Daniel Fast

When John got hired at our new Church, we found out that all the Life Church staff was starting the year off with a fast. For those of you not familiar with fasting, it's basically sacrificing or giving up something, and spending more time in prayer & reading God's word.

So, we are doing what's called The Daniel Fast. It's taken from a fast that Daniel did in the Bible. It's basically giving up all meat, dairy & animal products, white flour & white rice, sugar, etc. You can eat any & all fruits, Vegetables, whole grains & whole wheat, brown rice, nuts & seeds, beans, oils, etc. The meat is not a big deal for me. Cheese & butter are!

During this time we are also reading a chapter of the book of John every day. It is a 21 day fast, and there are 21 chapters in John. And we are praying each day for specific things for our Church, the Church staff, and the needs of people.

So, I thought I'd share some of our ideas and the recipes we find that we like here on the Blog. My Man eating husband had Tofu for the first time yesterday! And said it's actually not too bad. We are not making our kids eat this way, growing kids need to drink their milk!

Today is the second day of our fast: Last night we had whole wheat pasta in a tomato sauce & peas. (Lucky for us our kids love all vegetables, like we do.) The kids did have the same meal last night. Tonight John (who you know is a wanna be Chef) found a recipe in a Daniel Fast cook book & modified it, like only he can. It was so good, I wanted to share it with all those of you who are doing the fast with us. It's also something we will definitely make again, even when we're not fasting. It is that good! I'll just give you the recipe first, then tell you how we did it.

Red Potato Casserole

Easy.
Mix everything in the same dish you will bake it in!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
4 cups peeled, cubed red potatoes
1 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
4 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups diced baked or firm tofu


Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish & mix well.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

So, what we did (and when I say we, I mean John!) since I don't like tomatoes, and he wasn't sure about a potato, tomato mix, we left out the tomatoes, and the tofu. But added Bell Peppers & Garlic. He used more olive oil and no water. The flavors and textures blended really well. It was delish! (He also made some Chicken tenderloins for the kids to go with it. But the Casserole itself was enough for us.) Let me know if you try it, and how you like it.

My goal through this whole thing is that I'm hoping through this fast that I will grow Spiritually, and will shrink Physically! ;)