recipes for Michael Mosley’s 5:2 Diet

Sap Season

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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 nycdesmond who is now Following.

Most people joke that Northern New England has only 2 weeks of Spring. Ha. Ha. Are they expecting the soft season of the deep South, filled with weeks of blossoms? Spring here begins in late February/early March when the Sugar Maple trees begin to wake up. The air is still cool but the sun is warm on your back. The sky is a brilliant blue and a light jacket is all you need. Present but silent all Winter, the Mourning Doves begin to sing, which tells us that the sap is running. Last Fall, the sap drained from the upper twigs and branches. Down into the roots it went, to be stored during the Winter. [That’s why the leaves turn colors and fall off: no sap to keep them alive.] When the days get longer in the late Winter and the sun sails higher in the sky, the sap begins to rise. When the night temperatures fall below freezing, the sap returns to the roots. The next day, it rises again. This is what we tap [literally] into by drilling holes in the bark [a 12″ diameter tree will have one tap, while a larger tree could have two or more], and hammering in a metal cone called a spile. A bucket is hung from the spile to catch the dripping sap. Such a sweet sound! The sap is collected, boiled down [we do it over a wood fire outside], filtered, and boiled some more until it turns to syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. After four to five weeks, the day and night temperatures equalize, the trees bloom, and the sap season is over. In late April, the daffodils flower; in May, the apple trees bloom; and in June, the lilacs. It takes more than flowering shrubs to make a Spring in northern New England.

During the sap run, we like to make our coffee with maple sap instead of water. Sweetens it just enough that you don’t need sugar! Since we have many jars of syrup in the Root Cellar, we can use it a lot: pancakes, of course, but also in porridge and some dinners.

10-Grain Pudding: 175 calories 1 g fat 5.4 g fiber 7.5 g protein 35 g carbs [29 g Complex] 39 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage. PB Here is delicious hot cereal for any day of the week. The applesauce and maple syrup give just the right sweetness.

¼ cup uncooked Bob’s Red Mill 10-Grain Cereal   1½ Tbsp cottage cheese 1 tsp maple syrup 1 Tbsp applesauce pinch of nutmeg + pinch of cinnamon   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]

Put the cereal in ¾ cup of boiling water, turn down to a simmer and cook, covered, for 8 minutes. HINT: Do this the night before. Cool the cereal, then mix in the cottage cheese, maple syrup, applesauce and spices until well-combined. Put into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it until hot through. Pour the beverages and you will have a warm, filling start to your day.

Maple-Glazed Salmon: 249 calories 8.4 g fat 2.4 g fiber 26.5 g protein 18 g carbs 54 mg Calcium PB GF What’s not to love about maple syrup on salmon?! Served with mounds of asparagus, it is early Springtime on a plate. 

4 oz salmon fillet, skin removed 1 Tbsp maple syrup ½ tsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp yellow Sriracha 4 oz asparagus, trimmed and sliced

30-40 minutes before dinner: whisk together the syrup, soy, mustard, and Sriracha, and pour over the salmon on a small pie plate. Marinate, turning frequently, for 20 minutes. NB: Be sure to save the marinade when you remove the fish from it. Trim and slice asparagus and put in a pan with some water, but not enough to cover. Turn heat on under asparagus to bring it to a simmer. Heat a non-stick or cast-iron skillet and spray it with cooking spray. Put salmon in the pan and cook 4 minutes on one side. Turn and cook 4 minutes on the other side. Remove fish to serving plate. Pour marinade into the hot pan from the fish and take off heat. It will foam and bubble up quickly as it thickens. With a plastic scraper, ease the sauce onto the fish. Drain the asparagus and put it into the now empty skillet to get all the sauce from it. Mound the asparagus around the fish, sprinkle with salt.

Cesar Chavez

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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.

Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on March 31 in 1927. He was raised in a Spanish-speaking household and his education was marginal — he attended 37 schools before leaving after 8th grade. What he learned early on was that people like him were not treated fairly. His father was cheated out of the house and land where they had lived in Arizona. For a few years, the family traveled between California and Arizona, eventually becoming migrant workers up and down the coast and interior of central California. Cesar worked to contribute to his parents’ welfare, but he saw that the entire migrant worker community needed to be lifted up. In 1962, he founded the United Farm Workers [UFW] to gain more rights for agricultural employees. As a union, there could be collective bargaining and collective power to force change. Chavez loved learning and read widely as an adult for he realized that through education poor children could better themselves. He adopted the non-violent methods of Ghandi and the Civil Rights Movement, fasting and leading marches, to gain rights, higher pay, and safer working conditions for his union’s members. March 31st is Cesar Chavez Day. Celebrate by realizing how much the labor of farm workers matters to your everyday life. Think about where your food comes from and how it is produced.

Our meals for Cesar Chavez’ birthday contain fruits and vegetables from California — but no grapes. In 1965, a strike was begun by grape pickers in Delano, California. Five years later, Chavez and the UFW won a union contract for the workers after a successful national boycott against the grape growers.

Tostada w/ Avocado: 133 calories 5 g fat 3.6 g fiber 3 g protein 16.6 g carbs 14 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF  For a quick, easy breakfast, this one can’t be beat. Be sure to pair it with a protein-rich dinner.

One 70-calorie yellow cornmeal tortilla 1 oz avocado, mashed 2 Tbsp chili non carne  optional: 1 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]

Briefly warm the tortilla in a heavy skillet without any fat or oil. Warm the chili. Spread the tortilla with the mashed avocado, then top with chili.  Served with the fruit: 16 g calories 0 g fat 1 g fiber 0 g protein 4.4 g carbs 2.6 mg Calcium

Strawberry-Chicken Salad: 231 calories 8 g fat 5 g fiber 23 g protein 16 g carbs 110 mg Calcium  PB GF  Sometimes you go through the recipe drawer and look at all the clippings and photocopies, and wonder, “Where did these come from?” This is one of those recipes, but I think it might be from Eating Well. It is as delicious to eat as it is lovely to look at.

3 oz [¾ cup] cubed cooked chicken breast ½ cup sliced strawberries ¼ cup kiwi, peeled and sliced 1.5 cups fresh spinach 1 Tbsp slivered almonds, toasted 1.5 tsp poppy seed dressing*** OR a red wine vinegar dressing with poppy seeds + a pinch of dried mustard

***Poppy Seed Dressing – 2 tsp red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp olive oil pinch salt ½ tsp dried mustard 1 tsp poppy seeds Whisk together vigorously.

Toss 1½ tsp of dressing with the spinach. Toast the almonds in a heavy dry skillet on the stove-top until just starting to brown. Plate the greens and arrange the chicken and fruit on top. Sprinkle with the nuts. A real hit every time it is served.

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

Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain cereal farro
maple syruppear
applesaucehoney
nutmeg + cinnamon
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

4-oz salmon fillet cooked chicken breast + mint + oregano
maple syrupsalad greens + garbanzo or small white beans
soy sauce + yellow srirachatomato or cucumber + black olives + parsley
asparagusfeta cheese + lemon juice + olive oil
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Saint Teresa of Avila

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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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier. Welcome to victorialing who is now Following.

Teresa  Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada was born into a wealthy family in Avila in the kingdom of Castile in what is in modern Spain. Her father was strictly Catholic, ruling the family with an iron hand. On the sly, her mother read romance novels, which he had forbidden. Little Teresa was so taken by stories of the early Christian martyrs, that she convinced her older brother to run away with her to the regions controlled by the Moors. Their plan was to ask the Moors to convert, thus ensuring that the Muslim soldiers would decapitate the children and send them straight to Heaven. An uncle nipped their plan in the bud. As a teenager, pretty Teresa loved flirting and reading her mother’s hidden books. To tame his wayward, worldly daughter, Senior Sanchez put his daughter in the Carmelite convent for an education. At age 16, one could choose to return to secular life and marry or to become a nun. Teresa feared that her wayward thoughts would lead her to sin, so she took the veil — besides, the convent was less strict than her father’s house. But life in the convent was not one of penance: many of the sisters were not devout and the visitors’ room was more like a society salon. Feeling that she was sinking into sin, Teresa set out to reform herself. She read the writings of mystics and mortified her flesh to such an extent that she became gravely ill. Through all that, she came to find that prayer was not a set of words to recite out loud, but a meditation process, a mental prayer. Her prayers lead her to states of ecstasy and levitation, when her sisters had to hold her down. Whereas some people thought that she was possessed by the devil, Teresa was encouraged by spiritual advisors to write down her methods and ideas about her relationship with God in three books which were suppressed until after her death. Teresa wanted to reform the Carmelites. After years of being accused of heresy for her ideas, mostly from the existing Carmelite chapters, she received the support of the Pope and the King of Spain. Teresa went all over, establishing 17 convents of a more strict group which came to be known as the ‘barefoot Carmelites.’ Despite being sure all her life that she was going straight to hell, she was made a saint only 44 years after her death. She is recognized for having brought some order and orthodoxy to a Catholic church reeling from the Protestant Reformation. The most famous representation of her in art is the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, done 60 years after her death by Gian Bernini. The statue is based on one of her most famous religious visions.

Our meals are from Spain, just like Saint Teresa. The dinner has a connection to the Moors since Spain was under their influence. The breakfast might not be approved by the good saint, since it contains meat. But hey, it is delicious.

Pan Con Tomate y Jamon: 133 calories 4.5 g fat 4.7 g fiber 9 g protein 19 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  PB The Tapas cuisine of Spain has many tasty treats. One of them is this open-faced sandwich which we will borrow for breakfast. It is also dandy for lunch on a Slow Day.

1 slice whole-grain bread [Dave’s Killer Thin-Sliced Bread is great]  2 cloves garlic, pressed  ½ cup diced tomato ¼ tsp olive oil salt + pepper, pinch sugar 1 slice/14 g dried ham, such as Serrano or Prosciutto   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water  Optional: 5-6 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Lightly toast the bread and spread the pressed garlic on it. Dice the tomato and stir into it the oil and seasonings. Distribute the tomato mixture over the bread, then top it with the dried ham.

Barley Paella: 260 calories 3 g fat 8 g fiber 21 g protein 43.5 g carbs 88.4 mg Calcium PB Spain is known for its paella, that succulent dish made with rice and shellfish. The rice and saffron were brought into Spain by the invading Moors and Berbers, and they also introduced barley. This recipe is not a classic Paella Valenciana,  rather a Paella di Marisco. It tastes good and is even good for you. Son #1 was instrumental in the development of this recipe.  HINT: This serves two [2].

2 Servings
½ slice smoked uncured baconCut the bacon into strips cross-ways. Put into a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. 
½ c bell pepper, chopped
½ c onion, chopped 
1/3 c carrot, diced 
1 tsp paprika		Add the bell pepper, onion, and carrot, and cook slowly until soft and transluscent.
2 cloves garlic, chopped
 ¾ c tomato, diced 		Add the garlic and after 60 seconds, add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are softened.
¼ preserved lemon
2 pinches saffron 
1 cup seafood stock
 6 Tbsp quick barley, uncooked		Add preserved lemon, saffron, barley, and seafood stock. Partially cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir it sometimes.
3 oz mussels, shells or no shells 
3 oz shrimp, no shells 		Put mussels and shrimp on top, cover fully. Cook until barley is soft and the liquids are absorbed.
per person: 1.5 oz wide green beans [aka:Roma beans]In the last few minutes, cook the green beans and serve.

The Rus

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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.

In the early 700s CE, young men in Scandinavia had limited opportunities for economic advancement. If they wished to marry, to own property, to have future prosperity, then they needed money. What to do? Many decided to go into “international commerce.” The hottest commodities were silver, furs, and slaves. These could be obtained by honest trade, but the greatest return for investment was through raiding [plundering], and the lands to the East were attractive. A young man could go ‘a-viking’ for two years and return home with a fortune. Thus a group of what could be called ‘Eastern Vikings’ sailed to the Eastern Baltic Sea and swarmed up the rivers. Local people called them the ‘Rus’ and the Rus became the rulers of the river banks from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The city of Kyiv, now in Ukraine, was their capital. Was Ukraine therefore a part of Russia? No. From 862 – 1242 CE, the Scandinavians who were called the Rus, were the rulers of the land now called Ukraine, which was then referred to as The Land of the Rus. It included modern Belarus and parts of Eastern Russia. Thus, Russia used to be part of Ukraine — not the other way around. The world order was again disrupted by the advance of the Mongols in 1242, ending the era of the Kievan Rus. An excellent book about the Vikings [Western and Eastern] is Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil S. Price.

Our breakfast and dinner feature grains of the Ukrainian ‘breadbasket.’ The porridge is favored by shepherding families and the dinner features mushrooms from the forest and eggs from the farm. Put a bouquet of sunflowers on the table. Slava Ukraini.

Banush: 203 calories 3 g fat 2.5 g fiber 7 g protein 35 g carbs 91.5 mg Calcium  PB GF This porrige is popular in Ukraine, Romainia, and Georgia: anywhere sheep are raised and feta cheese is made from their milk. Tradition says that only the shepherds [menfolk] are permitted to prepare it… Some of the ingredients in the original recipe are unavailable to most of us, so I substituted plain yogurt to get the sour flavor which is charactaristic. The pear could be swapped for apple, and if you wish, the fruit could be diced and added to the porrige as a garnish.

¼ c polenta/ yellow cornmeal/ yellow grits ½ c water ¼ c plain yogurt garnish: ¼ oz feta cheese, diced ½ slice bacon, cooked and crumbled 1 oz pear or apple   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

Heat the water to near boiling and stir in the polenta. Cook slowly while stirring. After the water has been absorbed by the polenta [about 15 minutes?], add the yogurt and continue to stir until the mixture is stiffer. Polenta should be cooked but the consistancy should not be too stiff. Pour into a bowl and top with the cheese and bacon. Serve with the pear.

Ukranian Omelette Dinner: 276 calories 8.6 g fat 6.5 g fiber 23.4 g protein 28.4 g carbs 121 mg Calcium  PB  This dinner is based on a popular breakfast of Ukraine. With the addition of a vegetable and cooked wheat berries [Ukraine produces 4% of the world’s wheat], this makes for a fine and filling dinner.

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 another use. 1/4 cup cottage cheese, reduced fat 2 Tbsp sliced mushrooms, chopped 2 Tbsp chives/scallions, minced 4 oz asparagus 1 oz wheat berries

8 hours before: Rinse the wheat berries and soak in water to cover.  40 minutes before: Cook the wheat berries in boiling salted water until tender but not mushy. 15 minutes before: Put the asparagus on to cook. Warm the mushrooms in a small saute pan, add the cottage cheese then stir in the chives/scallions. Heat briefly, cover and take off heat. Spritz a non-stick pan with non-stick spray. Whisk the eggs and pour into the pan. Tip the pan and lift the edge of the cooking eggs to permit uncooked egg to run underneath. When the bottom of the eggs is cooked and the top is mostly set, spoon the cheese-mushroon-chive mixture across the lower third of the eggs. Starting closest to you, roll the eggs around the cheese filling and continue until you run out of egg. Plate with the wheat berries and asparagus.

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

tomato + olive oil70-calorie yellow cornmeal tortilla
garlic + sugaravocado
dried ham, ex: Serranochili non carne
1 slice whole-grain bread, 70-caloriespear or apple
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

quick barley + mussels + shrimp + green beanscooked chicken breast + kiwi fruit
garlic + onion + tomatoes + carrotred wine vinegar + strawberries
bacon + bell pepper + seafood stockdry mustard + fresh spinach
preserved lemon + paprika + saffronslivered almonds + poppy seed
Sparkling waterSparkling water

J. S. Bach

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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 green smoothie diet who is now Following.

Johann Sebastian Bach is probably my favorite composer. When I was a child, my mother always had the classical music station WQXR on the radio, and she would name the composers as the music played. In college choir, we sang Bach pieces a few times over my four years of singing. Wonderful, soaring music. In art class, I came to appreciate the Baroque period without making the connection to Baroque influences in music. Baroque art is filled with drama, light and shadow, and evokes emotion in the viewer. Now I can hear that Bach’s music is the same: rich and ornate, the listener cannot fail to be moved. JS Bach was born on March 21, 1685. His father taught him to play the violin and harpsichord, and the boy sang in the church choir. Orphaned at age 10, Bach was taken in by his older brother who was also a musician. His brother taught him musical composition and to play the organ. At age 15, JS was on the move, something he would do frequently over his career. For the next 23 years, he went from town to town, working as church organist here, as the court musician there, always moving on due to religious politics or disputes about wages. JS was not a difficult man. He was devoted to his music and his growing family, and expected to be treated fairly. All along the way, Bach honed his skills and became more inventive in his music. He perfec-ted the ‘fugue‘ and he promoted musical improvisation. The father of 4 musicians, Johann Sebastian Bach is considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time. Three of his works were included on the ‘Golden Record’ on which NASA recorded music and other ‘sounds of Earth’ to send into space on the Voyager I in 1977. Music for the ages. 

Bach was born in Thuringia, a region of Germany which prides itself on its sausages. So sausage it will be, as part of breakfast, as part of dinner. Celebrate his birthday tomorrow by listening to his music.

Sausage-Apple ScrOmelette: 152 calories– 10 g fat– 0.5 g fiber– 12.8 g protein –3.5 g carbs– 43.2 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages. PB GF  A hearty breakfast to start your day right.

++ 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 link chicken breakfast sausage = 35 calories ++++ ¾ oz apple sage leaves, fresh or dried ++++  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] ++

Dice the sausage and apple. Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick pan and spritz it with oil or cooking spray. Add the sausage/apple and stir to warm them and cook them a bit. Whisk the eggs with the sage, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the sausage/apple in the pan. Scramble to your favorite degree of doneness. Partake of your beverages of choice.

Sauerkraut and Sausage: 255 calories –5.5 g fat –12.6 g fiber– 21.5 g protein– 33.5 g carbs –196.4 mg Calcium  GF PB  This is the sort of food that fueled Bach, Goethe, and Luther. Check the calories and you will see that this is not a fattening meal.

++ 1½ cups sauerkraut, canned or bagged or fresh ++++ 2 tsp caraway seed ++++ 2 oz/1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened ++++ ½ cup onions, chopped coarsely ++++ 1 chicken sausage with apple [OR other 110 calorie sausage] left whole or sliced into ½” chunks ++++ 1½ cups raw collard greens OR Kale OR Chard, chopped or sliced cross-wise in ¼” strips [chiffonade] ++++ salt + garlic powder ++++ pepper to taste ++

Thaw the sausage if it is frozen. Combine the sauerkraut, caraway seed, applesauce, and onions in a saucepan large enough to hold the sausage [if leaving whole]. Cook slowly, uncovered until half of the liquid is gone. Add the sausage, cover, and continue to cook until everything is hot. Meanwhile, put the collards into ½ cup water with seasonings, and cook covered until the greens are tender, about 10 minutes.

Saint Patrick

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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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Saint Patrick, as we all know, is from Ireland, wears green, eats corned beef and cabbage, is attended by leprechauns, and you must kiss him because he is Irish. No, no, no — that isn’t true— although popular American culture makes it seem that way. His real name might have been Maewyn Succat, but later he took the name Padrick. Padrick was not born in Ireland. England, actually. He was kidnapped as an adolescent and enslaved in Ireland. At age 20, he escaped and returned to his family home. After a seeing a vision, Patrick became a priest, then a bishop. In 433 CE, Patrick went back to Ireland to preach the Good Word. He used the shamrock to illustrate how there can be three parts of the Christian God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Over 40 years, Padrick converted thousands of Irish citizens and became beloved. He died on March 17. The ‘wearing o’ the green’ became a symbol of Irish Catholic resistance to British Protestant colonial rule, since their color was orange. People in Ireland don’t eat corned beef — that is an American invention. Belief in leprechauns was part of the pagan religion that he preached against, so no Little People, no pots of gold. Your conscience will be your guide as to whom to kiss on March 17.

To be an American celebrating March 17, corned beef and cabbage is de rigueur. We’ll have that at breakfast. For dinner, a more traditional Irish meal involving lamb. During his youth in Ireland, Patrick was a shepherd, so this seems appropriate.

Corned Beef & Cabbage Bake: 143 calories 6.4 g fat 4 g fiber 11.5 g protein 9.5 g carbs [8.6 g Complex] 95.6 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages. PB GF  Since this flavor combination works well at dinner, we shall have it for breakfast, too. It is delicious! Irish Breakfast Tea would be a perfect accompaniment.

one 2-oz egg ½ oz corned beef, cooked ½ cup cabbage, shredded ½ wedge Laughing Cow cheese ½ cup raspberries  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish Irish Breakfast tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water Optional: 5 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie [88 calories]

Simmer the cabbage in water to cover, cooking until it is limp. Drain well. While cabbage is still hot, stir the cheese and stir to melt. Dice the beef and stir into the cabbage. Pile into an oil-spritzed oven-proof dish and bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Plate with the fruit.

Lamb Stew with Glazed Vegetables: 317 calories 8 g fat 6 g fiber 24 g protein 31 g carbs 62 mg Calcium The recipe is from Salute to Healthy Cooking, so you know it is good. We have enjoyed this often. If you double the recipe, then you’ll have some to freeze for another meal. Yes, the calorie count is a bit high, but it is worth it.  One serving = ¾ cup  HINT: This recipe serves two [2].

Lamb Stew for twoNeed: saute pan + Dutch oven with lid + non-stick pan + oven
½ # lamb shoulder, boneless, cooking spray
salt + pepper		Cut lamb in 1″ cubes. Sear cubes on all sides in a heavy pan which has been sprayed with non-stick spray or oil. Cook meat in batches so the pan doesn’t cool down. Put cooked meat in a Dutch oven and season it.
½ cup onions, choppedPut onions in the cooking pan and saute  with enough water to make them sizzle until they are transparent.
1 oz dry red wineAdd wine to deglaze the pan, stirring brown bits up from the bottom.
Heat the oven to 350 F. 
¾ tsp white whole wheat flour water
½ Tbsp tomato paste 		Sprinkle deglazed pan with flour and stir to mix. Put in Dutch oven. Add enough cold water to go to the top of the lamb but not cover it. Stir in tomato paste.
1 tsp thyme 
1 bay leaf		Add herbs. Heat to a simmer on cook top over medium heat. Cover casserole and put in the oven. Bake 1 hour, check once in a while to make sure the stew is not boiling.
¾ cup carrots, cut in 2” batons Add carrots, cover pan, bake 15 minutes.
½ cup cubed potatoes Add potatoes, cover pan, bake 45 minutes. Remove bay leaf. 
6 pearl onions 1 c/5 oz turnips, in 2” batons
water
½ tsp sugar  + 1 tsp butter** 		Put vegetables in a small non-stick pan with sugar and butter**. Add enough water to go half-way up the onions. Simmer 10 minutes, uncovered, shaking pan occasionally.
Salt + pepperAdd salt and pepper. Take off heat and cover until vegetables are cooked. 
Plate stew with the glazed vegetables.
** If you were to cook the onions and turnips without the butter and sugar, you would reduce the calories to 297 and the fat to 6.5 g.

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

1.5 two-oz eggspolenta — uncooked
chicken breakfast sausage @ 35 calories/linkwhole milk + yogurt
apple uncured bacon
sagefeta cheese
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

sauerkraut + caraway seeds1.5 two-oz eggs  + cottage cheese
collards/kale/chard + garlic powdermushrooms + chives/scallion
applesauce, unsweetened + onionasparagus
chicken dinner sausage @ 110 calorieswheat berries
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Pi 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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

March 14th is Pi Day. Why? As any math student will tell you, the value of Pi = 3.14………, thus 3-14 is the day to celebrate that value. What is Pi? If you took a bowl and measured the distance through the center from one side to the next, you have measured the ‘diameter’ of the bowl. Now you use a measuring tape to determine how far it is around the rim of the bowl and you have found the ‘circumference’ of the bowl. If you divide the circumference by the diameter, the result is always 3.14…….. This concept dates from the ancient Greeks, and Archimedes was the first to quantify the number. Actually, it has been considered impossible to quantify the number fully, because it is ‘irrational.’ Nine divided by three = 3.00 — it comes out evenly. But no matter how many decimal places you take it to, the value of Pi does not seem to end. So we thought… This is a common device in Sci-Fi films and TV shows: the wayward computer is told to ‘resolve Pi to the last decimal place,’ knowing full well that it was impossible. [If you prefer fractions to decimals, Pi can be approximated as 22/7.] In 2010, a super computer and a super mathematician finally resolved Pi to its 2-quadrillion digit end. Sorry, Mr. Spock.

A baker would celebrate March 14 as PIE Day. On a Fast Day, we will enjoy our pies without crusts — but they are pies just the same. Pie for breakfast is a lovely tradition in New England. Quiche is a pie by another name. Enjoy pie as you calculate the value of Pi to the 100th decimal place — by hand.

Pumpkin Pie Breakfast:  216 calories 4 g fat 2 g fiber 7.4 g protein 38.5 g carbs 98.5 mg Calcium   PB GF  My mother developed this recipe and to me it is the Gold Standard of pumpkin pies.  When prepared without a crust, it becomes more suitable for a Fast Day. NB: Mind the optional calories in the beverages to stay under 300 for the meal. Prepare the custards the day before

1 ramekin of Pumpkin Pie ** 1 chicken breakfast sausage [36 calories each]  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

Remove a ramekin of custard from ‘fridge and place on a plate. Do this first to take off some of the chill. Cook the sausage and prepare the optional hot beverage. Enjoy being a ‘Yankee’ who has pie for breakfast.

**Pumpkin Pie Custards Serves 6Heat oven to 400 F. Spritz 6 ramekins with non-stick spray.
1½ cups pumpkin puree ½ cup brown sugar, not packed ½ cup white sugarCombine in a sauce pan and heat at a low setting.
1 cup milk, non-fat
2 two-ounce eggs		Whisk together, then stir into the pumpkin.Take sauce pan off heat.
¼ tsp mace + ½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger + ½ tsp salt
pinch ground cloves 1 tsp cinnamon + pinch allspice		Stir the spices into the mixture. Taste to see if any flavors need to be adjusted.
Pour into ramekins. Put in oven, bake 10 minutes.
Turn oven down to 350F, bake 20 minutes or until a knife poked in the center comes out clean.
Cool custards and refrigerate. Serve cool or at room temperature.

Salmon Quiche: serves 6  Per serving: 110 calories 6 oz fat 0.5 g fiber 9.6 g protein 3.5 g carbs 56 mg Calcium  PB GF This goes together so quickly and tastes so nice, that I urge you to serve it at your next luncheon or guest occasion. You can serve as a dinner and then for a subsequent breakfast and/or lunch. 

Get a piece before it is all gone!

2 oz salmon, cooked 1 cup grated zucchini ½ cup coarsely-chopped onion 6 eggs 2 Tbsp reduced-fat ricotta 2 Tbsp plain fat-free yogurt dill weed salt to taste pepper to taste   salad, per serving: 48 calories 2.4 g fat 2 g fiber 1 g protein 6 g carbs 25 mg Calcium ½ tsp olive oil + ½ tsp flavorful vinegar 1 cup greens such as baby greens or mesclun 1 oz tomatoes, diced 1 oz cooked, chilled beets, sliced or cubed ½ oz carrot, grated

Spritz an oven-proof quiche pan [I used one that is 8.5”diameter x 2” deep] with non-stick spray. Crumble the salmon into the bottom of the pan and top with the zucchini and onion. Whisk eggs with the ricotta, yogurt, dill, salt, and pepper. Pour into the pan and bake at 350 F. for around 30 minutes, or until puffed and set in the center.  Serve with a side salad and some local, seasonal vegetables.

Loaves & Fishes

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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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

My attention is always piqued when a book that is not a cookbook starts talking about food. In the Christian Bible and the Jewish Tanakh and the Muslim Qu’ran, there are several general mentions of food, but the Gospels get really specific in stories about Jesus. ‘Loaves and fishes’ show up in the Feeding of the 5000 [Matthew 14, verses 13-21]. Jesus eats a Passover Seder Meal at the Last Supper with his closest friends. There is surely food at the Marriage at Cana [John 2, verses 1-12 ] but all we know about is the wine. Recently, John 21, verses 1-14 caught my eye. After his Resurrection, Jesus meets his disciples on the beach after they have been fishing all night in the Sea of Galilee. They have caught no fish. He tells them to fish on the other side of the boat, and they catch 153 fish right away! “They saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread…Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat breakfast’.”

You have been invited, so here is a version of that meal. One of the fishes in the Sea of Galilee is tilapia. You could use that for a dinner meal of Loaves and Fishes. For our dinner, we will cook ‘the fatted calf‘ from the Parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15, verses 11-32]. Both meals use portions of the same batch of bread –very handy. I think that these meals are suitable for the season of Lent which began last week.

Loaves & Fishes: 146 calories 3 g fat 2.7 g fiber 12.4 g protein 18 g carbs 89 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  From the Gospels come descriptions of people eating bread and fish for breakfast and dinner. Try this for a change of routine. For authenticity, the fish should be charcoal-grilled, but that doesn’t work in my kitchen.

2 oz smelts, boned, heads and fins removed 1½ tsp za’atar + 2 tsp sumac powder 1.6 oz gozleme bread** 2 deglet noor dates   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

Remove the heads, fins, and backbone from the smelts. Lay them flat/opened out on a cutting board. Combine the sumac and za’atar thoroughly and sprinkle half of it on the fish. Turn the fish over and sprinkle with the remaining spices. Heat a heavy skillet and spray it with cooking spray. Cook the fish on both sides until done. Plate with the bread and dates and time-travel back to 32 CE on the shores of Galilee.

**Gozlema Bread makes six 1.6 oz flat-breads or use larger amounts of dough for filled Gozlemas  1 of 6 sv = 26 calories 0 g fat 1 g fiber 1.4 g protein 5 g carbs 20 mg Calcium

1¼ c white whole wheat flour ½ tsp saltCombine in a 2 cup-sized bowl. 
¼ c water ¼ c plain yogurt Whisk yogurt with the 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 six pieces, each about 1.6 ounces in weight. On a floured surface, roll dough into flat breads. Cook on an oil-sprayed skillet 3-4 mins per side until turning brown in spots. Freeze what you are not using today.

 

Veal with Dried Fruit:  270 calories 4.5 g fat 5 g fiber 27 g protein 28.5 g carbs 80 mg Calcium  PB GF – if not serving the bread  All the ingredients [except the tomato paste, which you could eliminate] are mentioned in the Bible. Is this the dinner that was cooked when the ‘fatted calf’ was killed? It seems celebratory to me. It is based on a recipe from lacucinaitaliana.com This is delicious.

Serves 2 
3/4 c. carrots
½ c. onion
½ tsp olive oil 1 bay leaf + 1 sprig rosemary 		Prepare the vegetables. Brown in a saute pan with oil, bay leaf and rosemary. Cook 5 mins.Season with salt + pepper.
1/3-1/2 cup hot water 
2 dried apricot + 1 dried fig + 2 dates 		Cut fruits in half or quarters. Add water and fruit to pan. Cover pan and simmer over low heat, around 15 minutes.
6 oz lean veal filets
Aleppo pepper + kosher salt 		If fillets are more than ½” thick, pound the meat to thin it.
Sprinkle the veal with the pepper and salt/
1/3 c.white wine 1 tsp. tomato pasteStir wine, tomato into the pan, then lay veal on top. Cover partially and simmer on low until meat is cooked and sauce has thickened. Turn the meat to ensure that it cooks through.
2 oz cucumber per person
sumac powder
1.6 oz gozleme bread per person		Divide meat, fruit, and sauce between 2 plates. Sprinkle cucumbers with sumac. Plate the cucumbers and gozleme bread.

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

2 two-oz eggs + pumpkin puree1 two-oz egg 
brown + white sugar + allspicecorned beef + cabbage
skimmed milk + mace + nutmegLaughing Cow cheese
36-calorie chicken breakfast sausageraspberries
ground ginger + ground cloves + cinnamonoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

6 eggs + cooked salmonlamb shoulder + onion + dry red wine
zucchini + onion + dill weedwhite whole wheat flour + carrot
reduced-fat ricotta + plain yogurttomato paste + turnip + pearl onions
side salad with tomato, carrot, beetpotato + thyme + bay leaf
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Luther Burbank

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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. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

To say that Luther Burbank was a plant-breeder would be an understatement. In his career, he developed 800 different plant varieties!! He was born on a farm in Massachusetts on March 7, 1849. As a child, he enjoyed working with his mother in the garden. He bought a small farm where he began to cross-breed plants. This means taking the pollen from one plant and using it to fertilize another plant. If one can control and limit this fertilization, then one can control the characteristics of the resultant plants. Several generations of cross-breeding can lead to plants that are quite different from the originals. Early on, a new plants was the Burbank Potato. One of its virtues was that it was resistant to the Blight which had caused the Irish Potato Famine. He sold the rights to it and moved to land in Santa Rosa, California. There he began breeding in earnest. Vegetables, flowers, grains, grasses, fruits, cactus — all were subjects for investigation. He was not a scientific man, being a bit loosey-goosey about record-keeping. Burbank was about the what-ifs and the results. And he got results: His most famous flower is the Shasta Daisy. His most famous fruit is the plumcot. And his most successful vegetable of all is the Russet Burbank Potato which is the chosen variety for McDonald’s french fries. Don’t blame Luther Burbank if they cause you to gain weight — that one is on you!

What better to eat to celebrate Luther Burbank than plants?! Eat them at breakfast, eat them at dinner — good to eat and good for you.

Ratatouille-Egg Toast:  301 cal 6 g fat 4 g fiber 17 g protein 31.4 g carbs 212.4 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  Ratatouille, the French vegetable stew, is great with eggs for breakfast. And you can prepare it year-round.

1 piece 70-cal multi-grain bread [Dave’s Killer Bread is great] ¼ cup Mediterranean Vegetables, drained through a sieve  one 2-oz egg Optional: 5-6 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie  [88 calories] Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories]   

Toast the bread. Warm the vegetables briefly and spoon onto the toast. Fry the egg using a non-stick or cast iron pan and put the egg on top of the vegetables on the toast. Pour the beverages and you have a fine breakfast as well as a head-start on your 5 servings of vegetables for the day.

Zucchini Fritatta: 280 cal 13 g fat 3.5 g fiber 20.5 g protein 14.6 g carb 296 mg Calcium  GF PB  Inspired by a recipe in Fresh Ways with Vegetables, part of a Time-Life series. This is really delicious and can be prepared any time of year.  HINT: serves two, so save half for lunches or dine with a friend. 

2 two-oz eggs + 2 egg whites ¼ cup low-fat ricotta chesse thyme, salt, pepper to taste 3 oz mushrooms, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed ¼ c. onion, chopped ½ pound zucchini, grated 1 tsp lemon juice 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated 1½ oz mozzerella cheese, grated

Whisk eggs, ricotta, salt, pepper, and thyme together. Heat the broiler. Cook the mushrooms, garlic, and onion in an oven-safe pan for 2-3 minutes. Add zucchini and lemon juice and cook about 5 minutes, until vegetables are soft and all the liquid has evaporated. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the Parmesan. Smooth the surface of the vegetables in the pan and pour in the egg/ricotta mixture. [OR: spritz two 8” cast iron pans with non-stick spray. Divide the zucchini mixture between the 2 pans, spreading it out and smoothing it down. Pour 100 ml of the egg mixture into each pan, tilting it to distribute the egg evenly.] Cook on the stove-top for 1 minute. Sprinkle with mozzerella and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Cut in half, if cooking in one pan. Save that half for tomorrow or serve proudly to your dinner companion.

Anthems

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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.

We hear national anthems played at sporting events, especially the Olympics. [Most] every nation has one: some of them are controversial, some of them have interesting stories. The oldest national anthem is that of Japan, words dating from the 10th century, music from 1880s. China’s song, the March of the Volunteers, began as the theme of a propaganda movie made in the 1930s to inspire citizens to resist the invading Japanese. The French anthem, La Marseillaise, is a rousing soldiers’ song from the French Revolution. The problem is that the words are blood-thirsty: bloody flags being raised and gore flowing in fields. Sounds better if you don’t know French… The Americans’ Star Spangled Banner was written in the middle of a battle and describes the joy of observers at seeing the flag still flying over the fort at dawn — the battle was not lost. It is criticized as being jingoistic [‘conquer we must’], and some propose America the Beautiful as a more suitable song. And then there is the anthem of Spain: completely un-singable because it has no words — melody only. It was composed in 1761 and attempts have been made to add lyrics but they have failed. What does your nation’s anthem celebrate? The beauty of the land? The courage of the soldiers? The spirit of the people? The anthem of Ukraine proudly proclaims that “Ukraine will not perish” and describes the peoples’ willingness to fight for their freedom. May they succeed.

To honor the cuisine of two of the nations mentioned today, we have a breakfast from Japan and a dinner from the region of France where the anthem originated.

Jian Bang  [Japanese Rolled Eggs]: 149 calories 8.5 g fat 1 g fiber 13 g protein 6 g carbs [4 g Complex] 72.6 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF Number One Son prepared these for us as part of a larger Japanese breakfast, and they are amazing. I added the crab and leek to make a good thing even better. Yup, guilding the lily.

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  2 Tbsp crab meat, frozen or fresh 2 Tbsp leek, finely sliced ½ Tbsp soy sauce ¼ tsp sugar 1½ oz strawberries  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]

Spritz a non-stick pan with non-stick spray. Cook the crab and leek until you can smell the leek, but don’t brown it. Remove from pan. Beat the egg with the soy sauce and sugar, and divide into 2 parts. Spritz the pan again and reheat. Put half of the egg in the pan and swirl/tip the pan to spread it out into a rough round. Distribute the crab and leek all over the egg. When top of egg is set enough that it is still moist but won’t jiggle much, roll the egg into a roll from one side of the pan to the other and leave it there. Pour the remaining egg in the pan and cook until almost set. Roll the roll across the pan again to incorporate the newly-cooked egg. Outside of the egg should be a little brown due to the soy sauce. Prepare the beverages and fruit and enjoy your meal from Japan.

Chicken Provincal: 252 calories 12.5 g fat 4 g fiber 25.4 g protein 15 g carbs 57 mg Calcium   PB GF– if using GF flour   This recipe is from the Culinary Institute of America, with a few tweeks by me. It glows with the warm tastes of Province. Despite what a buffet waiter told me, it is pronounced ‘pro-vohn-saal‘ — NOT ‘pro-van-kal.’ HINT: The recipe serves two [2] people.

6 oz chicken breast, boneless & skinless 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour 2 tsp olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced 1 anchovy fillet 2 Tbsp dry white wine 1 c tomatoes, chopped, juice retained 1/4 c. chicken stock 5 cured black olives, sliced pinch salt 2 pinches rosemary per serving: 2-3 oz broccoli florets

Fillet the chicken breast meat by cutting it along the thin side to create 2 slices. These will cook faster, as well as looking like more food on the plate! Sprinkle the flour over the chicken to coat it lightly. Heat the oil in a small non-stick skillet and cook the chicken on one side. Turn once to cook the other side, remove from pan. Put the garlic, anchovy, tomatoes, and wine in the pan, mashing the solids with a spoon as they heat. Add the chicken stock, olives, and rosemary to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens. Return the chicken to the pan to heat it briefly. If the sauce gets too thick, add some tomato juices or water or more stock. Cook the broccoli and enjoy your meal from southern France.

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

1 two-oz egg2 oz smelts
70-calorie whole grain breadgozleme bread: white whole wheat flour + yogurt
Mediterranean Vegetables deglet noor dates
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

two 2-oz eggs + lower-fat ricotta veal + dried fig + dried apricots + dates
mushrooms + garlic + zucchini carrot + onion + white wine
lemon juice + Parmesan + oniontomato paste + olive oil
mozzarella cheese + thymebay leaf + rosemary + cucumber
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