Lent

[theatokos]

Today starts the beginning of Lent. I am going dry and vegan. I decided to do it. Adam, who gave up eating mammals in January, has decided to forgo dairy too. He's not concerned with trace amounts, but he thinks he might be lactose intolerant. His choice will certainly help me stick to my Lenten fast as well as make cooking dinners easier.

I tend to get stuck in food ruts. I do have some good vegan recipes, but I could stand to mix it up a little. What are some of your favorite vegan meals and snacks?

Comments

[keypike.livejournal.com]

I love this Chickpea curry:

Chick Pea Curry
Ingredients:
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 apple, peeled and finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
2 - 3 tsp of curry powder
1-2 cans chick peas
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen peas (or more if you like peas)
salt
Saute onion, garlic and apple in the olive oil until softened. Add curry powder and stir. Add tomatoes and green pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes then add chick peas and cook an additional 10 minutes. Add frozen peas shortly before the end of cooking time. Add salt to taste.
Serve over basmati rice.
The original recipe also called for 2 tbsp of coconut and a handful of raisins – but I don’t like my curry sweet, so I’ve never made it with those two ingredients.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yum!! This sounds delicious. Thanks!

[keypike.livejournal.com]

I like it because it's virtually impossible to mess up....and you can easily modify it to your personal tastes.

Good luck with the fast. You're a stronger woman than me!

[ambar.livejournal.com]

soooooup, glorious sooooooup!

vegetable stock recipe on: http://ambar.livejournal.com/76027.html

a gazpacho: http://community.livejournal.com/food_porn/424165.html

[lopezuna.livejournal.com]

My favorite: Lentil dhal with rice and a potato / cauliflower / squash side (bonus, the lentils and rice are a HUGE hit with the baby).

Dhal: Boil up some red lentils. While they are cooking, fry some coriander seed, ground coriander and turmeric in oil (I skip the chili for the baby). Then throw in some chopped onions, fry until they are cooked. Then throw in some tomatoes / canned chopped tomatoes / tomato paste and water. When the lentils are cooked, stir in the tomato-onion mixture. I blend some for the baby, and throw some of the blended soup in with the rest and salt it.

Vegetable side: Chop up raw potatoes or squash in little cubes. Or chop raw cauliflower into small florets. Fry some black mustard seed, cumin seed, ground cumin and turmeric in oil (again, no chili if the baby is eating it) in a heavy frying pan with high sides. Then throw in the vegetables, Toss with the spices and oil. Salt. Cover with a lid, and stir occasionally, being careful not to burn the lot. The lid keeps the steam in, so the veg cook without needing massive amounts of oil. When the veg are soft and nicely browned (takes 10-15 minutes) throw in some frozen peas. Sprinkle amchur powder (powdered mango) or lime juice on top. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Oh yes and another favorite is hot and sour garbanzos. Make the same tomato-onion mixture as for the dhal, but with chili and go easy on the tomato. Throw in cooked garbanzos, lots of chopped fresh ginger and lime juice.

Oh and also yum, pasta with olive oil, garbanzos, lemon juice, grated lemon rind and wilted coriander/ parsley / spinach / arugula. Once lent is over, you can add parmesan for extra yum.

[seagull42.livejournal.com]

I got confused by part of your comment (I was raised Roman Catholic), and was going to ask about it... But I think I found the answer, so instead I'm going to see if what I found is your understanding.

Roman Catholics start Lent (including fasting, etc) on Ash Wednesday (the day after Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/etc), and ends on Easter Sunday. Sundays during Lent don't count as part of Lent (so as a child, I could eat some Candy on Sunday, even if I'd given up candy for Lent). Thus my confusion with your comment.

Per Wikipedia, Eastern Catholic & Eastern Orthodox start Lent on Ash Monday/Clean Monday, Sundays do count as part of the 40 days, and Lent ends on Good Friday.

I take it that's the practice you're following? I don't think I was aware of this form until today (though perhaps that explains why Sandra and I had different thoughts on whether Sundays were a part of Lent or not...)

Interesting stuff. :-)

[seagull42.livejournal.com]

Oops - noticed I got that wrong in a re-reading. Eastern doesn't end on Good Friday - it's the Friday before Palm Sunday?

Is it correct that also plays in with the idea that days really
run from sunset to sunset, rather than midnight to midnight?

(Also noting that technically, Lent ends on Holy Saturday for Roman Catholics, as Easter Sunday isn't a part of Lent).

It was also interesting reading about the differences in fasting practices. All these things I didn't know about being (a different variation) of Catholic when I was a Catholic. Let alone the underlying Jewish practices from which they came...

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I "observe" the Easter version. Easter rotates too. It doesn't always line up with Western Easter. Eastern Orthodoxy lines it up with Jewish passover. The lenten fast traditionally involves all animal products, alcohol, olive oil and sex. I don't observe the last two. Occasionally there are a couple days that might be feast days, in which the fast is null. Sometimes there are days that only part of the fast is enforced, but since I'm not actually attending a church I lose track and ... that's not really the purpose for me.

I think of Lent as more of a spring cleaning!

[seagull42.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Yes also on the correspondence with Passover. (That actually came up in conversation last week in a group of friends which includes a couple who are Jewish more by race than by practice, and which also touched on the association with the Lunar and Solar cycles (I never could remember all the details, let alone the variations, of how the Equinox and Full Moon played their parts in determining the date.)

Yes also to the focus on purpose rather than specifics of practice. (Which, I think, can often get confused...). Yay for Spring Cleaning!

Have you read any of the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett (which has crossovers into his Discworld series)? Yesterday we were talking about an episode where a witch was giving advice to someone having health problems, and telling him he should hike to a certain waterfall each day and throw in three stones to appease the gremlins (or something like that).

To another she acknowledged that it's not necessarily the stones that will help - it's the hike. But if she simply told him to take a hike every day, he probably wouldn't do that...

(Of course, Pratchett tells it in a much more interesting way).

nom nom nom

[sapphire-kittum.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of celery and carrot sticks dipped in fresh hommus.

1 can chick peas
3 or more cloves of garlic, peeled
olive oil (splash)
lemon juice (to taste)
1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Blend chick peas & garlic in food processor & add olive oil and lemon juice until it looks and tastes right. Stir in sesame seeds. Let it sit at least overnight in the fridge so that the flavours blend and the sesame seeds go soft. You could always eat it straight away, but the sesame seeds will be crunchy.

This is an approximation. I just sort of throw it all in together and taste it as I go and 'wing it'. :)

Have fun with your dry/vegan Lent.

Re: nom nom nom

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love carrots and hummus but didn't even think to make my own! Awesome.

Re: nom nom nom

[hrafntinna.livejournal.com]

Try black bean hummus. Also try black beans with roasted sweet potatoes, fennel, and onions. Cumin is a good spice, but salt is really enough.

We were eating very veggie here, but we couldn't stand it tonight, and I made a chicken and chorizo stew with red wine. Buncha heathens.

[norasma.livejournal.com]

I have eight billion recipes as I feed five people 3 vegan meals a day ( eat about three times that, but that's another story... mmm nursing appetite!), but I have no motivation to write them down right now... but I will!
I'm thinking of you and your need to eat easy yummy food... Check out the Vegetarian Mothers cookbook! My favorite!!! for sure.

[pixiesnakes.livejournal.com]

You must come over for dinner some time!! I have a totally vegan kitchen and can fill you up with vegan cookies and biscuits and gravy and au gratin potatoes and lentil loaf and greens and all sorts of yummy things.

[pixiesnakes.livejournal.com]

This will keep veganified for a while http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

That all sounds wonderful!

Do you find your magic cleaner for being vegan? I hear that some people who do lots of energy work crave meat. What's your experience with that?

[pixiesnakes.livejournal.com]

Someone asked me the same question at Pantheacon this year. I went vegetarian and started magic at about the same time, so I don't know if I'm the best person to ask. I started to get a lot deeper in my work after I became lactose intolerant when I was having oodles of health problems. I would guess that my dietary changes are related to my spiritual experiences, but I can't say for sure. I do know that meat is very energetically grounding, and has a lot of the hormones and chemicals so it will affect the body both physically and energetically. Meat also slows down the digestive system. Dairy can really cause breathing, allergy problems, behavior changes and PMS in addition to digestive problems. If you're full of mucus and allergic to everything and not breathing well it's going to be a problem in circle or when meditating. Anything that is good for your health is going to be good for your magic. My druidic group encourages vegetarianism for health, environment and energetic reasons, and so many of my magical friends say the same thing. I know that I can really crave calories during certain kinds of energy work and certain time of year and when working with certain Goddesses.

The Self Healing Cookbook by Kristina Turner has a lot of information about food and energy and mood and recipes and meal plans to go with it. The emphasis is a bit more Eastern, but the Chinese have an excellent system of food and energy. I can loan it to you, but I'm sure you'll want to get a copy for yourself.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I've gone vegan enough lents to know that I actually function better with a little dairy in my diet. Although, I don't need as much as I eat. I looooooooove the dairy. But giving up meat isn't a problem for me at all. In general, I'm quite picky about the meat I eat - when I eat it. I do want to be healthier and more intentional in general. I have whole theological thoughts about we are what we eat.