Friday Coffeehouse is usually a bit more books-music-culture oriented, but as I'm getting more and more out-of-commission here as my belly grows and I go more overdue, this week for our Friday Coffeehouse post I will throw out there some thoughts on the Friday spirit of Lent.

Cooking for the family can be hard when the children are not called to fast or when you are pregnant/nursing. We need food all the time... the welfare of our families and bodies depend on food. We have a very physical calling and need to be healthy. We need sustinence. We need calories. We need food!! But what we can do is, as Ellie said in her Making Do lenten-post recently, try to take the focus off of food a bit more. We can simplify the meals and make them more plain. I don't know about many of you, but we don't neccesarily need meat in this family to enjoy food. In general, we can't even afford meat most of the time and eat a mostly vegetarian cuisine. I absolutely love cooking and can make a really delicious meal without any meat. So for me, abstaining from meat during Lent (or even just on Wednesdays and Fridays) is not much of a sacrifice. What IS a sacrifice, though, is to have plain old beans and rice without salsa and sour cream... or plain old lettuce without salad dressing. The hardest for me? Switching to black coffee or having no milk in my black tea. Am I making the latter sacrifice this year? No. You can't give up everything! ;) What may be some good ideas for our everyday food consumption in general, though, would be to:
eliminate condiments...such as salsa on the burrito, syrup on the pancakes, cheese on the chili, jam on toast...you get the idea. The hardest is no salt and pepper!! ;)
simplify the flavor... take the yummy taste out of the food, ie not as much spice/herb seasoning...
switch to honey: replace the syrup on pancakes and sugar on cereal/oatmeal to honey! This isn't as sweet, and keeps it eat-able.
no salty or sugary snacks: instead of putting out the chips and salsa, put out the plain vegggies, nuts, raisins, seeds.
no added sweeteners in the everyday essentials: plain toast, or olive oil insead of butter; plain tea and coffee, with no added sweeteners or creamers.
plain old water: try to drink more water, less yummy juices.
whole wheat bread: many people prefer white to whole wheat, thus this is a good sacrifice to make.