Blessed Feast St. Theodore Saturday to you!
If you need, here's a koliva recipe.
May their memory be eternal!
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
(More) Lenten Lunch Box Ideas
Inspired by Sylvia at Orthodox Mom, I'm adding a few more ideas.
When I packed a lunch as a teacher, I often posted what I brought on Wednesdays, so you might find something there -- although those are maybe more geared towards an adult palette and depended heavily on using up leftovers. Another trick is to make a big batch of soup and save it in the freezer in glass mason jars. This works if you have a microwave at work or school.
You know, right, that quesadillas freeze beautifully, if you had a block of time to whip up a dozen or so. These were gluten free home-made tortillas with black beans, diced cooked sweet potatoes, sauted onion, roasted red pepper, and Daiya shreds.
Sylvia offers an entire menu-planning post, and if you scroll down there you'll find some yummy recipe ideas-- surely some of those would make good leftovers lunches! My kids would eat these sliders for lunch and I really want to try this frittata.
Vegan Lunch Box has some ideas, and Anna at PleasantViewSchoolhouse offers these salads: Broccoli Sesame, Fruit & Avocado, Radicchio Slaw, Pear & Hazelnut, Roasted Beets & Orange, Orange & Olive.
In the archives, you can find this Spinach Queso recipe, which you could serve with tortilla chips. You could even make your own "Lunchable" with shredded veggie cheese, chips or mini pizza crust, and a chocolate chip blondie.
Taking advice from Melissa, who wrote Fasting as a Family, I try to keep some sort of spread on hand at all times, and then use it in pre-stuffed celery boats, tortilla roll-ups, quesadillas, etc. The idea is to have pre-made veggie boats & roll-ups for a week, already prepped in your fridge, along with prepped fruit too, and in one special place. Then you only have to open that drawer and pull out a few items to stick in your lunch box.
Spreads?
Hummus
When I packed a lunch as a teacher, I often posted what I brought on Wednesdays, so you might find something there -- although those are maybe more geared towards an adult palette and depended heavily on using up leftovers. Another trick is to make a big batch of soup and save it in the freezer in glass mason jars. This works if you have a microwave at work or school.
You know, right, that quesadillas freeze beautifully, if you had a block of time to whip up a dozen or so. These were gluten free home-made tortillas with black beans, diced cooked sweet potatoes, sauted onion, roasted red pepper, and Daiya shreds.
Sylvia offers an entire menu-planning post, and if you scroll down there you'll find some yummy recipe ideas-- surely some of those would make good leftovers lunches! My kids would eat these sliders for lunch and I really want to try this frittata.
Vegan Lunch Box has some ideas, and Anna at PleasantViewSchoolhouse offers these salads: Broccoli Sesame, Fruit & Avocado, Radicchio Slaw, Pear & Hazelnut, Roasted Beets & Orange, Orange & Olive.
In the archives, you can find this Spinach Queso recipe, which you could serve with tortilla chips. You could even make your own "Lunchable" with shredded veggie cheese, chips or mini pizza crust, and a chocolate chip blondie.
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| photo courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie |
Taking advice from Melissa, who wrote Fasting as a Family, I try to keep some sort of spread on hand at all times, and then use it in pre-stuffed celery boats, tortilla roll-ups, quesadillas, etc. The idea is to have pre-made veggie boats & roll-ups for a week, already prepped in your fridge, along with prepped fruit too, and in one special place. Then you only have to open that drawer and pull out a few items to stick in your lunch box.
Spreads?
Hummus
Beany-Cheeze Spread
Baba Ganoush
Spicy Lima Bean Lemon Spread
or this more simple version but leave out the bacon.
We love hummus at our house - so much so that I've taped the recipe to the inside of the cabinet because I make it so often. And yet, sometimes one wants something different, so I like to have a few options up my sleeve.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Lemon Ice Box Pie
Daddy's Favorite
(From my Aunt Mariam, may her memory be eternal.)
Save out enough whole cookies to line the sides of the 8x8 or pie plate.
Crush the rest and add to melted butter to make bottom crust.
Whip egg whites with sugar and cream of tartar, and add to the top.
Monday, February 12, 2018
Getting Ready for Lent
This Countdown Calendar really helped my 5 year-old last year. He and the 9 year-old took turns moving the butterfly from day to day, and the weekly schedule calendar in the middle gave him power. He woke up every morning, looked at the calendar, and told me if we were going to church that night or not, and if we would have Communion or not. Thanks be to God, that little bit of foreknowledge really enabled him to deal with the extra services.
Also, the symbolism of Spring helped us talk about Lent in positive terms (being healed, growing - and how fasting, prayer, and alms-giving are a part of that process) instead of just focusing on what we can or can't eat.
And we used this Visual Holy Week schedule to replace the weekly schedule at the end!
Here is the Sunday School Lesson. We were hard pressed to finish those calendars in one class, but you could do it at home :)
Also, the symbolism of Spring helped us talk about Lent in positive terms (being healed, growing - and how fasting, prayer, and alms-giving are a part of that process) instead of just focusing on what we can or can't eat.
And we used this Visual Holy Week schedule to replace the weekly schedule at the end!
Here is the Sunday School Lesson. We were hard pressed to finish those calendars in one class, but you could do it at home :)
Our Lenten Spring - Wanting to Get Healed and Grow!
Memory Verses (we work on these for several weeks)
Younger classes:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
For the older class a longer passage:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-25
For trees to grow fruit, they have to be cultivated and cared for.
For our “heart garden” to bear the Fruit of the Spirit, we must be cultivated and cared for. Do we want to get well? To be healed from our sins? Then we should work with God to make the soil of our hearts a good place for Him to work in us.
Lesson:
First - Our Lenten Spring
- Let’s talk about Spring time as a season. What happens during Spring? (Hopefully the children will think about trees that looked dead in the winter growing new leaves, baby birds hatching from their nests, flowers peeking out of the ground, butterflies coming out of cocoons, etc.)
- Spring is a time for things to GROW. We want the Fruit of Spirit to grow in us, right? Great Lent is a time for that fruit to grow in us, for Jesus to create new Life in us.
- How do trees grow? (sunshine, water, soft dirt - we can soften the soil of our hearts by praying more, fasting more, going to church more, and giving alms.
- Teachers may need to define alms as giving to the needy.
- Teachers may want to explain that fasting helps us be hungry for God.
- How do baby birds grow? Their parents feed them! God knows we need extra spiritual food during Lent, so He gives us extra church services and more opportunities to receive His own Body and Blood. This helps us GROW! When can we receive Holy Communion besides Sunday? During Wednesday night Pre-sanctified Liturgy!
- One last note - our garden is the soil in each person’s own heart. Can you know what is in another person’s heart? Not really - so we should not try to tend their garden, but our own garden during our Lenten Spring.
- We are going to make a Lenten Spring calendar today that will help you know when these extra
- If you have some children that will not enjoy the poster craft, I will bring some very hard soil and those kids can try/fail to plant a seed in it, then spend some time breaking it up, watering it, etc.
Second - Lenten Spring Countdown Calendars
Show students the model and point out each part
- A dot for every day of Lent. Every morning when you wake up, you can take turns moving the clothespin to a new day. As you journey, remember that this is your Lenten Spring - your chance to work with God to be healed and to grow.
- A picture for every Sunday.
- Days of the Week in the Middle, to show us when the extra church services are.
- When we get to Pascha, it means Christ is Risen and we’ll have a huge celebration!
- Children can use their own thumb prints or stickers to make the days. They can color the words and glue on the poster and also decorate with Spring-themed stickers.
Resources
What does Holy Scripture say?
Romans 8:9-11
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
John 5:6 “...Do you want to get well?”
What do the Fathers say?
“If [the disease of sin] is natural, then it cannot be cured. Thus it would remain always, no matter how hard you worked to rid yourself of it. If you accept this thought, you will lose heart, and say to yourself: this is how it is. For this is that woeful despair, which, once it has been introduced into people, they have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness (Ephesians 4: 19).
“I shall repeat again: Maintain the conviction that our disorderliness is not natural to us, and do not listen to those who say, ‘It is no use talking about it, because that is just how we are made, and you cannot do anything about it.’ That is not how we are made, and if we undertake to cure ourselves, then we will be able to do something about it.”
+ St. Theophan the Recluse, The Spiritual Life: And How to Be Attuned to It
Say the Thanksgiving prayer to close the lesson:
We give thanks to Thee O, Christ our God
That Thou hast satisfied us with Thine earthly blessings
Deprive us not also of Thy heavenly kingdom
But as Thou didst come to Thy disciples and didst grant them peace
So come to us, O Savior, and save us!
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