On Friday a lot of people were grumbling about not being able to eat meat – Lent has arrived!
In the Catholic Church, we abstain from eating meat on Fridays during the 40 days of Lent.
As a kid, this was so hard as we ate meat just about every day of the week. Come Friday and we all were complaining about having nothing left to eat!
Now we’re a family living a healthy gluten-free life, and we don’t eat meat every day. Yet Friday arrived and many were upset we couldn’t eat meat.
The funny thing is that we eat lentil stew, quinoa with roasted veggies or veggie stir fry for dinner all week. No meat! Yet, Fridays arrive during Lent and we suddenly feel like we are giving up a lot. Which of course we are supposed to be, right?
According to Bulldogcatholic.org, in the article, “Why Don’t Catholics Eat Meat During lent?”, Father Mike Schmitz stated that “meat was singled out because it is associated with celebrations and feasts.” He went on to say, “This is simply a discipline of the church . . . the heart of holiness is love, and the way we express our love is through obedience. Abstaining from meat won’t make you closer to God. But having a posture of obedience to the Church that Christ established will. This happens to be what the church asks us to do.”
If you are feeling overwhelmed by figuring out what to eat during this season of Lent for your meatless Fridays, there’s plenty of options.
Of course, many vegetarian or vegan dishes would work for gluten-free living. But, if you are not following that way of life, or understand it, you may still be confused. No worries!
Here’s a list of some of our favorite
meatless meals you can try out:
Bean Burgers
Tacos made with beans instead of meat
Veggie Stir Fry
Baked Sweet Potato filled with sautéed kale and onions
Roasted Veggies over brown Rice or Quinoa
“Cheesy Rice” with a side salad (recipe coming!)
Our Delicious Homemade Mac & Cheese Tuna Casserole
Large Salad filled with all of your favorite veggies, avocado and olives
Quinoa Salad
It is not really all that hard to come up with many dishes you can make meatless.
Beans and veggies can really replace any meat dish. You may be surprised at how veggies can fill you up, and be satisfying.
Taking meat out of your meal can even save you money on groceries.
As you continue through Lent, try some new recipes and see how you can then incorporate a meatless meal in your weekly routine going forward. It’s a healthy step in your gluten-free life.
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