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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Things to Eat During Lent

So, I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. I needed to get meals for that night and for the rest of the week. And, being that it was Ash Wednesday...and being that I'm still a reluctant Catholic (at least in guilt and tradition)...I chose a variety of meatless items. Shrimp. Angel food cake. Egg salad. Fresh mozzarella balls with cherry tomato halves, drizzled in extra-virgin olive oil. Chocolate.

And, I have to admit, there wasn't much of a sense of sacrifice in my shopping cart. I'm not sure when it happened, exactly, but "giving up" meat is pretty easy for me. I've gone vegetarian on and off lots of times in the past 2 decades. I eat vegan a day or two every week, just kind of accidentally, because I'm really fond of Mediterranean dishes like stuffed grape leaves, hummus and tabouli.

Now, if someone were to take my mushroom-olive-and-roasted-red-pepper pizzas away from me and force me to eat only Whoppers and chicken nuggets (both of which I happen to like, but only sometimes), then it would feel more like a sacrifice. But--going out on a limb here--I don't think that's the kind of Lenten observation God had in mind either.

Religion aside, what are your favorite foods to eat during this time of year? Any good meatless meal ideas?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't eat much meat either, but during Passover I always do. There just isn't much else that's allowed and matzoh only goes so far.

Those pizzas sound fantastic! I love Amy's frozen pizzas. And they're almost sort of healthy. ;-)

Marilyn Brant said...

Melina~I love Amy's pizza, too! Have you tried those hot-pocket-like spinach pies? They're not as wonderful as the real Greek spanikopita, but still pretty tasty :).
p.s. Friday's finally here--enjoy the weekend!

Anonymous said...

Shrimp, angel food cake, egg salad, fresh mozzarella (with tomatoes!), hummus...can I come to your house and eat? I love of all of that! While I do enjoy meat, there's so many other yummy things that I don't think I'd miss it much. At least not for a little while.

If you like couscous, here's a recipe that's so good and very easy! Buy a box of couscous (where I live I buy Near East), cook it according to the directions, let cool. Add a bag of frozen Santa Fe vegetables (corn, red peppers, black beans and broccoli) that you've defrosted to the couscous then toss with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Marilyn Brant said...

Robin~all of us love couscous here, so your recipe sounds GREAT!!! Thank you! Looking forward to trying it...and, yes! Come to dinner anytime :).

Anonymous said...

Sorry--Lake Wobegon Lutheran here, so not much experience with the eating restrictions of Lent. Although, whenever people in church asked my brother what he was giving up for Lent, he would always reply, "Religion."

Cracked me up every time.

Morgan Mandel said...

Shrimp, calamari, both of those are good. I usually like cheese pizza anyway with mushrooms. Most sausage pizzas I don't like. Pasta is always a good standby.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/morganmandel

Nancy J. Parra said...

OMG- sounds fabulous! I don't eat meat that often, either. I recently went gluten free-feel much better- but I do miss pizza...gluten free mixes aren't nearly the same. *sigh*

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I eat meat.
Meat I eat.
Except when I.
Don't eat meat.


Cindy Seuss

Marilyn Brant said...

Pam~LOL! Clearly, your family is full of natural comics :).

Morgan~I love pasta in all forms, too. Hmm. You're reminding me of veggie lasagna...

Nancy~oh! I've been reading about gluten-free dishes recently. Part of it is book research for a character I'm writing, but I really think our family would do better if we limited them a bit more, too.

Cindy~hilarious!!! Thanks, Ms. Seuss :).