Lent.

Every year at Lent I get very ambitious. I tell myself I will spend six weeks being wonderfully abstemious, prayerful, courteous, kind, thrifty, brave and reverent. And then after about 4 days, I fall apart and sort of chuck the whole idea of lent generally and donate money and feel guilty the whole time.

Yesterday, I tried to plan out my meals for Ash Wednesday in such a way that I would be likely to stick to fasting. I did pretty well, and avoided a few temptations out and about but this is mostly because Muslims are ultra-accommodating if you tell them you are fasting, not because of any virtue of my own.

For breakfast I had an egg on chapati bread with lettuce and tomato, for lunch a very small salad and a slice of cheese, for dinner a piece of fish and some sauteed spinach with chick-peas. I drank a lot of plain tea and water which got me through a social event with cookies and chips. Now at the end of the day, I feel pretty ok about it. I tried to pray whenever I felt like eating something else. I hope I will get better, not worse at this as the days go on. Pray for me??

Lenten menus #4

Ok, I owe myself a couple of menus here, but its kind of breaking down that I cook for the boys and then cook later for myself because I cant really sell them on the vegetarian thing. Mr Muffin Puff cake will eat vegetarian food and the other two will try things, but mostly they are still deep in the no mixing of foods phase which, is obviously awfully limited and un-fun.

So the last few days dinner has consisted of some kind of steamed vegetable, a sauteed meat and pasta or rice.

I then take the leftover vegetables and mix them with a little curry and throw them over rice. I suppose that doing this for 40 nights is possible and would end my little 'Lenten Menu Planning' problem, but I'm not sure I can manage it. I know the husband wont stand for it. He's grumpy enough from giving up sugar in his coffee...

What to make what to make....

Lenten Menu #3

I'm not sure if tonights dinner actually qualifies as Lenten. While it is vegetarian, it was kind of the result of wiffing on the parental responsibilities.

We went to the Ibn Battuta Mall- one of the more manageable, albeit gigantic, malls in Dubai. Where we exchanged a book, purchased a pair of tennis shoes for my DH, some swim goggles for the kids (including an extra pair for a friends child- whose goggles I broke by tinkering with them...), had a bounce on the trampoline outside the toy store, and got the kids some gummy bears.

Now for you Americans, this is a 1 hour trip- tops- to the mall, but here in Dubai it inevitably takes 3 to 4 times longer to do anything so by the time all was said and done, we were all exhausted and GROUCHY.

The wiff was buying supermarket sushi which is made to order at the stunningly enormous Geant Hypermarket. It was excellent and kind of a a bargain at less than $50 for the whole team.

Lenten Menu #2

I know everyone says to 'DO SOMETHING' rather than 'give up something' for lent but frankly, I'm not real keen on accepting spiritual advice from NIKE. So I'm giving up a few foodstuffs I adore. Notably- candy and sweetened dubainian yogurt, a huge sacrifice for me...

Tonights lenten menu:

Flat bread pizza and green salad.
There is almost nothing to this except you have to have access to lebanese flat bread.
Take your flat bread, brush it with a little olive oil, top it with a good two or three tablespoons of red sauce (Gravy-as we call it- and you know who you are...), some mozzarella and a sprinkle of parmesan. Bake in a 210 degree cel. oven until crispy. Also tasty with sauteed mushrooms and some frozen spinach.
Serve with salad and chopped veg for children.

Lenten Menu #1

So this time of year I'm always googling 'lenten supper' or 'lenten menus' and what I come up with is stuff like NW Indiana Catholic online, which is a little midwestern for me, although crab dip is kind of penitential in its way... OR I get Episcopalians who make authentic, biblically based, breads from millet which I cannot possibly sell to the kids.
Its my plan to publish one lent-appropriate menu a day for the next 40 days so I'll have a collection to refer to in the future. If you are reading this feel free to comment or email me any recipes you'd like to share. I'm focusing on vegetarian and light foods. Thanks!

Pasta with red sauce (tomatos, garlic, basil, onion, salt & pepper, olive oil- cooked together in a large frying pan)
Cauliflower and kidney beans sauteed together with garlic and olive oil.
Sauteed Spinach with lemon
Salad

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday and after quite the Mardi Gras party last night (Delivery Pizza in front of Kung Fu Panda washed down with soda, candy and Chips for a vegetable!) we are all looking forward to 40 days of being a bit more gentle with our digestive systems. Well, I am, the boys have no clue and are just put out that we cant eat like that every night.

Here's a link to the USCCB's explanation of the requirements for fasting and abstinince. Its pretty straightforward stuff. But since they are always tinkering with who has to fast and what is fasting and so forth, I'll tell you that today we wont eat any meat and we'll eat small meals.

This should be good for lots of complaining. I dont want to hear from those of you who will inform me that my kids dont need to observe this. I'm not cooking separate meals for us and them, they'll make it through a day.



Basic, Ash Wednesday Burrito. Take a piece of whole wheat flat bread, top it with some canned black beans, cheese and avocado. Salsa if you have it on hand.
Tasty. If you are feeling particularly penitential, use a spelt tortilla, or skip the salsa maybe...