Calcium  PB GF Whether you bake or broil or grill the fish, a fruit salsa makes for a splendid topping. Today, it will be Rhubarb-Onion Relish**.

4 oz halibut filet   2 Tbsp rhubarb-onion relish                        4 spears asparagus OR  side salad = lettuce, carrot, tomato, beets, cucumbers, vinaigrette

**Rhubarb-Onion Relish:  makes 1½ cups  2 Tbsp = 26 g protein 0 g fat 0 g fiber 0 g protein  7 g carbs 13 mg Calcium  PB GF From Marion Cunningham’s The Supper Book . 

1½ cup chopped rhubarb + 1 cup chopped onions + ½ cup cider vinegar + ¼ tsp salt   1 cup + 1 Tbsp light brown sugar, unpacked + ¼ tsp each of ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon

Mix everything together in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 45 minutes until thicker. Can be canned in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Serve room temperature or cold.

Pan sear the fish in a lightly-oiled cast iron skillet for 4 minutes per side over medium-high heat. In the meantime, prepare the asparagus or salad. Plate and spoon the fruit relish onto the fish. Believe me, you will eat this fish “with relish.”