Fasting as a Family: Planning and Preparing Delicious Lenten Meals by Ancient Faith Publishing

fasting as a family Planning and Preparing Delicious Lenten Meals

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Fasting as a Family: Planning and Preparing Delicious Lenten Meals Copyright ÂŠ 2016 by Melissa Naasko All rights reserved. Published by: Ancient Faith Publishing A Division of Ancient Faith Ministries P.O. Box 748 Chesterton, IN 46304 ISBN: 978-1-936270-52-1 Printed in the United States of America

 Contents  Introduction

How, When, and Why We Fast

5 9

Part 1: Painless Lenten Meals 1. Budget Realities, or Getting Cozy with Beans 2. Special Diets 3. Stocking the Lenten Pantry 4. Managing the Pantry 5. Making Lenten Meal Plans 6. Planning Actual Meals

15 29 45 57 71 77

Part 2: Recipes and Resources 7. Recipes 87 br eakfasts 89 Homemade Granola Brother Anthony’s Pancakes Breakfast Spaghetti Fried Bananas Whipped Coconut Cream Orange Cream Oats Scrambled Garbanzos Lenten Breakfast Hash Breakfast Casserole Chia Breakfast Pudding Chia Fruit Salad

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Lenten French Toast Biscuits and Mushroom Gravy

101 102

box lunches

103

snacks and on-the-go foods

115

main dish r ecipes

125

Mock Tuna Salad Mock Egg Salad Sunflower Hummus Beany Butter (Nut-free peanut butter substitute) Beany Cheesy Spread Chinese Chickpea Salad Vegan Chimis Spicy Creamed Cabbage Mediterranean Pasta Salad Smoked Oyster Paté Red Pepper and Basil Smoked Oyster Paté

104 105 106 107 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114

Chocolate Tahini Balls 116 Fruit and Nut Balls 117 Apple-wich 118 Chocolate Avocado Spread 119 Vegan Celery Boats 120 Red Bean Spread 121 Herbes de Provence Bean Spread 122 No-Bake Chocolate Icebox Cookies 123 Nightshade-Free Ketchup Replacer 124 Macaroni and Please Lentil Taco Filling Mock Ground Beef

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126 127 128

Chickpea and Kale Soup Creamy Potato Chowder for a Crowd Vegan Smoked Parm Substitute Za’atar Pilaf Garbanzo Risotto Cashew “Cheese” Sauce Mushroom Cream Pasta Thai Peanut Curry Thai Peanut Spread Pizza Dough

bak ed goods and desserts Flax Meal Egg Replacer White Chia Meal Egg Replacer Bulk Flax/Tapioca Egg Replacer Lenten Banana Bread Vegan Biscuits for a Crowd Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins Creamy Vegan Chocolate Frosting Best Lenten Chocolate Cake Double Chocolate Muffins Spice Cake Coconut Banana Frosting Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138

139

140 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 149 150 151

sample menus

153

Appendix: Worksheets & Resources wor ksheets

157

Lenten Weekly Menu Child’s Lenten Birthday Dinner Formal Dinner with the Priest

Meal-by-Meal Planning Worksheet My Favorite Meals Worksheets Weekly Meal Planning Worksheet My Lenten Shopping List

r esources

Basic Lenten Pantry List Gearing Up for Great Lent Build a Complete Protein Gluten-Free Diet Hot Tips Nut Allergy Substitution Soy Substitution Tips Nightshade Allergy Hot Tips Lenten Lunch Box Ideas

154 155 155

159 160 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174

 introduction 

ny extended fasting period, such as Great Lent or the Nativity Fast, is an arduous journey—as it should be—but we can make it harder or wander in the wrong direction if we are not prepared. As a mother of eleven children, as the fasts approach I know I need to get the meal planning squared away, or it will take over all my waking thoughts. I can’t fall asleep at night because I am thinking about what I will cook the next day and worrying if I have nothing planned. While all the mealdread is certainly penitential, it really isn’t productive, and it certainly does not bring me closer to God or help me to love Him more— which is the whole point of a fast. I am confident that I am not alone in this. Friends, friends of friends, and sometimes complete strangers talk to me about how they panic over fasting and have no idea how to feed their families. This is a serious challenge, and there is not a lot of good advice out there. The bulk of the advice that is available specifically

addresses monks and nuns, and it amounts to eating plain beans or bread in warm almond milk for weeks on end. While this is fast friendly, it is not appealing, and any family with a feisty seven-year-old is certain to have some mealtime fights. Night after night of kids begging for chicken nuggets will wear down your resolve, eat at your soul, and make you a bit more than snippy with your children. If you are a convert, or your family is no longer keeping the fast, or you aren’t a hermit, things are doubly difficult, because there is a stigma attached to vegan food. Show up at the company Christmas party with gluten-free vegan cake, and there is liable to be unbecoming talk about your character. Birthdays, anniversaries, and other special events may happen to fall on a fast day, and we all need a way to celebrate these special events beyond adding extra salt to our beans. You do not need to hide in your house and turn down invitations or refuse to invite people over because you are

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fasting as a family fasting. There is a better way! I enjoy helping families find ways to sneakily substitute beans for meat, find new uses for canned oysters, bake cakes they can take to parties, and otherwise live their lives out in public even while fasting. This book was a long time coming, despite the fact that I was repeatedly prompted to write it. Because I am a food writer, desperate moms often call or email me asking questions or looking for ideas, because meals of plain tomato sauce on pasta leave them not just hungry for more, but hungry, period. After Sunday brunch at church, men and women both approach me asking for recipes for the dishes I bring. On Facebook, people “friend” me looking for advice. More than one friend told me I needed to write a cookbook, but I dismissed the idea because I simply did not see the need. But God is both patient and merciful, because the more people asked, the less I heard what they were saying, until a very sweet nun (Mother Gabriella, I mean you!) asked me not once, not twice, but three times. Suddenly I became acutely aware that there was definitely a need out there. No one was really addressing the real and particular needs

of Eastern Christian families, and that is why people were looking for help. The issue is not a lack of vegan cookbooks on the market, because it is not about the recipes. It is rather a question of how to start, how to keep going, and how not to dread Lenten cooking. The issues were complicated, but I kept hearing the same questions again and again, and I knew many families needed answers. So I decided to jump in with both feet and write the book people were looking for and not finding. This book is not primarily a cookbook. The many vegan cookbooks available have not solved the problems families face in fasting. This book contains recipes, yes, but more than that, it includes sections relating to planning, special diets, and budgets—because this is a book about Lenten meal planning. Waking up on a Wednesday or Friday morning with nothing planned and no idea what to eat for breakfast is, in a way, harder than managing a longer fast, when we have leftovers and a steady conscious knowledge that every meal is a fasting one. Vacillating between being a happy meat- eating family and being a (hopefully still happy) vegan one means maintaining a kind

introduction of split personality as the family chef. Trying to cook ahead and make the most of your budget and time by having beans soaked and cooked takes planning. Dealing with tricky food allergies can be an annoyance or even a life-threatening issue, and so this is taken into account. Some children are terribly picky eaters, and I have an entire section just for those families, because I cannot tell you how many people have told me their kids will not even look at beans. Beans are cheap protein—you have to get the kids to eat beans. (By the way, in a chocolate muffin, kids will eat beans. It is chocolate, after all. It’s kid law.) I have also included lots of helpful references to remind you how to combine foods for protein, how to substitute for eggs in baked goods, and how to substitute for allergies. I’ve suggested pre-fast shopping lists as well. Worksheets are here to help you create your own lists that meet your family’s needs, such as one where you can list your favorite breakfast recipes and which cookbooks to find them in. Having a list of recipes to go to when you are dead on your feet is critical, and having one for each kind of meal (breakfast, box lunch, dinner, snacks, and on-the-go meals)

means you are ready to cook for your family. It doesn’t matter if you like vegan chimis or coconut-baked French toast for breakfast; you are in charge, and you get to decide. I also include some sample menus. It can be helpful to see what other people are eating and get some ideas for birthdays, holidays, and special events. While not all families continue to fast on these days, many do, and having some landing points can help when selecting a menu. Now that you know what this book is, it is important to note what it is not: a guilt trip. Let’s keep our eyes on our own plates, please. I have no idea what your needs are or what your spiritual father or your doctor might advise. My goal is not to make you feel badly because you do not fast as much or as often as someone else; my goal is to give you the tools to fast at all. When and how much you fast is something you should determine with the guidance of your spiritual father and under the direction of your doctor. This is especially true in the case of pregnant or breastfeeding women, chronically ill persons, and the elderly. While I make suggestions for what people in these situations might do, it is not medical advice. I am not a

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fasting as a family doctor. For instance, when I give ideas for how diabetics might reduce their carb intake, I am only offering some options. Please speak to your doctor about how to proceed, and then check this book and see in what way I can help you follow that advice. I am not giving medical advice; I am helping you follow it. That said, I think cooking and eating are joy, and I love nothing better than lingering around the table and talking. I wrote this book with the perspective that fasting food can still be good and worth lingering over. Eating a meal together gives us a special opportunity

to engage with other people on a deep, fundamental level. We need to eat—without food we die—but we eat with others because our souls crave that interaction. Food can be so meaningful, and I don’t want it become a punishing experience to prepare a meal. This is the real reason I wrote this book for you. I hope when you read it, you feel I am speaking to you as a friend from church. I want to cheer you on, I want to visit with you, and I want to sit around the table with you— because if you were to meet me in person, that is exactly what I would want to do.

How, When, and Why We Fast God is good and generous to us. One of the most influential people who have blessed our lives is Hieromonk Alexander, who is starting a brotherhood at a Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia mission. Here in the rugged and isolated Keweenaw Peninsula, Father is dedicated to serving the people of Christ in his quiet way. He is warm and congenial and is well known for his frequent but brief lessons in Orthodoxy, which are always preceded by a smile and the words, “This is Orthodoxy 101.” He suggested he write this lovely introduction to fasting in Orthodoxy, and I am most grateful.

any things have been written concerning fasting in the Orthodox Church. Starting from the time of the Desert Fathers and moving forward to contemporary times, parish priests have been confronted with questions from their faithful about why and how we should fast. If we take the whole year on our church calendars and count all the fasting days of the major seasons (Great Lent, Apostles’ Fast, the fasting seasons before the Great Feast of Dormition and the Nativity of our Lord) and the weekly fasting days of Wednesday and Friday, it all adds up to roughly six months of the year. Fasting is obviously a serious practice in the Orthodox Church. When compared with the fasting practices that can be found in the West, the Orthodox fasting practice is also much stricter, because

it cuts out many food groups that we usually take for granted. One of the principles of the Orthodox Church in the spiritual education of its children is that it is more beneficial to advise exactly what should be done, rather than to leave it up to the individual to decide what to give up. We are imitating in this way the obedience of Christ Himself. As Christ was obedient to the will of the Father, even until death on the Cross, so are we trying to at least imitate that obedience by following the instruction given by the Church. In an ideal situation, we would have learned in childhood what it means to fast, and how to fast. We would have learned from our parents, who would have eased us into the practice. But this is unachievable for people who find the faith later in life and for those who are

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 Chapter one  Budget Realities, or Getting Cozy with Beans

ost parents tell me they spend more money during the fasts than at other times. Lent does not have to be the time of the exploding grocery budget. It takes more planning to fast economically, but it can be done. I know many of you can see where this is heading, and that is running wildly into bean territory. Beans are cheap protein, and eating vegan often means coming to terms with a large quantity of beans in the diet. I know this is honestly one of the most difficult things about the fast for many people. Most people do not like beans all that much, and I think there are a couple of reasons why. Most people worry that beans cause gas, and they often do. Beans contain long starch chains that are difficult to break down. If you do not break down these starches in the preparation process, it happens in your digestive system, and this is what causes the gas. There are a couple of ways of minimizing this, but not all

the ingredients used are common, so I usually advise people to use apple cider vinegar when soaking beans. The slightly sweet flavor makes it pretty much imperceptible in the cooked beans. You can also use lemon juice, but white vinegar might be a little more noticeable to some very sensitive tastes. If you are pretty “crunchy” (and I admit to being pretty crunchy myself ), you can also use a little bit of plain kombucha, plain water kefir, or the liquid from the top of sourdough starter. I know that not everyone likes to use these things, and if you don’t, that is just fine—you can use the apple cider vinegar and make eating beans more pleasant for everyone involved. Another reason people often do not like eating beans is that they have never ventured beyond very plain dishes. There are only so many plain beans-and-rice or baked bean dishes one can eat before nobody wants to see a plate of beans again. But beans and lentils

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fasting as a family whichever meal is the most difficult for you to make. Think about your own and your family’s personality. I know my mother loves making breakfast with an unrivaled passion. She is up before the sun making elaborate breakfasts, and her company always loves it. She starts with a bang, but by the evening, she dreads dinner and wants something quick and easy that dirties few dishes. On the other hand, I hate getting up early, and I prefer a quick breakfast so I can get on with the day. Evening suppers are where I shine, because I unwind after a long day by pouring a glass of wine (on oil and wine days; tea otherwise) and cooking multiple complicated dishes. My mom needs supper ideas, and I need breakfast ideas. This is how we would start, but in the end, this is about you and your notebook. What is it that you need?

Q. What if I started a planning notebook but it’s making me bleed from the ears? A. Then drop what you are doing and go back to Instant Planning (page 71)! There is no reason for you to become upset or to allow food to take over your life so much. Fasting periods are supposed to be ones when you are dedicating more time to prayer. If food is becoming a distraction, then remove it. Just start putting the tabs in as you cook meals, and take deep breaths. This is not a test to see if you are a perfect Christian or a perfect housekeeper; this is only a means to an end and certainly not the end in itself. Take a step back and remind yourself why you fast. It is not to make notebooks with recipes.

 Chapter six  Planning Actual Meals

et’s get down to some basic planning. (I will be talking later in more detail about how this looks different if you are planning a regular Wednesday/Friday meal or maintaining the fast for long periods such as Great Lent.) You do not have to be a perfect (but completely imaginary) cook who plans all three meals a day for every day of Great Lent and never prepares the same thing twice. Not only is this an unattainable goal, but Lenten food should not require this much energy. You should be devoting more time to prayer and almsgiving than to elaborate meal planning. This is not to say that the family chef who is naturally inclined to be highly organized and planned well in advance is doing something wrong—quite the contrary. What I am saying is that the attempt to obtain perfection should focus on prayer and not on impressing dinner company. So truly consider not only what to plan but why you are planning in the first place.

There are more than a few ways to plan, and each depends on your personality type. If you are a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal (or guy) then dive into meal-by-meal planning. This is one step up from opening the cupboards at five o’clock and scrambling in a dead panic. It is planning, but it is probably more doable for you if you are a bit plan-phobic and do not want to be overburdened when you should be praying more. But what if you are the kind of person who likes to have a whole week’s worth of meals planned so you can shop once and take advantage of the sales? I have tips for you, too. Not having to worry every day about what to eat can help some people feel more in control and less anxious, which frees them to focus on the real work of the fasts. Both types of people can be helped out by some bulk cooking or cooking ahead, and I have some helpful hints about this process, too.

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fasting as a family

Planning Meal-by-Meal You do not have to have everything laid out weeks, or even one week, in advance. Being able to roll with the punches not only might keep you from becoming overwhelmed, but it can actually give you greater flexibility. That said, you still need to have some idea about what you are going to make. As a rule, I recommend you plan each meal a minimum of twenty-four hours in advance. Does that scare you? It shouldn’t, because what sounds overwhelming is really just a little bit of planning. As you prepare or clean up breakfast, think about the same meal for tomorrow, and have at least a mental plan for what to eat, if not a written plan on the fridge. This is where either your instant planning or your notebook planning comes in handy. You are about to pat yourself on the back for getting that planning done, because you have a ready supply of recipes for each type of meal (breakfast, snack, whatever you need). Look in your pantry or fridge and see what you have, and then make use of whatever looks good to you. Maybe you decide you want to make the first thing you see that involves a particular

ingredient; or you might pick a recipe and see if you have everything it takes. Do what works for you. Take your weekly planning sheet—you can either use it as is or put it in a sheet protector—and write tomorrow’s meals on it. Circle whether the meals you are planning are the ones for today or for tomorrow. This way, you do not have to recopy those menu choices later. For instance, today you have a lunch listed, but you need to think about tomorrow’s lunch. Write it on the other side of the planning sheet, and you do not have to erase what you are making now. Now comes the next step—actually prepping for and then making the things you planned to make. Basically I am saying, while you make breakfast for today, plan for breakfast tomorrow, which is not too bad because you are already thinking about breakfasts, right? This is how I do it: If I am making chia pudding in the blender for this morning, I need to think about what people will eat tomorrow for breakfast and what I might need to do to be ready for it. A lot of vegan recipes require soaking and cooking beans, or setting cashews to soak in the fridge, and if I want to be ready,

planning actual meals then I need to do that now. No big deal. Let’s say I decide I want to make overnight French toast, which means I need some cashew milk. If I do not have any store-bought or I prefer to make my own, I need to get the cashews soaking for this (unless I have a Vitamix blender, which can grind them unsoaked). What if I want some high-protein scrambled garbanzo beans? Then I need to get those soaking so I can cook them later. It is easier than you think, because you think about the same kind of meal you are cooking. If I am making dinner, then I am making plans for tomorrow’s dinner and considering whether there is anything I can soak now or cook ahead to have ready for tomorrow.

Planning Meals a Week at a Time If the thought of planning a week’s worth of menus is making you gasp for breath and go pale, skip this section. This book is meant to cover the needs of all kinds of families and all kinds of personalities, so if this is not your personality, move right on and don’t look back. There is no need to stress yourself out.

This method does not work for everyone, but there are some families who do best if they plan their meals out for the week based on their activities or what is on sale. If you are this kind of planner, or your goal is to be, then the best thing you can do is to start with a weekly calendar. I have one that I slip inside a threehole-punched sheet protector. Then I can write on it and wipe it off, and use it again and again. You can find a Weekly Meal Planning Worksheet in the Appendix (page 165). I do meal-by-meal planning for everything but the evening meal, unless I have company or will be out and about and need to bring something to eat. During the day, I just roll with breakfast, lunch, and snacks, but the evening meal is planned in advance. I plan breakfast only when I have weekend guests or need to bring something to share for brunch after Divine Liturgy. Keep in mind, though, that just because I do it this way does not mean this is the only way to do it. If you feel better with a better plan, then by all means, you’d better plan! Before you start actually planning, you need to decide how many meals you are planning for every day. Start by looking at your week

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fasting as a family

Macaroni and Please Serv es 4–5 (GF use GF pasta, NTF depending on pasta used, NSF if no paprika)

ost Lenten pasta dishes call for cashew cream, which is good but not safe for the nut-free crowd. This is completely nut-free and looks surprisingly like real mac & cheese. If you are looking to boost the protein content, feel free to add a can of drained and rinsed beans or 1½ cups of homemade. You can also add canned or frozen shellfish and vegetables. 1 pound macaroni noodles, cooked and drained, hot 3/4 cup tahini 2 tbsp fast-friendly oil (tastes best with olive, but coconut oil or non-trans fat margarine works well) 1 tsp each sweet paprika (omit for NSF), turmeric, Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste Immediately after draining the pasta, add all the other ingredients and stir well. The heat of the pasta will warm the tahini, and it will coat the pasta. The result will be surprisingly creamy, and it looks almost like boxed macaroni and cheese.

recipes

Lentil Taco Filling Serv es 6–8 (GF, NTF, NSF see variations)

his makes a good filling for tacos and burritos, but my kids also like to have it on biscuits and with cornbread. It is quick and easy, and if you double the recipe you can use it as a ready-to-go soup or casserole starter. To be honest, I never make less than double. I brought it to our friend, Father Alexander, who told me that if I served this at Pascha breakfast, no one would know it was Lenten. My friend with the bean-hating brood said it was even popular at her house. This is a great recipe to have up your sleeve. Hold on to this one, because it is a rare, rare thing. 3 cups lentils, any will work ½ large onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced, or more to taste 1 tbsp ground cumin ½ tsp smoked paprika (NSF variation below) ½ cup prepared salsa (NSF variation below) 6 cups water or veggie broth One can full-fat coconut oil Fast-friendly oil Salt and pepper to taste 1 cup frozen corn, cooked Sauté the onion and garlic in the bottom of a large pot with a lid, such as a Dutch oven. Do not add salt, because the aromatics won’t get golden and delicious. When the onions and garlic have begun to caramelize, add the rest of the ingredients (except corn) and stir well. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, and cook for 30–35 minutes, until the lentils are soft and falling apart. Alternatively, you can use a pressure cooker and process for 20 minutes. Stir in corn, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, and serve. NSF variation: Substitute cinnamon for the paprika and add the corn with an additional ¼ cup liquid before cooking. Homemade salsa variation: If you don’t have or prefer not to use jarred salsa, chop three large bell peppers (I use a mix of red and orange), add ¼ to ½ tsp red pepper flakes, and sauté with the onion. Then follow the rest of the recipe.

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fasting as a family

Mock Ground Beef M a k es a bou t fiv e pou nds (GF, NTF, NSF)

o many people use recipes centered on a pound of ground beef for every evening meal, which means when the fasts come, they struggle with figuring out what to make for dinner. This ground beef substitute can be made on a Saturday morning and frozen for later. This will work great in all your casserole and pasta recipes—just substitute two cups of this mixture for a pound of ground beef. 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced 1–2 onions, diced 4 cups lentils 4 cups white rice 2/3 cup sunflower oil 2 quarts mushroom broth 2–3 tsp liquid smoke 2 tbsp tamari, shoyu, or coconut aminos (all soy-sauce like) 1 tsp nutritional yeast Salt and pepper to taste In a large Dutch oven, combine the mushrooms, rice, onion, and oil. Over medium-high heat, stir the mixture while the mushrooms soften and the rice becomes opaque. When that happens, add the mushroom broth, nutritional yeast, liquid smoke, and soy sauce alternative, and bring to a boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, cover and turn down the heat to low. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and stir very well. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Because this has both a legume and a grain, it has all the amino acids, which means you have the protein you need, and the nutritional yeast provides vitamin B-12, making this a nutritional backbone for your veganized dishes. Freeze in small portions. Remember, the old saying “A pint’s a pound, the world around” means two cups of this mixture is about a pound. If you freeze in larger portions, say gallon-sized zipper bags, they will take much longer to thaw than smaller portions. Pull this out of the freezer before bed and let it thaw in the fridge overnight so it will be ready the next evening for dinner.

recipes

Chickpea and Kale Soup Serv es 10–12 (GF, NTF, NSF)

his is my fallback recipe for colds and sore throats or generally unpleasant illness. I also make this when I need to bring a meal to someone. It serves my family for dinner and a lunch for my husband to take to work, so it should make enough to feed a smaller family for a few days. 8 medium-sized carrots, chopped 4 celery heart stalks, chopped 2 sweet onions, chopped 8 ounces mushrooms ¾ cup olive oil (or fast-friendly oil) 10 cloves garlic, chopped (or a big spoonful of the jarred kind) 1½ cups white sushi rice 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or two cans, drained) 2 cups kale, washed and chopped 1 bottle of beer (something not too hoppy) or 1 pint of veggie broth ¼ cup nutritional yeast 2 tbsp garbanzo bean miso Salt and pepper to taste 5 cups water In your largest Dutch oven, combine the carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and olive oil. Do not add salt .You want to caramelize the carrots and onions. Salt will make them weep, and you won’t get that sweet, rich flavor. Over medium-high heat, stir frequently and cook until the carrots and onions are starting to turn brown, then add the garlic. Stir constantly until the onions start to fall apart and the liquid from the mushrooms starts to thicken from the starches in the other veggies. When it just starts to stick, add the beer, stir well, and cook until it thickens. Add the rice, beans, and water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to simmer, cover, and allow to cook for 40–90 minutes. The longer the soup simmers, the better the flavor. Turn off the heat before you add the kale, miso, and nutritional yeast. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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î&#x20AC;&#x203A; Sample menus î&#x20AC;? Trying to figure out what you are going to eat every day is stressful, and Lenten meal planning just makes it more complicated. Here are some sample menus that might help. First is one for a week during Great Lent, then one for a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthday dinner, and one for a nice meal for company.

recipes

Child’s Lenten Birthday Dinner My son loves pizza, even Lenten pizza, and it is always his first choice. If it were up to him, that would be the only thing we have, but because I would like it to feel like a full meal, I suggested he add a side dish. He chose the celery boats because he really likes the crunch. His birthday is the first day of the Nativity Fast, so he is keenly aware of Lenten birthday menus. We usually take him out for a nice meal in a restaurant before his birthday, since his will always fall during a fast. Celery boats with Red Bean Spread (page 121) Vegan Pizza (page 138) with Beany Cheesy Spread (page 108) with sliced peppers, artichokes, and capers Best Lenten Chocolate Cake (page 146) with Creamy Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 145)

Formal Dinner with the Priest When the priest is coming for dinner after blessing the house or for whatever reason, it is always a good idea to invite his family as well. His wife and children share him with the entire parish, and this is their service to you and your family. That said, sometimes they will not be able to come, and if this is the case, do not be offended. They need time to take care of all the things all other families need to take care of, but with more obligations than most. This menu is easy to make for a large crowd and can be done largely ahead of time, which means you can put your attention where it needs to be. You should never be tempted to sneak off to the kitchen during a house blessing or when discussing important matters with the priest. Crudités with Red Bell Pepper and Basil Smoked Oyster Paté (page 114) and Herbes de Provence Spread (page 122) Mushroom Penne (page 135), peas with olive oil and mint, wine Spice Cake (page 149) and Banana Coconut Frosting (page 150) and coffee with vanilla coconut Coffee Creamer (page 50)

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fasting as a family

hen I am planning my weekly menu, I make sure the complicated dishes are scheduled for weekends or for nights when there will be more time. There is nothing worse than a panicked and rushed meal prep when the kids are trying to do their homework and the dog is barking and there is soccer practice to get to at six. I also want to make sure my kids have protein-filled snacks before activities that require them to have a lot of energy, such as athletics or clog dancing class.

Lenten Weekly Menu Breakfast

Lunch

Snack

Supper

Sunday

Milk for the youngest

For church: Breakfast Casserole (page 98) and Chia Fruit Salad (page 100)

Herbes de Provence Spread (page 122) and veggies

Homemade Pizza (page 138) with Red Pepper Basil Oyster Paté (page 114)

Monday

Orange Cream Oats (page 95)

Mock Tuna (page 104) Sandwiches

Chocolate-Tahini Balls

Tacos with Lentil Filling (page 127), rice, salad

Tuesday

Chia Breakfast Pudding (page 99)

Chinese Salad (page 109) wraps

Apple-wiches with Chocolate Avocado Spread (page 119)

Potato Chowder (page 130) and rolls

Wednesday

Scrambled Garbanzos (page 96)

Mediterranean Pasta Salad (page 112)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (page 151)

Mushroom Penne (page 135) and green beans

Thursday

Granola (page 90) with almond milk

Red Bean Spread (page Chocolate Black Bean 121) and veggie wrap Muffins (page 127)

Thai curry with garbanzos and salad

Friday

Breakfast Spaghetti (page 92)

Mock Egg Salad (page 105) on a bed of greens

Celery Boats with Smoked Oyster Paté (page 113)

Vegan nachos with black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and Cashew “Cheese” Sauce (page 134)

Saturday

French Toast (page 101)

Shrimp burritos with Spicy Creamed Cabbage (page 111)

Toasted English muffins with Herbes de Provence Spread (page 122)

Bell peppers stuffed with Mock Ground Beef (page 128), salad

my favori te m e a l s wor k s h e e t Breakfast Menu Options

recipe

book and page

major ingredients

m y favori te m e a l s wor k s h e e t Lunch Menu Options

recipe

book and page

major ingredients

Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/fasting-as-a-family/