Recipes for Lent

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I know it’s early, but I’m curious what’s cooking w/ all of you during the season of Lent? Our church has Fish Fries on Fridays after stations of the cross. One of our family’s favorite recipes is Rice Con Queso (rice, onions, ricotta, beans, cheese, garlic).

Aside from fish sticks and fries and mac n’ cheese, what do you all cook? I am interested in rounding up some recipes - care to share? If anyone wants the Rice Con Queso recipe, let me know and I can dig it out and send you a PM.

Thanks in advance
 
We love Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean veggie burgers. They are not really very spicy. But they are nicely seasoned. We are a seriously carniverous family, and my kids won’t touch most veggie burgers, but we all love the black bean ones.

Also, a famous restaurant in CA makes a vegan split pea soup that is out of this world! I have the recipe from the restaurant, and it’s the same as the one here: cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/232/AndersonsSplitPeaSoup63578.shtml Cheap as all get out and GOOD!

Fettucine alfredo, broccoli n cheese baked potatoes… I make my own cheese sauces, so they taste really good and are also nutritious. I would rather put in the few minutes to make a sauce than have us eating the fillers and unpronounceable stuff in the bottled sauces. I’m not a psycho about it, we eat some junk, but I try to make “real food” whenever possible. 😃
 
If you have fishsticks and mac N cheese, why would you need anything else? LOL

We love this super simple middle eastern rice & lentil dish.
herbivoracious.com/2007/10/recipe-mujadara.html

I serve it plated with a simple salad of chopped cuke and tomato marinated in lemon juice with a sprinke of salt. My Dh is a diehard carnivore, but he loves this. The onions are what make the dish.
 
Lobster Thermidor

Split a live lobster in two, lengthwise. Crack the shell of the claws and remove the gills from the carcass. Season both halves of the lobster with salt, sprinkle with oil and roast in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove and dice the flesh from the tail and claws.

Prepare a stock of fish fumet and white wine flavored with chervil, tarragon and chopped shallots. Boil it down to a concentrated consistency, then add a little very thick béchamel sauce and some English mustard. Boil the sauce for a few moments, then whisk in some fresh butter (one-third the volume of the sauce). Pour a little of this sauce into the two halves of the shell. Fill the shells with the flesh of the lobster, cover with the remainder of the sauce, sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese and melted butter and brown rapidly in a very hot oven.

Arrange the lobster on a long dish and serve piping hot.
 
Wow, you’re on the ball! 👍

One Lent, hubby and I ate Ramen noodles for supper every friday (we split one package). We’re not really Ramen fans, so it was penitential. We’d go to Stations of the Cross and smell that delicious fish frying, and our stomachs were growling! But we had already eaten our little bowls of Ramen noodles for the evening :o (we eat meatless meals on Fridays year-round, so we wanted to do something “extra” for Lent)

How about breakfast for dinner? Omelets with some chopped veggies inside, toast, and fruit?

Quesadillas! 😛 I like them filled with fresh chopped tomatoes.

I made up a recipe a couple of nights ago–a southwestern quiche! I just took a generic quiche recipe to get the cooking times and basics, and added salsa and black beans (and I think something else, but my brain is failing me), and topped with shredded quesadilla cheese.

Of course you can take many meals traditionally served with chicken and substitute the fish of your choice (or shrimp). Last year there was a thread on here about slow cooker recipes, and someone made tilapia stew using it. I often make chicken stew in my slow cooker, so sometimes on Fridays I substitute the fish for chicken and reduce the cooking time a bit.

Hubby loves to make salmon burgers. Just like regular burgers, but using either salmon filets or canned salmon (mix an egg in and then cook like you would a hamburger patty) instead of the ground beef. Yum!!

Mac-n-cheese, as someone else mentioned–add some salsa, cooked chopped veggies of your choice, and baked/black beans, and there you have a rather tasty main course.

You could also make a salad with canned shrimp. That’s usually a side dish in our family, but it could do for dinner during Lent.

I am just wondering what lobster thermidor has to do with Lent, though… :confused: The only penitential thing about that would be the complicated preparation 😃 That, and serving it piping hot and burning your mouth on it, ha ha!
 
We also had a priest tell us that there is nothing really very penitential about eating a luxury food like lobster.

I forgot about egg-based dishes! And if you’re bad at folding omelets, then do it really easy and make frittatas! Those are Italian “omelets” where the ingredients are spread throughout the whole thing and just cooked until set, no folding. Cut in wedges to serve. Mmmmmm, you guys have my mouth watering now! I might have to go get some asparagus, artichoke hearts, and ricotta salata just to make a fritatta!
 
pizza delivery…
seriously we abstain all Fridays and we have come to appreciate a once a week pizza habit…
 
Lobster, now there’s a sacrifice;) Kidding of course! It’s a great idea! I don’t eat meat on Fridays, so here’s some things I’ve done:

Sushi!

Clam chowder

Tortellini soup is good too. Chicken broth, celery, carrots, and cheese tortellini. It’s easy and good. I usually put lots of pepper in too, but it’s whatever you want it to be.

Some good fish stuff that’s pretty easy:
health.discovery.com/fansites/sam-zien/recipes/halibut.html
health.discovery.com/fansites/sam-zien/recipes/snapper.html
health.discovery.com/fansites/sam-zien/recipes/salmon.html

You can also make dirt simple vegetarian chili. Good with cornbread. I think it’s something like this:
Jar of salsa (the 16oz jar, i like the kind with a little corn in it)
2 Cans of beans (any kind you like really)
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (just one chopped up)
some tomato paste, not sure how much though
Crush up a handful of fritos into dust and add to thicken it
Let it warm up and simmer for a while, so that the beans soften up really nice. If it gets too thick, just add some water.
 
Cheddar Ale Soup is our favorite Lent recipe. Typically it calls for a chicken broth base but vegetable broth works fine. I saw last year some guy’s website about being able to use chicken broth during Lent as it’s not the flesh, but I don’t feel right on that. So I stick to veggie broth.

Cheddar Ale Soup
3TBSP Butter
1 Onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 Medium carrots, chopped
1 bottle pale ale (don’t use Guinness Stout, it’s way too bitter)
1 14.5oz can chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup half and half
3/4lb Shredded sharp cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste
Crushed crackers

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until onions are soft.
Add beer and broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
Puree mixture in blender and blend in small batches until smooth. Return blended soup to saucepan and add half & half. Heat until steaming (don’t boil) then whisk in cheese a handful at a time making sure each addition is melted before adding the next.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Add tabasco to your liking (it’s the tabasco that makes the dish).
Serve with crushed crackers.
 
Polish Lasgna

Tastes like pierogie! 👍

Pretty much like this recipe, but I’ve never used cream cheese? Just layer: Noodles, potatoes, grated yellow cheese.

But my true favorite Lent food is anchovy pizza!

Yum,
tee
 
This thread has me so hungry I actually threw some Gorton’s Fish in the oven.
 
Let’s see…Spaghetti but with a twist

1 jar of sauce (mushroom flavored is what i use)
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 block frozen spinach thawed
some diced mushrooms (if you like)
seasonings (garlic, basil, oregano)f

Mix all together, simmer until hot. Serve over your choice of hot pasta!

OR: the above sauce, cooked pasta tossed all together topped with mozzarella cheese baked at 350 until. cheese is melted.
 
KCtheMommy said:
Cheddar Ale Soup is our favorite Lent recipe. Typically it calls for a chicken broth base but vegetable broth works fine. I saw last year some guy’s website about being able to use chicken broth during Lent as it’s not the flesh, but I don’t feel right on that. So I stick to veggie broth.

Cheddar Ale Soup
3TBSP Butter
1 Onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 Medium carrots, chopped
1 bottle pale ale (don’t use Guinness Stout, it’s way too bitter)
1 14.5oz can chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup half and half
3/4lb Shredded sharp cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste
Crushed crackers

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until onions are soft.
Add beer and broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
Puree mixture in blender and blend in small batches until smooth. Return blended soup to saucepan and add half & half. Heat until steaming (don’t boil) then whisk in cheese a handful at a time making sure each addition is melted before adding the next.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Add tabasco to your liking (it’s the tabasco that makes the dish).
Serve with crushed crackers.
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That looks great! I think I will try it, but I won’t wait until lent.

Just one comment. I don’t understand the comment about Guiness being more bitter than a pale ale. Pale ale has much, much more hops than a stout does and hops are what put the bitter taste into beer. Not that I am complaining, though, because I like pale ale better than Guiness (but not by much) anyway.

Peace

Tim
 
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=133396&highlight=lent+recipes

There’s a link to the longest thread on Lenten recipes we have, but there are others if you do a search. In general, we go totally meatless all of Lent most years (because it’s a big sacrifice–harder to go 40 days without meat than 40 days without booze or candy!), and I get a lot of great ideas off of the general recipe sites like allrecipes.com and do an ingredient search there.
 
OK, here is my very easy but not so penetential recipe.

Garlic Shrimp.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp rosemary
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled
1 cup white wine
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and butter in pan, add garlic, red pepper and rosemary. Just as the oil/butter begins to smoke, add shrimp and quickly saute. After a minute or so, add wine, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes or until shrimp are done.

Serve with angel hair pasta (cooked al dente) and the remaining white wine.

Can’t be much easier, quicker or better!

Just as an aside, I fast on Fridays during lent, so I won’t be enjoying this on those days.

Peace

Tim
 
Teakafrog said:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=133396&highlight=lent+recipes

There’s a link to the longest thread on Lenten recipes we have, but there are others if you do a search. In general, we go totally meatless all of Lent most years (because it’s a big sacrifice–harder to go 40 days without meat than 40 days without booze or candy!), and I get a lot of great ideas off of the general recipe sites like allrecipes.com and do an ingredient search there.
Click to expand...
:rotfl: Now I hadn’t even thought of that! LOL
 
basilisk said:
We also had a priest tell us that there is nothing really very penitential about eating a luxury food like lobster.

I forgot about egg-based dishes! And if you’re bad at folding omelets, then do it really easy and make frittatas! Those are Italian “omelets” where the ingredients are spread throughout the whole thing and just cooked until set, no folding. Cut in wedges to serve. Mmmmmm, you guys have my mouth watering now! I might have to go get some asparagus, artichoke hearts, and ricotta salata just to make a fritatta!
Click to expand...
Strictly speaking, your priest is right. There is nothing penitential about eating lobster these days. Of course, the enjoyment of such a dish cannot be considered in isolation from its preparation. Since the request involved in this thread is one of recipes, my assumption is that the OP wished to prepare such meals for himself. The care of preparation involved in a recipe like the one I have given can therefore serve as penitential even though the final product be extravagant. I ought to add here that this is probably not a dish I myself would choose for a Friday during lent as I also excise dairy and eggs from my diet during that time.

A typical Lenten Friday dish at my home is more like a potato-leek gratin and is prepared as follows:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Wash two thinly sliced leeks in a large bowl of water. Transfer them to a steamer and steam, covered, for five minutes. Transfer them to a bowl and toss them with a little olive oil and some coarse salt.

Separately, toss about two pounds of yellow potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, with olive oil; three garlic cloves, thinly sliced; two teaspoons thyme leaves, minced; salt and pepper to taste.

In a third bowl, toss about 1½ cups of fresh sourdough bread crumbs with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

In a small saucepan bring about a cup of vegetable stock to a boil and turn off the heat.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, arrange half of the potatoes in a single layer. Top with a layer of half the leeks. Repeat the layers once more. Pour the stock over the gratin. Spread the breadcrumbs evenly over the top and bake for one hour until the potatoes are tender and the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Serve hot.
 
Orogeny said:
That looks great! I think I will try it, but I won’t wait until lent.

Just one comment. I don’t understand the comment about Guiness being more bitter than a pale ale. Pale ale has much, much more hops than a stout does and hops are what put the bitter taste into beer. Not that I am complaining, though, because I like pale ale better than Guiness (but not by much) anyway.

Peace

Tim
Click to expand...
Guiness, like any stout, becomes extremely bitter when cooked with.
 
Orogeny said:
That looks great! I think I will try it, but I won’t wait until lent.

Just one comment. I don’t understand the comment about Guiness being more bitter than a pale ale. Pale ale has much, much more hops than a stout does and hops are what put the bitter taste into beer. Not that I am complaining, though, because I like pale ale better than Guiness (but not by much) anyway.

Peace

Tim
Click to expand...
I don’t know, I copied the recipe verbatim from what was given to me. Obviously somebody tried it and thought to add the note about Guinness.

I don’t blame you for not waiting for Lent either, this recipe is fantastic! My husband got it from a guy at work. He had brought in left overs and was heating it up in the microwave. My DH was saying the smell alone was making his mouth water. He asked for the recipe and insisted I make it. Sure enough – one of the best soups I have had in my life.

But I love cheddar. I also like the taste of food cooked in beer.👍
 
Mmmm. yeah, Other Eric. Anything with potatoes and leeks is right on my list!

I was thinking that I am thankful we are allowed eggs and dairy these days… that’s a hard discipline. You are a better man than me, I couldn’t do it!
 
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