Chickpea Mash for Sandwiches

Since Presv. Maria asked,

Basically, drain the can of chickpeas and then then pretend you're making traditional tuna salad.

Add mayo, mustard, sweet pickle relish and a little salt and pepper. Mash it all up and use with bread or crackers.

Apostles Fast Menu

Here's one more menu, to add to the many good ones already out there, in case you are looking for fasting ideas. We rotate suppers every other week, but keep breakfast and lunch the same. The google document has many links to recipes, and I'll try to add more as I get them collected. View Apostles Fast Menu on Google Docs Here's the Shopping List. It is VERY tailored to our hometown, and I would probably not buy all these things every week. Hopefully the garden will provide most of the produce. However, I can print this off, carry it around the kitchen, strike through the things I already have, and then use it at the store. It covers 2 weeks, with the exception (which is marked in the document) of produce that will be bought fresh for the second week. And just for fun, here are two of my favorite recipes that I would have put in the menu, except that they are too spicy for my family: Vegetarian Kung Pao Green Chile Potato Soup

First Fruits - Oriental Coleslaw

So little, yet so exciting! I had to laugh as I was reminded of the Israelites tithing their first fruits to God. What good would one small, oblong bell pepper and a sprig of basil do?

This bell pepper and thai basil teamed up with a cabbage from the Farmer's Market to make Oriental Coleslaw. No one else in my family likes it, which worked out well, as I took the leftovers for lunch at school all week. What a treat!

Oriental Coleslaw

The Ingredients
1 small head of cabbage
1 carrot, grated
1 bell pepper, thinly diced
1/2 cup of toasted almonds, chopped
1 pack of Oriental Ramen noodles, crushed
2 Tbs of Sesame Seeds
1/3 cup of roasted pumpkin seeds
1 green onion, thinly sliced
4-5 leaves of thai basil, thinly sliced

Dressing:
1/2 cup sugar (or less to taste)
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
seasoning packet from noodles

Steps
1. If you want to achieve Asian appearance, roll up 3-4 individual leaves of cabbage at a time and very thinly slice across for long, skinny ribbons.
2. Cook and stir dressing ingredients until boiling. Cool.
3. Right before serving, add dressing and mix.
4. Most importantly! - Leave out any ingredients you don't like and throw in ones you do.

Don't like cabbage? Use broccoli in stead.
Want meat? Add chopped cooked chicken.
Oh, and honey-roasted sunflower seeds are very good in this.

Gifts from God - Pentecost Flowers

Inspired by posts by Matushka Emily and Sara at Liturgical Year For Little Ones, the kids and I went outside this morning to find flowers for Pentecost. Oriental Lilies, Cosmos, Oregeno, Parsley, Jasmine, and Various Flowering Weeds made their way from ground to little red bike trailer to vase.

Blessed Feast!

Garden - 3 weeks later

big tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
rattlesnake green beans
etna italian soup beans
new zealand spinach
mesclun lettuce
spineless okra
banana peppers
jalepeno peppers
green bell peppers
yellow bell peppers
potatoes
zuccini
cucumbers
cantelope
cosmos
marigold
thai basil
sweet basil
mojito mint
lemon balm
marjoram
lavendar

still to plant: eggplant and delicata squash

For an Abundance of the Fruits of the Earth

Let us pray to the Lord!

Inspired by my fellow bloggers' garden plans, I decided to post our little garden plot for this Spring.



We started 3 years ago with a 4 x 8 plot, based on Square-Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It is the plot you see in the foreground of the photo. Although you could just add all new bagged ingredients into your bed, we (well, my dad and husband) dug up a little of our own soil and mixed it with topsoil, compost, peat, and cow manure. That way we didn't have to purchase as many bags.

This year we added a 3 ft. by 8 ft. raised bed behind it, with (drum roll, please......) TRELLISES! We had watched this video from our local library over the winter. Watched isn't accurate. We stalked this video. We watched it again and again and rewound certain sections, scribbling down measurements and tips. We watched it with building excitement (my son is my Little Builder after all). We watched it with growing confidence that we could actually do this. We re-checked it out of the library so many times they wouldn't let us renew it anymore.

Then we waited until it would quit raining already!

Over Spring Break, we built the new bed and trellis. Those pvc pipe pieces are nestling garden netting between them. After adding seeds and seedlings, we pinned in place a soaker hose, attached to a manual timer for easy, consistent watering. This bed is far away from the house, down by the sunny road,

To the left of the original bed are my pots of herbs and flowers, with some irises planted in the ground.

This is our Gift from God, and whenever I drive by it on the way out, I bless it with the sign of the cross and repeat the prayer from the Great Litany of Peace for an abundance of crops.

Lenten Cookies - Easy & Sort of Healthy

Healthy? Well, they are still cookies, but these have a smaller ratio of sugar and fat than most recipes. Also, they have a bit of whole grains.

I adapted this recipe from a favorite cookbook: More With Less.

What makes them easy is that you pre-mix a gallon size batch of pantry ingredients and then whip up the last step whenever you need a treat.

Mix:
1&1/2 cups white sugar
1&1/2 cups of brown sugar
1&1/2 cups white flour
1&1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Cut in:
2 cups shortening

Add:
6 cups of rolled oats

Mix well. Store in a cool place. (I use my pantry)

Cookie Day
For 2 dz small cookies:
1. Scoop out 2 cups of mix into a bowl.

2. Warm 1/2 cup of soy milk (or rice or almond milk) and mix in 1&1/2 tsp of Energy Egg-replacer and 1 tsp vanilla.

3. Combine the pantry mix with the wet mix. Add whatever variation you want (raisins and cinnamon make a good cookie; so do peanut butter chips and/or chocolate chips)

4. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350.


I guess I should have shared this sooner, since we only have a few weeks left of Great Lent! Sometimes these last weeks are the hardest, and with so many wine days coming up, a small treat seems like a good idea.

Starting to think about Pascha Flowers

I fondly remember the first time I was able to participate in decorating the Tomb.

I also have a special memory of using the Pascha flowers one year for Birth-Visualization and even though my daughter is about to turn three, I still think of those lilies.

Three weeks to go! I thank God for a helpful Lenten Retreat this past weekend on "The Hymns of Repentance."

Open to me the gates of repentance, O Giver of Life; for my spirit goes early to the temple of Thy Holiness, coming in the temple of my body, wholly polluted. But because Thou are compassionate, purify Thou me by the compassion of Thy mercies.

Green Bean and Potato Soup

Are you making M'Jeddrah or Tofu Spanikopita any time soon? If so, cut and fry extra onions, and save some to use in this filling soup!

This recipe made just enough for our litte family of four (kids = 3yr & 6yr)

Ingredients

1/2 to 1 cup of caramelized onions
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1/3 of a bell pepper, chopped
12 cups plus more water
1 TBS salt
1 TBS coffee creamer
1 bag of frozen green beans
1 large and 2 small potatoes, diced (that's what we had - adjust accordingly)
3 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
1 TBS tahini


Steps

1. Simmer strongly the onions, carrot, celery and bell pepper in the water for 30 minutes. You're making a stock. If you need to use a small dash of dried herbs instead of fresh, you could go ahead and add them now.

2. Blend the stock & veggies to make your soup base. I use my hand-held immersion blender.

3. Add salt, creamer, and green beans and cook until as done as you like them. I did 30 minutes at a rolling boil, adding water as necessary.

4. Add potatoes and herbs and boil until the potatoes are tender.

5. Remove herbal twigs and whisk in tahini.

6. Adjust seasonings. I added some pepper.

Sorry no pictures, we devoured it too quickly, with a side of multigrain healthy bread.

Gifts from God: Thoughts for My Journey through Lent

The choir sang the first minor-keyed "Lord have mercy."

The priest's vestments changed to purple.

The prostrations began.

Experiencing these ancient traditions, I tangibly felt myself take a spiritual step into the journey of Great Lent.

Here are the thoughts I'm taking with me, thoughts that God has been gently and graciously revealing to me over the past few weeks, starting with this troparion, and last week with these words from Saints Barsenuphias and John.

And there is the Prayer of the Optima Elders, which includes these lines:

Whatsoever tidings I may receive during the day, do Thou teach me to accept tranquilly, in the firm conviction that all eventualities fulfill Thy Holy Will.

and

When things unforeseen occur , let me not forget that all cometh down from Thee


In the book I have been reading, Lynette's Hope, this theme has marched steadily through the pages:

God gives us what is profitable for our souls.

This book is a compilation of Albanian missionary mom Lynette Hoppe's newsletters, journals, and web posts as she struggles with stage 4 cancer. She writes:

One of the gifts God has given me recently is a spirit of deep contentment. I am contented with the cross I have been given, because I know that it is rooted in the goodness of God. Because God is good, all that He sends us is for our good.

Although she (and hundreds of others who loved her!) prayed for a miracle, Lynette also accepted the will of God:

I do not believe something bad has happened to me. I see this cancer as a manifestation of my Lord's desire to draw me nearer to himself. He wants all of me and not just a half-distracted nod in his direction now and then. I am honored to be entrusted with such a gift. I just hope I am worthy of it... My prayer is not for healing, but for the grace to walk with courage and joy through whatever I may encounter. I don't want to become ill-tempered and whiny. I want to shine through this and gain that for which it is intended: a deeper love for God and a closer walk with Him

As for me, I doubt my ability to have such faith in that circumstance, but here's what I am left with: If Lynette Hoppe can count cancer as "an eventuality that cometh down from Thee", if she can trust God in that extreme circumstance that the pain can have a purpose of drawing her nearer to God, then I can accept my lesser struggles and pain as an opportunity to grow closer to God. I can seek Him and His peace and joy in the present moment instead of worrying about our future.

Just this past week, we received a newsletter from our beloved Saints Mary and Martha Monastery, which encouraged me with these words:

The voice of the Lord is in each of our moments. He is ever present in the current activity whatever it may be: keeping a home, caring for self and others, worshipping, the job, or resting. Every relationship allows us to encounter our good God; therefore, if we look to Him instead of worrying about what if..., His peace will abide.

One last source of encouragement has wrapped it's arm around me. In the prayers at the end of the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children, lips sigh, "Oh Lord, give them that which is profitable for their salvation."

Again and again and again.

God gives us what is profitable for us.

I beg Him to help me trust in His great Love. I am thankful for this season of Lent, for the chance to offer myself to be molded by Him, to be drawn closer to Him. I don't want to ruin it with my lack of faith and acceptance. I beg God to help me surrender my pain and impatience to be transformed by His Love.

Quick Pantry Savers for Great Lent

I'm inviting you to a party, and hope you contribute!

Although our ideal is to eat locally grown, non-processed, whole food as much as possible; our reality sometimes betrays that. Especially my reality, which can be a little forgetful.

I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have ingredients for several easy meals waiting in the pantry or freezer. Then, on those days that get hectic and I can't soak and cook beans in time for dinner, we have some sure-fire savers to fall back on.

Here's an example: Black Bean Mexican Soup

Ingredients = 3 cans from the pantry


Pour them into a pot.



Add a few dashes of cumin and garlic powder.



Simmer for 20 minutes and pour into bowls.


This serves our small family of 4 (the kids are 2 yrs. and 6 yrs.), but could be easily doubled or tripled. If I have time I make cornbread as an accompaniment, but pre-made tortillas work just as well.

I need more recipes like this to have as a safety net during the Great Fast. Do you have any ideas to share? Just post a blog about it in the next week, and let me know the link. I'll compile all the links into one post for a "Quick Pantry Saver" party!

When God Delays...

Last night after supper, my husband read to us about the Saints for the next day.

Today we remember Sts. Barsanuphias and John.

"Oh." he said. "We have their book. Father Seraphim and Fr. Herman translated their advice on the Spiritual Life for the monks living at St. Herman's."

"We do?" I pondered. See, last weekend our priest walked us through some writings of St. Basil, helping me to believe that it was indeed possible to read the spiritual fathers with understanding and benefit. I know, I know: this is something I was told 6 years ago when we became Orthodox, but my first venture into the Ante-Nicean Fathers was difficult; I had not yet been weaned from the milk of Max Lucado to be able to handle more mature food.

My husband replied, "Sure - it's over there in the bookshelf. I'll go get it."

This morning, while waiting for the computer to load, I opened Guidance Toward Spiritual Life to see what sort of guidance these holy men were giving.

from pg. 49:
When we pray and God delays in hearing (our prayer), He does this for our benefit, so as to teach us longsuffering; wherefore, we need not become downcast, saying, "We prayed and were not heard."

God knows what is profitable for a man.

Rejoice in the Lord, leave off all your cares, and pray for me, O my beloved brother, one in spirit (with me).


Advice I need to accept, ponder, and obey.