Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! I’m really glad you’re here!
Today, I’m sharing a recipe for red lentil soup for Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, Ash Wednesday is a day when Christians may avoid meat. This red lentil soup comes together quickly and easily and is tasty (and healthy!) as either a vegetarian or non-vegetarian option. It’s actually a riff on Stone Soup, which is kind of fun, especially since I only just published a recipe for Stone Soup a couple of weeks ago.
I hope you enjoyed the Fat Tuesday menu I shared in Monday’s post. After a feast like that, a slightly more restrained meal like this red lentil soup tastes good:
As we enter into the season of Lent, I am reminded that Lent is about introspection, reflection and some restraint. I rather like the introspection and reflection part. Some restraint is good, but I can only carry it so far. I once had an acquaintance “mansplain” the season of Lent to me as a time when we should be restrained in all things–our celebrations, our food, our clothes, our accessories. She explained that during Lent, we should eat simply, live simply, be frugal and wear subdued colors. Eat simply–ok–I can live with that. Live simply–check. Practice frugality–sounds good. But dress in subdued colors? This one threw me. My favorite color is orange–dressing in subdued colors just seems inauthentic to who I am. I’m not sure that’s what God wants of us.
Lent to me is not so much a time to give something up as it is a time to slow down and contemplate where we are and how we’re leading our lives. I shared in earlier posts that I’ve been clearing a lot of stuff out of my house in the last couple of months. This exercise felt very healing to me on many levels. I had become so overwhelmed by all my “stuff” that I couldn’t think straight, let alone clean my house. Clearing out my stuff felt cathartic and rejuvenating. And as I enter into the season of Lent, I feel like I now have some space carved out to be quiet, to listen, and contemplate my life and my choices. It has also shown me that now that I have more room to think, I’m not quite as eager to fill up those empty spaces, both mentally and physically; and it’s made me think about my purchases and activities more carefully–a very interesting side effect.
During Lent, I’ll be featuring vegetarian and pescatarian meals on Fridays, as well as for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On other days, I am going to try to feature recipes using “Biblical” foods, or foods that are found in the Bible, such as lentils, honey, breads, legumes, cumin, grains, lamb, olive oil and dairy, to name a few. My goal is to honor the traditional ingredients, but re-imagine them with new preparations and unexpected ingredients. We’ll see how it goes–I’m eager to begin my experimentations!
Tune in later in the week for more Lenten food.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
