dieting

Manchester, England

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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. 

Manchester, England has a long history. It was once a Roman fort [‘chester’ in an English place name means ‘fort’] called Mancunium, located at the largest loop of the River Irwell. After the Romans, the area was run by Angles, who called the area Murcia. By the 1600s, it was a thriving town of half-timbered buildings called ‘magpies’ because of their black wood and the white plaster. Flemish weavers had been in the city since the 14th century and the town was already a hub for textiles. Then came the Industrial Revolution. Manchester grew by leaps and bounds: coal was brought to the city by the barge-load; older buildings and houses were knocked down to be replaced by factories for textile manufacture and town-houses for the mill owners. With mechanization and coal power, canal traffic and rail lines, all raw materials came to Manchester and left as finished cotton goods. Much of the cotton came from the American South, which is why England was a ‘neutral party’ during the American Civil War. In parts of the world today, household linens are still referred to as “Manchester.” The golden age was in the mid-1800s when  “Manchester was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world.” [P. Hall, 1998]. Evidence of the bursting of the bubble is the fact that Friedrich Engles wrote his 1844 book about the condition of the working classes in Manchester. Engles invited Karl Marx to visit and view the socioeconomic scene. Poverty, social inequality, and slum life were wretched, breeding the labor movement, the suffragette movement, and food riots. Engles called it “Hell on Earth.” Today, Manchester has seen a lot of urban renewal and many initiatives for stimulating the economy. It is often called “the UK’s Second City.”

Coddled Eggs and a dinner of pork and apples are as English as the cotton mills of Manchester.

Coddled Egg: 143 calories 6 g fat 2 g fiber 9.5 g protein 12.4 g carb 71 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the plated foods only, not the optional beverages.  PB GF- if using GF bread  A really retro breakfast. So nice.

Bring a small pan of water to a simmer. Use enough water to cover the egg coddler by 1”. Spritz some cooking spray into an egg coddler. Break the egg into the coddler, and add cheese with salt/herbs to taste. Screw on the lid of the coddler and lower it into the water. Put the lid on the pot. Simmer 4.5 minutes then turn off the heat and leave the eggs in the water for about 3 minutes more. Toast the bread and plate with fruit. Pour your beverages of choice. You will feel coddled and cossetted when you treat yourself to this breakfast.

Pork with Apples: 273 calories 8 g fat 4 g fiber 23 g protein 19 g carbs 84 mg Calcium  PB GF  Long a favorite combination in lands where local meats and local fruits are blended in delicious ways. The flavor of pork with apples is a winner.

3 oz pork tenderloin, raw or cooked 2 oz round slices of apple, unpeeled ½ oz cubed apples, unpeeled 4 oz chicken stock 4 Tbsp Bechamel sauce, no cheese thyme/sage salt + pepper to taste 1 oz broccoli florets 1 oz cauliflower florets 1 oz carrots

Poach the apple slices in the stock until they are just tender. TIP: if cooking for 2, this may require poaching in 2 batches. Remove slices and reserve. Slice the pork into rounds about 1/4” thick.  If pork is raw, braise it briefly in the hot stock, and remove from stock. Put 1 Tbsp stock in the oven-proof pan in which you will bake the dinner. Combine cubed apples, Bechamel, seasonings, and remaining stock in the sauce pan, stirring until apples are soft and sauce is medium-thick. Adjust seasonings. Arrange alternating slices of pork and apple in the baking dish. Nap with the sauce and bake at 350 until warmed through, about 20 minutes. Steam the vegetables and enjoy a hearty meal.

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

1 slice whole-grain bread1 two-oz egg 
2%-fat small curd cottage cheese or Quarkunsweetened applesauce
3%-fat hampan muffin
pear + chives
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

herring marinated in wine + onionroast beef = 1 cup ground + potato
beets, canned or fresh + lettuceone 2-oz egg + low-fat beef gravy
apple + cider vinegar + dill picklecauliflower
white beans + hard-boiled eggpeas or side salad
Sparkling waterSparkling water

SuperFoods!

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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 bellyflatxtreme and edwardlorilla who are now Following.

Doesn’t it seem as if every week or two there are articles touting a “new super food“? Each one is ‘the BEST’ and only food to eat for good health, and then the next time, another one comes along with the same claim. Well, we know that some foods are better than others: whole grains, fish with Omega-3 fatty acids, colorful vegetables, berries with antioxidants, dark leafy greens. We also know — or you should know — that certain foods should be avoided: highly processed foods, simple carbs, fried foods, trans-fats, feed-lot-fed meat. Since the foods to avoid are so easy to find and eat, that means that the better food must be unavailable and difficult to prepare, right? Nope. Unless you live in a ‘food desert,’ and unfortunately many people do, these choices are most likely available in your supermarket. Eating them can lead to better health outcomes, on a Fast Day and on a Slow Day.

Our breakfast utilizes two of the most trendy foods of our time: quinoa and kale. Dear Husband doesn’t care for them separately, but he ate them with gusto in this bake. Also in the bake is that diet stand-by, cottage cheese. The herbs and spices each carry health-promoting properties. And then we add the blueberries. Whew! That’s a lot of good stuff in one meal. The dinner contains two of the well-known standards of healthy eating: wild salmon and broccoli. Can’t get better than that!

SuperFood Bake: 132 calories 5.6 g fat 2 g fiber 10 g protein 11 g carbs [7 g Complex] 53 mg Calcium  PB GF   Hearty, easy, good-tasting, with many of your favorite superfoods baked into a fine breakfast. Whole grains and dark leafy greens! at breakfast!

one 2-oz egg 2 Tbsp cooked quinoa ½ oz cooked kale 1 Tbsp cottage cheese, reduced fat 2 pinches of cayenne, sage, garlic powder, turmeric ¼ c wild blueberries, fresh or frozen 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]

Plan to cook some quinoa for a dinner a day or two ahead to have some left-over for this breakfast. Tip: The night before cook the kale, squeeze it out, and chop in well. In a small bowl, combine the quinoa, kale, cheese, and seasonings. Add salt to taste. Heat the toaster oven to 350 F. Spritz an oven-proof dish with cooking oil or spray. Whisk the egg, then stir in the mixed ingredients. Pour into the prepared dish and bake 12-15 minutes. Plate with the blueberries and serve with your choice of optional beverages. Power-packed!

Salmon & Broccoli:  241 calories 9 g fat 3 g fiber 27 g protein 8 g carbs 83 mg Calcium PB GF This is a meal that is so simple to prepare and so delicious that it seems impossible that it can be so good for you. Indulge yourself often.

4 oz wild Pacific salmon filet 4 oz broccoli florets 2 Tbsp mango salsa [Newman’s own]

Spray either a cast iron skillet or a stove-top grill pan with non-stick spray and heat it over medium-high. [You could also broil or bake the fish. If you bake it, go for 9-10 minutes at 400F] Salt and pepper the fish on both sides. Cook about 4-5 minutes on each side, then take off the heat. Cook/steam the broccoli until it is tender, then plate topped with purchased mango salsa.

Rhubarb Festival!

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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. 

The Pandemic of 2020 meant that a lot of events were cancelled, including our town’s annual Rhubarb Festival on the first Saturday in June. We all stayed home last year and most of us got through it safely. This year the Festival is on! Musical groups, rhubarb pie contests, rhubarb flower arrangements, bake sale, farm animal petting zoo, food vendors, craft vendors, a ‘hollering contest,’ rhubarb wine and beer to sample — it is lots of fun for our tiny town of <1500 residents. Rhubarb is the ‘first fruit of the season,’ giving us good things to eat before the strawberries ever think of ripening. The plant, not a fruit but a vegetable, is native to central Asia and the roots were considered to be valuable for medicinal use 5000 years ago. It first arrived in North America when Benjamin Franklin sent a box of roots, for medicine, to his friend John Bartram. Finally, in the 1800s, people in the US got around to eating the stalks. Pie and jam are the first things that comes to mind, but for Slow Days, I make muffins and coffee-cakes from rhubarb as well. From May to September, fresh rhubarb is on the menu in our house. If you can grow it, you should.

Because rhubarb is so low in calories, it can be an ingredient on a Fast Day, as long as there isn’t too much sugar with it. Here it appears in a splendid breakfast and in a relish which is served on fish, chicken, or meat. Very delicious. NB: If you are new to rhubarb, one eats only the stalks. The leaves should never be eaten as they contain oxalic acid/oxalate.

Yogurt Creme Brulee: 208 calories… 2 g fat… 2.5 g fiber… 19 g protein… 28 g carbs… 115.6 mg Calcium…  NB: Food values given are for the plated foods only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF  Let’s have dessert for breakfast! A Bobby Flay dessert was the inspiration for this breakfast recipe.  This is delicious! HINT: This makes enough for 2 [two] servings.

You will need a small blowtorch to caramelize the sugar. DO NOT use the broiler, lest you melt the yogurt.
8 oz plain Greek** yogurt, fat-free -OR- ‘yogurt cheese’ [see below]
½ tsp vanilla 		Stir yogurt and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined. Cover and refrigerate 30+ mins to allow the flavors to meld.
1 cup chopped rhubarb
2 Tbsp water + 1 tsp sugar		Put fruit in a small saucepan and add water. Simmer until just softened, ~5 mins. Add sugar and stir. Let cool slightly.
two 8-oz ramekins
¼ c rolled oats, toasted		Divide fruit between ramekins. Toast oats in a dry skillet and sprinkle on the fruit. Fill the ramekins with yogurt. Cover and freeze 5 mins.
2 tsp turbinado sugar per ramekinSprinkle sugar over each ramekin. Caramelize by slowly sweeping the blowtorch flame back and forth. Let sugar harden, ~2 mins.
**Or put 2 cups plain, fat-free yogurt in a sieve lined with paper toweling. Let sit for 30 minutes as the whey drips out. The concentrated yogurt is call ‘yogurt cheese’ and is the same as ‘Greek Yogurt.’

In addition: 1 oz 3%-fat ham slice  Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] 

While the ramekins are in the freezer, cut the ham slice into ribbons and quickly cook in a dry skillet. Plate the ramekin with a wreath of ham around it. A fine mix of opposite flavors, temperatures, and textures.

Halibut with Fruit Relish: 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 relish makes for a splendid topping.

4 oz halibut filet 5 oz asparagus -OR- side salad   2 Tbsp rhubarb-onion relish**

Rhubarb-Onion Relish:  makes 1 cup  From Marion Cunningham’s Supper Book.    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
2 ¾ Tbsp vinegar
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar, not packed
pinch each of ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon 		Mix everything together in a heavy pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer 45 minutes until quite thick.
You could make a bigger batch and preserve by canning in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

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

1 two-oz egg + blueberries1 two-oz egg 
kale + cayenne + sage70-calorie whole grain bread
quinoa + garlic powder + turmericParmesan cheese
reduced-fat cottage cheeseblueberries
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

4 oz wild-caught Pacific salmonpork tenderloin + apples
4 oz broccolichicken stock + broccoli
bechamel sauce
carrot + thyme + sage
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Mary Goes Over The Mountain. Again

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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 Health Resolved who is now Following.

The Pennsylvania Dutch or Plain People have many ways of predicting the weather, which they have made into oft-repeated maxims. One of the best known is that “If Mary goes over the mountain dry, she’ll come home wet.” This refers to the Biblical story of the young Virgin Mary, newly pregnant by Divine intervention, going to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is about to give birth. The date given for the visit is May 31, when Mary goes over, to August 18 when she returned to her family in Nazareth. According to the weather lore, if the weather is dry at the end of May, one can expect rain in mid- August. Since there was no National Weather Service until 100 years ago, farmers were always looking for ways to make long-range forecasts. Frequently patterns would be observed: “A green Christmas means a brown July.” Wishing to have some control over the weather doesn’t make it so. The weather will do what it wants. Make your own observations and see if you can detect any patterns as our climate changes.

The Plain People brought a rich culture of foods to the New World. Today’s breakfast is made with the famous scrapple of South-Eastern Pennsylvania, and the dinner is a popular meal from the same region. Both are delicious. Mark your calendar with the weather on May 31, then note the atmospheric conditions on August 18 to see if the maxim is valid.

Scrapple Bake: 290 calories 7.4 g fat 6 g fiber 14 g protein 39 g carbs 220 mg Calcium  NB: The food values given above are for the egg bake and fruit only, not the optional beverages.  GF  Scrapple is one of the specialty foods of the “Pennsylvania Dutch” people of South-Eastern Pennyslvania. Excellent for breakfast, served as a side dish like sausage or combined with eggs in this bake.

1 two-oz eggs ½ oz scrapple, sliced and baked until cooked ½ oz scallion, chopped ½ cup raspberries + 1 Tbsp fat-free vanilla yogurt  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]

The night before, bake the scrapple in the oven until firm. Dice it and combine with the scallion.  In the morning, set the toaster oven at 350 F. Spritz a ramekin with oil or non-stick spray. Scatter the scrapple and scallion in the ramekin. Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper and pour over the scrapple. Bake 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, portion the berries and dollop the yogurt on top. Brew the hot beverage and pour the smoothie. A fine, homey breakfast.

Chicken & Dumplings: 293 calories 7 g fat 4.6 g fiber 38 g protein 30 g carbs 67 mg Calcium  PB This was a real hit in my parents’ Central Pennsylvania home and it is still a favorite with us. Be aware that it is best made over 2 days, but it basically cooks by itself with a few busy bouts by you. Worth the time and effort. AND this recipe serves 4 [four] people, so have a party serving this great make-ahead meal. If you serve one or two, make the whole thing anyhow, then package and freeze the remainder.

3 pound whole chicken, preferably a fowl although you will get more meat from a fryer ½ cup onion, chopped 1/3 cup carrots cut as coins ½ cup celery, chopped bay leaf 3 peppercorns 1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour 4 dumplings   per person:  ¼ cup green peas 

Cut up a 3 pound chicken into leg quarters, breast quarters, back, wings. In a large pcast iron pan or Dutch oven, brown the chicken in a little oil on all sides. Add the vegetables, bay leaf, pepper, and water to cover. Simmer on the cooktop for 45 minutes. Add 2 tsp salt, cover, and simmer for another 45 minutes. Strain off the stock and let the fat rise to the surface to cool. Discard the fat. Reserve the vegetables. Cool the chicken and remove the skin. Pull off the meat in chunks: you will use 17 oz meat by volume. You could stop here.

Measure ¼ cup of stock and whisk in the 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour to form a paste. Measure 1.5 cups stock and pour into a stovetop-safe serving dish along with the Worcestershire sauce. HINT: save any remaining stock and chicken for excellent soup. You could stop here. Add the flour water paste and stir to incorporate. Put the vegetables and chicken meat into the dish and adjust seasonings to taste.  You could stop here. When ready to serve, prepare the dough for the dumplings. Heat the chicken mixture and place 4 dollops of dumpling dough on the chicken and vegetables but not so that it is in liquid only. Let it all bubble gently for 15-20 minutes, then cover the dish and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes. Steam the peas and pour over the top of the dish before bringing to the table. Serve this simple classic proudly.

Industrial Revolution

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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.

These days, when people discuss climate change or atmospheric pollution, the Industrial Revolution is often mentioned. Before that time, factories were a cottage industry. Literally. A woman might make hats or butter to sell from home. A man might be a weaver, right in the front room of his cottage. In the 1760s, textile making was speeded up by the invention of spinning and weaving machines in Northern England. Larger manufacturing spaces were built and people were lured from subsistence farming by higher wages. At the start, machines were run by water power on dammed rivers; now steam engines, perfected by James Watt of Scotland, powered factories by burning coal. Some people decried smoke-stacks belching black coal smoke into the once-pristine country air, but locals said, “It smelled like money.” Now instead of being made one-by-one, items were mass-produced. Improvements in steel-making lead to railroads, their trains speeding goods to market. Factories became larger as manufac-turing became mechanized. Cities grew in population as the countryside emptied. Fortunes were made, and work life ran by the clock instead of the sun. Modern life as we know it began with the Industrial Revolution, and our use of fossil fuels has grown over the years because of it. Early on, the new factories were seen as a blessing to areas with marginal farmland. Young men and women could work for a few years in a factory, then return to the farm with modest wealth. Were there benefits from mechanization? Yes. Did it create problems that are still with us? Decidedly. Now we must deal with the unintended consequences of industrial expansion and the use of fossil fuels. We must balance production of goods with quality of life for humans and other life on our planet. We can do it.

Our meals go back to pre-Industrial days, when most people lived on and from the land, even if they lived in a small town. Oatmeal and shepherd’s pie would have been very familiar foods to an agricultural family in Northern England.

Oatmeal Pudding:  258 calories 4 g fat 5 g fiber 14 g protein 36 g carb [34 g Complex] 55.6 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the pudding only, and do not include the optional beverage.  GF PB  A riff on a recipe found in Marion Cunningham’s Breakfast Book, this can easily be prepared the night before. HINT: MAKES ENOUGH FOR TWO [2] SERVINGS.  Make them both, since two are as easy as one, and freeze the other.

½ cup rolled oats, cooked in 1 cup water 2 tsp maple syrup ½ cup fat-free cottage cheese pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon 4 Tbsp. blueberries [fresh or frozen]   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea  

Cook the oatmeal in the water. Take off the heat, stir in the maple syrup and nutmeg. While it is still a little warm, stir in the cottage cheese. Let sit to cool.  HINT: I did this part the night before while cleaning up after dinner.  If cooking for one, pour half of the pudding into a freezer container and top with 2 Tbsp blueberries. Freeze it. HINT: make the entire batch, eat half of it today and freeze the rest for a really simple-to-prepare breakfast for another day. With the remainder, stir in 2 Tbsp blueberries and pour the pudding into a ramekin. Nuke it for a minute to heat through – longer than that and it will bubble over. Serve with the hot beverage of your choice for a hearty, healthy meal.

Shepherd’s Pie:  276 calories 12 g fat 2 g fiber 21.6 g protein 21.6 g carbs 53 mg Calcium  PB GF  The addition of mashed cauliflower is a great trick to lessen the carb count of mashed potatoes. Some people like to top this pie with mashed cauliflower only, but I enjoy the combo for a more authentic taste.  HINT: serves 2. Freeze leftovers for another dinner or invite a guest.

1 cup roast lamb, ground or minced 1 two-oz egg, separated ½ cup mashed potatoes ½ cup mashed cauliflower ½ cup lamb gravy, as fat free as you can make it 1 cup lettuce ½ tsp olive oil + ½ tsp lemon juice OR cider vinegar 1 oz tomatoes

Add the egg yolk and gravy to the roast lamb, along with salt and pepper to taste. Whip the eggwhite until stiff and fold into the mashed vegetables with salt and pepper to taste. Put the lamb mixture into an oil-spritzed oven-proof dish [2-3 cup capacity] and spread it out evenly. Smooth the mashed vegetables on top and ruffle it with a fork or spoon. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until the top begins to brown a bit and the inside is hot. Whisk the oil and lemon juice in a wide bowl, add the lettuce and tomatoes, and toss gently.

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

1 two-oz egg1 cup plain fat-free Greek-style yogurt 
scrapple + scallionrolled oats + vanilla extract
raspberriesrhubarb + turbinado sugar
fat-free French-vanilla yogurtslice of 3%-fat ham
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

3# chicken + onion + celery4 oz halibut per person + side salad
carrot + Worcestershire saucerhubarb + onion
white whole wheat flour + peascider vinegar + brown sugar
dumplingsground cloves + allspice + cinnamon
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Victoria

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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 Nouveau Trip and gblake who are now Following.

When King George IV of England died in 1830, he left no living heirs. Second brother Frederick would have been king, but he had died. Third brother, William ruled until 1837, and his death without issue started the process all over again. Fourth brother Edward was up next, but he had been dead for 17 years. Thus it was that a teenager named Victoria, daughter of Edward, was awakened one morning and told that she was now Queen of England. Yikes. A bevy of advisors hovered around her as she learned the ropes and took control of her kingdom. After her marriage in 1840, her Prince-Consort Albert became the person she relied upon most and his death was devastating to her. During Victoria’s long reign, life in England changed in several ways: white became the color of choice for wedding dresses [because Victoria wore white]; railroads criss-crossed the land; free schools were set up for all children; laws were passed forbidding certain work for children; India became part of the Empire; all things Scottish became fashionable [when Victoria and Albert wore tartans and vacationed in Balmoral]; Victoria popularized the use of ether during two childbirths; electric street lights in London replaced gas; and she gave her name to an entire era, with its associations with over-decorating, imperialism, prudery, and a bit of stodginess. Until the present Queen, no one had ruled longer on the English throne.

During the Victorian Era, many changes occurred in the English diet. Breakfast as we know it was developed, leading to the ‘proper English’ menu, still ubiquitous today. Food stuffs and flavors came in from the far-flung Empire, especially curries from India, as in Kedgeree.

Improper English w/ egg:  127 calories 3 g fat 3 g fiber 10 g protein 16.6 g carbs 42.5 mg Calcium   NB: The food values given above are for the plated foods only, not the optional beverages. PB GF  The ‘proper English breakfast’ is a meal of generous proportions: several meats, eggs, mushrooms, toast, tomatoes, baked beans, plus whatever else the host cares to add. This is not a meal for a Fast Day. But wait! By taking the healthiest elements and scaling down the amounts, we can achieve all the flavor along with more balanced nutrition.

The Canadian bacon slice is folded, but it is a full-sized slice.

½ cup baked beans ½ hard-boiled egg 2½ oz tomato, sliced thickly + pinch grated Parmesan cheese 1 slice ‘Canadian’ bacon  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]

Warm the beans. Place the tomato and bacon in a broiler-safe dish. Sprinkle the tomato with salt and Parmesan cheese. Broil until warm and cooked. Peel, slice, and plate the egg half along with the other elements. Proper delicious, that is.

Kedgeree:  250 calories 6 g fat 2 g fiber 22 g protein 25.7 g carbs [5.7 g Complex] 101 mg Calcium  PB GF  This Anglo-Indian fusion dish is flavorful and quickly prepared.  HINT: The recipe serves two [2] people.

3 oz smoked haddock [aka: finnen haddie]
½ cup milk 
1 bay leaf
 ¼ cup chopped onion  		Put the smoked haddock, milk, bay leaf, and onion in a small pan with a lid. Simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the milk and save it. Remove the fish, skin it, and pull apart into large shreds.
2/3 cup cooked rice [White rice is OK but brown rice has more nutrition] 
1/5 tsp curry powder 
½ tsp turmeric		Add the rice and spices along with the shredded fish to the milk and put on low heat, covered.
5 oz asparagus cut into 1-½” piecesCook separately until just tender. Add to the rice/fish.
2 hardboiled eggsPeel + cut each into 8 pieces. Strew atop the plated meal.

Blue Jeans

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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.

Levi Strauss had ‘gold fever,’ but not in the same way as others who headed to California in the 1800s. He set out from New York City by boat headed for the California Gold Rush equipped with bales of fabric. Why fabric? Levi had experience in the dry-goods trade and figured he could sell the fabric for tents. After crossing the Isthmuth of Panama and sailing up to San Francisco, Strauss saw a better use for his fabric. Miners didn’t need tents as much as they needed sturdy trousers. So Levi set up a dry-goods store and took to making trousers from the dark blue, rugged ‘cloth de Nimes,’ thus named because that weave came from France. Miners paid good money and Levi was doing well for himself. But the miners stuffed nuggets in the pockets and ripped the seams, so Strauss teamed up with Jacob Davis who put rivets at strategic parts of the trousers for reinforcement. That worked and ‘blue jeans’ made out of ‘denim’ were born with a patent on May 19, 1873. Strauss was not trying to make a fashion statement — he saw a problem and found a solution for it that earned him a tidy living. Today Levi’s 501 style is closest to the original model: button fly, rivets and all. Around 450 million pairs of Levi Strauss jeans are sold in the USA annually. There were indeed fortunes to be made in California!

For breakfast, the meal to order if you came into town with pockets stuffed with nuggets. For dinner, a nod to Old California, which was a Spanish possession and part of Mexico.

Hangtown Fry: 155 calories 9 g fat 0.6 g fiber 12.6 g protein 6 g carbs [4 g Complex] 62.6 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  GF  Turns out, this meal has nothing to do with being hanged and everything to do with striking it rich.

3 two-oz eggs of which you will use 1½ 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  2 shucked oysters, chopped ½ slice ‘American’ bacon, uncured if possible 1 1/2 oz grapes -OR- 1½ oz strawberries -OR- 3 cherries   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]

Dice the bacon and cook it in a hot pan until almost crisp. Add the oysters and cook a second or two longer. Whisk the eggs with salt, and pepper. Pour over the bacon/oysters in the pan and scramble or cook as an omelette. Plate with the fruit and serve with the beverages of choice.

Enchiladas Suizas:  293 calories 10 g fat 11 g fiber 31.6 g protein 43.4 g carbs 262 mg Calcium   PB GF Rick Bayless relates this recipe in his book Mexico One Plate At A Time. Delicious and easy to prepare. Avoid assembling too far in advance, lest it turn to mush.

2 six-inch corn tortillas [50 calories each] 2 oz [½ cup] shredded cooked chicken breast ½ cup enchilada sauce: see SPICY II 12 Sept 2018   ¼ cup grated Cheddar or Monterey jack dollop of plain, fat-free yogurt 1 oz broccoli florets + 1 oz cauliflower florets + ½ oz carrot

Heat oven to 350 F. On an ungreased heavy skillet, place the tortillas and cook them until they begin to brown on one side. Flip in the pan and continue until each tortilla is pliable and slightly fragrant. Remove to a cutting board or baking sheet. Stir the yogurt into the chicken. Distribute the chicken between the tortillas, then roll them up, and place each in an oven-proof dish, seam-side down. Spoon the sauce over and around and between the enchiladas. NB: you don’t have to use all of the sauce. Extra could be added to eggs or soup. Sprinkle with cheese and put into oven. Cook the vegetables, drain and dress with salt and a splash of red wine vinegar. So good!

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

1 hard-boiled two-oz egg‘old fashioned’ rolled oats
baked beanscinnamon + nutmeg
tomato + Parmesan cheesecottage cheese + maple syrup
Canadian or back baconblueberries
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

Finnen Haddie + hard-boiled eggroast lamb + one 2-oz egg + olive oil
asparagus + curry powdertomato + mashed potatoes + lamb gravy
asparagus + turmeric + milkmashed cauliflower + lettuce
brown rice + onion + bay leaflemon juice or cider vinegar
Sparkling waterSparkling water

That Wonderful Wizard

~ 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.

Which came first for you: reading the Wizard of Oz or seeing the 1939 movie? When I was three years old, my parents took me to my first movie: “The Wizard of Oz.” I loved it, though I was terrified of the green-faced Wicked Witch of the West! The movie was of course based on the book by L. Frank Baum, published on May 17, 1900. Lyman F. Baum was born in upstate New York in 1856. Tutored at home as a child, he dropped out of high school due to a heart problem. Baum kicked around in several different jobs — actor, salesman, newspaper man — and married a suffragette’s daughter in 1882. Frank [he hated the name Lyman] enjoyed telling stories to his four children and found his calling. In 1897 and 1899, he published best-selling children’s books: Mother Goose in Prose and Father Goose, His Book. Then came the big pay-off with an orphan girl from Kansas: on May 17, 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Baum said the book “was written solely to pleasure children today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.” [The Flying Monkeys did not get that memo!!] It was a runaway best seller, the first in a series of Oz books. The book turned into movies and Broadway plays [one by Baum, then The Wiz and Wicked] and spawned a debate over whether or not the Wizard of Oz is a populist allegory. In some places, the books are banned due to the presence of witches, good and wicked alike. You can decide for yourself.

When Dorothy leaves her ruined farmhouse to go explore Munchkin Land, she fills her basket with food from the kitchen. Bread, apples, and cheese are fine foods for the road. Our breakfast is made of apples and cheese. Dinner shows what you can do with sandwich bread on a Fast Day.

Apple-Cheese Pancake Plate:  142 calories 4 g fat 2 g fiber 11 g protein 17.5 g carbs 31 mg Calcium  NB: Food values given are for the main meal only, and do not include the optional beverage.  PB GF – if using GF flour  The preparation is so simple – if the pancakes were already made. I cooked the batch the night before. Fine for a Fast Day breakfast or, on a Slow Day, serve with a bit of peanut butter.

2 Apple-Cheese pancakes ** 1 slice Canadian bacon [back bacon] 2 oz melon   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]

Cook the bacon, warm the pancakes, and plate with the melon. Perfect.

**Apple-Cheese Pancakes  makes 10 From Molly Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook. ½ cottage cheese ½ c grated apple  1/3 cup white whole wheat flour 1½ tsp honey 1 ½ tsp almond meal 2 eggs, separated 2 tsp Parmesan lemon juice cinnamon Stir together everything except the egg whites. Whip the whites until they are stiff and fold them gently into the batter. Heat a griddle or heavy skillet a bit warmer than ‘medium’. Spray it with cooking spray. Meter out the batter using a 3-Tbsp scoop or something similar, and place batter on the hot griddle. Flatten out a bit. Be careful not to cook too fast, lest the inside not be cooked. When brown on the bottom, flip them over. Serve hot or let them cool to store. They reheat very nicely.

Chicken Salad Sandwich: 292 calories 7 g fat 7 g fiber 28 g protein 35 g carbs 145 mg Calcium   PB GF – if using GF bread  If you bought a chicken salad sandwich, it might ‘cost you’ 500 calories and 16 g fat. This sandwich is much less ‘expensive’ and tastes great.

2½ oz cooked chicken breast 2 Tbsp part-skim ricotta cheese 1 tsp yellow Sriracha, or more 2 tsp chopped onion 2 tsp chopped celery 2 tsp chopped cilantro leaves salt and pepper to taste 2 slices 70-calorie whole-grain bread with seeds [such as Dave’s Killer ‘Good Seed’] lettuce + 1 oz tomato slices ½ cup Swedish Cucumber Salad

Shred or chop the chicken. Mix with the ricotta and flavorings, including Sriracha. Add more Sriracha if the mixture needs to be moistened further. Toast the bread, if you like. Spread the chicken salad on one slice of bread, add the lettuce and tomato. Top with the other piece of bread and plate with the Cucumber Salad. A good ‘on-the-go’ meal.

Fatima

~ 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.

Fatima, Portugal was named for a Moorish princess. Her legend runs from kidnapping-turned-love-story in one version to kidnapping and coercion on the other hand. Neither is confirmed. What is true about Fatima, is that on May 13, 1917, three little children had a miraculous visitor. Lucia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta were coming home from tending the sheep. They saw a luminous lady who said that she came from heaven to visit with the children. The little shepherds recognized her as the Virgin Mary and met her there once a month for 6 months. Lucia told her younger cousins not to speak of this, but Jacinta spilled the beans. Their parents did not believe them and punished them for fabricating a tale. Other children teased them and the local magistrate put them in jail for disturbing the peace. At the July visit with the Lady, the children were told ‘Three Secrets‘ which they were not to divulge immediately. Finally, on October 13, 1917, 70,000 people– the curious, the skeptics, the prayerful — gathered for the final visitation. Jacinta and Francisco died within three years from influenza and Lucia went on to be a nun. The two younger ones were canonized in 2017, and Lucia is on her way to sainthood.

The children of the Fatima miracle were taking care of the family’s sheep, a typical chore for small children in rural families with sheep or goats. Breakfast uses goat cheese, a bi-product of the family herd. Dinner honors the food of Portugal in a New World twist of flavors.

Chevre/Spinach ScrOmelette: 149 calories 9 g fat 1.4 g fiber 12 g protein 6 g carbs 116 mg Calcium  NB: Food values shown are for the ScrOmelette and fruit only, and do not include the optional beverages.  PB GF  Astonishing how delicious this is! 

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 Tbsp chevre cheese 3 Tbsp cooked spinach    pinch lemon dill seasonings + salt + pepper 2 oz apple OR applesauce, unsweetened   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water Optional: 3 oz fruit smoothie or berry-yogurt smoothie  [44 calories]

Strain and squeeze the spinach to get all the water out. Chop the spinach. Mix the spinach and chevre with the seasonings in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk the eggs into the spinach/chevre and keep whisking until it is all mixed. Cook as you would for scrambled eggs in a lightly-spritzed pan. Portion the applesauce [unless you did this the night before], prep the hot beverage, shake or blend the smoothie and enjoy a really flavorful breakfast.

Portugese Fish & Chips: 260 calories 6 g fat 4.7 g fiber 24 g protein 28 g carbs [27 g Complex] 60 mg Calcium   PB GF – if using GF flour  From our favorite dinner place in Souris, PEI, 21 Breakwater comes this house specialty from the chef’s native cuisine. The batter is so light that it lets the lime-infused fish shine through. The recipe takes little time to accomplish. I have described it in detail so you can be successful.

3 oz tilapia or hake 1 fl. oz lime juice or lemon juice 1 egg white + 1 egg yolk 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour   3 oz sweet potato, peeled ½ tsp canola oil ½ tsp granulated garlic ¼ tsp paprika black pepper 2 oz asparagus

Marinate the fish in the lime juice with a pinch of salt and pepper for up to 30 minutes. Set the oven to 425 F. Peel the sweet potato and cut lengthwise into ¼” slices. Cut each slice into ¼” sticks. Put the oil in the non-stick pan that you will use to cook the fish. Add the potato sticks to the pan and toss about to coat with oil. Combine the granulated garlic, paprika, and pepper, and sprinkle on the potato sticks. Toss to distribute the seasonings. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil with the dull side up. Spray liberally with non-stick spray. HINT: You could do this 1-2 hours in advance. Distribute the potatoes on the pan so they do not touch. Put in oven for 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, put the asparagus on to cook. Take the fish from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Dredge lightly with flour. Whip the egg white into soft peaks. Fold in the egg yolk and remaining flour from dredging the fish. Heat the non-stick pan and spray with non-stick spray. Remove the fries from the oven and turn them over. Return to oven for 10 minutes more. Dip the fish in the egg batter so that it is coated on all sides. Cook the fish on one side over medium heat for 6 minutes, then on the other side for 6 minutes or until fork tender. When fries are done, turn off oven, open the door, and leave the fries in there for up to 5 more minutes. Plate all that good food and live it up.

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

2 two-oz eggs + cottage cheese + apple1.5 two-oz eggs 
white whole wheat flour + almond meal2 oysters
honey + Parmesan cheese‘American’/streaky bacon
Canadian bacon + melonstrawberries or cherries
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

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

chicken breast meat + part-skim ricottayellow-corn tortillas @ 65 calories each
onion + celery + cilantroCheddar cheese + chicken
2 slices 70-calorie bread + tomatoenchilada sauce
Swedish Cucumber Salad + yellow Srirachacarrot + broccoli + cauliflower
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Unified!

~ 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 Virtue Cooking who is now Following.

A “Golden Spike” was driven into a railroad tie on May 10, 1869, at Promentary Point, Colorado to mark the completion of the transcontinental railroad in the USA. The goal of unifying the country’s East and West coasts had been realized — a significant achievement in a land where the South and North were still in an uneasy peace five years after the Civil War. It was a worthy effort but the consequences of the railroad were darker. Indigenous Peoples were removed to reservations; Chinese and Irish immigrants worked in slave-like servitude; Robber Barons made deals that would make or break the fortune of a town that did/didn’t get a rail link; bison were slaughtered for fun by hunters shooting from train cars; and due to railheads in Western locations, beef became ‘what’s for dinner.‘

In honor of the 20,000 Chinese who worked on the railroad, in dangerous conditions, a breakfast with the flavors of home. For dinner, a meal of bison, an animal which has made a comeback after habitat destruction and over-hunting nearly lead to its extinction. Today bison is farm-raised which makes it sustainable.

Foo Yung Bake:  130 calories 5 g fat 2.4 g fiber 10 g protein 12 g carbs [11 g complex] 57 mg Calcium   NB: The food values shown are for the egg bake and the fruit, not for the optional beverages.  PB  GF Straight out of China, a no-fuss bake.

One 2-oz egg 2 Tbsp crab meat 1 tsp soy sauce ¼ cup sprouts [I used broccoli sprouts — suit yourself] ¼ oz mushrooms pinch ground ginger + pinch granulated garlic 1 Tbsp scallion, sliced cross-wise One clementine OR 2 oz pear   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 mix the crab meat with the sprouts, scallion, and mushroom. Lightly oil or spritz an oven-proof dish. Distribute the crab mixture over the bottom of the dish. Whisk the egg with the soy sauce, ginger, and garlic powder, and pour over the sprouts and crab. Add salt and pepper if you wish. Bake at 350 F. for 12 minutes. Plate with the fruit and pour the optional beverages.

Bison Burger ‘Salisbury Steak’:  260 calories PB GF Rather than my telling you what to eat with your burger, I’ll give you options. Use any good veg from your ‘fridge, garden or freezer.

one 4-oz bison burger = 124 calories 2 g fat 0 g fiber 25 g protein 0 g carb ½ oz mushrooms = 8 calories 0 g fat 0.3 g fiber 0.2 g protein 2 g carb 1 tsp curried catsup = 8 calories 0.1 g fat 0 g fiber 0.1 protein 2 g carbs

Side vegetables: your choice to total up to 120 calories

2 oz cooked beets:  24 calories 0.2 g fat 1.6 g fiber 1 g protein 5.4 g carbs 5.4 mg Calcium

2 oz carrots:  23 calories 0.1 g fat 1.6 g fiber 0.6 g protein 5.4 g carbs 18.4 g Calcium

1/3 c. baked beans:  79 calories 0.3 g fat 3.4 g fiber 4 g protein 18 g carbs 29 mg Calcium

2 oz broccoli:  20 calories 0.2 g fat 1.4 g fiber 1.6 g protein 3.8 g carbs 26 mg Calcium

2 oz green beans:  18 calories 0.2 g fat 2 g fiber 1.0 g protein 4 g carbs 21 mg Calcium

2 oz peas:  44 calories 0.2 g fat 3.2 g fiber 8 g protein 8 g carbs 13.6 mg Calcium

Sprinkle a small, hot skillet with Kosher salt. Put the burger on the salt and turn down the heat to medium-low. Cook the bison burger on one side for about 3 minutes. Flip it and cook until done as well as you’d like.  Put on a plate to stay warm.  Topping: Add some water to the pan and stir/ cook the mushrooms until soft. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables. To serve, put the ketchup on the burger, top with mushrooms. Arrange those colorful sides on the plate and get ready for some good American eating.