The Great Lent has began, thus many of you are preparing more meatless meals, during this time, than any other time of the year, and searching for new recipes.

If you are not used to meatless cooking, it could be quite challenging to figure out what to cook.

I used to be in that predicament in my early cooking years, but by now I would easily become a vegetarian, if only the rest of my family developed the same taste for meatless dishes.

To simplify your search for the meatless recipes I have posted so far, please click on the provided links below, or search my “Meatless Dishes” category.

Homemade Varenyky/Pierogi – Recipe & Technique

Whole Wheat Varenyky(Pierogi) – Recipe

Potato Dumplings (Palushky)

Sweet Potato (Palushky) Gnocchi – Recipe

Steamed Fruit Dumplings – Recipe and Technique

Halushky (Ha-loosh-ky) – Vegetarian Recipe

Pasta with Portobello Mushrooms and Sauce – Quick and Inexpensive Meal

Pasta With Stir-Fry Veggies – Vegetarian Recipe

Cabbage Rolls – Vegetarian Recipe & Technique

Fruit Filled Crepes

Pan Apple Fritters (Ratsushki)- Recipe

Tuna Melts – Recipe

Broiled/Grilled Salmon – Recipe

Veggie Burger – Recipe

Tomato Soup – Recipe

Ukrainian Christmas Borscht with Vushka – Recipe

This should give you an easy access to these recipes, and a good start for meatless cooking.

If you are not following the Great Lent, but love meatless dishes, enjoy these recipes.

Please share your comments.

photo credit: sweetonveg

The Great Lent began about two weeks ago, which means that those who follow this tradition, abstain from eating meat at least on Friday of every week, or some even do it on Wednesdays as well.

If you are like me, and are used to having meat at least once or twice per day, preparing meatless meals a couple of times per week might create a challenge.  I used to really stress out about this during my early years of cooking, but after a while I built quite a long list of meatless meal choices, and could easily be a vegetarian, if I could only win my family over to that eating style.

I have been posting some of my  meatless recipes during this past year, so if you are searching for ideas, here are the links to these posts:

Palushky (Potato Dumplings)

Halushky (Pasta with cabbage)

Vegetarian Holubtsi (Cabbage Rolls)

Varenyky (Pierogies)

Homemade Pasta (in the lower section of the linked post)

Crepes

Tuna Melts

Veggie Burgers

Tomato Soup

Red Beet Soup

Sorrel Borsch

If you are interested in a rather quick meal, there is always Macaroni and Cheese (you can add in some steamed broccoli, or any other of your favorite vegetables), Tuna Fish Salad, Egg Salad, Shrimp Scampi, any other fish which may be fried or broiled, pasta with steamed veggies, pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, PBJ, etc.

With so many different choices, the few meatless days during the 40 days of lent, pass by so quickly, that before you know it, you are back to the old meat cooking routine.

Sometimes  I actually miss a meatless meal, so I whip one up for a change, just to add a new twist to my meal planning.

As always, please share your favorite meatless meal idea with all of us.

What do you do with all those ripe tomatoes you have just picked off from your garden, or bought at a farmer’s market?  You can share them with your neighbors, if they don’t grow their own, and if you are certain that they like tomatoes and are not allergic to them.   If you decide to keep them, but you really do not want to spend lots of time in the kitchen, by making home made tomato sauce, you can turn them into a very fast and easy, yet very tasty tomato soup.

It really does not take much time, especially if you use ready made soup stock.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 8-10 medium/large tomatoes
• 1 Tbs. fresh Basil leaves, chopped
• 1 quart chicken, or vegetable broth
• 2 Tbs. tomato paste (if needed for added color/flavor)
• 1 Tbs. all purpose flour, or corn starch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. sugar (optional)
• Dill weed, chopped (for garnish)
• Maggie Seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add chopped onions.
2. Saute until golden, add chopped celery, and shredded carrot, and sauté 3 minutes longer.
3. Heat the vegetable or chicken stock in a large pot, add the sauted vegetables to the stock.
4. Add the cored, and quartered tomatoes, and bring to boil.
5. Cook for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes and vegetables are tender.
6. Pour through a sieve, and mash,the vegetables with a spoon, for few minutes , applying pressure against the bottom and sides of the sieve.
7. Discard the remaining tomato skins and seeds left in the sieve.
8. Mix the tomato paste with some of the soup stock and return to pot.
9. Mix ½ of the heavy cream with 1 Tbs. of all purpose flour, into a smooth paste (no lumps).
10. Mix in a couple of Tbs. of the soup stock into this mixture, mix in the remaining heavy cream.
11. Pour into the soup pot, add a tsp. of sugar if the taste is too tangy, and bring to boil.
12. Add chopped basil.

You may serve it plain, garnished with chopped dill weed, or with rice or pasta.  Sometimes I make my own pasta, when I miss my mom’s home cooking.

Tip: You can peel the tomatoes before adding to the soup stock, by making a small ‘X’ on the bottom, and dunking them in boiling hot water for 15-30 seconds. The skin should slip off easily (it really works….I tried it).  You will still need to pour the soup through a sieve to remove any seeds and other chunky vegetables, or puree it in a blender and pour through a sieve, then bring to boil once more.

If you like a thicker, more textured  soup, you need more tomatoes.  I like my tomato soup on a thinner side, since I serve it with pasta.  My mom used to make her own chicken broth by cooking chicken wings and backs, and used more heavy cream, which made the soup much higher in calories, but real delicious and creamy.