This blog was founded on a belief in God: that everything we have and experience are gifts from Him, and that He entrusts them to us as a responsibility. As a wife and mother, I am responsible for my family’s health, our budget, the good of the earth, and the time I’m given.
It’s not always easy to keep everything in balance…and thus the philosophy of Kitchen Stewardship was born.
The four pillars of Kitchen Stewardship are: good nutrition, care for the environment, being frugal/fiscally responsible and using one’s time in the kitchen wisely. I strongly believe that what I do in the kitchen is one way that I answer God’s call to a vocation as a mother.
Lent is a very serious time for me, as every single year, I need it desperately. The Church in her wisdom offers us this opportunity, once a year, to step back and examine our weaknesses, to find the places in our lives where we need improvement to become the person God has created us to be. God calls us closer in Lent, as long as we’re listening.
This year especially has been a tumultuous one, with being uprooted from our home, invading my in-laws’ home, expanding our family, finally finding a new home, and then figuring out how to live on our own again and become comfortable in a new community.
I need Lent.
As usual.
But more than usual.
I need to re-focus, get back on track, and make sure I’m open enough, that my life can become quiet enough, to hear the small still voice of the Lord.
I don’t really have anything new to say this year, but I hope that you will join me in discerning what God wants you to do in the areas of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to draw closer to Him this season.
The Lent Stuff
Kitchen Stewardship, amazingly, has been around through three Lents now. Here’s what we’ve shared in the past:
- Can You Decorate for Lent?
- On Lenten Sacrifices
- No Sugar for Lent
- Entering Holy Week
- Prepare for Lent
- 2010 “What are you Doing for Lent?” Carnival
- Celebrating Lent with Children
- To Solemnity or not to Solemnity?
- Prayer Ideas for Lent and Beyond
- How Will You Set Holy Week Apart?
- How to Keep Up on Daily Prayer
- Are You Ready for Lent?
- I Don’t Believe in Giving Up Pizza For Lent
- How Did we Do on the Lenten No Grains/No Gluten Challenge?
- On Sacrifice and Suffering
And of course, some meatless meals for Lent to inspire your Fridays:
- Chickpea Wraps
- Cream of Vegetable Soup (w/instructions on how to make a roux, bechamel) (basic recipe)
- Salmon Patties (basic recipe)
- Tuscan Bean Soup
- Veggie Bean Burritos (basic recipe)
- Three Bean Soup
- Hearty Lentil Stew (we eat this every Ash Wednesday and freeze the rest for Good Friday)
- Potato Pancakes (Latke)
- Black Bean Soup
- Southwestern Pot Pie
- Mexican Black Bean Burgers
- Slow Cooker Lentil Brown Rice Casserole
- Pasta with White (Bean) Sauce
- Crockpot Curried Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup
- St. Peter’s Spicy Fish Seasoning – the only way we eat fish in our house!
In honor of Lent, tithing by eating less or spending less on food, and the meatless Fridays, I’m happy to offer a discount on The Everything Beans Book…it’ll be a lightning sale on Fat Tuesday, so watch for it only for 24 hours!
Something New to Try
I don’t have a lot of “new food” goals at all lately, and especially for Lent since I’ll be forgoing refined sugars, grains for half and gluten for half, artificial food coloring (more on that tomorrow), and probably some other stuff…
…but I do want to make this vegetable bouillon that stays in the fridge for a really long time and homemade hummus – isn’t it funny that as much as I love beans and using dried beans, I’ve never tried hummus?!
May God bless your preparations for this holy season!
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
See my full disclosure statement here.
I’m an Orthodox Christian and this will be our first Lent since our “real food” conversion. In case you don’t know, in the Orthodox tradition, we abstain from all meat and dairy products as well as oil (usually defined to mean just Olive Oil) and wine during the Fast. Fish is allowed a few times during the Fast and wine and oil are allowed on weekends. Today is Meatfare Sunday which is the last day meat is allowed until Easter. Next sunday is Cheesefare Sunday which is the last day for dairy, wine, fish and oil until Easter.
It’s daunting in that most of my old Lenten ‘standbys’ aren’t “real foods” so we won’t eat them now, e.g. no soy products or canola oil. I’ve been madly collecting recipes over the past few weeks for the Fast and it’s very hard to find “real food” recipes that don’t contain butter and/or eggs. Especially challenging for me as my DH is allergic to nuts and absolutely refuses to eat beans.
My goal this year is to not rely too heavily on pasta. It’s about the easiest Lenten meal and we ate too much of it last year. I’m also going to stick to meal planning this year because I’ve learned the only way I can keep the Fast is to be prepared every day. My plan this year is 2 nights of pasta, 1 night of fish (technically fish isn’t fasting but we’ll ‘cheat’ a little bit), 2 nights of beans and rice (DH will eat the rice those nights) and 2 nights of vegetable soup.
I’ll also be using this Fast to (hopefully) finally give up my addiction to diet soda.
This is the time of year when I always dread the upcoming Fast. It always seems impossible right before you start it. And silly since fasting is hardly discussed in modern America. But I know that the Church, in her wisdom, knows that we need this.
*For the Catholic readers here, it is not “un-Catholic” to Fast. Before Vatican II, Catholics followed a much stricter Fast and there are still some Catholics today who fast like we Orthodox do. I always recommend that Catholics explore their Church’s fasting tradition because fasting is one of the most important things we can do for our soul. I think it’s very unfortunate that so many Catholics don’t know that it’s an ancient part of their tradition. (I’m sorry if this sound anti-Catholic. That’s not my intent.)
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Anna,
A friend from college is Orthodox and always did the full fast – impressive for sure.
So all animal products are included, even eggs? Hmmm…obviously there aren’t any substitutes for a frittata or anything, but in baking, you can always sub 1 Tbs. ground flax + 2 Tbs warm water (let it sit a minute) for each egg. Works just about every time. Also coconut oil can almost always be subbed for butter.
How about a veggie stir fry, cooked in coconut oil? Big salads with lots of vegs and beans for those who will eat them (although I’d miss my olive oil dressings). Those veggie bean burritos I linked to in this post would be fine with extra vegs and no beans for DH, and maybe he would eat the chickpea wraps if you didn’t tell him what it was unless he asked…
Cream of veg soup made with coconut milk? Quinoa cooked in coconut milk is delicious, too, and could be a nice side dish for a cold lunch. Make Mexican with refried beans (DH eats leftovers). There’s a good southwestern pot pie recipe on that list, too, and DH could pick out the garbanzos easily.
Good luck doing the real food thing – I’m sure you’ll learn a lot and get creative…may you break out of the pasta rut, and more importantly, break into some new spiritual heights this Lent!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Anna Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Katie, the Orthodox fast is almost vegan but not quite. Eggs aren’t allowed but shellfish and honey is allowed.
[Reply to this comment]
Margaret D Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 4:33 am
As a convert to Catholicism, I have idea what real fasting is.
Thank you Anna for the information.
[Reply to this comment]
While doing a bit of searching for meatless dishes, I came across your delightful blog. Well, I got much more than I’d bargained for! Not only does your blog offer ideas on food for the table; it also provides plenty of food for thought. Thank you for sharing your tips and insights!
You might be interested in the 40 for 12 Menu Plan, which offers 40 days’ worth of meatless menus, along with shopping lists, recipes, and fun commentary. You can find it on my blog, “A Perpetual Jubilee.”
A fruitful Lenten season to you and yours!
[Reply to this comment]
I’ve always received so much encouragement and motivation from your blog, Katie. Even though I’m not Catholic, I love that so many Biblical principals you write about are bigger than denominations. Thanks for sharing your faith and every-day-ness of how that works out in your life. You are much appreciated!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Thanks, Kathy – It’s so nice to hear that the reach of faith-based articles here is nice and broad – that’s perfect!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Ack. Make that Biblical principles…
[Reply to this comment]
I’m LDS and we fast from food and water one Sunday per month for 24 hours. I know that sacrifice has been very spiritually uplifting to me. I like the idea of Lent and pondering on your weaknesses and ways to sacrifice for the Lord.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie, This just the article I needed this morning as I make my plans for this Lenten season.
I love your blog and have been following you for some time now.
Thank you!
[Reply to this comment]
Great timing. I just did my menu plan for the week to accomodate Ash Wednesday and the Friday change. http://tinyurl.com/7nbfeou
I love the resource list of meatless meals. I’m going to get pretty tired of veggie pizza on Fridays pretty soon.
God Bless your family as well.
[Reply to this comment]
I feel like Lent already started for me – not officially, but that feeling of examining, focusing, and drawing closer to God just came over me a few weeks ago. I love that my mind and my soul conspired to prepare me for this Lent! God Bless you and what you share.
Also, I’m making hummus this week – I have a great recipe if you want it
[Reply to this comment]