Vegan For Lent: Week Two

For lunch the other day, I prepared a breakfast bagel sandwich. Scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and four slices of maple bacon. I got through half of it before I realized, "Oh crap! This isn't vegan! And James is gonna know because he'll smell the bacon!"

And then I woke up.

Yep. Those are the kind of dreams I'm having these days. I always wake up with a chuckle.

Week two has included some superb food. James and I had a Groupon to Little India that expired last weekend. So, you know, we simply HAD to get away for dinner to use it before we wasted $20. I was skeptical, having only ever ordered chicken vindaloo when eating Indian (except when in India, of course). I wasn't super excited about what I feared would amount to stir-fried veggies in some tasteless sauce. (How I got to this conclusion, I have no idea. It can't possibly be based on any reality actually involving Indian food that I've experienced up to this point.) What we ate was, simply put, one of the best meals I have had in a long time- vegan or no. We ordered a chickpea masala and another dish that featured mushrooms, lentils, peas and a divinely inspired spicy sauce. The naan at this particular Indian restaurant had egg in it, and I was heartbroken. That is, until James introduced me to Puri. For my New Mexican friends, puri is akin to indian fry bread, only in smaller portions. So we mopped up every last bit of sauce-y deliciousness with deep fried, glorious bread.

I also happened to make the best pancakes AND the best banana bread that I've ever made this past weekend. If you know me, you know I'm not a good baker. I'm terrible at following directions. So this was really no small feat. I'm posting the banana bread recipe below.

So, any significant revelations? Nah. But we're eating well, and enjoying it for sure.

Rachael's Vegan Banana Bread (1 loaf)
(adapted from her mother's delicious recipe)
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. Earth Balance butter
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 super-ripe, mashed up bananas
3 TBS non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
semi-sweet chocolate chips, if desired

Preheat to 350*. Cream sugar, butter & vinegar together. Add bananas and milk, and stir until well blended. Add baking soda, baking powder and flour. Stir until completely combined. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 45min to 1 hour.

Vegan For Lent: Week One

It's funny how we venture just a few steps at a time, and after a few years, realize how far down a path we've come that we never intended to go. This is certainly the case for me with food. I would have never thought that I would even consider eating a vegan diet for six weeks. Anyone who knows me would know that my love for cheese would have surely trumped that idea. It's interesting how it's usually the small steps that take us the farthest. 

In this case, I'm not sure exactly where I am headed. Looking at it from the outside, it seems a very strange thing to me to look at food as a potential source for spirituality. And that source having less to do with exactly what I eat than simply the thoughtfulness behind it. As I get older, though, I find that it's increasingly important for me to see an integration among the daily activities within my life. I don't really have time for superfluous- I'd rather expend my energy doing things that are integrated within the values I hold in life. I think about this a lot when it comes to how I parent my kids, or the kind of wife I try to be. I think about it with my job. Those are the biggies, of course, but that intentionality is starting to trickle in to some of the other daily, but less obvious activities of life. Activities such as eating. Exercising. Practicing hospitality. 

I'm not interested in spiritualizing something, simply for the sake of it. I've been around those sorts of folks who insist on placing a sort of "godliness" about everything they do... and I guess if that leads them to a place of gratitude, so be it. I'm simply trying to understand the inherent interconnectedness within what we do with our bodies, our emotions, our intellect, and our soul. It's no secret that sex, for example, isn't simply a physical act which doesn't impact the other areas of our being. And so I wonder, does the same go for the way we eat? 

I didn't begin a vegan diet because I believe that to tap into the spirituality of eating requires a moral stance on the content of our plate. I truthfully began it because a good friend suggested it. And when she suggested it, she put it in the context of being conscious of what we are preparing, and enjoying the abundance of great flavors the earth has to offer. So for me, Vegan For Lent isn't about deprivation or fasting. I'm certainly not approaching it as such. God knows this week I've enjoyed the silkiness of avocados, the sweetness of slowly roasted bell peppers and the satisfying earthiness of portobello mushrooms. I'm simply looking to prepare our meals thoughtfully, and wondering aloud how what I eat impacts all the layers of Me. 

That... was not good.

Ever have one of those meals when you sit, post-mastication, wondering what in the hell just happened? I mean... how could you go wrong? Mushroom ragu (with real cream and parmesan cheese)? GOOD. Fresh spinach? GOOD. Polenta? GOOOOD. But somewhere in the mix, something went horribly array. It's a damn shame, too, considering all the calories. Sigh. Oh well.

On a different note, my friend Joy (who I swear I am not stalking, though I do reference her a whole lot) is introducing Vegan For Lent as a spiritual practice this year. Eating a plant-based diet as part of a lenten practice is a historical tradition starting back a few centuries after the time of Jesus. Here's a snippet of her Vegan For Lent guide, which will be downloadable at www.highlandschurchdenver.org after Sunday, March 06. Included are nutrition guidelines, Denver-area restaurants, food substitutions and over 40 recipes.

Room at the Table

The idea of abstinence is not based on what is lacking, but on what fills the space.  When we remove things from our lives, it creates room for whatever we choose. And when we abstain from elements of our meals, we create room for God at the table.

How many meals are eaten in a blur of activity, in the quick pause of a lunch break, or as we rush off to the next activity? These practices are far removed from the feasts of the Hebrew Bible or the table fellowship of Jesus’ time. It’s no wonder we seldom consider where our food came from, or what effects our food choices might have. Use this time not only to enjoy meals and those we share them with, but also to consider with an open mind what we are consuming, and to do so mindfully.

Simple Abundance

A diet based solely on plants might appear very austere at first glance, but consider the abundance found in nature and in the plant world. Think of a perfect plum, a garden-ripe heirloom tomato, or a rich, fatty avocado. These are the foods first given to humanity to eat, and they represent a simplicity we don’t often experience.

Jesus’ time in the desert was not about deprivation, but transformation. Likewise, this Lenten practice is not based on deprivation, but on the transformation that can occur when we find abundance in the midst of simplicity. Eating vegan creates the space for us to discover it. God is in the simplicity. God is in the abundance.

James and I will be doing this for Lent this year. If any of you are interested and want to dialogue about your experience, please let me know. We don't have any intention to permanently venture into vegan-dome, but at least for me, I just intend to enjoy the food provided by the earth. I hope to challenge my creativity in preparing meals without cheese (my staple and thigh-unfriendly ingredient). And I hope that in the process, I'll experience GOD in a new way. 

For any questions you might have in entering this journey, you can email Joy at veganforlent@yahoo.com.