Nutrition calendar for the days of Great Lent in 2023

Lent is the strictest. In 2023, it starts on Monday, February 27th and ends on Saturday, April 15th. For seven weeks, until Easter itself, believers are advised to abstain from food containing meat, fish, milk and eggs. The exceptions are small children, pregnant women, wandering travelers and the sick.

Lent begins seven weeks before Easter. It consists of Forty days – 40 days – and Holy Week – the week before Easter itself. Forty days was established in honor of the forty-day fast of the Savior, and Holy Week – in memory of the last days of earthly life, suffering, death and burial of Christ. The total duration of Great Lent, together with Holy Week, is 48 days.

The church charter prescribes the following rules:

• in the first and last (Holy Week) weeks – a particularly strict fast;
• it is completely forbidden to eat – products of animal origin;
• on weekdays they eat once a day, in the evening; on Saturdays and Sundays twice – at lunchtime and in the evening;
• on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – cold food without oil;
• on Tuesdays and Thursdays – hot food without oil;
• on Saturdays and Sundays, you can use vegetable oil and, if desired, a little grape wine (except for the Saturday of Holy Week);
• on Great Saturday, many believers also do not eat until Easter.

Only clergymen, monks and novices are obliged to strictly follow the church charter. If you are an ordinary person who goes to work five days a week, stands at the machine, works as a teacher, and so on, then you do not have to sit on bread and water on particularly strict days. You just need to stick to the lean menu. And don’t sin. After all, the main thing in fasting is not the rejection of meat, but the purification of the mind and thoughts.

Meals for Lent

Green toast with avocado

Delicious and nutritious, avocado is a great fasting food. Fortunately, this overseas comrade has ceased to be a rarity with us. At reasonable prices – from 30 to 50 rubles apiece – often found in all economy class stores

First of all, let’s toast the toast. In the meantime, they reach the condition, we are engaged in avocados. First, cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Remove the skin and transfer the pulp to a blender. There, to the pulp, add finely chopped onion, cilantro, lemon juice, pepper and salt. Blend everything into puree. Spread avocado paste over warm toast. The dish is ready!

Carp with apples and tarragon

Fish and apples – this combination is shocking only at first. They can be prepared tasty and easy.

Salt the gutted fish and leave it alone for 20 minutes. While the fish is salting, we are engaged in the filling: we peel apples, lemon and onions. Then we cut everything into equal small cubes. Grind the tarragon.

Rub the belly of the carp from the inside with pepper and stuff with a mixture of lemon, apples, onions and tarragon. For fidelity, the abdomen can be chipped with a toothpick in several places. We transfer the prepared carp to a baking sleeve and cook in an oven preheated to 180 ° C with the calculation: 50 minutes of cooking per kilogram of fish.

Beet salad with ginger

It seems that there is such a limited number of products in the post that there is nothing to eat. But remember the music – after all, there are also only seven notes, and how many different melodies!

We start preparing this salad with celery: we wash the petioles, dry them and cut them into thin rings. Then we transfer it to a separate bowl, add a little salt and knead with our hands so that the pieces of celery give juice and become softer. In this “pressed down” state, we will leave them for a couple of minutes while we work on other ingredients.

The next step is refueling. She does not interfere with standing before use. So we combine finely grated garlic, grated fresh ginger, lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper. We shake it all up and let it brew in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes.

We clean and rub the beets and carrots. All that is left is to combine them with celery and season with garlic-ginger sauce.

Calamari in tomato sauce

For sauce

We first wash the squid carcasses in cold water and remove the insides. Then we lower it into boiling water for 1-2 minutes and immediately take it out. Rinse again in cold water, wash off the upper dark film.

We rub the carrots on a coarse grater. Finely chop the onion. Simmer carrots with onions in vegetable oil until soft.

Boil rice until cooked and combine with stewed carrots. Salt and pepper to taste. We stuff squid carcasses with this stuffing.

Preparing tomato sauce. Dip the tomatoes for half a minute in boiling water, then immediately transfer to cold water. We take off the skin. Finely chop the pulp. In a heated pan with vegetable oil, lower the garlic cut into halves. Fry it until golden brown and remove. We shift the tomatoes into the resulting garlic oil and simmer over low heat until the vegetables turn into a puree.

Dilute tomato puree with boiled water (vegetable broth) and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Salt, pepper.

We put the stuffed squids in a saucepan with tomato sauce and simmer for no more than 2-3 minutes, sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Peasant snack

For marinade

Marinade: add all the indicated spices to the water, except for the essence, and boil for 2 minutes. Then, in the boiling marinade, lower the chopped pumpkin, broccoli and Brussels sprouts for 2-3 minutes. Then remove from heat, pour in vinegar essence, cover with a lid and cool.

Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Fill with vegetable oil. Finely chop the garlic with a knife and sprinkle it on top of the potatoes. Drain the prepared vegetables in a colander and serve with boiled potatoes.