This is the second Sunday in the pre-Lenten, preparatory, season. Again, the name simply refers to the number of days. We are within 60 days of the Paschal feast, and sexagesima means 60. It is a week and a half until Lent begins in the West. While we aren't scaling back in the same manner as the East, we are trying both to enjoy the foods we will be bidding farewell to at that time and prepare ourselves for that by not overly indulging right now. It's a balance of treating ourselves and not gorging ourselves. This is the same balance we will need to strike during Bright Week, in some ways, as we go back to feasting and then normal eating.

However, this is a great time of scaling back and using the meats and treats in our freezers. We've gotten out a couple bigger pieces of meat to use that means we have more room for the ducks when they are butchered, and then the turkeys when it is their time. It is also helping us to rearrange a little so the foods that will be more appropriate to the fast are in our inside freezer and ready for us to use. I recently found out that Biscoff cookies, like Oreo cookies, are Lenten. This will make for a great treat somewhere around the middle of Lent, when we are struggling. I have a package at the ready. Ritz crackers are also Lenten, but they aren't as good as Biscoff cookies. Our Grocery Outlet has some wonderful, and Lenten, dairy free frozen chocolate bars that I am eyeing, too. They are made with real food, and coconut milk rather than cream and milk. If they are there on my next shopping trip, I will likely pick some up for the final weeks of Lent, when it is harder on everyone. Overall, we do try to eat simply and avoid meat/dairy substitutes, but those are still fine and can help get us over the speed bumps that come up occasionally. Remember that fasting food (abstinent food, really) does not have to taste bad, it just has to follow the guidelines, but we should not focus all our attention on the food, because those guidelines are a training, not the end of the training. I do find that planning it out ahead of time does help me keep my focus on prayer and charity, because I don't have to spend so much time thinking of what to make. Again, there is a balance to be struck.

Our Eastern brethren have just finished their fast free week, and are beginning Meatfare week, which is their final week of eating meat and fish. Next week will be Cheesefare week for them, which will be their final week of eating dairy and egg, oil and wine. Then their Lent will begin five days after the West. The West still preserves these concepts in Septuagesima and Sexagesima, and even with the Mardi Gras traditions of eating doughnuts or pancakes to use up the last of the eggs, milk and butter, which does point to the earlier and more authentic practice. One day, I hope that the observances of Forgiveness Sunday and Ash Wednesday can be joined in some way and I pray that one day we will all observe and celebrate together.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Yogurt and Jam, Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Hot Dogs, Chips, Cool and Creamy Potato and Pea Salad, Christmas Cherry Nut Cake
• Monday
  Breakfast: Cereal and Milk, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Leftover Casserole (using ingredients we froze), Salad, Frosted Button Cookies
• Tuesday - Feast of Saints Valentine, Cyril and Methodius
  Breakfast: Vegetable Hash Burritos with Salsa, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Tacos de Papa, Avocado Relish, Black Beans (Ranchero Style), Salsa Rice, Pineapple Cups
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Chickpeas with Vegetables, Toast, Fruit Plate, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Mount Athos Rice, Loubiyeh bi Zeit, Persian Chopped Salad, Oranges
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with Brown Sugar, Apples and Raisins, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Irish Farmhouse Vegetable Soup with Rosemary Croutons, Salad, Fruit Plate
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Bean and Rice Chimichangas, Cabbage Salad, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Proscuitto and Gruyère Scones to Break the Fast after Liturgy
  Dinner: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Steam Sautéed Vegetables, Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies and Tagalong Bars

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Sexagesima, Tales from the Kitchen