Recipes for healthy dieting

Rhubarb!!

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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.

Rhubarb was once a carefully-guarded national treasure in ancient China, the roots valued for their laxative properties. Then, somehow, plants showed up in the Volga River Valley [aka: the Rhu] giving the classical Greeks reason to name it “the plant of the barbarians [foreigners] from Rhu.” Hence, ‘rhu-barb.’ Not kidding. By the 1500s, Rhubarb was in England — though still for medicine rather than food — then it was taken to many parts of the Empire. And you thought it was just a humble pie plant. Here is a delightful poem about the vegetable, by Minnesota poet Larry Schug:

By April, sour red stalks
push elephant-ear leaves
into near-earth atmosphere.
Rhubarb plans ahead,
years, decades even,
lives sustainably on the interest
of sunlight stored under ground,
having folded up its solar collectors
in September,
when the days grow too short
to make sugar.
See how simple is a miracle. © by Larry Schug.

Spelt Galettes with Rhubarb: 225 calories… 4.6 g fat… 6 g fiber… 8.5 g protein… 37 g carbs… 128 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB  Spelt is one of the ancient ancestors of modern grains, full of taste and nutrition. Here, in a recipe by Joe Woodhouse at goodfood, it co-stars with rhubarb for a splendid Springtime breakfast.

recipe for 14 six” crepesNon-stick pan or 6” cast iron
2 eggs +++++ 10g olive or sunflower oil +++++++350ml water ++++ 175g spelt/buckwheat flour Tip ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth OR whisk briskly.Set aside to rest. 
400g rhubarb, cut in 2 cm lengths +++++++ 40g honey ½ orange= ¾ tsp juice + ¾ tsp zestPut these in a medium saucepan over a medium. cook, stirring at whiles. 8-12 mins until rhubarb collapses. If lots of liquid remains, strain and cook down liquids until more syrupy
Butter 3-4 T batter for each galetteMelt some butter in a 6″ pan over a medium, wipe out with paper towel. Keep towel. Pour in batter, swirling to coat pan. Cook ~1 min until underside is golden
Flip. Heat  30-60 secs until cooked through. 
Keep warm. Repeat, wiping pan with buttered towel between pancakes.
2 spelt galettes per person ++++++++++++2 T Rhubarb compote per galetteSpoon a little compote into centre of each galette, dividing equally. Fold in ½ and plate with a bit of syrup on top.
½ oz ham, pan-friedServe with the ham and your beverage of choice.

Rhubarb Roasted Salmon: 295 calories… 11 g fat… 4 g fiber… 32.5 g protein… 10 g carbs… 65 mg Calcium…  PB GF Melissa Clark’s recipe in the New York Times looked so good, I just had to try it. A wonderful addition to the rhubarb-season repetoire.

2 servingsHeat oven to 400F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
2 scallions, thinly sliced Take out 2 T, use remainder in next step
Sliced scallions +++++ 1 T granulated sugar ++++++++ 1½ tsp rice wine vinegar ++++ ½ tsp grated fresh ginger ++++ pinch saltIn a medium saucepan, combine these. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer until sugar has dissolved.
3 oz /2/3 cups rhubarb, trimmed, sliced 1” thick Add rhubarb. Cover pan, and cook, stirring at whiles, until rhubarb is just tender, ~5 mins. 
Take pan off heat and mash rhubarb until it turns to a chunky purée.
Sugar/vinegar/ginger/saltTaste, adjust flavors for a balance between sweet, tangy and salty. Divide in 2 equal portions.
two 4 oz skin-on salmon fillets ++++ salt and pepper + 1 tsp unsalted butter, cubed ++++ ½ of rhubarb saucePut fish skin-side-down on baking sheet. Season lightly. Spread rhubarb mixture on fish. Top with butter. Roast 8-10 mins, or until just cooked through
The 2 T sliced scallions +++++ Red-pepper flakes ++++ ½ of rhubarb sauceTop with remaining rhubarb sauce, garnish fillets with scallons and pepper flakes.
1/3 c peas per servingPlate with peas.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large + sugar1.5 two-oz eggs 
part-skim ricotta cheese + molasses tomato puree + parsley
2%-fat cottage cheese + bananabell peppers + onion
white whole wheat flourcayenne + pear
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

salt cod + potatoes + baby spinachquick barley + mussels + onion + tomato
cauliflower + skim milkshrimp + garlic + seafood stock + carrot
garlic + fennel seedpreserved lemon + saffron + paprika
2” or smaller tomatoes  +  Finn Crisp crackersuncured bacon + bell pepper + wide green beans
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Decoration Day

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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 Civil War in the US devastating. From April 1861-April 1865, cemeteries filled up — battlefield cemeteries — such as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — and small town cemeteries, as remains of the Honored Dead came home to rest. In the Spring following the end of the war, women in towns and villages in both the North and South put flowers on graves. These were not stiff, formal arrangements from a florist, but garden and meadow blossoms strewn over the ground. This custom was fostered by Mary Ann Williams, a war widow from Columbus, Georgia who wrote letters urging women to decorate the graves, and that one day be set aside to honor the war dead. The idea caught on and in 1866, it was a holiday in Georgia. The head of the the G.A.R. [veterans organization in the North] promoted the idea too. In 1868, Decoration Day — the day to decorate the graves — was observed in the North. By 1890, all states had adopted the custom, observing it on May 30. After World War I, the observance was for all war dead, the name became “Memorial Day”, and so it is today — except that the day is now the last Monday in May. That way the dead can have a three-day weekend, and everyone can eat more hot dogs.

For Mary Ann Williams, a breakfast from the South, who’s rebellion started the Civil War. For dinner, a meal with bison meat. Settlers in the Plains States [where the bison lived] precipitated the debate as to whether those states should be Free or slave-holding, another factor that catapulted the nation into war.

Hoe Cakes with Fruit & Egg: 183 calories… 5.6 g fat… 5.4 g fiber… 9.5 g protein… 23 g carbs… 44 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values given are for the main meal only, and do not include the optional beverage. PB GF  This recipe harks back to Colonial Days in the American South. Everyone from enslaved people to President George Washington ate hoe cakes.  HINT: This recipe makes 6 hoecakes – enough for 2 servings of 3 each. Originally this would be made with white cornmeal, but the yellow has more nutrition. NB: Hoe cakes were never ‘cooked on a hoe’ by farm workers. Silly notion. Dear Husband enjoyed this very much and so will you.

3 Tbsp yellow cornmeal – even polenta meal would do  ++++++++ 2.5 Tbsp hot water  ++++++++++Combine by stirring well to make a mush. Let sit for 15 minutes
1 oz egg white +++++++++++ ¼ tsp yeast +++++++++++Stir into the warm cornmeal mush and let sit for 1 – 12 hours. This was 125 ml in volume
2 Tbsp cornmeal +++++++ 2 Tbsp water ++++++++ ¼ tsp salt ++++++++Mix into the cornmeal mush. If you take some up on a fork, it will sit on top with a little batter dribbling through. If it is not like this, add more cornmeal or more water. This was ½ cup in volume.
Using 2 tbsp of batter per cake, drop onto a hot griddle sprayed with non-stick spray. This should make 6 cakes. Cook on both sides. Best if eaten while fresh.
¼ cup raspberries ++++++ 1 tsp honey +++++++++++ one 2-oz egg +++++++++Put the fruit and honey in a small dish and microwave for 30 seconds. Fry the egg.
Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] Plate 2 of the Hoecakes with the egg and the other with the berry syrup. Pour your beverage of choice.

Bison Chili: per cup – 136 calories… 3 g fat… 5 g fiber… 13 g protein… 14.5 g carbs… 57 mg Calcium… PB GF  This chili is based on my mother’s recipe. Using bison meat gives good flavor to this classic. HINT: makes 4 [four] one-cup servings

4 oz ground bison ++++ 15 oz canned tomatoes – in chunks or diced drained in a sieve [save the juice] ++++ ++ 1 clove garlic, chopped ++++ 1 cup red onion, chopped ++++ ½ cup green pepper, chopped ++ ¾ cup canned red or black beans, drained and rinsed ++++ 2-4 tsp chili powder ++++ ¾ tsp salt ++++ +++ ½ – 1 tsp ground cumin ++++ 2 oz melon +++

Cook the venison, onion, garlic, and green pepper in some of the tomato juices until vegetables are tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook gently until the chili is hot throughout. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning.  Serve garnished with melon.

Slow Day: Shad with Corn Cake

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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 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.

Shad fish, Alosa sapidissima, used to be the iconic symbol of springtime in coastal New England. The Shadbush would bloom in the woodlands, and the shad fish would migrate up-stream from the ocean to spawn. Then the fishing would begin! The most prized part of the shadfish was the roe — two pink lobes of unlaid eggs. Cookbooks had many recipes for shad roe. The flesh was good, but so full of little bones that it might be off-putting. My grandmother loved it nonetheless, crunching it down, bones and all. Nowadays, shad is less common, due to the damming of rivers during the early Industrial Revolution. Happily, it can still be found in some markets, and then I snatch it up. Even better, modern processing of the fish minimizes the little bones to manageable proportions.

This preparation is a combination of recipes [though mostly for the roe] which I turned into a fine meal. Why the pancake in lieu of potato or some grain? In Rhode Island, they love to eat shad with their local cornmeal pancake called “Johnny Cakes.” I made a batch of corn bread batter [Fannie Farmer Cookbook], and cooked it like pancakes instead. That was a hit!

As you can see, I couldn’t wait to eat this meal, so I took a few bites before I took the photo!

Begin by cooking some bacon in a non-stick pan — 1-2 slices per person. Blot the bacon and pour off most of the fat from the pan, but save what your pour off. Prepare batter for a simple cornbread and cook the batter like pancakes in a bit of bacon fat. Make 1-2 per person. [freeze remaining batter for another meal, like breakfast] Set them aside to stay warm. For the shad, get some very fine yellow cornmeal. [NB: If all you have is meal the texture of sugar, run it through the blender to make it more fine.] Put cornmeal on a plate and sprinkle on salt, pepper, and thyme leaves. Dredge 4-ounce shad fillets in cornmeal, then cook in a bit of bacon fat, about 4 minutes per side. Spray the pan with some cooking spray if the fat cooks away.

Plate the shad with the bacon on top, next to the ‘pseudo-Johnny Cakes,’ and some green beans. This is a genuine old New England treat!

Yellow/Jaune/Kiiro/Ophuzi

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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.

Our English word ‘yellow’ is from the Old English geolo, geolu. Do you realize how often the color yellow turns up in Pop Culture? Yellow Submarine. Yellow Brick Road [Judy Garland and Elton John]. Yellow by Coldplay. I Am Curious [Yellow]. Mellow Yellow, by Donovan. Old Yeller. Yellow Bird. The Yellow House, by Van Gogh. Yellow ocher was used 17,000 years ago to paint the walls at Lascaux Cave. Yellow in Buddhism means humility, in Mexico yellow mari-golds are integral to the Day of the Dead. Yellow is the color of Autumn — a last burst of life before dark Winter– and of Spring when the daffodils bloom. Yellow is the color of the sun, and thus divinity. Yellow is the color of gold [and Fool’s Gold], and thus wealth — or deceit. Yellow is the third color of the spectrum of visible light, with a wave-length between 575–585 nm. Yellow is the color of happiness and optimism. Seeing yellow promotes creative thinking and psychological clarity. But then there is ‘yellow journalism‘ [named for the cheap yellowish paper it was printed on]. Be careful who you call a ‘Yellow Dog Democrat,’ or to whom you give the epithet ‘yellow-bellied.’ Nature abounds with yellow: Goldfinches, goldenrod, canaries, Canada Warblers, forsythia, sulfur, citrine, topaz — yellow is everywhere! Go out and enjoy it.

The yellow rays of the sun help us to wake in the morning. So, yellow at breakfast. Yellow lamplight, after the sun goes down, helps us to deal with the darkness. So, yellow at dinner. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” wrote Frost. Which path will you follow — the Fasting Lifestyle for better health or doing the same old same old?

Moroccan Omelette: 135 calories… 8 g fat… 1.4 g fiber … 10 g protein… 7.5 g carbs… 49 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF Suggested by our First-born, this is the easiest breakfast in the world to prepare. For the compete flavor profile, serve with mint tea.

1½ 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, into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week.  ++++ 1 tsp or more ground cumin ++++ ½ tsp paprika +++ +++ salt + pepper ++++ 4 clementine segments ++++  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait  [65 calories] or lemon in hot water ++++  Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Combine the cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small dish. Whisk just the eggs vigorously. Pour into a heated skillet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Turn down the heat. Sprinkle the eggs with the seasonings and leave undisturbed until puffy and the top is set. Remove from skillet, and serve folded or flat. Pour the beverages and enjoy the fruit as a counter-point to the spices.

Felafel with Feta Salad:  285 calories… 14 g fat… 7 g fiber… 12.5 g protein… 29 g carbs… 180 mg Calcium…  PB GF  What a healthy plate of food! When you have felafel in the freezer, this meal becomes almost instant.

6 felafel patties** ++++ 1 cup lettuce [slice large leaves cross-wise into ½-1” strips] ++ 2 oz tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or cut in ½” cubes ++++ 1 oz carrots, grated ++++ +++++1 oz beets cut in large dice +++++ ¾ oz Feta cheese in large crumbles ++++++ ¾ tsp flavored olive oil ++++ ¾ tsp white wine vinegar ++++ salt + pepper

Thaw the felafel patties and warm them. If unbaked, heat them in a 400 F. oven for 10-15 minutes. Prepare the vegetables for the salad. Whisk the vinegar and oil, then toss the salad vegetables in the dressing. Top with the felafel and feta crumbles.

**Felafel each patty = 30 cal.. 1 g fat.. 1 g fiber.. 1.6 g protein.. 4 g carbs.. 8.5 mg Calcium GF PB From the Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen, these are easy to prepare and set you up for several servings of future meals.

2 cups canned chick peas [if you use dried chickpeas, you will get a grainer product. Factor in the time to reconstitute and cook them] ++++ 1½ cloves garlic, crushed ++++ ¼ cup celery, minced ++++ ¼ c. scallions, sliced ++++ one 2-oz egg ++++ 1½ tsp tahini ++++ ½ t. cumin ++++ ½ t. tumeric ++++ ¼ t. cayenne ++++ ¼ tsp black pepper ++++ 1½ tsp salt

Combine in food processer until ingredients form a uniform paste. Scoop into a bowl and chill 1 hour. Form into balls on a silicon mat or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I used a 1½ Tbsp scoop and then flattened the patties. TIP: You don’t have to bake them now. You could freeze the patties on a cookie sheet, then put them frozen into bags to cook later. Bake at 400 F, 10-15 minutes. The patties should be heated through and have an outside ‘crust’ which is firm to the touch. In most recipes, you will cook them further. At this point you want them to be firm enough to store well. There will be 25 or 30 of them. Use now or cool and freeze for later use.

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

1 two-oz egg = US largespelt galettes: spelt, eggs, olive oil
1 egg white + yeastrhubarb compote: rhubarb, honey
yellow corn mealorange
raspberries + honeyham
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

ground bison + garlicscallions + sugar + rice wine vinegar
canned tomatoes + cuminfresh ginger + rhubarb
red onion + green bell peppersalmon fillet + ‘English’ peas
canned kidney beans + chili powderbutter + red pepper flakes
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Franklin Expedition

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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.

Sir John Franklin had been a member of several expeditions to the polar seas, but he was the last choice to head up the voyage in 1845, to find the fabled North-West Passage. European navies had long supposed that one could sail from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific by going north of Canada instead of the long way around the tip of South America. Many attempts had been made, but all failed due to the cold, the frozen sea, and lack of know-ledge of the water routes. Franklin’s expedition had two stout ships, Terror and Erebus, built for sailing through ice. The ships had a rudimentary heating system, and a 3-year supply of a new invention: tinned food, neatly sealed with lead solder — all set for an Arctic voyage. The last anyone saw of the ship, it was off Greenland in late July, 1845. After two years without a word, Lady Jane Griffin Franklin, went to the Admiralty to ask where her husband was. Several search parties were sent out, but no trace was found, until 1859, when a cached message was found saying that the crew had abandoned ship. A more complete picture emerged from archeology in the 1990s, aided by ancestral memories of the Inuit people. Bodies were located where the Indigenous People indicated, remains that told of scurvy, starvation, lead poisoning that would have caused poor reasoning, and cannibalism. The ships were finally located in 2014 and 2016. Thus ended the story of a very ill-fated expedition.

A galley full of tinned food sealed in lead was like a death sentence waiting to be carried out. So we will have a breakfast that evokes death sentences of that era. The dinner is made of fresh fish and potatoes, which might have prevented scurvy.

Hangtown Bake: 135 calories… 7 g fat… 1 g fiber… 8 g protein… 5.4 g carbs… 46.5 mg Calcium…  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages. PB GF  The grim name for this California Gold Rush Era meal comes from the moniker of Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California. Since it was the county seat, justice was meted out there — including capital punishment.

1 two-oz egg ++++ 2 oysters, raw and out of the shell ++++ ½ oz bacon, un-cured is preferable ++++ 1 Tbsp scallion greens, chopped ++++ 2 oz strawberries ++++  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]

Set the oven at 350 F. Cook the bacon until it is a little underdone, then chop it up. Chop the scallion and oysters and stir in a little bacon fat, along with the bacon. Whisk the egg, add the other ingredients and whisk again. Pour into a baking dish lightly-spritzed with non-stick spray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Prepare the beverages and plate the baked egg along with the fruit.

Chowdah: 294 calories… 7 g fat… 2 g fiber… 33.6 g protein… 17 g carbs… 114 mg Calcium…  PB GF  Here in Northern New England, chowder is king. Cod or haddock is traditional but hake is more flavorful and lower in calories. HINT: This recipe makes one BIG bowl of chowdah, but if you double the recipe, you can freeze the remainder or enjoy it for lunch another day. If you can, make it one day and eat it the next day for richer flavor.

½ slice bacon ++++ ¼ cup onion, chopped ++++ 2 oz potatoes, ½” dice ++++ 1½ cups fish stock ++++ 4 oz cod or hake fillets, cut into 1½” pieces ++++ ¼ cup 2% milk ++++ salt + pepper + parsley + turmeric

Cook the bacon until it is almost crispy, remove from the pan, blot dry of fat, and chop coarsely. Pour most of the fat from the pan and add the onions. Cook slowly until soft and transluscent. In another pan, boil the potatoes in water until tender. Drain and salt the potatoes. Put the fish stock, cod, potatoes, and milk in the pan with the onions. Heat slowly until warm. Add the bacon, parsley, and seasonings to taste. [TIP: Best if held in the ‘fridge for 8-24 hours before you heat slowly [do NOT boil] and taste for seasonings again.]

Charles Perrault

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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.

What did a clerk for King Louis XIV have to do with Puss in Boots? Everything. Charles Perrault was born in 1628, into a well-placed Parisian family. His father wished him to be a lawyer, so Charles sat for the exam. Although he passed, he never practiced law. Charles drifted a bit, then became a civil servant at court. He seemed to have an affinity for ‘academies’: he helped to found the Academy of Sciences, and resurrected the defunct Academy of Painting. As a side hustle, he was the secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions, which put mottos on monuments. One of his major contributions to Parisian life was that he convinced the government to open the Tuileries Garden, next to the Louvre Palace, to the public. At age 56, Perrault was forced to retire, so he devoted himself to his children. For some reason, he wrote a book containing popular folktales which he called “Tales of Mother Goose.” It was a huge hit, beloved by children and adults alike, each story followed by two morals. Although Perrault did not call them ‘fairy tales’, he made the genre popular. Five years later, he died on May 16, 1703, but his stories took on a life of their own. They were retold by the Brothers Grimm [who made them rather violent] in Germany in the 1800s, and, of course, reinvented by Walt Disney [who, well, Disneyfied them] in the 1900s. The best way I can think of to honor the Father of the Fairy Tale, would be to relax in the Tuileries Garden while reading Perrault’s Cinderella.

I always thought that the story “Blue Beard” took place in southern France, whence comes our breakfast. The dinner is a riff on a popular meal, just as subsequent authors riffed on Perrault’s tales, to make them their own.

Chicken Provincal Bake: 139 calories… 5 g fat… 2 g fiber… 10.7 g protein… 10.5 g carbs… 47.5 mg Calcium…  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages.  PB GF  What wonderful flavors! Based on the dinner of the same name. 

++++ 1 two-oz egg ++++ 2 Tbsp crushed tomatoes, slightly drained ++++ ++++ ½ anchovy, canned fillets, rinsed and chopped ++++ 1 Tbsp low-fat cottage cheese ++++ ¼ oz cooked chicken breast, minced ++++ thyme, rosemary, pinch red pepper flakes ++++ 1 oz pear ++++  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 dish with non-stick spray and set the toaster oven for 350 degrees F. Whisk together the first 6 ingredients [not the pear!] and pour into the dish. Bake for about 15 minutes while you slice the pear and prepare your optional beverages. Great way to start the day.

Mackerel with Gooseberry Glaze: 276 calories… 16 g fat… 1 g fat… 22 g protein… 7 g carbs… 27 mg Calcium…  PB GF This popular dish from Normandy usually features fresh gooseberries. Here in the USA, those are less common so we make a glaze of gooseberry jelly. The zucchini picks up the color of green gooseberries.

++++ 3 oz mackerel, frozen or fresh fillets ++++ 2 tsp gooseberry jelly/jam ++++ ++++ 4 oz zucchini ribbons ++++

Thaw the fish if frozen. Heat the oven to 400 F. Put fish on a baking tray and brush with melted jelly. Using a potato peeler, carve long, thin slices from the length of the zucchini until you have 3 oz. Toss the ribbons with salt and pepper. Place the ribbons on the baking tray in a heap [if they are in a thin layer, they will over-cook]. Bake the pan with the fish and zucchini for 5 minutes. Rearrange the zucchini so that the bottom of the heap is now on top. Bake 5 minutes more, or until the fish is cooked. Plate the fish with the zucchini ribbons. Sheet-pan dinners are so trendy these days.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large1.5 two-oz eggs 
2 oystersground cumin
scallion + strawberriesground paprika
American streaky baconGolden Berries
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

bacon + onion6 felafel patties
potato + fish stock2 servings of Side Salad 
cod or haketomato
2%-fat milk + parsleycarrot + beets + feta cheese
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Daphne Du Maurier

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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. Welcome to David Hildebrand who is now Following.

When your grandfather George was a famous writer and illustrator, your father Gerald was a famous actor-manager, and your mother Muriel Beaumont was an actress, what does life hold for you? When Daphne du Maurier was born on May 16, 1907, she could have been anything she wanted — except the son that her father wished for. She and her sisters were educated and cosseted by a warm, wealthy family. Their father was their hero and champion. As a child, Daphne was shy and lived a tom-boy country life. Her father encouraged her early efforts at writing, and her publisher uncle put her first story in print when she was 19 years old. At age 25, Daphne met an army officer, Frederick “Boy” Browning. He admired her writing, and she was informed that to live with him out of wedlock would ruin his career. So they married. Following a biography of her father, Du Maurier hit the best seller list with her 1936 novel Jamaica Inn. Two years later, Rebecca had everyone talking. The Brownings honeymooned in Cornwall, UK, and the family moved there in 1943. Daphne had been entranced by an estate called “Menabilly” and the family lived there for 20 years. It appears as the famous “Manderley” in Rebecca. Something about Cornwall urged du Maurier to write her Gothic stories about memorably evil people, set in the beautiful Cornish countryside. She lived in Cornwall until her death in 1989. I vividly remember seeing the 1940 film with Laurence Olivier, and reading the book. Absolutely gripping! Just as Rebecca de Winter ‘haunted’ Manderley, du Maurier’s characters and stories haunt the reader. Shiver deliciously.

In Rebecca, the narrator is intimidated by the magnificent spread provided for breakfast at Manderly. Our breakfast includes the eggs and ham and fruit, and leaves the other ingredients for another day. In My Cousin Rachel, the Christmas buffet table is laden with roasted meats. Left-over slices of beef are perfect for our dinner.

Ham-Cup Eggs: 143 calories… 7 g fat… 1.4 g fiber… 11.6 g protein… 9 g carbs… 68 mg Calcium…  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages.  PB GF Easy to prepare ahead and easy on the taste buds.

1 two-oz egg ++++ 1 Tbsp cottage cheese ++++ 1½ tsp Parmesan cheese, grated 1 slice “Cottage Ham” [4” diameter thin slice of ham] I used North Country Smoke House brand at 21 calories/slice  ++++ 2 oz pear or apple  ++++ 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]

Fit the ham into an oven-proof container that measures 3½” in diameter and 1¼ ” deep. [I used a cleaned 5-oz tuna can. It was perfect.] You will need to snip the ham on 2 sides and overlap the meat to make it fit better into the mold. Combine the cheeses and season with herbs/salt/pepper to taste. Whisk in the egg and pour into the ham cup.  HINT: I did this the night before and put it in the ‘fridge. Turn on the toaster oven to 350 F and bake the ham cups for 20+ minutes, until the filling is puffed and set. Prepare the beverages and the apple. Use a wide knife to loosten the ham cups from the mold before plating. Some of the egg will have oozed into the mold as it baked, but that is easy to remove too. This breakfast was a real hit.

Beef & Beet Salad: 243 calories… 8.5 g fat… 3 g fiber… 24 g protein… 17 g carbs… 24 mg Calcium…  PB GF This unusual salad was found in James Peterson’s Glorious French Food. Should you have left-over roast beef, this is the dish to try. It is crazy easy.

2¾ oz thinly-sliced roasted beef ++++ 3½ oz pickled beets, as thinly-sliced rounds ++++ a few leaves of spinach, cut as chiffonade ++++ dill pickle spear ++++ ++++ 1½ tsp dressing***

Slice the beef and the beets as matchsticks about 2-3” long. Put in the serving bowl/plate and drizzle the dressing over the top. Gently toss to coat the salad with the dressing. Plate it. Wonderfully simple.

***Dressing: makes 6 Tablespoons 2¼ tsp Dijon mustard ++++ 1 Tbsp chopped shallot ++++ 1½ tsp red wine vinegar ++++ 4½ tsp olive oil

Brendan the Navigator

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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.

Which European “discovered” the Americas? Was it Columbus, 1492? No. Was it Leif Erickson and his sister Freydís Eiríksdóttir, 1000? Nope. It was Brendan, an Irish monk, in 547 CE. Who??? Brendan, who lived from around 484 CE to c. 577, was born into an Ireland that was thrilled to hear the newly-arrived Christian message. After his ordination as a priest, Brendan was the abbot of a monastery with 3000 monks. He was eager to spread the Gospel, traveling to islands off the coast of Ireland and Scotland. Then Brendan heard of a paradisiacal island ‘in the Western ocean’ and he longed to travel there. He chose 16 companions who worked together to build a curragh, the wood-framed leather-hulled boats used by Irish fishermen in fresh and salt water. Around 512 CE, they set out and are said to have returned in 530. Centuries later, the story of the trip was widely circulated. In more modern times, the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis was belittled as medieval fantasy. But in the 1970s, Tim Severin [channeling his inner Thor Heyerdahl] built a 36-foot curragh and successfully sailed it from Ireland to Iceland to Newfoundland, Canada. Did the Irish reach North America centuries before anyone else? There is no hard and fast archeological evidence to prove it, but it sure sounds plausible. Read The Brendan Voyage by Severin and see what you think.

Our breakfast contains ingredients known to Irish descendants living in the US, and our dinner features a fish that Brendan and his crew would have encountered everywhere they stopped: the Faeroe Islands, the Orkneys, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland.

Corned Beef & Cabbage ScrOmelette: 154 calories… 7.6 g fat… 1 g fiber… 14 g protein… 6.5 g carbs… 65 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF  Of course, Brendan never ate corned-beef-and-cabbage, but the Irish who later swarmed to the Americas and stayed there made the combination popular.

1½ 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 into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week….  ½ oz uncooked corned beef……………. 1/3 cup cabbage, very thinly sliced ………….. ½ Tbsp cottage cheese ……….. ……..pinch caraway seed + pinch thyme ……………….. 1 oz apple ……………  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]

Mince the beef and put in into a pan with ¼ cup water. Simmer until beef is cooked, then remove it to a small bowl. Put the cabbage in the water in the pan and simmer that until the cabbage is cooked – add more water as needed. Put the cabbage in the bowl with the cottage cheese and seasonings. Add some pepper, but you probably will NOT need to add salt, due to the corned beef. Mix the ingredients together. Heat a non-stick pan with some cooking spray and whisk the eggs. Put the beef/cabbage in the pan and distribute it over the surface. Quickly pour the eggs in and tip the pan to cover all the cabbage. Cook on one side, then flip and cook it some more. Fold and plate with the apple. ‘Tis a fine breakfast you’ll be having.

Salmon & Broccoli:  256 calories… 7 g fat… 5 g fiber… 29 g protein… 20.5 g carbs… 82 mg Calcium…  PB GF This is a meal that is so simple to prepare and so delicious that it seems impossible that it can be so good for you. Indulge yourself often.

4 oz filet wild Pacific salmon +++ 5 oz broccoli florets +++ ¼ c pearled barley, cooked +++ dab of salsa

Cook the pearled barley. Cut broccoli into florets and put into a pan with some water, and set on medium-high heat uncovered. Spray either a cast iron skillet or on a stove-top grill pan with non-stick spray and heat it over medium-high. [You could also broil or bake the fish. If you bake it, go for 9-10 minutes at 400F] Salt and pepper the fish all around. Cook about 4-5 minutes on each side, then take off the heat. Test the broccoli for tenderness, then plate with the barley, and enjoy.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large1 two-oz egg + crushed tomatoes 
4″-diameter thin slice of hamlots of fresh herbs + anchovy + pear
Parmesan cheese + apple2%-fat cottage cheese
2%-fat cottage cheesebits of cooked chicken
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

Roast beef, cooked + olive oilmackerel fillets, fresh or frozen
pickled beets, sliced in roundsgooseberry jelly or jam
Dijon mustard + shallotzucchini
red wine vinegar
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Thoreau

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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.

David Henry Thoreau was born in 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. His father owned a factory that manufactured pencils, thin graphite rods sur-rounded by wooden cylinders. They were not wealthy, but young David studied at Harvard University. He was an individualist even then: he reversed his names to become ‘Henry David’ — just for fun — and he refused to accept his sheep-skin diploma, declaring, “Let every sheep keep its own skin.” For a few years he worked at the pencil factory, developing the idea of mixing clay with graphite so that the pencil ‘lead’ was harder and lasted longer. For a bit he taught school. One of the Thoreau’s neighbors was Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry visited often, joining in philosophical and literary discussions. Thus, he came in contact with the Transcendentalists. Thoreau wrote for the group’s newsletter and did odd jobs around the place. In 1845, he built a small cabin in Emerson’s woods, on the shore of Walden Pond, and lived there for two years in an effort to escape the conformity of society. Yet while he was “living deep and sucking out all the marrow of life”, Thoreau would walk into town every day to get his mail or dine with friends. Not exactly the ‘hermit who rejects the world’ that one imagines him to have been. In those years, he developed his most important environmental works: Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Thoreau did urge readers to live with nature, and he continued to rail against societal norms in his famous essay Civil Disobedience, which influenced political and social leaders well into the 20th century. He died in Concord on May 6, 1867. In 1872, the first tourist visited the cabin site, and proposed that visitors each place a stone on a cairn there. Although Thoreau wanted to live off the beaten path, people now beat a path to his doorstep at the Walden Pond State Reservation. He would have hated it.

Our breakfast is simple enough to cook over a fire in a cabin, and sustaining enough to take you on a hike into town for the mail. The dinner represents Thoreau’s adult preference for a non-meat diet. He pooh-poohed hunting as a ‘youthful pursuit’.

Ham & Egg & Toast: 149 calories… 7.4 g fat… 1.5 g fiber… 14.5 g protein… 7 g carbs… 40 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages. PB GF – if using GF bread  What could be a more classic combination at breakfast! This is a diner meal, scaled down to fit into a Fast Day menu. It sure is good.

1 two-oz egg + 1 oz ham + ½ slice whole grain bread @ 35 calories for the ½ slice

Heat the ham in a non-stick pan while the bread toasts. Take out the ham and cook the egg in the same pan — over-medium works for me. Plate to your taste and partake.

Spinach or Swiss Chard Fritatta: 284 calories… 12.5 g fat… 4 g fiber… 18.5 g protein… 24 g carbs… 166 mg Calcium  PB GF  Susan Loomis is the source of this recipe, which also can be a wonderful breakfast, scaled down to suit. HINT: this recipe serves 2 as a main course. Could serve 4-6 as an appetizer.

3 oz Swiss chard or fresh spinach + 1/3 tsp olive oil + 8 oz eggs = 4 two-oz eggs in their shells + 3 pinches granulated garlic + 3 pinches salt + large pinch paprika + 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese  per serving: 1 oz 7-grain sour-dough bread, or something similarly hearty + ¼ cup pickled beets 

Clean the chard by holding the leaf and pulling off the stem. Chop the leaves. Put olive oil in an oven-proof pan that can also be used on the stove-top. Turn on the broiler and move the upper oven rack to the top. Cook the chopped leaves in the oil until the leaves are limp, adding water as necessary to prevent sticking. Be sure to cook off the water/liquid in the pan. Spray the pan and its contents with non-stick spray. Stir and distribute the cooked chard evenly in the pan. Combine the eggs, cheese and seasonings. Whisk well and pour over the chard in the pan. Cook over medium heat until the bottom is well set, 4-5 minutes. Put under the broiler until the top is cooked. Serve from the pan or slide the fritatta out onto a serving plate, along with the toasted bread and the vegetables.

Floralie!!

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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.

Roman statue of Flora, artist unknown.

Here it is — my favorite ‘holiday’ from the classical era: Floralie! My maternal grand-mother was a teacher of latin, so my mother grew up with stories and poems of ancient Greece and Rome. I grew up learning classical mythology, and stories in the Baldwin Reader about Rome. So I guess it would be natural for me to be quite taken with Flora, the goddess of Flowers. [of course any tales of prosti-tutes in ancient Rome, often associated with Flora’s festival, were omitted from my education] What really tickles me is that her holiday, April 28 to May 3, is still honored 2238 years later in southern France, Italy, and England. There, towns have flower shows and decorate the houses with blooms. As I write this in New Hampshire, the first daffodils are blooming, along with the Pulmanaria, Scilla, and a few dandelions. Elsewhere, Forsythia is showing its golden flowers. Spring has arrived and nature is ready to celebrate Flora. Weave a floral wreath to wear in your hair.

For the goddess of Spring, we will eat flower buds in the form of asparagus at breakfast. For dinner, a delightful salad that can be composed to look like a giant blossom.

Asparagus Roll-ups: 117 calories… 7 g fat… 1.3 g fiber… 8 g protein… 2.6 g carbs… 51.5 mg Calcium…  NB: The food values shown are for the egg bake and the fruit, not for the optional beverages. PB GF Pretty on the plate and a delight to eat.

1 two-oz egg + 2 oz asparagus spears, tough lower stalks removed + 1 Tbsp whipped cream cheese + tarragon, chopped  + 4 Golden Berries or 2 strawberries  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]

Break the tough lower part of the asparagus stalks, wash, and steam or cook in minimal water until tender. Drain, salt lightly, and set aside. HINT: You could do this the night before. Whisk the eggs with the cream cheese and tarragon, along with a pinch of sea salt. Heat an 8”-9” skillet and spritz it with non-stick spray. Pour in the eggs and tilt the pan so that the eggs form a thin, even layer over the bottom of the pan. Without stirring or moving the eggs, cook until the eggs are set and as your like them – this will not take long. Remove the egg to your plate, like a big pancake. Put the cooked asparagus in the pan and shake it a bit over heat to re-warm. Lay the spears on the eggs so that the blossom ends hang over the edge. Roll the egg so that the asparagus is inside and plate attractively. With your optional beverages, you are set for a Spring-time breakfast treat.

Senegal Tuna-Avocado Salad: 264 calories 14.6 g fat 6.4 g fiber 13 g protein 18 g carbs 30 mg Calcium  PB GF  This is my version of Avocat Creole which I enjoyed at Bissap Baobab, an excellent Senegalese restaurant in Oakland, CA, now closed.

2½ oz white/Albacore tuna + 2 Tbsp celery, minced + 1-2 pinches ground ginger + ½ tsp lime juice + Sriracha sauce + ¾ oz apple, diced  + ½ tsp mayonnaise made with olive oil + 2 oz avocado + 2 Tbsp radish/alfalfa sprouts + 4 oz cherry tomatoes + ¼ oz [½ cup] baby spinach leaves   + aioli: 1 tsp mayonnaise made with olive oil + Sriracha

Lightly combine the tuna with the celery, ginger, dash of Sriracha, lime juice, apple, and ½ tsp mayonnaise. Arrange the spinach leaves in the center of the plate and mound the tuna on top. Slice the avocado and layer on top of the tuna. Mix remaining mayonnaise with Sriracha to taste and drizzle the aioli over the avocado. If the cherry tomatoes are not bite-sized, cut in half. Place tomatoes around the edge of the plate and enjoy a meal that is blooming with flavor.

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

1 two-oz egg = US large1.5 two-oz eggs + apple
1 oz roast hamcorned beef + cabbage
1/2 slice whole-grain bread [35 calories]2%-fat cottage cheese
thyme + caraway seed
optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

4 two-oz eggs + Parmesan cheese4 oz wild Pacific salmon
Swiss chard or spinach + garlic powder 4 oz broccoli
garlic powder + paprika + pickled beetspearled barley
1 oz whole-grain sourdough bread
Sparkling waterSparkling water