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 Bhadra who is now Following.

100 years ago, if you asked who was the most famous Canadian author, the answer would have been Lucy Maud Montgomery. She was born in a little yellow [now white with green trim] house in Clifton, on the North Shore of Prince Edward Island. While she was yet a toddler, her mother died and her father sent her to be raised by her maternal grandparents in Cavendish. [There is no ‘Avonlea, PEI.’] In photos, they look about as friendly as the folks in American Gothic. Maud [“I am ‘Lucy’ for my grandmother,” she said. “I am ‘Maud’ for myself”] grew up as a very lonely child with a vivid imagination. She wrote poetry, submitting her first at the age of 13 [rejected], and then short stories, and then her break-through book: Anne of Green Gables. Of course you know that book or at least one of the many television series that interpret it. Is the book autobiographical? No, her series Emily of New Moon is more like her life. But everything was grist for Maud’s literary mill, especially her beloved Prince Edward Island which is always in her work. Even when Maud married and moved to Toronto, she wrote exclusively of PEI. How land-locked she must have felt in Ontario! And how sad her life became: one son with a mental illness; another child stillborn; her clerical husband’s distant nature and her own spiral into barbiturate addiction. But PEI shone like a lighthouse beacon: a land ’emerald, sapphire, and ruby’ when she described the colors of the landscape. The sense of home that she felt there is palpable when she wrote, “You never know what peace is until you walk along the shores…of Prince Edward Island in the summer twilight..”

In honor of Maud Montgomery’s birthday on November 30, we will have a delightful breakfast from our favorite PEI inn. And for dinner, a local delicacy from the Gulf of St Lawrence: halibut with your choice of fruit sauces. Tomato salsa is very popular in PEI.

Prosciutto & Melon Plate:  125 calories 7 g fat 1 g fiber 17 g protein 13.4 g carbs [13 g Complex] 135 mg Calcium  PB GF  Once again the Inn at Saint Peter’s inspires a breakfast! Nothing beats the salty-sweet flavor combination of this meal.  HINT: I plated everything the night before and stored the plates in zipper bags in the refrigerator.

4 oz canteloupe melon [Charentais melon would be fabulous!] 1 oz thinly-sliced prosciutto ¼ cup red onion pickle 0.1 oz shavings of Parmesan cheese fresh basil or mint leaves OR crumbled dried basil drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction, optional  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]

Cut the melon into bite-sized cubes [8 pieces look well on the plate]. Cut the prosciutto into 8 long strips [mine were 1”x4”]. Arrange the melon and ham in a circle on the plate with the red onion in the center. Shave off curls of Parmesan and place them on top. If using fresh herb leaves, tuck them in here and there. If using dried herbs, rub the leaves in your palms to crumble over the plate. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar if you wish. Serve with your chosen beverages. Wonderful flavors, however you combine them on your fork.

Halibut with Fruit Sauce: 182 calories 5.5 g fat 1.5 g fiber 25 g protein 6.4 g carbs 82 mg Calcium   PB GF  Whether you bake or broil or grill the fish, a fruit salsa makes for a splendid topping. Two different ones are detailed below.

4 oz halibut filet side salad = lettuce, carrot, tomato, beets, cucumbers, vinaigrette  fruit salsa, your choice

Tomato Salsa:  makes 3 cups 1 serving = ¼ cup  From the Ball Blue Book 15 calories 0.3 g fat 0.9 g fiber 0.9 g protein 5.8 g carbs 8 mg Calcium

2 cups chopped tomatoes   1 cup/5.3 oz chopped green sweet peppers   1 cup chopped onion   ½ cup jalapeno/serrano peppers, chopped  1 clove garlic, minced  1 tsp salt  ¼ c cider vinegar

Put everything in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.If storing, put salsa in canning jars with 2-part lids and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Peach Salsa: 21 calories 0.3 g fat 1 g fiber 1 g protein 7 g carbs 9 mg Calcium To ¼ cup Tomato Salsa, add ½ oz diced peaches. Superb on fish.

Rhubarb-Onion Relish:  makes 1 cup  From Marion Cunningham  2 Tbsp [1 fluid ounce] = 26 calories 0 g fat 0.1 g fiber 0.1 g protein 1.5 g carbs 8 mg Calcium

1/3 cup chopped rhubarb 1/3 cup chopped onions 2¾ Tbsp vinegar ¼ tsp salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar, unpacked pinch each ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon

Mix everything together in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 45 minutes until quite thick. Can be canned in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.