Lent Meals And Matters

In the Eastern Catholic Rites, Lent began yesterday.  Our bishops asked that we apply the minimum standards of vegan fare and fasting on Clean Monday (yesterday) and Good Friday, while keeping Fridays and Wednesdays meatless (allowing for eggs and dairy on those days), regardless of age.

Traditionally, for the East, Lenten sacrifice involves being completely vegan for all of Lent, save for the occasional helping of fish, excluding also oil for cooking and wine for cooking and consumption.  There is to be a normal sized breakfast, something snack-sized for lunch, and the evening meal is to be small and plain and eaten after sundown.

We are doing the bare minimum requirements as far as food goes (thanks to pregnancy and such), but have taken necessary steps to see that other parts of our lives are adequately redirected toward mindful sacrifice.

That said, I wanted to share a few food adventures we had in preparation for Lent:

Take some frozen mixed fruit of choice...

...then add some more frozen mixed fruit of choice...

...pop those lovelies in a food processor and turn it on,

careful to scrape down the sides once in a while...

...until your eyes behold the lovely sight of pure, delicious sorbet!

If you want to keep going, toss in a few spoonfuls of Greek yogurt...

...and pulse until blended for frozen yogurt without any added junk!

It was a tremendous hit in both sorbet and frozen yogurt form,

though the frozen yogurt will obviously not be on the vegan menu.

I was intimidated by the thought of a vegan Lent until guacamole came into play.

Who knew that combining some avocados,

tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, cilantro, and optional jalapeños 

would be so magical?  It hardly feels like Lent with this on the table!

God bless you forever, inventor of guacamole.

Alas, dinner was indeed very simplistic last night.

A few red potatoes and an onion...

...chopped and dropped into a stock pot with this stuff and some water...

...boiled down (shown) and then pureed into a thick, dairy-free,

creamy soup (not pictured) and paired with a hunk

of french bread (naturally vegan) made for a blessedly

simple way to end our day.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the red pepper hummus I cranked out with some help from the kids.  We had a decidedly un-sacrificial lunch of pita triangles and hummus (un-sacrificial in that it was really tasty).

On to planning our meatless meals, which aren't as fun or as inventive. :-)