recipes for Michael Mosley’s 5:2 Diet

Izaak Walton

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

“I have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing.”  Sounds like a familiar sign tacked on the door of a poorly-run country store.  Those words were penned by Isaac Walton who was born on August 9, 1593. He was a successful London clothier who’s claim to fame was his love of fishing. He was active in his church who’s vicar, John Donne, was Walton’s fishing buddy.  In 1653, he published The Compleat Angler, in which the fictional character Piscator [Walton’s alter ego] instructs a companion about fish, fishing, and the need to preserve the environment to keep the fish healthy.  A man ahead of his time. Today the name of his book is widely known by anglers all over the world and places sacred to trout fishers are named after him.  In the USA, the Izaak Walton League brings together avid fishermen who also speak to environmental protection. May the same be said of all of us.                                                                                                                                    Today’s menus feature trout, the fish which most people associate with Walton. Smoked trout with crisp apples for breakfast and trout sautéed with nuts for dinner.  If you can catch them yourself, Izaak would be smiling. If they were caught in a pristine country stream, so much the better.

Trout with Apples:   267 calories  3.9 g fat  2.4 g fiber  15.6 g protein  43 g carbs   199 mg Calcium PB GF At the Inn at Saint Peters, we enjoyed their Smoked Trout with Apples appetizer. It occurred to me that this could be a fine breakfast for those who enjoy a savory/seafood taste in the a.m. I substituted mackerel gravlax for the smoked trout, just because that was on hand, but it was a grey-brown instead of the lighter hue of the trout or the pink of a salmon.gravlax-apples

1 oz smoked trout [DuckTrap brand is very good]  OR  1 oz mackerel gravlax                                                  2 oz Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced; each slice cut into 1/2-moons                                                      ¼ c blueberries + 2 raspberries for color                                                                                                       blackish coffee, blackish tea, or lemon in hot water                                                                                                   5-6 oz smoothie or natural apple cider

Slice the fish with the grain to create thin slices. Arrange the fish and apples in overlapping slices around the plate. HINT: I did this the night before, covered it with clingwrap and put it in the ‘fridge. So quick the next morning!! Brew your hot beverage, blend or shake your smoothie, dish out those healthy blueberries, and breakfast elegantly.

Trout with Hazelnuts:  267 calories  18 g fat  3.3 g fiber  21 g protein  6.3 g carbs  75 mg Calcium   PB GF   From Savoie, France comes this recipe, via Anne Willem’s French Regional Cooking.  Hannibal is supposed to have dined on local trout as he crossed the Alps with his elephants. Very easy to prepare [the trout, not the elephants] and absolutely delicious.Trout w: hazelnuts + haricots

3 oz trout, skinned, boned and trimmed                                                                                                                                                           1 tsp butter                                                                                                                                                                        ½ oz hazelnuts, coarsly chopped                                                                                                                               2 oz French green beans [haricots]

Start cooking the beans. Heat a heavy saute pan and spray with non-stick spray. Put in the trout and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Slowly [slow cooking will keep the fish tender] cook the trout on one side for about 3-4 minutes. Add the butter to the pan along with the nuts. Continue cooking everything slowly until the fish is done, roughly another 3 minutes. Drain and season the beans, plate them with the trout, and top the fish with the nuts in butter. Enjoy your culinary visit to the French Alps.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg 1two-oz egg
avocado 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
70-calorie whole-grain bread scallions
cottage cheese + Cheddar cheese
kiwi fruit + strawberry
Whatever you need for your smoothie Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

cooked and cooled brown rice Boston lettuce  + cherry tomatoes
1 two-oz egg apple  +  Medjool date
avocado  +  cucumber chick peas   +  chicken breast
grilled beef goat cheese + 1/2 hard-boiled egg
smoked salmon pine nuts  + shallot
soy sauce  +  rice vinegar cinnamon dressing [23 May, 2018]
Sparkling water Sparkling water

Traveling While Fasting

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Can’t tell you how often people say, “Well I’m off on holiday and of course that means I won’t be Fasting, since that would be impossible.”  And I think, “Why would you say that?”  Having been at this for 5 years, perhaps it is easier for me to see the possibilities on a menu and do a mental calculation of calories.  But even without that, if one sticks to lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables at meals on Fast Days, then one might even allow the odd glass of wine! Other days, enjoy whatever local fare is offered. The bottom line is this: Fasting on vacation does not mean ruining your trip or spoiling the fun. Rather, it gives you a framework which enables you to partake of local foods sensibly without the groans of disappointment when you read the scales upon your return.

Breakfast the Hotel: Most hotels serve a Breakfast Buffet,   Fasting breakfast in Rome                                                                     often of grandiose proportions. If you view it                                                                                 with a Faster’s eye, you will spot some                                                                                                offerings which exactly fill the bill.   On Slow Days, one can sample more freely from the other tempting treats.                                                                                  Breakfasting from the buffet in Rome looked like this: It was the perfect prelude to a day at the Colosseum and the Church of San Clemente, with its 5 levels of historic interest.

 

 

Dinner at the Restaurant:  If your     Fasting dinner in the Azores                                                                         accommodations are not of the self-                                                                                            catering type, you will find yourself                                                                                             dining in a restaurant on a Fast Day.                                                                                            Seafood to the rescue!  At Botequim Açoriano in Rabo de Peixe, Sao Miguel, Azores,                                                                                                                                                                                               grilled fish with a side salad was a great meal. Enough for two, it just what we needed.

Lammastide

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

 According to the ancient calendar of northern European “pagan” culture, we are now 5/8 through the solar year. Those worthy sun observers noticed 4 major astronomical events: 2 solstices and 2 equinoxes. Those were ‘Quarter Days’ and deserving of a festival. Split those in two, and you have the 4 Cross-Quarter Day.  There were calendars in most of the pre-Christian cultures, based on the sun and/or moon, marked often by the location of the sun over standing-stones. The parts of the year therefore have different names in different cultures: Thorri, Goa, Einmanudur, Harpa, in Iceland.  Imbolc,  Beltain,  Luignasa, and Samhain to the Irish Celts. Candlemas, May Day, Lammas, and Martinmas to the Christian peoples of England. Lammas is the harvest festival, marking the gathering-in of wheat or other cereal crops. Despite its Christian associations, it is steeped in pagan traditions: baking special breads, crafting corn dollies, feasting and dancing.

Baking bread with sprouted grain is part of a Lammas festival, so we will have sprouts in our eggs at breakfast.  The yield of the field will be evident in the dinner, made with fresh vegetables, wrapped in a grain-based crêpe.

Sprouted Bake w: B-berries

Sprouted Bake: 270 calories…  5.6 g fat…  3.7 g fiber…  13.8 g protein…  36.6 g carbs…  226 mg Calcium… PB GF Time to get the sprouts out of the sandwiches and into the breakfast.

++1 two-oz egg ++++ ¼ c radish sprouts ++++1/2 oz avocado ++++1 Tbsp low-fat cottage cheese                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ++++¼ cup blueberries++++optional: blackish coffee or blackish tea ++++                                                                                                                                                                optional: 5-6 oz fruit smoothie, green smoothie or natural apple cider

Mash the avocado and mix with the cottage cheese. Heat the toaster oven to 350 degrees F. Spritz an oven-proof dish with cooking oil or spray and put the sprouts in it. Whisk the egg with the avocado mixture and pour over the sprouts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Portion the fruit and pour the beverages.

Chicken Ratatouille Crepes

Crêpes with Chicken Ratatouille: 249 calories…  5 g fat…  6 g fiber…  27.6 g protein…  32 g carbs… 190 mg Calcium…  PB   Galettes/Crêpes are wonderful to have on hand for use with a variety of fillings. If you had the crêpes and the filling previously-made, then the meal goes together in no time.

+++2 buckwheat galettes** ++++   1.5 oz chicken breast ++++                                                                                                                                                        ½ cup Mediterranean Vegetables++++1/2 Tbsp goat cheese  ++++        1 Tbsp low-fat cottage cheese   ++++     herbes de Province OR tarragon++++ 3/4 oz carrots+++

If making galettes from scratch now: prepare the batter and let stand 30+ minutes. If using frozen galettes, put them in a plastic bag on the counter and let them thaw.  Turn on the oven to 250 degrees. Cut the chicken into <1/2” pieces. Put into pan with the Med.Veg. and heat enough to warm the veg, reduce the liquids, and cook the chicken. Take off heat. Prepare the crêpes: either cook them now from batter or finish the thawing process by putting them in a warm oven. Add cheeses to mixture in the pan, and stir to combine. Toss in lots of herbes de Province or fresh herbs to taste. Arrange the crêpes on a cookie sheet and divide the filling among them. Fold over, pressing down gently. Heat in the warm oven and serve with the happy crunchy carrots. **BUCKWHEAT GALETTES: 1 batch makes 20 galettes, each using 3-4 Tbsp batter each galette = 50 calories … 0.5 g fat … 1.4 g fiber… 2 g protein… 8.5 g carbs… 6 mg Calcium…  TIP: Keep some cooked galettes in the freezer for ‘instant’ use.

++ 1 cup unbleached flour ++++ ¾ cup buckwheat flour ++++ scant 2 cups water ++++ 2 two-oz eggs ++++ ½ tsp sea salt ++

Whisk the flours and the water until batter is smooth. Add the salt, then the eggs one at a time. Whisk vigorously. When you lift the whisk, the batter should fall off in ‘ropes.’ Let sit for 2 hours or over night. HINT: batter could be divided into 1 cup or ½ cup portions and frozen.  If using frozen batter, whisk it vigorously after it thaws, and add a bit of water. Heat an 8” cast-iron pan or ceramic saute pan. Lightly spritz with oil. Dip a ¼ cup measure into the batter and let the extra drain off. Grasp the handle of the cook pan with one hand as you slowly pour the batter into the center of the pan. Tilt the pan quickly in a swirling pattern to let the batter form a circle roughly 6” in diameter. Don’t get hung up on perfectly round or perfectly flat. Watch the galette cook and look to see when the edges start to dry and curl a bit. Using a heat-resistant but non-scratching tool [I use my fingers], lift the galette and turn it over. Cook the other side until done. Time will vary, depending on the heat of your pan. Lift the cooked galette out, put it aside, and cook the next one. HINT: if storing them for later today or tomorrow, let them cool on a tea towel, then stack and store in a plastic bag with waxed paper between them. 

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

On Monday, I will discuss Fasting whilefresh, tart apple, such as Granny Smith
traveling if you eat at restaurants only.smoked trout
 Blueberries/raspberries
  
  
 Whatever you need for your hot beverage
 Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

On Monday, I will discuss Fasting whiletrout fillet
traveling if you eat at restaurants only.butter
 hazelnuts [filberts]
 haricots or green beans
  
  
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Emily Bronte

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.                                                                       Welcome to loseweightmotv8  who is now Following.

 

Have you ever found that you were wandering over the Yorkshire Moors calling, “Heathcliff! Heathcliff!” OK, maybe not, but the yearning of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff for each other transcends time and leaps off the page at you.  Emily Brönte, under the pseudonym “Ellis Bell,” wrote the deathless novel Wuthering Heights in 1847.  Tomorrow will be the 200th anniversary of her birth. Like her heroine, Emily could not bear to be away from her Yorkshire home, even though she was supposed to go off to work to contribute to the family’s income.  She was a woman of conservative political beliefs who nonetheless was swept up in the Romantic Era‘s ideas of literature. Bronte was the daughter of a clergyman yet she wrote a book about a passionate, illicit love. Though she lead a sheltered life, Emily successfully played the stock market and ran a house on a frugal budget.  She died at age 30 having produced one book and several poems.

Kippers, preserved herring from Northern waters, would have been popular in Yorkshire, even away from the coast.  The economical Emily would have made sure that the parsonage was well supplied. Fish cakes, which also serve a household inexpensively, are what we will have for dinner. Is the wind howling around the house? Are there voices on the wind? Curl up with a good book.

Kippered Eggs w: cherries

Kippered Eggs:  294 calories  9.4 g fat   3 g fiber   18 g protein  34 g carbs [31 g Complex]  217 mg Calcium   PB GF   Kippers are traditionally served with eggs, but why not have them in eggs? We did and it is terrific!

++ 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  ++++ 1/2 oz kippered [smoked, salted, dried] herring  ++++ ¼ tsp dried mustard ++++ 1 tsp lemon or lime juice   ++++4 sweet cherries ++++  optional:  5-6 oz green smoothie or fruit smoothie  ++++ optional:  blackish tea or blackish coffee ++                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

The night before: Soak the kipper fillet in warm tap water for 30 minutes. Mince the fish. In a small bowl, combine the juice and mustard, then mix in the fish. Leave it until morning. Next morning: Put the fish with its flavorings into a lightly-spritzed hot non-stick or cast iron pan to warm. Whisk the eggs and pour over the fish. Let the eggs cook without disturbing them, then fold and plate with the cherries. The beverages are a nice counterpoint to the savory richness of the eggs and herring.

Fish Cake w: beets, salad

Fish Cakes:  212 calories  4 g fat  5 g fiber  9.6 g protein  34 g carbs  52 mg Calcium [food values for dinner using ONE 1/3 cup-size cake and side dishes.]    PB GF   This recipe is fromLegal Seafood Cookbook, from the restaurant chain in Boston, Mass. Fish cakes have been popular where ever there are folk who want a little fish to go a long way.    NB: The Fish Cake recipe produces 6 cakes, each 1/3 cup in size.  >>Each cake = 92 calories 1.7 g fat 0.8 g fiber 8 g protein 11.8 g carbs 22 mg Calcium                                                                                                                                                                         NB: The Fish Cake recipe produces 8 cakes, each 1/4 cup in size.  >>Each cake = 69 calories 1.3 g fat 0.6 g fiber 5.3 g protein 8.8 g carbs 16 mg Calcium                         1/3 cup green or white onion, chopped                                               1 2/3 cup mashed potatoes [no milk, no butter]                                                                              ¼ tsp dry mustard + salt + pepper                       1 two-oz egg                                                 2 Tbsp milk                                                                                                                                                                     6 oz cooked fish [cod, haddock, salt cod, salmon or a mixture], flaked into small pieces                                                           1 tsp butter                                                   ½ cup pickled beets                                                                                                                                                                                          1 cup baby greens or sliced lettuce leaves + ½ tsp olive oil + ½ tsp vinegar + salt + pepper

Combine the onion, potatoes, egg, seasonings, and milk, stirring well. Stir in the fish, gently but thoroughly. Using a 1/3 cup measure as a mold, portion the fish/potato mixture into 6 cakes. Put on a plate or cookie sheet while the pan heats up. Heat a heavy fry pan, such as cast iron, and spray with non-stick spray. Cook the fish cakes on one side, flattening them slightly with a turner. Remove from the pan and add 1 tsp of butter to the pan. Spread the butter around, return the fish cakes, and cook them on the other side until they are browned. Serve while hot. What you don’t eat today, let cool completely, then freeze with waxed or parchment paper between the cakes.

Hot Enough?

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

‘Hot enough for ya?’ [my father scorned people who said that.]  ‘Hotter than the hinges of Hades.‘ [my mother would say this one.] ‘Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.‘  ‘Some like it hot.’  ‘Hot town, summer in the city…‘  How hot has it been in your Northern Hemisphere location this summer?  Some people find it easier to diet in the summer, some the reverse. We find it easy to prepare simple foods which meet our requirements for a Fasting day as well as for enervating weather conditions.

The breakfast is based on ingredients from a favorite restaurant’s pizza. The pizza was baked in a brick oven and came sizzling to the table. In your own kitchen, under cooler circumstances, you can make a no-fuss breakfast.  The dinner is simplicity itself since the roasting was done in advance, and it can be carried to the nearest shady spot for consumption.

ForeStreet ScrOmelette:   278 calories   8.7 g fat   3 g fiber   15.8 g protein  35 g carbs  228 mg Calcium PB GF  Based on a pizza from one of our favorite Portland, Maine restaurants, these flavors are teriffic together.Forestreet Bake w: S-b

Three 2-oz eggs of which you will use 1 ½ eggs per person 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.                                                                                                                                                                         1/8 oz bleu cheese                                                                                                                                                                                               1/4 oz mushrooms                                                                                                                                                         1/8 oz leeks                                                                                                                                                                       1 oz pear                                                                                                                                                                      Blackish coffee or tea or lemon with hot water                                                                                             5-6 oz fruit smoothie or natural apple cider

Spritz a non-stick pan with olive oil or non-stick spray. Slice the leeks and saute with the mushrooms until both are cooked. Whisk in the eggs and pour over the leeks and mushrooms. As the eggs begin to set, crumble the bleu cheese on top. Scramble or cook as an omelette. Plate with the pear, serve with the beverages of choice. Breakfast in a cool kitchen on a warm morning.

Pork Salad:   144 calories   4 g fat   2.4 g fiber   17 g protein   7 g carbs [6.8 g Complex]    43 mg Calcium  PB GF   When there is leftover meat from a roast, the easiest meal is to turn it into a salad with lots of yummy components. NB: I sprinkled each serving with 1/4 oz flax-seed corn chips which added 40 calories and only 4 g carbs.Pork Salad w: Flax-Corn Chips

2 cups salad greens, cut as chiffonade if leaves are large                                                                                             2.5-3 oz pork tenderloin, cooked, sliced                                                                                                       2.5-3 oz tomatoes                                                                                                                                                     1 oz red bell pepper, cut in 1/2” dice                                                                                                                    1 oz whole fresh cranberries, not dried                                                                                                             2 oz zucchini sticks                                                                                                                                                              1 tsp Balsamic vinegar + ½ tsp olive oil + 1 tsp blue cheese herb mustard

Prepare all the vegetables as described. Whisk the dressing ingredients in a wide bowl and toss with the greens. Plate the greens and decorate the salad with the other components. That was fast!

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1.5  two-oz egg 1 two-oz egg
kippered herring low-fat cottage cheese
dry mustard radish sprouts
lemon juice avocado
cherries blueberries
Whatever you need for your smoothie Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

6 oz cooked fish 2 crepes [see Sidekicks I, 17 Sept ’17]
1 two-oz egg  +  dry mustard chicken breast
mashed potatoes  + butter carrots  +  chèvre/goat cheese
green or white onion low-fat cottage cheese
beets  +  salad greens Mediterranean Vegetables [see Sidekicks II, 4 Oct 2017 for recipe]
olive oil  + vinegar Herbes de Province or tarragon
Sparkling water Sparkling water

Acores 2

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.                                                                       Welcome to Reshma B who is now Following.

We will remain on the beautiful island of Sao Miguel, Açores for another day to point out more about how we Fast whilst traveling.  We enjoy cooking and eating our own food at a self-catering accommodation [such as Pico do Refugio], but we do like to dine out too.  At any restaurant on Sao Miguel, the first thing you are offered is local cheese as a starter. The most simple version of this is “Queijo Fresco” [aka Queso Fresco or Queso Blanco or ‘farmer’s cheese’] which is always served with the hot sauce “Pimenta do Queijo.” Spicy “Choriço Paste” is also popular and available at the meat section of the supermarket. Those flavors together made for a fine dish of eggs for a Fast Day breakfast, along with the locally-grown pineapple.  Dinner at a favorite restaurant on a Slow Day would usually involve seafood, and then left-overs would make a another appearance on a Fast Day at home.  On Slow Days, we ‘went native’ and sampled local restaurants and wines and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. “And does this work?” you ask. “Can one enjoy a vacation and without a huge weight gain?” Yes. After 11 days of vacation, my weight was still at my Target Level. Travel should broaden the mind but it doesn’t have to broaden the waistline.

Azorean Queso Egg:  249 calories   10 g fat   0.8 g fiber   15.7 g protein   16.4 g carbs  [8 g Complex]  271.5 mg Calcium   PB GF  Two of the favorite flavors of the Azores combine for this egg dish, and the pineapple ices the cake.Azorean-flavor Eggs w: pineapple          1 two-oz egg                                                                                                                                                              1.5 tsp Queso Fresco                                                                                                                                                 1 tsp Chorizo Paste                                                                                                                                                               2 oz pineapple                                                                                                                                                 blackish coffee or tea or lemon in hot water

Whisk the egg, cheese, and chorizo paste, then bake in an oven-proof dish or cook in a saute pan. Slice the pineapple and sip some Brazilian coffee for a delicious, low-calorie meal.

Dinner at a Restaurant: Seafood is usually a safe choice  Azores Cod w: Veg @ Restaurant                                                                                     for a low-calorie meal in a restaurant, unless it is drowned in a fatty sauce. And since  the Açores are in the middle of the Atlantic, it wasn’t hard to find top-notch seafood.  Here, at the Restaurant of the Agricultural Association, cod was grilled and served with boiled vegetables. If you skip the potatoes, you are more virtuous.  [You can see the Queijo Fresco with Pimenta in the upper right corner.]

Cod w: Veg Left-over For another meal, what could be more easy than this food a second time around?  There is an ample amount of both the fish and the vegetables to be very satisfying on a Fast Day.  We liked the food at the Agricultural Association so well that we dined there twice. Their speciality is beef and it is not for a Fast Day!                                                                                                                                                              .

 

 

Acores I

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

The first time I ever heard about the Azores [‘Açores’ in Portuguese] was in a poem by Joaquin Miller which praised the glories of Christopher Columbus and begins, “Behind him lay the gray Azores…”  Miller was a good-enough poet, but he was wrong about several things: Columbus was no saint; Columbus would never have heard of the Azores, since they had not yet been discovered; and the Azores are definitely NOT ‘grey.’  We visited the island of Sao Miguel in early May and found a riot of flowers covering steep, verdant volcanic mountains, herds of placid cows, and fruits of all sorts, surrounded by a thundering ocean.  It was marvelous, which means ‘a thing of marvels.’  When we travel, we like a self-catering accommodation, so we can have some say about what we eat and so we can cook with local foods. We did a lot of touring, some hiking, and enjoyed some very satisfactory dinners.  Portions were large, so there were leftovers and we enjoyed them too. The cheeses, the native wines, and specialties like ‘chorizo paste‘ and Pimenta da Queijo were great.  Want to go to a beautiful location that is off the beaten track?  The Açores are for you!

Azorean Omelette:  250 calories   10.7 g fat   0.9 g fiber   17 g protein   13.5 g carbs [6 g Complex] 276 mg Calcium PB GF  When on vacation in the Azores, these local ingredients made for a wonderful breakfast.Azorean Cheese ScrOmelette

1-1/2 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.                                                                                    1/2 oz Azorean cheese OR Gouda                                                                                                                       1/2 oz Pimenta da Queijo                                                                               2 oz kiwi fruit                                                                                                                                                     blackish coffee [Portugese or Brazilian] or blackish tea [from the Gorreana Tea Plantation] or lemon in hot water

Grate/shred the cheese. Whisk the eggs with the pepper sauce and turn into a lightly-oiled nonstick pan. Sprinkle the eggs with the cheese and cook as you would an omelette. Plate with the fruit and serve one of those delicious beverages. Excellent.

Cozido Soup: Cozido do Furnas is a specialty of the Azores island of Sao Miguel. Some of the dormant volcanoes still have warm magma and send steam out through vents and fissures. Locals lower cauldrons of meats and vegetables into steaming wells, then serve the cooked meal at restaurants. The serving for two at O Miroma in Furnas consists of vast quantities of: beef, pork knuckles, blood sausage, carrots, potatoes, collards, cabbage, and turnips. Like a New England Boiled Dinner, but cooked in a volcano! We took the remainders from our meal home.Cozido Soup

The next day, I put the bones, sausage, and juices in a pot with water and Piment da Queijo. While that simmered, I cut up the vegetables and meat into bite-sized pieces [discarding the blood sausage to which I have an aversion]. Combined, it provided a hearty, nourishing, and low-calorie soup for a Fast Day.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg 1.5 two-oz eggs
 queso fresco  mushrooms
 chorico paste  bleu cheese
 pineapple  leeks
Whatever you need for your smoothie Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

 cod  cooked pork tenderloin
 carrots  lettuce   +   tomatoes
 broccoli  fresh cranberries
 cauliflower  zucchini  + red bell peppers
 green + black olivesÇ  balsamic vinegar + olive oil
 excellent mustard
Sparkling water Sparkling water

Robin Hood

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.                                                                       Welcome chefmoonu who is now Following.

Sing along with me: “Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen./ Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men./ Feared by the bad, loved by the good/ Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood.” That of course, was the theme song to the TV series Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Richard Green.  I loved that show!  Yet even more, I was enraptured when watching the movie The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn.  [There is NO BETTER movie about Robin Hood.]  Robin Hood was my childhood hero. I read the Howard Pyle book and everything I could get my hands on about “Robin of Locksley.”  Was he real or was he popular sentiment grown into urban legend? There are many ‘facts’ about him and his life, as well as many historians who say he is fiction. I certainly want to believe that his spirit is real and alive across time and space.

We will feast on foods associated with the good man: an egg dish named after him and a salad of venison, made from the King’s own deer of Sherwood Forest.

Robin Hood Egg:   291 calories   6.6 g fat   3.1 g fiber   20.6 g protein    55 g carbs [48 g Complex]  272 mg Calcium    PB   What this breakfast has to do with the legendary outlaw, I don’t know. At least no robbery is involved – you can keep your wallet and your waistline. Robin Hood Egg

½ Arnold multi-grain Sandwich Thin                                                                                                             one 2-oz egg                                                                                                                                                                1 slice Jones-brand Canadian bacon [round, 1 oz = 20 calories]                                                                  2 oz slice of tomato

Slightly toast the sandwich thin and plate it. Season the tomato slice and broil it. Lightly cook the Canadian bacon while you fry the egg in a pan spritzed with non-cook spray. Assemble the layers in your order of preference and pour the beverages. Tuck [not Friar Tuck] in with knife and fork.

Venison Salad:  270 calories  8.5 g fat  6 g fiber  31 g protein  33 g carbs [30 g Complex]  118 mg Calcium  PB GF  If you have access to venison, this is a great way to celebrate Robin Hood.venison-salad-w-tomatoes

3-½ oz roasted venison                                                                                                                                            ¾ oz marinated mushrooms                                                                                                                                      1 oz roasted red pepper                                                                                                                                                               1 slice dried pear, chopped                                                                                                                                 2 cups lettuce                                                                                                                                                            1 tsp olive oil  +   ½ tsp balsamic vinegar                                                                                                         3 oz broccoli, fully cooked or blanched and cooled                                                                                      2 oz tomatoes

Slice the roasted venison into pieces less than 1/2” thick. Whisk the olive oil and vinegar together, then toss with the lettuce and mushrooms. Place on a salad plate. Arrange the meat on the salad and arrange the red pepper, tomatoes, and broccoli on top. Dice the pear and sprinkle over all.

 

 

Rollo the Granger

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

On 11 July, 911 AD, we find ourselves in the region of Eure in the lower Seine valley. The Viking Rollo [Hrolf to his family] and his merry band of mauraders had made a sweet deal with the locals: you French give us the lands around the lower Seine River and the coastline, and we’ll stop raiding you. King Charles the Simple and his advisors agreed to the deal, and Rollo, a giant of a man who was so large that no horse could hold him [hence his nickname “The Granger” or Walker], became Duke of Normandy.   The day almost ended badly.  The haughty King Charles told his new vassal to kiss his foot.  The unbowed Rollo refused but told one of his henchmen to do it for him.  The henchman, unwilling to bow to honor the king’s foot as he sat astride his horse, instead grabbed the foot and raised it to his lips, almost tipping the king over!   Rollo was generous to his followers, and gave much land to his half-brother, Bernard, called ‘The Dane’ [even though he was from Norway].  Bernard is my direct ancestor and he settled the town of  Thury which is named after his battle cry: Thor-aie!  The family name became ‘Harcourt‘, also a place name in Normandy and a well-known name in England. Rollo’s great-great-great-grandson became William the Conqueror, but that’s for another day.  Once in France, these Vikings became known as “Normans”, short for “North-men”, and the land they were given became “Normandy”. 

Since Rollo and Bernard woke up on July 11 as Norsemen, we will enjoy marinated herring for breakfast.  Since they went to bed on July 12 as Frenchmen, we will dine on crêpes made with Jarlsberg cheese, because Rollo and Bernard’s father was ‘Jarl’ [earl] of Møre, Norway. Enjoy your Fast Day, and shout ‘Thor-aie!!”

herring Plate w: cherries

Herring Plate: 292 calories  8.4 g fat  4.9 g fiber  12.6 g protein  32.8 g carbs  199 mg Calcium PB  If you like herring, this is the breakfast for you. It makes a nice change from morning eggs and this is prepared in no-time-flat. Get your doctor’s OK to eat herring if you are taking a MAOI antidepressant medicine, as herring is high in tyramine.

+++3 Finn Crisp crackers   +++ 1.25 oz herring marinated in wine [not sour cream]  ++++ 2 Tbsp whipped cream cheese  ++++ 4 Bing cherries OR ½ cup strawberries, sliced ++++ 3 oz  fruit smoothie or natural apple cider   ++++     optional: blackish coffee or tea or lemon in hot water +++                              

Do I need to describe this preparation? Spread the cream cheese on the crackers and pile on the herring. Delicious and so satisfying.

Crêpes w/ Ham & Cheese, home version: 283 calories  13 g fat  2.8 g fiber  15 g protein  27 g carbs [21 g Complex] 125 mg Calcium  PB  Not the street-food version of the crêpe, the filling is more like a Croque Monsieur.

Ham&Cheese Crepes, home-made w: asparagus

++2 crêpes/buckwheat galettes   ++++  1 oz ham, diced or ground   ++++ ½ oz Jarlsberg cheese, grated  ++++  3 Tbsp Béchamel sauce, no cheese ++++ 5 oz asparagus   OR  2 oz tomatoes   +  1 c. lettuce, shredded  ++++ dressing: ½ tsp olive oil + 1 tsp cider vinegar + ½ tsp Dijon mustard

If the crêpes are in the freezer, thaw draped with a tea towel. If the crepe batter is frozen, thaw it, then cook the crepes, keeping them warm in a tea towel. Dice or grind the ham and grate the cheese. Combine ham, cheese, and Béchamel sauce. Divide it between the crepes and warm in a slow oven until warmed through and the cheese is melty. Cook the asparagus OR Whisk the salad dressing, then toss with the lettuce and tomato. Simple and good to eat.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg1.5 two-oz eggs
 slicing tomatomild, buttery Azores cheese or Gouda
 1/2 Arnold multi-grain sandwich thin Pimenta do Queijo  [red pepper sauce]
 Canadian Bacon kiwi fruit
  
Whatever you need for your smoothieWhatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverageWhatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

 Roast venison   +  broccolipork +  pork bone broth
 tomatoes   +  marinated mushrooms broccoli
 roasted red pepper cabbage
 dried pear collard greens
 lettuce onion
 olive oil + balsamic vinegar carrots
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Calvin

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.  Welcome to Adrian K. who is now Following.

Jean Calvin [aka Jehan Cauvin] was born on Monday, July 9, 1509.  Little did his parents in the town of Noyon, Picardie know of the tremendous impact their son would have on their country’s society and religious life. Destined for the clergy, Calvin grew up in the shadow of Martin Luther’s ideas to reform the Church.  His father’s falling out with the local church elders steered young Jean to the law.  In the 1530s, Calvin grew into a new theology, a synthesis of the ideas of Luther, Zwingli, and other leaders of Protestantism. Through studies in Basel, Switzer-land and Strasbourg [then in Germany] Calvin went on to organize and codify the new church.  From the Cathedral of Saint Pierre in Geneva [where you can still see ‘Calvin’s Chair’], he oversaw the training of priests, the writing of liturgy, and the spread of the Reformation through his homeland. For the next hundred years, France was torn apart by religious wars as the Protestant Huguenots fought with the Catholics to worship as they pleased.

Calvin believed in predestination, but you are not pre-ordained to be over-weight.  Enjoy eggs baked with the Camembert cheese of North-Eastern France for breakfast, as a way to begin Fasting.  And since Picardie borders the ocean, mackerel will be our dinner and I’m sure Calvin would approve.

Camembert Bake: 146 calories  10 g fat  0.5 g fiber  9 g protein  6 g carbs   90 mg Calcium   PB GF   The best-known cheese of Normandy stars in this egg dish. Easy to prepare and so delicious. I hope you will try it.

Camambert Bake

One 2-oz egg              ½ oz Camembert           1 tsp Dijon mustard                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        grating of nutmeg               2 oz strawberries OR 1.5 oz apple slices                                                                                                 optional:  blackish coffee or blackish tea or lemon juice & hot water                                                                       optional:   5-6 oz fruit smoothie or natural apple cider

Cut the cheese [rind and all] into small chunks and leave to soften at room temperature. Stir in the mustard and nutmeg. Whisk the egg, then stir in the cheese mixture. Pour into an oven-proof dish that has been spritzed with non-stick spray and bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes. When the beverages are ready, plate with the fruit.

Mackerel with Gooseberry Glaze:  276 calories   16 g fat [Omega 3 fat!]  1 g fiber   22 g protein  7 g carbs   26.7 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.

Mackerel w: Gooseberry Glaze

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

Heat the oven to 300 F. Put frozen or fresh 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 for 5 minutes. Rearrange the zucchini so that the bottom layer is now on top. Bake 5 minutes more, or until the fish is thawed or cooked. Plate the fish with the zucchini ribbons and enjoy a meal of remarkable flavor.