Pancake Day recipes, Shrove Tuesday pancakes, waffles for Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday feast

Happy Pancake Day! Also called Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, it's the day Catholics celebrate in preparation for Ash Wednesday and the sacrificial Lenten season. Catholics give up things for Lent. Traditionally that meant abstaining from meat, dairy, eggs, fat and sugar for 40 days till Easter. So they would use up or "shrive" the house of those foods and make them into pancakes. A house shriven (purged) of temptation symbolizes a soul purged of sin (Catholics also to confession before Lent to ready themselves for the penitential season). Here are delicious pancake and waffle recipes for Pancake Day. You can cheat and use pancake mix--the best is Krusteaz Honey Wheat. Krusteaz uses unbleached and whole grain flour. Pancake Day recipes, Shrove Tuesday pancakes, waffles for Mardi Gras feast 

Catholic Lenten fasting: Vegan pretzel recipes, pretzels object lessons for Lent

Pretzels date back almost 14 centuries to an Italian monk, who, while baking bread for Lent, twisted a roll of dough to resemble the sign of the cross. To genuflect or make the sign of the cross is a prayer posture of Catholic Christians. Pretzels have become a traditional Lenten fasting food as they are made without sugar, fat, meat or dairy. In traditional Catholic homes, all fat, dairy and sweeteners are used up on Shrove Tuesday (also called Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday) in anticipation of the "vegan" Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lenten fasting. Shrove Tuesday is also sometimes called Pancake Day because these ingredients were made into pancakes for the pre Lenten Mardi Gras feast. During Lent, Catholic Christians observe meatless Lenten fasting on Fridays. They may refrain from eating fats, oil, butter, sugar, sweets and dairy products as a spiritual Lenten fasting.   Catholic Lenten fasting: Vegan pretzel recipes, pretzels object lessons for Lent | Examiner.com

Lenten Kitchen Cream of Leftover Vegetable Soup

 I'm dieting (95 pounds gone). Husband and daughter are fasting from meat for lent. So the Sachtelebens are exploring vegetarian in a big way. I checked the fridge and found a bunch of veggie scraps. I asked the family how they felt about cream of leftover vegetable soup? It was a hit. Plus, using up leftovers instead of wasting them practices the Lenten virtue of almsgiving, sort of. It means we have more to share. Here's how I made it. Lenten Kitchen Cream of Leftover Vegetable Soup

The Lenten Kitchen Blue Green Algae Superfood Smoothie

I'm not always as health-conscious as I should be, but I've explored nutrition for 35 years (my parents dabbled in Mother Earth News ideas). Now being Catholic I figured lent is a good time to work on healthier vegan and vegetarian eating. One thing I used to hear more of and now don't is blue-green algae (spirulina, cyanobacterium). I've lost 95 pounds and write diet recipes. So I thought I'd reprise spirulina in myBlue Green Smoothie  Diet Recipe Blue Green Algae Superfood Smoothie

The Lenten Kitchen Egg Foo Young and Skinny

 I'm on a mission to lose 100 pounds and I only have seven pounds left. I'm always asked +How-I-lost-weight and I say, it's not a few big things (drugs, surgery) but a lot of little things. One is tweaking recipes with low-calorie food swaps. Here's today's dinner, made at the especial request of my youngest for her after-school power snack. This recipe makes a great meatless Friday lent treat. See my Lenten Kitchen link for more. Egg Foo Young and Skinny--My Diet Recipe that Everyone Likes!

Diet-Friendly, Vegetarian Rice Recipes

As a Catholic mom, I fast during lent and on Fridays by serving and eating meatless meals. I'm also dieting and have had success eating vegetarian. Rice is a great non-meat food source, but gets a bad rap for being high in starch and calories. Here are rice recipes that give you the most nutritional bang with the lowest caloric intake. I've written these recipes to meet other religious dietary restricitions. Recipes of Asia gives a guide. Islamic halal, non-kitniyot Jewish kosher. Kitniyot foods, like rice, are sometimes restricted by Jews, particularly Ashkenazi, during Pesach or passover. To observe kitniyot, quinoa could be substituted for rice. AISH says this is okay. These recipes follow eastern Ahimsa practices (except for the recipe with tuna). They can be made vegan by using soy for dairy or fish or by omitting. For all recipes, use brown or white jasmine rice (white has fewer calories). Diet-Friendly, Vegetarian Rice Recipes

Don't Know What to Give Up for Lent? Try Meat or Junk Food

Still haven't decided what to give up this Lent? A group of Anglican bishops in the UK suggest abstaining from meat for the 40-day Lenten period, says the Huffington Post. I agree that meat is the best thing to give up, but I'd also add sweets, junk food and fast food. Here's why. On Fat Tuesday, also called Shrove Tuesday, says the Christian Science Monitor, people traditionally purged their homes of sweets and meats to fast without temptation. Lent fasts are not just about avoiding temptation and "giving up things," however. We fast to be one with those who suffer, but fasting is about health, too. Read more at Don't Know What to Give Up for Lent? Try Meat or Junk Food

Vegetarian Tuna and Fish Recipes for Lent

This Lenten season, my husband and I are working toward a vegetarian diet. Some vegetarians do not eat fish; we are eating fish, but trying to avoid eggs and eat less dairy. Here are Lenten tuna recipes. Tuna is loaded with protein and Omega-3 oils and low-fat. Unfortunately, tuna also earns a great deal of frowns from fish haters. In these recipes, we concentrate on preparing delicious tuna recipes that will appeal to everyone. One of the biggest complaints leveled at tuna, is that it tastes and smells so 'fishy'. The best way to avoid the fishier smelling canned tuna is to choose 'solid white albacore' tuna packed in water. This style of tuna is slightly more expensive than chunk light, but it's nutritionally better and doesn't smell like cat food. Read more at The Lenten Kitchen: Vegetarian Tuna Recipes

The Lenten Kitchen: Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes

During lent, much of the world practices fasting. Whether we choose a physical fast, such as food or drink or a spiritual fast, such as refraining from gossip or internet use, our goal is improved spiritual health and closeness with our Heavenly Father.

Most Catholic individuals and households observe some sort of Lenten food fast. In the old church, Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday was known as Shrove Tuesday. All sweeteners, dairy products, oil and eggs were used up and made into pancakes and during lent, not only was no meat eaten, but also no dairy products. The closest diet to this kind of fasting is a vegan diet, except that the vegan eats no fish. Read more at Vegan, Vegetarian Lent Recipes

Vegetarian Lenten Fast for Health, Weight Loss, Sustainability, Solidarity

For my Lent observances this year, I gave up eating meat. By the time Easter arrived, I was very comfortable with a meatless, vegetarian diet. I decided to become a vegetarian and here's why: health benefits, to fight corporate greed, environmental issues and solidarity with the poor. Health Benefits of Eating a Vegetarian Diet: Eating less meat and more grains and vegetables reduces LDL (low density lipid) cholesterol. Reducing meat, dairy and egg consumption lowers triglyceride levels and improves circulation. Eating a vegetarian diet helps with weight loss. Reducing meat, dairy, eggs and animal by-products in the diet reduces consumption of the steroids, growth hormones and antibiotics with which animals are treated. Eating a vegetarian diet helps prevent spread of blood born and feces transmitted pathogens and disease: trichinosis, e. coli, etc. Read more at Why Am I a Vegetarian? Health Benefits, Weight Loss, Consumerism, Solidarity with the Poor

Catholic Stand-Up Easter Lamb Cake and Centerpiece Recipe

Catholic Stand-Up Easter Lamb Cake and Centerpiece Recipe As a German Catholic homeschool family, Easter is about the Paschal Lamb of God, and His passion, death and Resurrection. Lent takes us to the Easter celebration. Here is an Easter lamb cake and centerpiece recipe. Several years ago, our youngest son's Croatian godmother brought us an Easter Lamb of God cake, made using the Wilton Stand Up Lamb Cake Pan set. This lucious cream cheese pound cake is perfect for Easter morning brunch. I've name it Osterlamm Gottes which is German for "Easter Lamb of God." Read on