People who are new to Fasting often pose the questions: “Can I really eat ‘anything I want’ on a Slow Day?” and “What should I eat on Slow Days?” To answer those questions, I have decided to add some blog posts to show some of the foods we eat on what the world calls NFDs [non-fast days] but which, in our house, we call ‘Slow Days.’ This feature will appear sporadically. 

Now for the answers. Can you really eat ANYTHING you want on a Slow Day? Not really. If you eat too many calories every Slow Day, you will not lose weight. There are many questions asked on the Fast Diet Forum which attest to that. Once in a while you can splurge, as long as it isn’t everyday. For what to eat on Slow Days, Dr. Mosley recommends a Mediterranean Diet. As for how we eat, an example follows.

Gosh we are lucky! Our little homestead was carved from a mixed pine-hardwood forest that grew up from an apple orchard planted in the early 1800s. We cut down enough trees to create a lawn, a site for the house and for the barn, saving as many of the old apple trees as possible. We had been told to look for morel mushrooms, since they grow “where the apple meets the pine.” And then, after 20 years of searching, the first mushroom appeared. True Morels [Morchella esculenta] are easy for the novice to recognize and are prized in cookery. Every year, we start looking in one spot on the lawn around May 1st. If there had been enough snow the previous winter, we will find as many as 20 mushrooms over their two-week ‘blooming’ span! We eat them with eggs in the morning and we particularly enjoy them in a cream sauce with chicken. Often that is dinner on Mother’s Day [in USA, 2nd Sunday in May]. Here is a recipe that we developed to serve two people:

One 6-8 oz chicken breast, boneless, skinless, and with the ‘tenderloin’ removed. Put the breast flat on the cutting surface, put one hand flat on top of it and slice the breast in half parallel to the surface, creating two equal fillets.

Cook the fillets slowly in a little butter and olive oil until the fillets are cooked through, or mostly cooked. Set aside on a plate [they will continue to cook].

To the pan, add 1 minced clove of garlic and 1/4 cup white wine. Cook garlic until wine is mostly evaporated.

To the pan, add 3-4 morels, sliced lengthwise and 2 oz/1/4 cup heavy cream. Simmer until it thickens a bit and the morels are tender.

Stir in 1 Tbsp grainy Dijon and 2 tsp chopped chives/scallion, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Return chicken fillets to the pan and simmer until everything is warm. Plate with peas [a springtime vegetable] and a short pasta, mixed with a bit of the sauce.

If morels are on the menu, then Spring must have arrived.