In the Kitchen...

I'M ALWAYS LOOKING for fasting recipes for the summer fasts. The fasts of Great Lent and Nativity are usually in a cooler time of year, so soups and bread are a great staple. However during the Apostle's Fast (which we're in now) and the Dormition Fast coming up, the weather is such that I, for one, don't appreciate a hot soup. For that reason I tend to do a lot of stir fries, but my families most favorite is Yaki Soba noodles.

This is such a quick fix and everyone loves it. Especially on a hot day. I begin with onions, garlic and whatever veggies my family likes.

I stir fry them beginning with the onions and garlic then adding the veggies that cook the longest first (like the carrots and broccoli). Then the others until they are all in. I season with our favorite stir fry sauce.

Because I don't have a large enough pan to do all the veggies and noodles at the same time, I transfer most of the veggies to a serving dish and then stir fry the noodles with some of the veggies and add more sauce. Then when things are cooked through I transfer everything to the veggies I put aside on the serving dish and mix thoroughly. Yum!!

Enjoy your day!!

Another Fast Begins...

AND SO TOMORROW BEGINS the Apostles Fast. I have to say that I really find comfort in the fasting periods of the year. They are reminder to me to refocus and get back on track in my relationship with Christ. Even through we do keep our morning and evening prayer times, it is easy to get so busy that you are just going through the motions to get it done. One of the many things that I'm grateful for my children for is keeping me on track. They have become accustom to the rhythm of our "domestic church" and so even if I'm feeling rushed or that we have to push on to get going, they are the reminder to take a breath and do what's important. Daily prayer to me, is like the warm up the symphony does before a great performance. If I don't get prayer time in, our day doesn't go nearly as well. For me fasting times are a time to slow down. To spend more time at the foot of our Lord. Reading His Word and meditating on His Mysteries.

To try to instill all the gifts the Church offers us in our children can be a challenge. It all begins with me or rather my husband and I. There are times it's hard to be a "good" example. It is far to easy to miss Vespers or to skip prayer times. To allow the 'under tow' of life to pull us out into a sea of chaos and lose the rhythm that the Church provides for our benefit. It is the podvig, the struggle we carry through our days. As I've shared before in previous posts, it's important to me that my children celebrate ALL the feasts of the Church; Not just Christ's birth and resurrection. In keeping all the feasts, however we need the preparation, which is what the fasts provide.

So over the next few weeks I will be sharing some snippets of our journey through this fast. I hope you'll join me and share your thoughts. Enjoy your day!