Welcome to the "Fast" Lane

I'm new to the Orthodox fasting, new to eating less meat. There's a lot of crossover between vegan and Lent restrictions, so there's a bit of both. 

St Seraphim of Sarov on Fasting: 'Once there came to him a mother who was concerned about how she might arrange the best possible marriage for her young daughter. When she came to Saint Seraphim for advice, he said to her: "Before all else, ensure that he, whom your daughter chooses as her companion for life, keeps the fasts. If he does not, then he is not a Christian, whatever he may consider himself to be."'
  — From a sermon of Metropolitan Philaret, quoted in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, pub. Holy Trinity Monastery, pg.xxxiii.

What? The Bacon Babe not eating meat? Yeah, it's hard and it's stretching my culinary creativity. I have my reasons and you have yours for joining me here. Here goes. Day 1: 

Vegetarian Pasta is the easiest of easy. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 table spoons cashew butter
• Cans of tomato sauce equaling 4 cups
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 1 zucchini chopped
  
• 1 yellow squash chopped
• Cherry tomatoes halved
• Spinach leaves, 1 cup
• 1 cup of mushrooms- if you puree these mushroom haters will never even know.
• 10 cloves garlic 
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• Lemon pepper and basil, salt to taste
• Fresh basil for serving
• Red pepper flakes for serving
• Baguette of bread for serving
• Pasta of your choice. I like ziti. (Check for egg ingredients and get a pasta without egg) and I hate penne. Angel hair is my kids' favorite, but that's so much messier. 

Sauté onions, mushrooms, and garlic, add spices to this sauté. Take this off and pure in the blender. Then add tomato sauce and cashew butter and simmer for 3 hours.  Add zucchini, spinach leaves, tomato halves, and squash and lemon juice 1 hour before serving.  Boil and prepare noodles just before serving. 

See easy. The cashew butter and mushrooms add protein and makes the sauce creamier. It's like salad and pasta all in one bowl. If your kids won't eat the other veggies, just puree these too.  My kids love this more when I bake it with ricotta, but Lent and all so no cheese. The bread makes up for it and we have a good bakery up the road. Sometimes I take garlic and pureed onion, mash it with red pepper flakes as a spread for the bread. 

Save some of the seasoning back for adjusting the flavor of the sauce before serving. I hold back all salt and let people salt their own since I can't have salt anymore. It works, but takes some getting used to. The lemon offsets the lack of salt for me. 

I have sometimes made this sauce and served it as a soup with the bread. Double duty.

Let me know what you think! I'll add pictures next week, but if you make this, upload a picture to the comments. 

Good eating, y'all! -Danelle