Lenten Soup Suppers: Weeks 1 & 2

I was so wrapped up in ballet last week, I forgot to post our Lenten soup and bread suppers last week. Last year we began a new tradition of making a different vegetarian soup and homemade bread each Friday of Lent. Vegetarian soups are extremely inexpensive and usually quite simple, just perfect for Lent. We tried some wonderful recipes from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups and The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking.

This year I decided we should try some of the Lenten recipes from A Continual Feast. We've tried several of the recipes from this book throughout the liturgical year, and have yet to be disappointed. This book is a wonderful resource for observing everything from Lent to Advent, from Christmas to Easter, from Baptisms to The Feast of Pentecost. I highly recommend this book for any Catholic family.

For the first Friday of Lent, I made Greek Bean Soup from A Continual Feast and Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Bread from The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking. We thought both were absolutely wonderful. The Greek bean soup had so much flavor and it did not even call for a broth of any kind. It was incredibly simple and very easy to make. We will definitely make it again. The bread was also very good and hearty. Best of all, it made three loaves and the children were able to have the leftovers for breakfast this week.

Tonight we'll be having Cuban Black Bean Soup from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, and a Swedish Rye Bread from The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking. I'll post next week my thoughts on these two new recipes.

Hope you have having a holy and blessed Lent!