With Mother’s and Father’s Day coming up, along with graduation season, for today’s Fabulous Friday Five I wanted to share my favorite can’t-live-without kitchen essentials, all under $20.  These items have been hand-picked and tested by me, a foodie who also ruthlessly purges her kitchen of single-use items on an almost quarterly basis. I have a small kitchen, so if it takes up space, it must be useful.  Here’s my favorites:

1. Wooden Cooking Utensils – my two can’t-live-without favorites are a Bamboo Stir Fry Spatula with a pointed edge which helps get “the goodie” out the edges of certain pans, along with a Flat edged Spatula (the linked one is olive wood, while mine at home is bamboo. Both are fab) which I use all the time for scrambled eggs and frittatas.  Wooden cooking utensils are long-wearing and won’t scratch pans, nor melt at high heat, and are happily welcome in my kitchen without the potential issue that plastic or neoprene have with leaching toxins into foods.  Handwash only, please!
2. Fish Turner Spatulas – I have three and I love them.  And, frankly, I rarely use them for fish.  I have this exact one which I use for frying eggs and flipping pancakes, one similar to this big, stainless steel one which I use for fish (on the grill) as well as unloading pizzas and breads from the oven, and a smaller, stainless steel fish turner like this one for turning anything that I cook that is not being cooked in non-stick pans.
3. Tongs – how can you cook without tongs?  I have two pairs of these silicon-tipped locking Tongs; we use them so often one pair is almost always in the dishwasher.  I’ve found that anything smaller than a twelve-inch tong isn’t really useful for me, and I always keep a pair of 16-inch Stainless Steel Locking Tongs around for grilling.
4. Good Knives – I have a really nice Henckel knife set that I recieved for a graduation gift several years ago, and I use them regularly, but I have to admit that if I got rid of them tomorrow, I’d still be able to cook.  Instead, I’ve acquired three favorite knives that I almost ALWAYS go for.  My Santoku Knife, which has replaced my chef’s knife as my go-to chopping knife, and my Miracle Blade bread and steak knives.  Miracle Blade?  I know!  But I have to tell you I use the little steak knives DAILY for cutting cooked steak and other meats, as well as my go-to paring knife for all small fruit and veg.  The bread knife is great for bread, but also for slicing pineapples, melons and tomatoes because the blade flexes allowing you to sort of fillet a slice of mango or quarter of pineapple away from the skin, or slice a tomato very thin without squishing it.  Love it.
5. Speaking of sharp things, I also love my Handheld Zester/Grater – I have one with a fine grate that I use for citrus and hard cheese, and one with a Medium Two-Way Grater like this one for garlic and ginger.  Finally, I always have on hand two (TWO!) good potato peelers (because it’s no fun to peel potatoes by yourself) and a good knife sharpener (for all those knives EXCEPT Miracle Blades! . My dad (a hunter, fisherman and gourmet chef, and did I mention he MAKES knives? Yeah,  the guy values a sharp knife) gave me an Edge Maker Knife Sharpener and it’s the only kind I use. Highly recommended.

What are your favorite kitchen must-haves?  Anything I missed?  Feel free to share in the comments!

image source

I’m going to be sending out my Fabulous Friday Five post a bit early because I JUST found out about this awesome gardening e-book bundle and it’s only available (at this price) until Monday, April 29th!  I thought it was perfect for my readers, so I had to share!  Here’s the details:

Whether you’re a new or experienced gardener, this week’s collection includes a variety of gardening tips for everyone! Learn how to garden without a big budget or a lot of space, discover tips for organic gardening and preserving your harvest, and get organized with custom printables. But don’t wait because this bundle is on sale for 75% off this week only!

Frugal Gardening 101 by Phoebe Hendricks
In Frugal Gardening 101: A Comprehensive Guide to Vegetable Gardening Without Breaking the Bank, Phoebe shares her passion for gardening and proves that vegetable gardening doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s a comprehensive guide that shows you how to garden organically for very little with tips for buying, starting and saving seeds, organic pest and weed control and more.

Apartment Gardening by Jami Balmet
If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to have a garden with limited space, Jami’s ebook will show you how! Apartment Gardening: A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces is a beginner’s guide to everything you need to know about container gardening, including more than 100 pages of how-to advice to help you start your container garden today.

Simple Food {For Spring} by Shannon Stonger
Simple Food {For Spring} is more than just a cookbook. In addition to 28 grain-free recipes (complete with full-color photos!) highlighting spring produce, Shannon also encourages readers in sustainable and homegrown living through her introductions to cleansing, foraging, dehydrating greens and more.

Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving by Laura Coppinger
In Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving, Laura shares her tips for a successful, organic garden, including how, what and when to plant. Beyond gardening, you’ll also find her strategies for making the most of your farmer’s market plus canning tutorials and recipes to help you preserve your harvest.

The Gardening Notebook by Angi Schneider
In addition to a how-to guide for gardening beginners, Angi has created the perfect spot for recording all of your notes and research for your garden. With more than 50 pages of printables, The Gardening Notebook is the perfect way to organize everything you need or want to remember for your garden!

The Gardening bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 4/29. Get yours today:

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for details.

I didn’t have any expectations.

No friends, not even an acquaintance.

But I walked in the door with my shoulders back, ready to take on this writing retreat, with my eyes and heart wide open.

And I was embraced.

Loved on. Showered with kindness and grace from ladies who were strangers Friday afternoon but dear friends, soul sisters, by Sunday morning.

I was challenged.  Left mystified, tired and teary-eyed. But trusted and followed God’s lead.

We talked about writing.  The business of blogging.  Not one person knew of my blog, and that was okay.  We weren’t there to talk about niche, stats, scheduling or strategy.

We were there to talk about dreams.

We were there to talk about our God-Sized Dreams.  The one’s we hold in our hearts and excite us.

The one’s we hold in our hearts that frighten us.

The one’s we know we are called to do, but keep finding excuses to put in the way:

• I’m too scared
• I’m not ready
• I’m not worthy
• Someone else would do this better
• When a, and b, and c happen, then I’ll have time to pursue this dream
• Are you sure, God?  Because that wasn’t what I had in mind . . .

Our “goodie bags” from Jumping Tandem held a necklace for each one of us.  Made by hand by Kashoan Ward of Krafty Kash out of Lincoln (LOCAL!) she had made our little band of writers each a necklace with a word on it.  (Image of the compass necklace, above, is one of her creations).  I don’t know how many necklaces she made, if she chose from a variety of words, or if each one was unique, but I know that God had his hand in the random bag I chose.

My word is Journey.

And the thing is, I thought that I might know what that meant.  I thought God and I had a little inside-joke going with that word.  I mean, “You know, that I know, that you know, God, what I want that word, that journey to mean.  Right, God?  I know I’ve been praying and waiting about that one journey, really, that destination, if I’m being honest, that I really, really wanted, and you’ve been reassuring me in that way that you do that “ALL WILL BE OKAY, SARAH.  Just leave it up to me.”  And I’ve thought, okay, I just have to be patient and wait and then once it’s been revealed to be true, I’ll write a blog post about it – I even have the image I want at the top in mind – and the secret will be out.  And I’ll be able to wrap up the word and the story in a nice, neat little package with a bow on top.”

And then, on Monday, I found out that the journey I wanted to take was not going to happen.  It had nothing to do with me, it was not my decision, it just wasn’t going to happen.

And I realized, if I’m being honest, this destination I was hoping for was actually an excuse that was getting in the way of my dream.  I was waiting to move forward until I knew.

So now I wait, and ponder, and go over the notes from the weekend

And I pray.

And I’m excited to see where this journey of GOD’S takes me.  Because I’m ready. I’m open.  And I’m excited that I can share it with you. Please pray for me as I pray for you to follow your own God-sized dreams.

Interested in reading more thoughts from God-sized dreamers? Please enjoy these thoughts from other women who joined me at the retreat:

• Kim
• Sandra
• Robin
• Erin
• Kendra
• Laura
• Jessica
• Alia
• Emily
• Shelly

For today’s Fabulous Friday Five I’m sharing with you Five Fabulous Blogs I Love written by grace-filled women with full, beautiful hearts.  I take courage from these women, not because they’re perfect, but because they’re real and really, fully love and live their lives in God.

1. Hope and Honey
2. Pearls & Grace
3. Life {in} Grace
4. Kelly’s Korner
5. Harrington House

Do you have any grace-filled blogs that you can’t miss?  Please share your favorites in the comments!

image source

It had been a long, busy weekend. Saturday morning we had two soccer games, one soccer practice, and all that that gives way to (finding soccer socks, shin guards, mouth guards and filling up water bottles while trying to get breakfast on the table and finding the requisite shirts folded in the laundry basket) followed by a birthday party in the afternoon where we entertained 11 children 6 and under (two hours is PLENTY long for a party, if anyone is asking) and then Sunday morning we headed out for the 40 minute drive to church at 9:15, celebrated Divine Liturgy at 10, followed by Coffee Hour and then our catechism class, which ended early (!) at 3:00.  We stopped off for an early dinner on the way home and didn’t get home till nearly five where we found chickens ready for fresh water, dog ready for attention and children ready to run.

By the time we’d gotten the kids to bed and I took a shower, I was ready to just climb into bed with some light reading.

And then I picked up Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Alexander Schmemann.  I had ordered the book a few weeks before Lent began, but just opened it up for the first time last night.

Life happens, even during Lent.

But, even though I was exhausted, and even though I was feeling guilty that we are over half way through Lent and I hadn’t even cracked the spine yet, God guided me to the right pages, and gave me some insight to chew on.

From pages 34 – 38*

“Of all lenten hymns and prayers, one short prayer can be termed the lenten prayer. Tradition ascribes it to one of the great teachers of spiritual life – St. Ephrem the Syrian. Here is its text:

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my brother:

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

 . . . Why does this short and simple prayer occupy such an important position in the entire lenten worship? Because it enumerates in a unique way all the negative and positive elements of repentance and constitutes, so to speak, a “check list: for our individual lenten effort.  This effort is aimed first at our liberation from some fundamental spiritual diseases which shape our life and make it virtually impossible for us even to start turning ourselves to God.

The basic disease is sloth.  It is that strange laziness and passivity of our entire being which always pushes us “down” rather than “up” – which constantly convinces us that no change is possible and therefore desirable.  It is in fact a deeply rooted cynicism which to every spiritual challenge responds “what for?” and makes our life one tremendous spiritual waste.  It is the root of all sin because it poisons the spiritual energy at its very source.

The result of sloth is faint-heartedness.  It is the state of despondency which all spiritual Fathers considered the greatest danger for the soul.  Despondency is the impossibility for man to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism.  It is truly a demonic power in us because the Devil is fundamentally a liar.  He lies to man about God and about the world; he fills life with darkness and negation.  Despondency is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it he is absolutely unable to see the light and to desire it.

Lust of power! Strange as it may seem, it is precisely sloth and despondency that fill our life with lust of power. By vitiating the entire attitude toward life and making it meaningless and empty, they force us to seek compensation in a radically wrong attitude toward other persons.  If my life is not oriented toward God, not aimed at eternal values, it will inevitably become selfish and self-centered and this means that all other beings will become means of my own self-satisfaction.  If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I become my own lord and master – the absolute center of my own world, and I begin to evaluate everything in terms of my needs, my ideas, my desires, and my judgements.  The lust of power is thus a fundamental depravity in my relationship to other beings, a search for their subordination to me.  It is not necessarily expressed in the actual urge to command and to dominate “others.” It may result as well in indifference, contempt, lack of interest, consideration, and respect  It is indeed sloth and despondency directed this time at others; it completes spiritual suicide with spiritual murder.

Finally, idle talk. Of all created beings, man alone has been endowed with the gift of speech.  All Fathers see in it the very “seal” of the Divine Image in man because God himself is revealed as Word (John 1:1).  But being the supreme gift, it is by the same token the supreme danger.  Being the very expression of man, the means of his self-fulfillment, it is for this very reason the means of his fall and self-destruction, of betrayal and sin.  The word saves and the word kills; the word inspires and the word poisons.  The word is the means of Truth and it is the means of demonic Lie.  Having an ultimate positive power, it has therefore a tremendous negative power.  It truly creates positively or negatively.  When deviated from its divine origin and purpose, the word becomes idle.  It “enforces” sloth, despondency, and lust of power and transforms life into hell.  It becomes the very power of sin.

These four are thus the negative “objects” of repentance.  They are the obstacles to be removed.  But God alone can remove them.  Hence, the first part of the lenten prayer – this cry from the bottom of human helplessness.  Then the prayer moves to the positive aims of repentance which also are four.

Chastity! If one does not reduce this term, as is so often and erroneously done, only to its sexual connotations, it is understood as the positive counterpart of sloth. The exact and full translation of the Greek sofrosini and the Russian tselomudryie ought to be whole-mindedness.  Sloth is, first of all, dissipation, the brokenness of our vision and energy, the inability to see the whole.  Its opposite then is precisely wholeness.  If we usually mean by chastity the virtue opposed to sexual depravity, it is because the broken character of our existence is nowhere better manifested than in sexual lust – the alienation of the body from the life and control of the spirit. Christ restores wholeness in us and He does so by restoring in us the true scale of values by leading us back to God.

The first and wonderful fruit of this wholeness or chastity is humility. We already spoke of it. It is above everything else the victory of truth in us, the elimination of all lies in which we usually live.  Humility alone is capable of truth, of seeing and accepting things as they are and therefore of seeing God’s majesty and goodness and love in everything. This is why we are told that God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.

Chastity and humility are naturally followed by patience. The “natural” or “fallen” man is impatient, for being blind to himself he is quick to judge and to condemn others. Having but a broken, incomplete and distorted knowledge of everything, he measures all things by his tastes and his ideas. Being indifferent to everyone except himself, he wants life to be successful right here and now. Patience, however, is truly a divine virtue. God is patient . . . because He sees the depth of all that exists, because the inner reality of things, which in our blindness we do not see, is open to Him.  The closer we come to God, the more patient we grow and the more we reflect that infinite respect for all beings which is the proper quality of God.

Finally, the crown and fruit of all virtues, of all growth and effort, is love – that love which, as we have already said, can be given by God alone – the gift which is the goal of all spiritual preparation and practice.

All this is summarized and brought together in the concluding petition of the lenten prayer in which we ask “to see my own errors and not to judge my brother.” For ultimately there is but one danger : pride.  Pride is the source of evil, and all evil is pride. Yet it is not enough for me to see my own errors, for even this apparent virtue can be turned into pride. Spiritual writings are full of warnings against the subtle forms of pseudo-piety which, in reality,under the cover of humility and self-accusation can lead to a truly demonic pride. But when we “see our own errors” and “do not judge our brothers,” when, in other terms, chastity, humility, patience and love are but one in us, then and only then the ultimate enemy – pride – will be destroyed in us.

After each petition of the prayer we make a prostration. Prostrations are not limited to the Prayer of St. Ephrem but constitute one of the distinctive characteristics of the entire lenten worship.  Here, however, their meaning is disclosed best of all.  In the long and difficult effort of spiritual recovery, the Church does not separate the soul from the body. The whole man has fallen away from God: the whole man is to be restored, the whole man is to return. The catastrophe of sin lies precisely in the victory of the flesh – the animal, the irrational, the lust in us – over the spiritual and the divine.  But the body is glorious, the body is holy, so holy that God himself “became flesh.” Salvation and repentance then are not contempt for the body or neglect of it, but restoration of the body to its real function as the expression and the life of spirit, as the temple of the priceless human soul.  Christian asceticism is a fight, not against but for the body. For this reason, the whole man – soul and body – repents. The body participates in the prayer of the soul just as the soul prays through and in the body. “

Phew.  Four pages. Perhaps ten or fifteen minutes of reading. But what depth and breadth of meaning; I’ve been prayerfully meditating on these rich, heavy words since I read them.

Reading these words has renewed my prayer life for the remainder of Lent, because I know that I am guilty of all of it. I am guilty of sloth, and often don’t remedy it, because I am impatient for results and discouraged by the lack of them in my time restraints and expectations.  I engage in idle talk (twitter, anyone?) simply to become more popular and for my blog and business to become better known (pride). I judged others yesterday, judged them in church!, disrespecting them, even if only in my mind.  ugh.  I do not want my life to be “one tremendous spiritual waste,” I will not allow it. These words and explanation of such a simple prayer moved me to action. Action in prayer as well as renewed action in the choices and way that I live my life. There are some specific things that I need and want to work on in my life, but trying to fix them on my own hasn’t helped.  Reading this passage made me realize I’d forgotten one important thing – to pray about it. Please pray for me as I will pray for you through your journey.

What do you think about this passage? Did it move you,too?

*Italics are quoted as in the original work – bolded words are emphasis by me.

Okay, so I know it’s technically spring but it SNOWED at my house yesterday.

I nearly cried.

So, in honor of the weather, here are my Fabulous Friday Five links to Five ways to use your canning jars during the winter.  Enjoy!

1. Can dry beans – here’s a recipe for canning seasoned, soaked beans (I’d grab a jar and blend or mash to make homemade refried beans) and here’s one for canning dry beans (black beans, garbanzo, etc.).
2. Make Lacto-fermented Giardiniera – I know many people make giardiniera in the middle of the summer, but I feel this recipe lends itself to winter produce with it’s use of carrots & cauliflower. Here’s another giardiniera recipe for canning . . .
3. Cranberry Orange Jam with Crystallized Ginger – can you imagine how tasty this would be on a leftover turkey sandwich?
4. Citrus Preserves – lemon curd, lacto-fermented kumquat marmalade, grapefruit jam, the possibilities are endless!
5. Make your Own Snow globes

This post was sponsored by Legacy Canning who graciously sent me a dozen of their canning jars to try!

About Legacy Canning Jars:

• The jars are crystal clear with nearly invisible mold lines (great for those snow globes, above!)
  
• There are ounce and cup measurements embossed on the side
• The jars boast two blank sides for easy labeling

The Legacy Canning Jars are part of Freund Containers & Supplies and in addition to canning jars, I also have my eye on their cobalt blue & amber glass bottles for essential oil mixes (like my Thieves Oil) or some of their other bottles and containers for homemade body butters, salves, herbal vinegars, elderberry syrup, kombucha and more. In addition, they’ve offered a coupon code for my readers! 

The code is SAVE$10 and can be entered at checkout for $10 off $100 or more on the Legacy canning jars.

What do you can in the winter? Have a blog?  Share your winter canning recipes in the comments, below!

And this is where this story becomes an unexpected gift from God and “it’s a small world” thing all in one. 

Prior to moving to Alaska earlier this spring, she had been planning on attending Jumping Tandem, a great Christian Blogging Entrepreneurial retreat that was going to be taking place in a few weeks near Omaha.  Since she couldn’t make it back, would I like the ticket?

I was blown away by her generosity and thoughtfulness.  And blown away by the unexpected gift from God, because He was surely in the delivery, because . . .

Did I mention that the retreat is happening SIX MILES AWAY FROM MY HOUSE?? And that the retreat weekend is the ONLY weekend in April that I had open and available due to serious soccer practices and birthday parties?  And that it featured two of my favorite bloggers as speakers?  And she was giving me the tickets for free???

This retreat, and it’s topic, is absolutely what I need as I seek to be more public about my Christianity on this blog.  Is absolutely what I need as I continue as a Christian woman entrepreneur in my health coaching business, and is absolutely what I need for refreshment, amongst women, after a long cold winter.  All an unexpected gift.  From both Anjanette and God.

Thanks be to God.

I am a Christian, a wife and a mother of three beautiful children.  I am a certified Holistic Health Coach and I believe that I’m being called by God to use my faith to help strengthen other Women of Faith both body and soul.

It is SO EASY in this busy, twenty-first century world to just keep on getting busier. Keep on adding more things to do, books to read, events to attend, blogs to read, shows to DVR, apps to download, that it is very easy to forget about God. Very easy to forget about ourselves. Very easy to forget about how miraculous and beautiful we are in God’s eyes, and how we should seek God in each others.

I’m here to remind you about your light.

Just as we are called to be good stewards of the earth, we are called to be good stewards of OURSELVES. Good stewards of our families.  We are called to consecrate our BODIES to God.  Not just our brains, not just our hearts, but our BODIES to God.  In worship to Him.  In Love to Him.  In Love with Him.

As a health & wellness blogger for the past several years I’ve really loved building a community with my readers.   I loved getting comments and answering questions.  I loved researching health news, fads and ideas.  I enjoyed experimenting with recipes. I tried out some new food photography techniques. I even got a twitter account.  But I admit, I was always playing it safe.  I kept something from my readers, something about my true self that influences all I do in my life.

I never truly shared my faith.

When I began studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and began to think of my role as a health counselor, I immediately felt a push from God to be honest about my faith with my readers and clients.  To openly and honestly share my views on a holistic, faith-filled life.  This was hard for me.  My faith has always been a private affair.  Sure, I could share one on one with friends, even in small groups, but put myself out there online?  Make that my business?  It was (is) frightening. But every time I thought about pursuing a safer, secular line of coaching, I felt a push back from God telling me that I could be brave.  I could share.  I could be honest when I tell you that I’m a Christian first. Foremost.  And also a holistic health counselor, second.

And so now I’m doing that.  I’m being brave about my faith.  I’m being bold about how I believe our bodies are a gift from God and should be treated as such.  I’m going to be truthful and tell you that you are beautiful. Magnificent. And a miracle.

Curious to know more?  Here’s 13 Things to know about me.

• At heartland Renaissance we talk about organic gardening, healthy eating, faith, and whatever else comes up in our messy, grace-filled lives  . . .
• Occasionally we also can & ferment things.  And buy chickens.
• Interested in working with me one on one?  My coaching website is here.
• I like big earrings, and big purses.  With three children, my days of using a wristlet are long gone.
• Confession : I currently have no fewer than six lip glosses in my purse at this very moment.  And two hair bows.
• We have a great facebook community - come join in the conversation!
• My three favorite books are East of Eden by John Steinbeck, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
• I’m slightly addicted to pinterest.
• I drink strong coffee out of a pretty mug every morning.  French-pressed and fresh-ground.  I prefer mine sweetened with a bit of raw, local honey.
• I have three beautiful children, the best thing I’ve ever done.  Through them, I’m constantly learning about the great Love of our Father.
• I have a six year old who just lost his first tooth and loves riding his bike, vintage He-Man and painting.
• I have a three (almost four) year old who loves to dance, collect eggs from our backyard hens, dig in the garden and construct elaborate vehicles with Legos.
• I have a 21 month old who is mildly addicted to Baby Signing Time, bananas and bacon. She loves to dance and staunchly refuses to keep barrettes in her hair.

Interested in coming back and reading more?  Please subscribe!

I hope you enjoyed your visit!  Come back soon!

Monday – Crockpot Refried Beans (leftover from John’s Birthday last week) Tostadas with guacamole and homemade salsa

Tuesday – Thai Green Curry with Winter Squash, served over rice (seen above. Yum, right??)

Wednesday – leftovers

Thursday – Whole Grain Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce, corn and green salad

Friday - Veggie Burgers with three bean salad and fruit salad for dessert (I picked up a box of Gardenburger’s Organic Vegan Malibu Burgers at Costco to try out.  I liked them because their first ingredients were brown rice, corn and veggies and soy was much, much lower down the list (and organic, aka not GMO).   My family loved them!)

Saturday – Snacky Dinner.  Meaning, I will probably cut up a baguette or two, set out some salted almonds and olives, hummus and some cut up veggies.  Maybe a fruit salad if there’s some leftover from breakfast.  If I’m feeling like it, I might make a dip like this one, or perhaps this one. Then, I set out plates and let everyone graze until they’re full.

Sunday – Hearty Lentil Soup with Roasted Tomatoes – we’ve made this before, it’s awesome with sourdough french bread

Breakfasts are likely to be oatmeal made with almond or coconut milk with lots of chopped, raw almonds and walnuts, dried cranberries and bananas on top (depending on the whim of the eater), fruit salad, green smoothies and green juices and peanut butter toast.

Lunches tend to be leftovers from supper, plus I have a massive tub of hummus from Costco and lots of guacamole-ready avocados that we liberally enjoy with tortillas, pretzels and lots of raw veggies including carrots, snap peas, cucumbers and mini peppers. Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat are also standard fare.

For more fasting friendly recipe ideas, check out my pinterest board.

Why do we fast? Here’s a good youtube video explaining fasting, a podcast about explaining fasting to children, and several good articles.

image source

Monday – The Feast of the Annunciation!  For the feast, the Great Lenten fast is softened a bit and we are allowed fish!  Yum!  To celebrate, we’ll be feasting on my family’s treasured Bouillobaise recipe with sourdough french bread toasted with olive oil.  Fruit Salad for dessert.

Tuesday - Pinto Bean & Quinoa Sloppy Joes with green salad

Wednesday – Vegan Pad Thai (though we generally try to avoid soy, I might add tempeh to this recipe as it is fermented and we don’t eat it very often) with fruit salad

Thursday – leftovers

Friday – John’s Sixth Birthday!  – Shrimp Tacos with Creamy Mexican slaw, homemade, crockpot (vegan) refried beans and, of course, guacamole, plus his birthday warrants me firing up ye olde ice cream maker for the first time this season with some chocolate coconut milk ice cream.  Delish!

Saturday – Cashew Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sourdough French Bread

Sunday – Dinner at Grandma & Poppa’s house

Breakfasts are likely to be oatmeal made with almond or coconut milk with lots of chopped, raw almonds and walnuts, dried cranberries and bananas on top (depending on the whim of the eater), fruit salad, green smoothies and green juices and peanut butter toast.

Lunches tend to be leftovers from supper, plus I have a massive tub of hummus from Costco and lots of guacamole-ready avocados that we liberally enjoy with tortillas, pretzels and lots of raw veggies including carrots, snap peas, cucumbers and mini peppers. Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat are also standard fare.

For more fasting friendly recipe ideas, check out my pinterest board.

Why do we fast? Here’s a good youtube video explaining fasting, a podcast about explaining fasting to children, and several good articles.