Canadian-inspired recipes

Maud Lewis

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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.

The artwork of Maud Lewis has been gaining renown over the decades since her death in 1970. It is folk art, similar in style to that of Grandma Moses in the US, painted on pieces of wood or metal showing country scenes in vivid colors with no shading or shadows. But Maud’s life had many shadows. She was born on March 7, 1903, in South Ohio, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her father was a harness-maker. Maud developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as a young child, which stunted her growth and deformed her hands and feet. After completing third grade, Maud stayed home with her mother who taught her to paint Christmas cards in watercolors. When she was 25, a liaison with a Mr. Allen resulted in a baby named Catherine. Allen abandoned Maud, the child was given up for adoption and never discussed again. After her parents’ deaths, Maud went to Digby to live with an aunt. There she took a job as housekeeper for Everett Lewis who worked selling fish door to door. They married and lived in his tiny two-room house in Marshalltown. Initially, Maud painted greeting cards and sold them along with the fish to her husband’s customers. Then she began to paint their house: the interior walls, stair risers, doors, furniture — every surface is painted in bright colors and cheery themes. Everett encouraged her to paint pictures by obtaining wood for her ‘canvases’ and buying her a set of oil paints. As she became more infirm, Everett kept house while his wife painted. Maud depicted country scenes from her childhood and sold them out the front door. People began to drive out to Marshalltown to buy her paintings for $2-3.00. Why did she paint? Was it for the money? Not really. The income helped, but Maud loved color and surrounded herself with pretty pictures for the sheer fun of it. She died of pneumonia after a fall broke her hip. Her Painted House was eventually moved inside the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. Today, Maud’s little paintings are now worth thousands of dollars.

Maud was from Nova Scotia, one of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Our breakfast has many flavors of the region and our dinner is based on the late-night fast food from Halifax which now can be found from coast to coast [and maybe even to the other coast].

Maritime ScrOmelette:  161 calories 8.5 g fat 1 g fiber 15 g protein 5 g carbs 84.4 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  Between the salt cod and the potatoes, this breakfast is a taste of the Canadian Maritimes. And then you add the cheddar to kick it into high gear.

1½ 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   ¼ oz salt cod 1 Tbsp mashed potato OR 1.5 tsp instant potato flakes + 1 Tbsp water 1/8 oz Cheddar cheese, grated ½ tsp herb savory 1 oz strawberries or melon  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

The night before, put the salt cod in a bowl of water for 30-45 minutes. Drain and cut the fish into small pieces. [Combine the potato flakes with 1 Tbsp water and let sit to reconstitute.] In the morning, stir the cod, potatoes, and Cheddar together. Heat a cast iron or non-stick pan and spritz it with oil or cooking spray. Whisk the eggs and pour into the pan. As the eggs start to cook, scramble in the cod mixture along with savory, salt, and pepper. Cook as long as you prefer. Prepare the beverages and plate the fruit. Listen to some good Maritime fiddle music. 

Donair:  297 calories 15.5 g fat 2.5 g fiber 19 g protein 18.5 g carbs 96 mg Calcium   PB  The original Halifax Donair is based on a lamb gyro sandwich, so here it goes back to its roots. You can prepare the bread dough in advance and cook it in advance, or cook it same day you serve donair.

2.4 oz gozleme bread** 3 oz ground lamb 1 oz tomatoes, diced 2 Tbsp raw onion, chopped 2 Tbsp ‘donair sauce’+ carrot sticks cucumber slices

+’Donair Sauce‘  makes ~ 2 Tbsp, enough for one serving 2 Tbsp non-fat vanilla yogurt 2 tsp cider vinegar 2 tsp garlic powder Stir everything together and put in a side dish for serving. **Gozleme Bread makes four 2.4 oz flat-breads 

1¼ c white whole wheat flour ½ tsp salt Mix in a 1-Qt-sized bowl. 
¼ c water ¼ c plain yogurt Combine yogurt/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 four equal pieces. Roll on a floured surface into flat breads. Cook on an oil-sprayed skillet 3-4 mins per side until turning brown in spots.

Brown the lamb meat and drain off all the fat. While the lamb is cooking, dice the tomato and chop the onion. Prepare the sauce. Plate the bread and top with lamb. Season with salt and pepper. Top with tomato and onion. Put the dish of sauce on the plate. Spoon on sauce to taste, then bring up the sides of the bread to enclose the toppings and start eating. 

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

1 two-oz egg = US large1.5 two-oz eggs 
Corn-black bean-tomato salad hummus + black olive
chili powderMediterranian Vegetables 
melonstrawberries
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

uncured bacon + mushrooms + garlic + eggraw chicken breast + fresh lemon
scallion + green beans + mustard + white flourapricot preserves or jam
Worcestershire sauce + white whole wheat flourDijon mustard + delicata squash
Parmesan cheese + skim milk + baking powdersweet potatoes
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Slow Days: Tourtiere

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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 FastDiet 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.

In French Canada, Christmas is marked by a series of events. Beginning on December 24, there is a meatless meal for dinner — often including oysters. Then midnight mass and then the Revillion: dining with family into the wee hours to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. And what do they eat on this special night? Tourtiere. The recipe for this pork pie goes back to medieval times: you can tell by the combination of ‘exotic’ spices with meat. The preparation of the pie begins in November [St Martin’s Day perhaps?], when the pig would be slaughtered. Bits of meat left over from other cuts would be ground or minced, combined with spices, and wrapped in a lard pastry. It could be shaped as a boule or in a pie plate. As many of these pies as possible would be put into the cold shed off the kitchen, where they would freeze for the rest of the winter, ready to be taken out and baked for a meal — the original convenience food.

Our recipes, for the tourtière and its crust, are from Craig Claiborne’s NYT International Cook Book. We enjoy tourtiere for dinner on some evening in December [not Christmas Eve, for then we dine on Dear Husband’s Seafood Chowder]. Since it can be prepared in November or even October, tourtière makes a perfect ‘prepared meal’ to whisk from the freezer for dinner on a busy day.

Ground pork, spices, savory [of course!], onions, garlic, stock — simple ingredients for an old-fashioned meal.

Since I don’t know how many you will be serving, I’ve written the recipe for 6 or 3 or 2 persons. We will be serving only two this year.

Sv 6Sv 3Sv 2
1 cup
1 clove
2 Tbsp		½ cup
½ clove
1 Tbsp 		1/3 cup chopped onion
½ clove minced garlic
2 tsp butter 		Chop the onion and garlic an cook in the butter until wilted.
1 ½ #¾ #½ # /8 oz ground pork Add to the pan and cook, breaking up lumps.
¾ tsp
¾ tsp
¾ tsp
1 leaf
¾ cup
ad lib		3/8 tsp
3/8 tsp
3/8 tsp
½ leaf
1/3 cup
ad lib		2 Large pinch cloves
2 large pinch cinnamon
2large pinch savory
1/3 leaf bay
¼ cup pork stock
salt & pepper to taste		Add the seasonings and stock to the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring sometimes.Cool the mixture and run it through a food processor to chop the filling more thoroughly.
Scrape into a bowl and chill thoroughly.

**This lard pastry is traditional and is perfect for a savory pie.

1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt		Cut together with a pastry blender or 2 table knives until ingredients are uniformly crumbly.
3+ Tbsp cold waterUsing a 2-pronged fork, stir the water into the pastry crumbs, adding more if needed, until it all comes together in a ball.

Roll out the pastry and fit into an appropriate pie plate or into a bowl large enough to contain the filling. If baking as a pie or tart, cover filling with a top crust. If baking as a boule, line the bowl with pastry, with a generous overhang. Put the filling in the bowl and trim the pastry to enclose, without too much bunching or overlap. Seal edges. 

If cooking as a boule, turn out the boule onto a glass pie plate so that the round side is up and the gathered side is on the bottom. This year, I used some extra dough to make some decorations. Been watching too much Great British Baking Show, I guess.

Freeze the pie – overnight or for weeks.
The day before baking: Thaw the pie in the refrigerator. To bake, set oven at 425F. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down temperature to 350F and bake for 30-40 minutes [check it at 25 minutes]. Crust should be cooked and beginning to turn golden.

The tourtière is best served with gravy, winter vegetables, and ‘chow‘, a green tomato relish beloved in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. What a fine meal for a winter night.