Eating well with creative recipes to follow Michael Mosley’s Fast Diet

Lots of Veggies

~ me ~ Leave a comment

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.

Many people resist dieting because they think that diet = vegetables = privation = bland food. Not so!  The Fast Diet permits a great variety of foods, as long as the menus are full of protein and are low in fats and carbs. And we can eat our veggies in creative ways!

Vegetable Scramble    295 calories          PB          HINT: use left-over vegetables or prepare them the night before for a quicker preparation.

Vegetable Scramble w: toast, apple

½ cup chopped green pepper     ½ cup chopped zucchini  ½ cup chopped tomato          1 ½ two-oz 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, crack 3 2-oz eggs into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week        2-3 oz apple ½ piece of 70-calorie whole-grain bread       USE GLUTEN FREE BREAD IF YOU WISH                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   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] or lemon in hot water 

Put the raw vegetables in a small saute pan with a few tablespoons of water. Simmer until vegetables are cooked and the liquid is evaporated. Pour eggs into a pan which has been sprayed briefly with cooking spray. Before the eggs set, add the cooked vegetables. Scramble to taste. Brew your beverage and take the previously-made smoothie from ‘fridge. Plate with fruit.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup: 1 cup = 145.5 calories 3 g fat 5 g fiber 8 g protein 27 g carbs 86.4 mg Calcium   PB  GF [if you use GF pasta] This recipe can be doubled easily. It is a fine dinner soup for a hot Summer day or in the cold of Winter. Prepare it from leftover vegetables to reduce the cooking time.  HINT: One serving = one cup, but you could go to 1 ¼ cups each. This recipe made 4 cups for me – several future meals from one recipe!

1 tsp olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
2/3 cup carrot, chopped 
½ cup celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped 
3 slices pepperoni, chopped 		Prepare all these ingredients and put into a sauce pan together. Cook over medium heat until onions begin to wilt. 
NB: if using left-over cooked carrot and celery, add them in the next step.
½ cup sweet potato, cubed
½ cup zucchini, diced 
½ cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cups crushed tomatoes 
¾ cup small white beans, canned
lots of sage and rosemary, chopped 1 cup water
2 cups chicken broth/stock		NB: low sodium broth is preferred
Prepare the vegetables as described. Drain and rinse the canned beans. Add these to the pan, along with the water and broth. Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes. 
NB: if using left-over cooked sweet potato, zucchini, and other vegetables, add them to the broth after 10 minutes of cooking.
1 oz pasta, whole wheat is preferred to boost fiber [orzo/ dinetelli/broken spaghetti]Add the pasta and cook until it is soft, 5-6 minutes.
2 tsp Parmesan cheese, grated 
salt and pepper to taste		Add remaining seasonings and adjust to taste. TIP: Soup is always improved by letting it sit for several hours before reheating and serving hot.

Let’s talk about, um, er, elimination…

~ me ~ Leave a comment

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.

Some people find that a change of diet causes a change in their digestive health. Whether you end up too loose or too tight in your bowels, the cause is how your intestines are reacting to the addition of new food [vegetables, fiber] as well as the subtraction of other food [fatty foods, processed foods].  It turns out that the standard American diet degenerates the health of the good bacteria which live in the gut and help to digest our food.  The solution?  Re-populate those good little guys!

“How?” you may ask?  The solution we found lies in those green smoothies which we ingested during the Plant-Based Diet, about which I wrote earlier.  For breakfast we share a Fruited Green Smoothie like this:                                                                             2 cups of greens – spinach or Swiss chard or kale or a combination       1/2 of an apple or pear, seeds and stem removed                                                                  1/2 banana                                                                                                                                   1/3 to 1/2 cup berries – straw- or rasp- or blue or a combination                                      1 and 1/2 cups orange juice

This is blended on high in the Vita-Mix and tastes better than it looks! The recipe makes enough for three 8-oz servings. Put the extra in a jar in the ‘fridge for tomorrow.  We drink this every day, Fast day or Slow day and find it to be very useful for good digestive health.

Celebrating Floralia

~ me ~ Leave a comment

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.

My mother loved to celebrate holidays with special foods. Whether the holiday was religious, patriotic, or ethnic, she would find a recipe to go with it. The tradition continues with me.  May 1-4 is the festival of Floralia, the Roman Goddess of Springtime and Flowers. The English celebrate it with baskets of flowers and maypoles.  The French celebrate it by decorating their towns with floral displays and wearing green.  

The recipes for today were chosen because they look like or contain flowers. Celebrate the season, eat well, lose weight.

Strawberry Cottage Cheese & Pears:    164 calories  3.5 g fat     5 g fiber     10 g protein   26 g carbs  61 mg Calcium   NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB  GF    This is from the Fast Diet book. You will see some other good recipes there, too. I added the pecans to this for deeper flavor and more protein.

Strawberry Cottage Cheese with Pear

4 oz ripe pear of which Comice is the best, but at this time of year use Anjou or Bosc                                                                                       1/3 cup fat-free cottage cheese             2 ripe strawberries, chopped          ¼ tsp pecans, finely chopped                                                                                                                                                                   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] or lemon in hot water                                                                                                                                        

Section the pear into slices and remove the cores. Do not peel the pears. Fan the segments on a plate in a circle. Mix the cottage cheese with the strawberries and spoon into the center. Sprinkle with the nuts. Pour your beverage of choice. Good stuff!

Tuna-Egg-Tomato Salad    283 cal   16.5 g. fat      27.5 g. protein           29.5 g. carbs         Here we have  a Spanish-inspired meal from a cookbook called Everyday Tapas. I took out the potatoes and substituted garbanzo beans. I added the salad greens, too. Feel free to add more greens and tomatoes, there are calories to spare.  The recipe is very simple and delicious as well – perfect to dress up with pansy blossoms [they are edible] to honor a day in spring or summer.  HINT: This makes enough for two meals. Invite a friend or enjoy the left-overs as a lovely lunch the next day. Today’s lettuce will wilt by tomorrow, so plan around that.

Tapas Tuna w: egg & tomatoes

5 oz canned white-meat tuna in water                2 egg, hardboiled and cut into 1/2” dice                                                                                                           4 oz tomato, cut into 1/2” dice                          ½ cup garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed                                                  1 cup baby salad greens  [mesclun]          1 ½ tsp olive oil         1 tsp white wine vinegar                                                                                                                                                               fresh parsley, salt, pepper          pansy or violet flowers for garnish             per person: 1/2 slice 70-calorie bread such as Nature’s Own 100% whole grain 

Drain the tuna and flake the meat into 1” pieces. Whisk the oil and vinegar together and toss with the lettuce. Add everything else, except the flowers, and gently toss to combine with the salad dressing. Garnish with as many flowers as you wish. Serve at room temperature.

Let Me Entertain You… Dinner Version.

~ me ~ 2 Comments

What would you serve if you had to have guests for dinner on a Fast Day???  One choice would be to transfer your fasting until tomorrow. But if you have long-term visitors and you don’t want to skip the Fast, here’s what we have done. [Remember, you can always pull out the stops on the following day, since we Fast only two days a week.]

Since most of our friends know that we are proponents of the Fast Diet, I ask them if they would like to see what a fast diet is all about. Sometimes they say ‘yes’ and then they dine along with us.   We have served Steamed Mussels in wine broth [March 22]Mussels with Vegetable Plate or Shepherd’s Salad [March 15] as dinners for non-Fasting friends.  These pleasing meals are rich and flavorful and can convince people that ‘fasting’ isn’t the same as ‘starving’. Go out with them for a long walk or drive during the middle of the day and come home ready for dinner.

What if your guests do not wish to fast or have health issues which prevent it? Then serve one of your favorites, say Crab Cakes [March 1] or Greek Chicken Salad [March 25] Greek Chicken Saladand for the guests, serve some boiled parleyed potatoes or rolls on the side.  Put out a plate of cookies for dessert and leave the room while they eat them.  I did that once, explaining that I did not have the fortitude to watch the guests eat the cookies!  At lunch time, send your house guests out for lunch at a local favorite, or serve them a soup such as Cream of Asparagus asparagus soup[April 1] or Baked Bean [April 22], which you might have in the freezer. Your guests will be happy and well-fed, while you can stay true to your Fasting Lifestyle.  The best of both worlds.

West Meets East

~ me ~ Leave a comment

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.

One can go around the world by sampling different cuisines while never leaving your own kitchen. Today, we start in Northern Europe, where oats grow better than wheat. And we end the day in Korea, eating pancakes with shrimp.  Feel like a world traveler yet?

oatmeal-cottage cheese pudding

Blueberry-Oatmeal Pudding      301 calories                  Another fine recipe ‘inspired’ by Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book. Well, actually I used only a few of her ingredients. Those of you who like oatmeal must try this. HINT: the recipe makes enough for two meals. One to eat now, one to freeze for another morning.

1/2  cup oatmeal, cooked in 1 cup water                                       2 tsp maple syrup [the REAL stuff, please]                                 1/2 cup nonfat cottage cheese                                                 pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg                                                         2 Tbsp blueberries [fresh or frozen] per serving                         2.5 oz of apple per person                                                                 5-6 oz fruit smoothie or natural apple cider                                                                                           blackish coffee or blackish tea or lemon in hot water

Cook the oatmeal in the water.  Take off heat and stir in the maple syrup.  Let cool a bit.  While it is still warm, stir in the cottage cheese. Let sit until cool. HINT: I did this part the night before while cleaning up after dinner.  If making one portion, pour half of the pudding in a freezer container and top with 2 Tbsp blueberries. Freeze it.  HINT: Make the entire batch. Eat half of it today and freeze the rest for a really simple-to-prepare breakfast later.  With the remainder, stir in 2 Tbsp blueberries and pour the pudding into a ramekin.  Nuke it for a minute to heat through — longer than that and it will bubble over. Serve with the apple slices, fruit smoothie, and hot beverage for a hearty, healthy, yummy meal.

Korean Shrimp Pancakes 290 cal 8.5 g. fat 15.35 g. protein 35 g. carbs PB Adapted from Rush Hour Cookbook, this is enough to serve TWO people.

2 oz egg white two 2-oz eggs 1 cup flour 1/4 pound shrimp 2 green onions = 1 Tbsp green parts, 2 Tbsp white parts ¾ cup zucchini, julienned 2/3 cup carrot, julienned ½ c water 1 Tbsp soy sauce oil to spray on the pan

Thaw the shrimp in a bowl, retaining the thawing liquid. Poach the shrimp in the liquid until just cooked. Remove shrimp and chop. Put the green onions, zucchini and carrots in the liquid, adding water if needed. Steam the veg until they are softening — note that the carrot will take longer. Reserve the cooked veg. Beat the eggs and egg white together. Add the flour, ½ cup water, soy sauce and whisk together. Add the shrimp and vegetables. Stir to combine. Heat a nonstick pan until medium hot. Add a spray of oil if needed. Scoop up the batter by using a 1/4 cup measures being sure to include shrimp, vegetables, and batter each time. Pour into the pan while tipping the pan to spread the batter a little. Let cook until browned on one side, then flip over. Batter should make 3 pancakes. Stack the cooked pancakes and cut in wedges to serve.

Smo-o-o-oth

~ me ~ Leave a comment

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.

Lots of people think that smoothies are a good thing, but they can be fat traps. Even Michael Mosley advises against drinking them on Fast Days. He does offer a smoothie recipe in his Fast Diet book, and that is where this post begins: a smoothie to drink as part of a good breakfast instead of OJ and then a full-meal smoothie for those who like to sip their breakfast on the go.

Smoothie kits

M&M’s Fruit Smoothie:    91 calories    0.4 g fat 3.5 g fiber    4 g protein    16 g carbs [13.7 g Complex] 131 mg Calcium   PB GF     This is from the Fast Diet book by Michael Mosley and Mimi Sheridan. We make this because we want our Fast Day menus to be similar to our Slow Day menus and we have been accustomed to a juice smoothie for years. This gives us that but with more protein, probiotics, and some dairy.    NB: This recipe makes enough for 2 [two] smoothies.    HINT: I make up ‘smoothie kits’ in advance and keep them in the freezer. The night before a Fast Day, I put one of the kits on the counter to thaw for breakfast. Much simpler.  Two kits are shown above — enough for 4 servings.                                                                                                              3 oz banana [this is approximately 6″ of banana, which I measure]                                                      7 one-inch strawberries, stemmed [these may be fresh or frozen]                              ½ cup fat-free plain yogurt [I like to use Stonyfield Farm brand]                                                         ~10 ice cubes                                                    

Put ingredients in blender [or use an immersion wand] along with a large handful of ice cubes. Start at low speed while the ice breaks up and the fruit breaks down, then turn up to high for about 10 seconds. The mixture should have the consistency of a thin milkshake. If it is too thick, add water. HINT: Since this makes enough for two servings, if you are serving one, put the remainder in a jar with a lid into the ‘fridge for next Fast Day. Shake the jar before serving.

Flax Seed Breakfast Smoothie: 331 calories  9.3 g fat  12.1 g protein  44 g carbs   PB GF        To be perfectly honest, I have never tried this recipe.  I wanted to see how the numbers would work out. The goal was to make a high-protein shake, with fruit and probiotics from yogurt but low in fat. And it should fit within the 300 calorie/meal limit.  You might wonder why you couldn’t just drink all of the fruit smoothie shown above…. The answer is the low protein. This shake has a lot more protein, which you need for a Fast Day.

1 cup almond milk                                                                                                                                                   ½ cup plain, nonfat yogurt                                                                                                                                  2 Tbsp flax seed [2/3 oz]     honestly, I’ve never eaten/cooked with flax seed.                                          1 cup sliced strawberries [about 5.5 oz]                                                                                                             3 oz banana                                                                                                                                                           ~10 or more ice cubes

Put the fruit, flax, ice, and yogurt in your favorite blending device.  Run it on low speed to break the ice and fruit. Add the milk and raise the speed to high for about 10 seconds.

Please note the calorie count! If you were to consume this for breakfast, your dinner would have to have a low calorie count. I would suggest Cesar Salad [Mar 11] or Crab Cakes [Mar 1] or Baked White Fish [Jan 11] or Beans & Franks [Jan 28]. I would also ask you to note the high Carb content of this recipe. If Carbs matter to you, skip this one.