Others call it Lent- I call it Fasting!
Once a year the idea of fasting occurs to me, my Yiayia (grandma) was adamant about fasting for Easter but she was a very religious rolly polly Greek lady.
My first attempt at fasting happened on year in High School... easy enough my mother was not much of a cook in the house, food was not a family event where we all had to be at the table for some well planned meal made with love and affection. It was cooking because we needed to eat, she did it with shrugging but when push came to shove we ate around 9 pm.
The last time I fasted was the year I got married, I would have fasted the year after my first was born but was quickly pregnant with my second. After that well as you all can see that I am trying to figure out where I had lost myself.
So what does a good Greek girl fast for Easter, I am meatless for 40 days (it actually is a bit more than that)-- others go meatless almost vegan. I will give up eggs, milk and cheese the next week! My older Greek family members make fasting the most unglamorous occasion in the world... a bunch of stews with beans, cold salads, a lot of pasta and potatoes.
I am fasting in the modern Greek girl way... I am the queen of the stir fry. Easy and simple a ton of vegetables, seafood for a great source of protein and some rice. I don't use soy sauce because it's so high in sodium and we have a huge family history of High Blood Pressure I have ZERO signs of it, but I have been salt free (personally salt free, I put a really tad of salt to salt my boiling water, my food for seasoning and I salt my french fries before I fry them because that was something I learnt to do when I was in Greece (try it, truly a much more flavored french fry)
So while the idea of fasting makes most young people cringe, others make excuses of why they can or cannot do it because they believe it will affect their diet to a point where they won't be able to find something to eat.
I engage you to fast for the cathartic and cleansing feeling you are without meats for so long! It really is enlightening... and chances you will lose a few pounds doing so!
My recipe is fairly simple, I like my garlic and my onions as much as you like it sauté it before you put in the veggies.
Now sauté the veggies! This time it was simple broccolli, zucchini and red pepper (colour people focus on great colour) anything GREEN, once the colour is more vivid it's cooked enough after that point you really are losing essential vitamins.
Add Shrimps... best kept secret don't care what anyone says. Mercury scares are in big fishes, your shrimp is truly an incredible source of protein and really low in calories. My almost 2 and 3 y.o. eat them without any problem.
Put this on a small portion of boiled rice and presto an easy dinner simple and fast--- this can be added to someone who wants to avoid a red meat dinner a week.
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