Meatless Fridays: What to Serve Your Family During Lent Besides Fish

It's that time of year again. Lent. The forty day season before Easter that is special and sacred to many Christians, especially Catholics. Lent is also a time for fasting. On Fridays during the Lenten season, Catholics abstain from eating meat.

Growing up Catholic, I noticed that not eating meat on Fridays during Lent means that you'll be eating fish instead. Churches hold fish fry get-togethers, the sign in front of McDonald's advertises a special on Filet-o-Fish. But what if you don't like fish? Or you want a change. Or your budget simply does not allow you to buy fish--it's not cheap! Whatever the case, if you're looking for an alternative to feeding your family fish during Lent, then here are a few suggestions.

1. Vegetarian chili

Chili often has ground beef or turkey mixed in with a tomato sauce base and kidney beans, but this isn't a requirement. You can make a yummy, filling chili by substituting different varieties of beans for the ground meat. In addition to your staple kidney beans, throw in a can of Great Northern Beans or black beans. To add more fiber, chop up some celery. Experiment with what your family likes; maybe chop up some carrot or even add diced potatoes.

2. Breakfast for dinner

Even though I am now an adult, I still find the idea of having breakfast foods for dinner to be a fun one. This doesn't have to be a bowl of cold cereal either. You can scramble up some eggs or even make cheese omelets. Whip up some pancakes or waffles and serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream on top. Stuff French toast with jelly or fruit spread and serve with a side of hash browns.

3. Go south of the border

Mexican food is super easy to turn meatless. Make a build-your own-taco bar. Set out items like flour or corn tortillas or tortilla chips, beans, rice, guacamole, cheese, salsa, and sour cream and have everyone create their own tacos or burritos. Another option for vegetarian Mexican cuisine is to make cheese quesadillas. This is very quick to do and would be perfect for an on-the-go Friday lunch. Take a flour tortilla and sprinkle shredded taco or cheddar cheese on top of it. Put it in a pan on the stove on medium-high heat. Allow the cheese to melt slightly and then put another tortilla on top of it. Flip over, allowing both sides to brown before removing from the heat. Take a big bite of that gooey cheese! Yum!

4. Think Italian

Any kind of pasta is great for Fridays in Lent as well. You can serve spaghetti with mushrooms and marinara sauce, or cheese or spinach stuffed ravioli. If you need a lunch to bring to work and are in the mood for Italian, go to the freezer section of your grocery store and pick up the Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli meal. 100% meatless, something unique and delicious, and only 350 calories! See http://www.leancuisine.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=10729 for more details.

5. Salad and baked potato bar

Create a buffet at your kitchen table! Again, as we did with the taco bar, set out all the fixings. Make a green salad, and cook some baked potatoes ahead of time. Then get out some dressings, veggies, croutons, nuts, and other toppings for the salad. For the baked potatoes, some delicious toppings could be salsa, guacamole, sour cream, butter, broccoli, cheese, chives and parsley. Every one gets to make their own, which will please the little ones.

6. Soup, pot luck style

Finally, here is one that is perfect If you're entertaining on a Friday during Lent. Tell everyone to bring a crock pot full of their favorite soup--meatless of course. Add fresh bread and butter, and allow everyone to try as many varieties of soup as they'd like. There's tomato soup, broccoli and cheese soup, cream of onion soup, vegetarian vegetable, cream of potato, cabbage soup, and even clam chowder! You can also bring a vegetarian chili if desired (see #1).

Hope these ideas allow you to have a fun and delicious Lenten season.