Foods for the two-day diet: pomegranate molasses recipe for oatmeal

The whole idea of 5:2 dieting, or intermittent fasting, has been popularized by “The FastDiet,” a best-selling book written by BBC medical journalist Micheal J. Mosley after he tried it himself.

Intermittent fasting has been said to be helpful for weight loss, digestion and, according to the Reader's Digest book "The 2-Day Diabetes Diet," even issues of diabetes.

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How to make ebelskivers: Experts share their tips

Camilla V. Saulsbury, author of “150 Best Ebelskiver Recipes” (Robert Rose, $24.95) says getting the pan to the right temperature is key. “If the pan's not hot enough, it's not going to cook quickly, and it will be very difficult to flip them over,” she says. At the right temperature, flipping is relatively easy with a little practice. Saulsbury uses a scoop for equal measures, but at least one Danish chef pours the batter from a pitcher, pokes the ebelskivers with a skewer and uses the skewer to remove them. (See the featured video with Arne Solvang, founder of Solvang Restaurant.)

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Better Homes and Gardens 'Skinny Slow Cooker': Red posole soup recipe

Red posole soup from "Better Homes and Gardens Skinny Slow Cooker" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) When a slow-cooker recipe takes less than four hours to cook, it’s obviously not a dish that can sit home alone during a work day or simmer overnight as you sleep.

The new Better Homes and Gardens “Skinny Slow Cooker” cookbook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $19.99) boasts “more than 150 recipes to cook while you’re away,” but many will finish in less time than it takes to run a few errands.

As slow cookers increase in popularity, the number of ways to use them is expanding. We’re seeing more recipes for relatively quick dishes in the two- to four-hour range. Such op tions are perfect during the cooking-area crunch for holiday or party spreads, or if a kitchen is being remodeled.  The “skinny” part of this volume comes in lower-calorie ingredients, less fat and more fiber.

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More cookbook recipes for intermittent fasting

Salt-free food makes imagine days of restrictive diets and not being able to eat whatever I want.  So, I always approach salt-free recipes with trepidation, fearing lost flavor.

That was the case with the 90-calorie-per-serving recipe for mushroom stroganoff from "The 5:2 Cookbook: 100 Recipes for Fasting" from Angela Dowden. Admittedly, I have not tried the 5:2 eating plan where you eat 500 to 600 calories two days of week and then whatever you want on the other days.

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A lighter take: Smoky chorizo and corn chowder recipe

Smoky corn and chorizo chowder can be customized with a variety of ingredients. Here's my take (with homemade cheese bread) on the original recipe from McCormick.comLapsang Souchong is a tea whose smoky quality is so potent that you can smell it through an unopened  plastic-covered box – even when each tea bag is enclosed in a sealed packet.

While it is an acquired taste as a tea for drinking, its smoked essence makes it a perfect source of natural smoked seasoning. The tea is a wonderful enhancement for chowders and other soups.

Earlier this year, I fell in love with McCormick's recipe for corn chowder with smoked tea and chorizo. The recipe calls for 7 ounces of diced chorizo to be browned in 2 teaspoons of oil, but slow-cured, hard Spanish chorizo is fatty enough to do without the added oil. The chorizo's rendered fat can also sauté the onions in this recipe.

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