And, how is everyone doing? Honestly, we’re coming off a week of survival mode – all last week we were passing around a seemingly-un-pandemic-related stomach bug so I never got this post up for our Lenten Friday series.
Given everything going on in the world, sometimes plugging along with the Lenten Friday series as normal feels weird – after all, our diocese granted a dispensation from abstaining from meat on Fridays for the rest of Lent.
But, we’re all just pressing on and doing our best, aren’t we?
So in the spirit of pressing on, last week’s Lenten Friday becomes this week’s Meatless Monday – because I couldn’t hold onto these awesome vegetarian burgers any more.
Today is the halfway mark for my annual Meatless Lenten dinners series – I feel like this season has been flying. We’ve been so busy, and as we roll closer to spring, the family to-do list only seems to grow.
The whole thing is making me really glad that all of this year’s Lenten dinners are make-ahead friendly.
Today is Good Friday and the last installment of the Lenten dinner series for the year. And I saved the best for last.
One of our local pizza places makes a salad pizza – it’s basically a warm crust with a garden salad on top and it’s amazing. This is pretty much the Greek salad version of that. There’s something amazing about the contrast of the warm, melt-y feta against the cold crunch of the vegetables. Seriously, if you don’t already have dinner plans, you need to make this tonight.
In the interest of speeding things up (because I have zero patience on Friday nights), I used a pre-made pizza crust for this. You could also use your favorite pizza dough and just bake until the dough is golden brown – probably a few extra minutes.
Greek Pizza (slightly adapted from Cooking Classy) Makes 1 pizza
1 prepared pizza crust
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
4 oz. feta, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Whisk together the olive oil and garlic and brush over the prepared crush. Sprinkle the crust evenly with oregano, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Top evenly with mozzarella and then feta.
Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is golden. Immediately top with red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, olives, onion, and parsley and serve.
You know what’s tricky about Lenten Fridays with a toddler? Lunch.
He is, in general, really good about eating whatever we’re eating for dinner. I’m one of those mean moms with an “eat it or go hungry” policy. But, lunch is another story. I usually let him pick his own lunch and that means we have a healthy rotation of dinosaur chicken nuggets and cold cuts. So far, Lenten Friday lunches have meant PB&J. For both of us.
I wasn’t sure how this would go over, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. Jake ate half of his quesadilla before declaring he didn’t like it and requesting something else. Half of a spinach-filled, whole wheat wrap? I’ll take it.
And, I loved these so I was happy to steal the rest of his. Serve with tzatziki or sour cream for dipping. We added some olives on the side for a light lunch. If this was dinner, I would have opted for a Greek salad or hummus and veggies to round out the meal!
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup diced white onion
1 clove garlic
7 cups baby spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 egg
1/4 cup feta crumbles
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
4 flour tortillas
In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the olive oil. Add in the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add in the garlic and spinach and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until spinach is cooked down a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to a bowl and pop it in the fridge.
In a bowl, mix together the egg, feta, Parmesan, and dill until thoroughly combined.
When the spinach mixture is cool enough to handle, squeeze out any remaining liquid and add the spinach to the cheese mixture. Combine well.
Divide the mixture evenly between 4 tortillas. Fold each in half and fry over low heat for 6-8 minutes, flipping halfway.
