During Lent (which begins this Wednesday) I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite meatless recipes every Monday. I was a vegetarian before I married my carnivorous husband and while I still don’t eat red meat, I continue to serve vegetarian meals two to three times a week and consequently, I have a growing repertoire of healthy, no meat meals.
I’ve found that Fridays during Lent – when Catholics are required to abstain from eating meat – offer an opportune time to introduce your family to new recipes and get them to eat more veggies. So if you’re tired of serving up fish sticks and cheese pizza during Lent, or even if you’re not Catholic, but you you’d just like to try out more vegetarian dishes, then you’ve come to the right place.
I’d love for you to share some of your favorite meatless recipes as well. Bon appetit!
Avocado Corn Salad & Tropical Mango Smoothies
The Salad
Ingredients:
1 low-sodium 15-ounce can of cut corn
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of cayenne (optional)
1 medium avocado, diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 red bell pepper, diced
Salt to taste
Dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce (optional)
*I adapted this recipe from a wonderful vegetarian cookbook called Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. All the recipes are based on the dishes served at the famous Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY (my husband went to school in Ithaca and has eaten there and even though he’s a meat man, he said it was very tasty and bought me this cookbook as a gift early on in our marriage).
The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of minced red onion, which is delicious. However, the sight of one onion sliver inspires pure disgust in my preschooler. In addition, its ingredients include the option of tossing chopped cilantro leaves in the salad; however, my husband cannot stand the taste of cilantro. (Apparently, he’s not alone.)
Combine all veggies and toss with olive oil, cumin, lime juice, cayenne and Tabasco.
Add sliced hard-boiled eggs for an extra protein punch. The salad also makes a great side dish for burritos, quesadillas, or any Mexican-themed meal.
The Smoothie
1 cup soft silken tofu (I promise your kids and husband won’t taste the tofu!)
1 banana
1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and sliced
14-ounce can of coconut milk
1 cup milk
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4-5 ice cubes (or use a sliced frozen banana or frozen mango chunks)
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth and frothy.
*Once when I shared some holiday cookie recipes, a blogging comrade kindly pointed out that I’d left out some very important instructions. She was absolutely right. I skipped like two steps. Now I don’t want to dwell on my pregnesia (I know I’ve been mentioning it quite frequently these days), but my brain currently isn’t functioning at an optimal level. I’ve never had so much mental fog in my life, but I’m dealing with it. I’m just sorry you have to, too. The point of all this is, if something doesn’t make sense in the recipes I share, it’s probably not you. It’s the fact that I suffered a mental gaffe while typing the recipe for the post. So when in doubt, please email me at kmwicker [at] gmail [dot] com.
For more meatless dishes, check out the Faith & Family Live! Lent recipe swap.
Are they *still* required to abstain from meat? I thought that had been made optional. Since it’s tradition, and not dogma, after all. It seems like it won’t be too hard, though, if you’re used to eating vegetarian several times a week. Yummy recipes!
Evenshine, per Canon Law Catholics 14 and older are required to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wed., Good Fri., and all Fridays t/o Lent (unless a health concern would prevent them from doing so).
Canon 1251: Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canon 1252: All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.
Canon 1253: It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.
Source: Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Hope this helps! God bless!
Yummy!
mmmmm. I am going to try both these recipes. I wonder what my children would think if I told them the smoothie had tofu in it.