Its time to take charge of your lifestyle and stop saying ‘someday’ you will improve your health and maybe lose a little weight.   Today is the day to take a little time to stock the freezer with some foods that you can use for many future meals. [The batter for crepes and the crab cakes freeze well] Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is the day to get serious about following the Fasting Lifestyle.

Breton Breakfast:   310 calories               PB                                                               Here is one way to use the crepe batter which we made on October 14, 2015, and you stored in the freezer. You need one crepe per serving. Make some extra for a lunch or dinner later this week.

1 crêpe                                                                                                                                         1 two-oz egg                                                                                                                            ¼ cup diced zucchini                                                                                                           ¼ cup diced tomatoes                                                                                                                ¼ cup diced bell pepper, any color you want                              ¼ cup diced tomato                               1/4-1/3 tsp curry powder [seafarers brought a lot of spices to Brittany’s ports]                                                                                                                       1 and 1/2 oz apple                                                                                                  5-6 oz green smoothie or fruit smoothie or apple cider                                blackish tea or coffee or hot water with lemon

Put the 3 vegetables and the curry in a small sauce pan with a bit of water and cook uncovered until the veg are soft and the liquid has almost evaporated. HINT: do this the night before to save time at breakfast. If your crêpe was cooked previously, warm it a little to take off the chill. Cook the egg by frying it in a lightly-oiled non-stick pan. Spoon the vegetable on the crêpe, put the egg on top. Hold briefly, if needed, in a warm oven while you pour the smoothie and warm beverage, and while you slice the fruit.

Crab Cakes:        250 cal     4.7 g fat     24.0 g protein     14.2 g carbs           Rock and Jonah crabs abound on the coast of New England and they are grand as crab cakes. This recipe is from Todd English’s Olive’s Table cookbook. Note: this is the full recipe and makes 5 cakes – more than you will eat at one meal. Prepare them all and cook as directed. HINT: This will provide a few future meals.

½ pound crab meat, not ‘imitation crab’                                                                        2 T [1 oz] plain nonfat yogurt                                                                                              1 tsp Dijon mustard                                                                                        2 Tbsp. chopped green or white onion                                                                           1 T. parsley, minced                          one 2-oz egg                    1 tsp salt & ¼ tsp pepper                                                                                                                                                 1 slice fresh 70-cal bread, crumbled in a food processor if you have one            4 T. flour                               2 tsp oil                      5 oz asparagus OR green beans                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Aioli Dressing: 1 tsp low-fat mayonnaise + few drops of lemon juice + pinch each of tumeric and garlic powder 

Gently combine 1^st 8 ingredients in a bowl. Dust a large plate with the flour. Using a 1/3 c. measure as a mold, form the crab cakes and turn them out onto the flour. There should be 5 cakes. Dust the top of the cakes with some of the flour. Heat a non-stick skillet and add 2 tsp olive oil. Handling them carefully, cook the crab cakes until they are beginning to brown on the top and bottom. Cook the beans. Plate the crab cakes and vegetable, and serve with a dab of aioli.

One Fast Day serving = 1.5 crab cakes. Cool the others, wrap in cling wrap and freeze. Reheat in a toaster oven until warm. [the cakes will have been previously cooked]

“If You Want To Lose Weight, Hack Your Living Environment Like Skinny People”         http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2015/02/02/if-you-want-to-lose-weight-hack-your-living-environment-like-skinny-people/

Today is the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the father of the Christmas stocking and the origin of the traditional “Father Christmas” and “Santa Claus.”  He was a bishop in Turkey, possibly being of Greek origin. On this day in Holland, Germany, Hungary, and many other countries, Saint Nicholas himself visits houses leaving presents for children.  Give yourself the present of good health and long life. Stay with the Fasting Lifestyle today, even though you celebrate a Feast Day with a breakfast from Holland and a dinner from Greece.

Dutch Breakfast    308 calories     6 g fat       10.7 g protein       22 g carbone 2-oz egg, hard-boiled or coddled HINT: the hardboiled egg can be made days before                                        [that’s a baked egg in the photo]                           ½ oz ham, low-fat from the deli                                                                                           ½ of an Arnold Multi-grain Sandwich Thin [50 cal] OR ½ slice 70-cal bread [35 cal]                                                         OR one “Holland Rusk” [35 cal]                                                   1/8 oz [1/2” cube] cheese if you used less bread, you could have more cheese                     2 oz melon or apple or pear                                                                                               5-6 oz fruit smoothie [March 15, 2015] or green smoothie [June 10, 2015] or unpasturized apple cider        blackish coffee or blackish tea or lemon in hot water

Warm the ham in a skillet, toast the bread, brew your beverage, slice the fruit, cube the cheese. Prepare the smoothie or take the other half of the smoothie recipe from ‘fridge and shake it to mix.

Meze Meal  297 calories  10 g. fat   36 g protein   21.8 g carb   PB GF ‘Meze’ is the Greek equivalent of Spanish Tapas. Very ‘Mediterranean Diet.’ Well, we don’t live on a vast inland sea, but we’ll take good low calorie, low fat, delicious food where ever we can find it. There are lots of good recipes in the book Meze by Rosemary Barron.

1/4 cup white beans    &   ½ Tbsp capers                                                                      1 oz marinated mushrooms                                                                                                3 oz tomato, cubed   &   generous pinch Greek oregano                                            3 oz cooked shrimp [or 2 oz cooked chicken breast]                                                           1 oz mozzerella cheese [or use feta, same amount]                                                      1 ½ oz lemon-marinated carrots                                                                        marinade: 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp lemon juice + pinch of granulated garlic + pinch oregano

Combine the white beans with the capers in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine the tomatoes and the oregano. Slice the carrots into small logs or coins and cook until tender. Drain and combine with the marinade in a small jar with a lid. Shake well, remove the lid and let the carrots cool in the marinade. Attend to the shrimp by cooking it and removing the shells, if necessary. Drain the marinade from the jar and pour it over the shrimp. Plate the ingredients to please the eye. Look at photos of the Agean Sea….and try to imagine Santa Claus in that setting.