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| Lenten Recipes |
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Hello all:
Lent is a time for us to simplify our lives and remember the 40 days of Christ's seclusion before his ministry. One of the recommendations of our church fathers is in the abstinence from all animal products. The idea behind this is not to deprive us of living our lives the way we want or to force us to do something foreign, but it is taking the concept of simplification one step further: simplifying our diets. In today's culture, it is often hard to make such practices seem anything short of drastic: it's easy to order the iced mocha latte or the $1 double cheeseburger when we are on the way to work. To further complicate matters, we are so used to cold cuts and cheese and milk and frozen turkeys that we often find it difficult to come up with meat- and dairy-less meals.
I am not going to tout the nutritional benefits of a vegan diet and lifestyle, because that is not the primary intention of our tradition. Rather, I would like to provide daily suggestions of simple, yet tasty recipes that can help reduce the tedium of repeated meals within our 40 days of Lent. I will try to include traditional Armenian foods without meat (there are quite a few though we don't like to admit it!) as well as foods inspired by other cultures, etc., etc.
Feel free to write back or post your own recipes, though please note I probably will not respond and if I do it may take days ;) .
Day 1: ( inspired by the rainy weather as of late )
"Cream" of Asparagus Soup
2 lb. Asparagus
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium-sized onions, chopped (~3 cups)
2/3 cup uncooked jasmine or basmati rice
2 low-sodium vegetable bouillon cubes
2 sprigs thyme
1. trim ends from asparagus, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, reserving tips. set aside
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions, and saute 5 minutes, or until soft. Stir in asparagus pieces (not the tips!), rice, bouillon cuves, thyme and 8 cups water. Reduce heat, cover and cook 30-35 minutes, or unitl rice is very tender. Remove thyme sprigs.
3. Transfer soup to blender or food processor in 2 batches. Puree until smooth. Return soup to pot and add asparagus tips. simmer 1-2 minutes over low heat or until tips are crisp-tender. pour and serve while hot!
good work. |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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| Thanks for the food for thought and the yummy sounding Asparagus soup recipe. Looking forward to trying this one! |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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| Peeps! This is a great idea! Thanks for the post Rooj!! |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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Top it off with yummy soy desserts from Trader Joes! :) I <3 tofuti cuties |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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Varoujan, this is excellent! We're on this lenten journey of fasting and prayer together, and we need to "encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing" 1 Thessalonians 5:11 And I will also add why there's a need to fast. During this spirital journey as we prepare to meet our risen Lord, fasting helps us pray more easily, and the hunger helps us be more compassionate towards the hungry and the poor and reminds us that: 4:4 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" Thanks for taking this initiative. The lenten journey is also a time to remind ourselves of the things that truly matter, as you said "to simplify". |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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| Varoujan, thank you so much for this post and for starting us off. I look forward to your posts through this journey. |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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| sounds super good! have to go buy asparagus now! |
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| February 04, 2008 |
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okay...i'm posting something quick and easy that we like to have during lent:
Individual Veggie Pizza!
Use the whole wheat pita bread as your crust
spread traditional spaghetti sauce on top (no meat kind)
decorate with your favorite veggies:
bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, olives, tomatoes
If you feel like the cheese, you can use soy cheese and/or veggie crumbles but it's good without
sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder.
Bake at 400 degrees about 10 minutes.
Serve with tossed salad.
enjoy |
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| February 08, 2008 |
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OK - just tried this Cream of Asparagus (rhymes with something.... what was it? I'll check my law books...)
This is excellent! In fact, so good, you'd say you weren't in Lent anymore.
Thanks. |
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| February 10, 2008 |
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I finally had an opportunity to make this soup - it's delicious!! One recommendation: I used a handblender to puree the soup instead of pouring it in batches into a blender - less messy and far easier. |
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