Hello all:

Lent is a time for us to simplify our lives and remember the 40 days of Christ's seclusion before his ministry. One of the recommendations of our church fathers is in the abstinence from all animal products. The idea behind this is not to deprive us of living our lives the way we want or to force us to do something foreign, but it is taking the concept of simplification one step further: simplifying our diets. In today's culture, it is often hard to make such practices seem anything short of drastic: it's easy to order the iced mocha latte or the $1 double cheeseburger when we are on the way to work. To further complicate matters, we are so used to cold cuts and cheese and milk and frozen turkeys that we often find it difficult to come up with meat- and dairy-less meals.

I am not going to tout the nutritional benefits of a vegan diet and lifestyle, because that is not the primary intention of our tradition. Rather, I would like to provide daily suggestions of simple, yet tasty recipes that can help reduce the tedium of repeated meals within our 40 days of Lent. I will try to include traditional Armenian foods without meat (there are quite a few though we don't like to admit it!) as well as foods inspired by other cultures, etc., etc.

Feel free to write back or post your own recipes, though please note I probably will not respond and if I do it may take days ;)
-Varoujan Movsesian, 2008

Good for Body, Soul & Mind

01 - "Cream" of Asparagus Soup
02 - Mushroom Fried Rice
03 - Spicy Peanut Noodles
04 - Spinach Salad w/Passion Fruit Dressing
05 - Glazed Sweet Potatoes w/Cranberries and Pecans
06 - Roasted Veggies
07 - Mushroom Ragu
08 - Almond French Toast
09 - Stuffed Eggplants
10 - Red Cabbage Slaw
11 - Roasted Potato Fans
12 - Portobello Seitan Hash
13 - Stir-Fired Asparagus
14 - Hot and Sour Cabbage
15 - Suonomo Cucumber Salad
16 - Cherry Walnut Chews
17 - Asian Noodles with Edamame
18 - Peach Cobbler
19 - Baked Sweet Potato Wedges
20 - Hot and Sour Soup
21 - Lenten Cookies
22 - Susty's Super Tofu Salad
23 - Roasted Red Pepper and Fresh Chickpea Pasta
24 - "Berry Good" Chili
25 - Curry Butternut Squash
26 - Cold Noodles in Spicy Sesame Sauce
27 - Cold Linguine with Red Pepper
28 - Broiled Lemon Garlic Mushroom
29 - Mediterranean Bean Salad
30 - Rice Desert with Cherries
31 - Tomato and Bread Soup
32 - Olivada
33 - Grilled Eggplant and Red Pepper Sandwich
34 - Red Bean Appetizer
35 - Roasted Eggplant with Cashews
36 - Mutabell
37 - Artichoke Ricotto
38 - Peach Salsa
39 - Tropical Sweet Potatoes
40 - Jicama Salad

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