Christmas post: the best Lenten recipes with photos. Excellent menu for the Christmas fast with photo recipes for every day

Throughout the year, Christians fast on four multi-day fasts. And one of the easiest fasts for believers is the Nativity Fast 2018. A menu for every day can be created for it without any problems, because at this time you can eat almost everything with rare exceptions.

Prohibited and permitted foods during the Nativity Fast

Before compiling a daily menu, you need to determine for yourself what is allowed to eat during the Nativity Fast and what is not allowed. And we will start with foods that are strictly forbidden to eat. These include poultry and animal meat, all meat products(lard, sausages, frankfurters), milk, fermented milk products, butter, baked goods, sweets, alcoholic drinks and eggs. And it’s not even worth listing the dishes prohibited during fasting before Christmas, because they include all those dishes that contain foods that cannot be consumed by those who are fasting.

When coming up with a menu for each day for the Christmas fast, you also need to focus on those products that are allowed on one day, but prohibited on another. These products include fish, fish dishes, red and black caviar and seafood, which can be consumed on Tuesday, Thursday and weekends, but only until January 1. You can also eat fish and dishes made from it during church holidays. And also on church holidays and on weekends you are allowed to drink wine or oil, but only in very small quantities, because the main thing in fasting is moderation in everything. And those with a sweet tooth can sometimes indulge themselves

But there are a whole bunch of permitted foods for fasting before Christmas. At this time, you can eat all existing vegetables and fruits, cereals and legumes, corn, herbs and spices, mushrooms and herbs, flour products, but not baked goods, seeds and nuts. Yes, and you are allowed to drink any drinks - even tea, even coffee, the main thing is not to add cream and milk to it, plus you can drink fruit drinks, compotes, juices and jelly without restrictions. In addition, sweets are also not completely excluded from this post, because instead of sweets, cakes and ice cream, you can eat raisins, dried fruits, dark chocolate, marmalade and honey.

Sample menu for every day for a week

First day

Breakfast. Buckwheat with beans in tomato. Pickled vegetables, tea or coffee without milk.
Dinner. Any lean vegetable soup, for example, vegetable salad. Berry jelly.
Afternoon snack. Freshly squeezed juice.
Dinner. Rice porridge with lean fish. Vegetable salad. Cocoa prepared with water.

Second day

Breakfast. Toasts with tofu cheese and vegetables. Tea or coffee without milk.
Dinner. Potatoes baked in their jackets. Vegetable salad.
Afternoon snack. Vegetable salad.
Dinner. or other lean vegetable cutlets.

Third day

Fourth day

Breakfast. Oatmeal with water and fruit. Berry compote.
Dinner. , vegetable salad.
Afternoon snack. Berry jelly.
Dinner. .

Fifth day

Breakfast. Lenten pancakes.
Dinner. Lenten borscht with beans and mushrooms.
Afternoon snack. A piece.
Dinner.

Sixth day

Eating delicious food during the Nativity fast

But in order for the foods that fasting people are allowed to eat before Christmas, together they make up a very tasty and healthy food, needs to be carefully reconsidered various recipes for the Nativity Fast 2018 and choose from them those that appeal to you the most. Moreover, there are a lot of such recipes!

Those who are fasting can eat it as a side dish delicious porridge, seasoned with vegetable oil, to which you can constantly add various spices and seasonings so that each time the taste of the porridge is so different from the previous one. Yes, and you can make a lot of lean dishes from potatoes - you can cook potatoes in their jackets, boiled potatoes, potatoes tomato sauce or mustard sauce. You can also cook delicious ones. There are also practically no restrictions in the first courses: soups for every taste, lean borscht, cabbage soup from fresh or sauerkraut - all this can be cooked every day, the main thing is not to add meat or meat broth. And on days when fish is allowed, the first thing you can do is make a fragrant fish soup, which both children and adults love.

You can cook so much from vegetables delicious dishes, that even those who do not observe the Nativity Fast will envy their diversity. You can make salads from vegetables, prepare a tasty and nutritious vinaigrette, fry them in vegetable oil, eat canned vegetables, bake them in the oven, cook grilled vegetables, add various spices and sauces to vegetables. The variety of these dishes is simply off the charts - know, choose the most suitable recipe for yourself.

But not only first courses, side dishes, salads and drinks are allowed during the Advent Fast; read more about what you can eat. Of course, pies and dumplings made from lean dough, for which our national cuisine is so famous. Moreover, the filling in them can be very diverse - sweet from cherries, dried apricots, raisins, apples or plums, and sour or salty from mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes and turnips. And it will be useful for baking lovers.

According to the monastic charter, food during any of the multi-day fasts is quite simple, strict and limited. However, only church ministers need to adhere to such strict church order. It is clear that lay people should focus on their state of health and not allow Lenten dietary restrictions to somehow affect their life functions.

Therefore, you need to competently create a menu for the Nativity Fast. It’s best to develop your own Christmas Lent menu for every day, week by week, in order to eat tasty and healthy, feel a surge of strength and not harm your health with restrictions in what is already so difficult for the body winter period.

Lenten salad recipes

There must be salads on the table during the Advent Fast. These are those dish options that contain natural ingredients. Many interesting recipes In this regard, you can learn from vegetarian cuisine. If you come to a monastery during Lent and see what they serve in the dining room, you will definitely have questions about interesting ideas and for your Lenten table. In this material we present a couple of excellent recipes.

Beetroot with pineapple

To prepare this delicious lean salad you need 0.2 kg of canned pineapples, as well as two boiled beets, a tablespoon of sugar, a little lemon juice and two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Cores will also be required walnut, grind them.

The process of preparing the salad is quite simple: grate the beets on a coarse grater and chop the pineapples finely. Mix the ingredients, add nuts and sugar, sprinkle everything with lemon juice, season with vegetable oil. The salad perfectly serves as an independent dish, but can be an additional element in the Lenten menu.

With vegetables and corn

To prepare this lean salad, you should have on hand a tomato, carrot and bell pepper, one can of canned corn, as well as greens, a little lemon juice, vegetable oil, salt and pepper.

Preparation begins with grating the peeled carrots on a coarse grater. Cut the tomatoes into slices, cut the bell pepper into strips, and chop the greens. Mix all ingredients, add corn grains, lemon juice and vegetable oil, add salt and spices according at will, focusing on taste.

With mushrooms

It is worth remembering that mushrooms are excellent ingredients for Lenten dishes. This is a product plant origin, so you can eat mushrooms on any day of fasting. To prepare this salad you need 0.5 kg of marinated champignons, onions and two tomatoes, a can canned peas, vegetable oil and vinegar. Even more delicious.

Chop the onion into strips and cut the tomatoes into cubes. Chop the mushrooms and combine with the already prepared ingredients, add the squeezed peas. Salt the salad, adding spices at your discretion. Season with vegetable oil and vinegar, which are mixed separately in advance.

Lenten borscht recipes

With vegetables

No first course Lenten table doesn't work. Especially in winter, it is important to cook for yourself vegetable soups, which will strengthen your strength and give your stomach healthy hot food. The most healthy dish In this regard there will, of course, be borscht.

To prepare a delicious and satisfying vegetable borscht you need 0.3 kg of fresh cabbage and four potatoes, onions, carrots, two beets and a tablespoon tomato paste, three cloves of garlic and a bay leaf, vegetable oil, three and a half liters of water and herbs.

The preparation of borscht begins with thinly shredding the cabbage. Place the cabbage in a saucepan and add water. Place on medium heat and cook, covering with a lid. After the boiling point, reduce the heat to minimum. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Send the potatoes to the cabbage, add water to the top. Chop the onion into cubes and grate the carrots. Fry these two components in vegetable oil, then add tomato paste and, after a minute, add the mixture to the borscht.

Now peel the beets and grate them on a medium grater, add a third of the beets to the borscht, add seasonings and salt, garlic, and herbs. After this, send in the rest of the beets, mix everything and cook for another minute, remove from heat and let stand for a quarter of an hour under the lid, and then serve.

Advice! You can safely add other ingredients to this vegetable borscht. These are pitted prunes, grated celery root, greens, boiled beans.

With mushrooms

It’s clear that tasty and rich borscht can be prepared with mushrooms during Lent. For this dish you need 0.2 kg of mushrooms, beets and 0.4 kg of cabbage, three potatoes, an onion and a carrot, three liters of water, fresh tomato, herbs and spices.

After shredding the cabbage, place it in a saucepan, add diced potatoes and cover everything with water. Place on the fire and bring to a boil. Boil the whole mushrooms separately, strain the broth, and chop the boiled mushrooms themselves. Grate carrots and onions and fry in vegetable oil. Peel the beets and grate them on a fine grater, rub the peeled tomato through a sieve. Check out others delicious recipes.

Pour broth into cabbage and potatoes, add fried mushrooms, boiled mushrooms and half a beet. When the first dish comes to a boil, add salt and seasonings. At the end of cooking, add the second part of the beets and the already prepared tomato to the soup.

Lenten cookie recipes

Did you know that you can make delicious dessert cookies using any brine? During the Lenten period in winter, when fresh vegetables there are few stores in stores, packing for the winter is extremely popular, so many people still have the brine. To prepare such cookies, in addition to a liter of any brine, you also need three glasses of flour, a glass of sugar and a little baking powder, vegetable oil.

Sift the flour twice, add sugar and baking powder. Mix the brine separately with vegetable oil, then pour the mixture into the flour in a thin stream. Knead into a soft dough with your hands and leave for ten minutes, covered with a towel.

Roll out the cookie dough, cut out cookies using special shapes and place on a baking sheet, greased and sprinkled with flour. These Lenten cookies are baked for only 15 minutes at standard temperature. While still hot, sprinkle the cookies with sugar.

So, fasting during the Nativity Fast is as easy as shelling pears, the main thing is not to be lazy and show your culinary imagination, and then your menu during these 4 weeks will be nourishing and very appetizing.

For any true believer, it is important to follow the religious rules of cleansing the spirit and body. There are special days on which one fasts for the above purpose. The list of these includes the Nativity Fast 2016-2017 and the nutrition calendar below.

Number of days of holy abstinence in 2016?

The Christian Nativity Fast falls on November 28, the eve of the day of St. Philip the Apostle. Because of this, some people are accustomed to calling it the Fast of Philip, which is celebrated on the 27th, according to the new style. The Nativity Fast lasts for more than a month. It ends right before the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, which is celebrated on January 7th.
It is interesting that the fast under discussion has been observed for hundreds of years. It was first described in his works by Saint Ambrose of Mediodalan in the 4th century.

What to eat and what to pass by?

In addition to the Nativity Fast, there are a number of large fasts. The Great and Dormition fasts, according to many, are stricter than those under discussion. Dietary restrictions are different. For example, those who like to eat fried foods have special days, namely Tuesday, Thursday and weekends. Those who like to drink are only allowed to drink wine in limited quantities, and only on weekends. Meat products, dairy products and eggs are also prohibited. However, there are exceptions. Sick people and young children are allowed not to limit themselves so much if such nutrition is harmful to health.

“Fish diet” of Christmas abstinence 2016-2017

Fish products are allowed to be consumed on weekends or on Orthodox holidays, for example, the Entry into the Temple of the Virgin Mary, saints' days (if they fall on the second or fourth day of the week). The infirm and children can eat fish on almost all days (except Friday and Wednesday).

Take a look.

For Rozhdestvensky, in past centuries, the monks compiled a nutrition calendar for 2016-2017, which fully complies with all the provisions of the Christian Church and its traditions. The most important thing is not to allow yourself to forget about spiritual cleansing during the days of fasting, since such an exalted state will help you not to think about restrictions.

Advent fast 2016-2017, nutrition calendar by day

November 28, which falls on a Monday, marks the beginning of the Christmas holy abstinence. According to the monastic rules: hot dishes (vegetables and grains, fruits, fermented milk products) without the use of oil.
November 29, second day, Tuesday: it is permissible to eat fish, food (vegetables, fermented milk products, fruits and cereals) with added butter, wine.
November 30, Lenten Wednesday: food without oil.
December 1, the fourth day of fasting, falls on Thursday: cooked food with the addition (optional) of vegetable oil, fish products, a glass of wine.
December 2, strict Friday in all respects: dry eating.
December 3, Saturday: fish, and, in addition, food of plant origin with the addition of oil.
December 4, Holy Sunday: fish in honor holiday and plant-based foods with or without added oil.
December 5, 8th day of fasting: monastic laws allow only dry eating.
December 6, 9th day of fasting: fish and vegetable food with oil.
December 7, Wednesday: monastery laws only allow dry eating.
December 8, 11th day of fasting: cooked food with butter, fish is also eaten.
December 9, strict Friday: eating raw foods and cooked foods without oil.
December 10, Saturday: fish, boiled food with oil.
December 11, Sunday: fish products, preferably baked or boiled, wine, butter.
December 12, dry eating.
December 13, Tuesday: Day of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called - due to the holiday, some restrictions may be lifted. Therefore, you can eat fish, as well as food with added vegetable oil, and a little wine is allowed. Take a look.
December 14, 17th day, Wednesday: according to monastic rules: food prepared without the use of oil.
December 15, Thursday: food with butter, wine, fish allowed.
December 16, (19th day of fasting): according to monastic rules: food cooked without oil.
December 17, Saturday: it is permissible to eat fish and a little wine.
December 18, Holy Sunday: fish, food flavored with vegetable oil.
December 19, 22nd day, Monday: food with butter, fish products, wine - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker's Day.
December 20, 23rd day of fasting, Tuesday: cooked food with oil, wine.
December 21, 24-1 day, Wednesday: following the monastic charter, cooked food without oil.
December 22, day 25, Thursday: cooked food using vegetable oil.
December 23, 26-1 fast day, Friday: following the monastery rules, cooked food without adding oil.
December 24, 27th Saturday: fish and seafood available.
December 25, 28th day from the beginning of Lent, Sunday: it is permissible to eat fish, oil, wine.
December 26, day 29, Monday: food without oil.
December 27, day 30, Tuesday: foods with added oil.
December 28, day 31, Wednesday: foods without oil.
December 29, day 32, Thursday: products with added vegetable oil.
December 30, 33rd day, Friday: following the monastic charter, cooked food without adding oil.
December 31, 34th day, Saturday: fish products are allowed.
January 1, 35th day, Sunday: these days the main thing is not to succumb to the atmosphere and the temptation to taste what is prohibited by fasting. Put food on the table both for yourself and for people who do not fast.
January 1 - you can eat fish. Next begins the strictest part of Lent, until the Nativity of Christ, which occurs on January 7th.
January 2, 37th day, Monday: according to monastic rules: eating raw foods (vegetables, bread, fruits).
January 3, 38th day, Tuesday: according to the rules of the monastery charter: cooked food without oil.
January 4, day 39, Wednesday: according to monastic rules, eating fresh foods (fruits, vegetables and bread).
January 5, 40th, Thursday: according to monastic rules - cooked food without oil.
January 6, forty-first day, Friday, Christmas Eve is celebrated: dry food (fruits, vegetables, bread), in limited quantities.

In addition to the Nativity Fast, there are many others. The Great and Dormition fasts are considered the most strict. They differ significantly from the Nativity fast, even the dietary restrictions are different. The fact is that the monastery provides for many situations. For example, sick people and small children do not have to limit themselves too much if eating during fasting is harmful to health.

On the New Year's holiday, many people can see both lean and modest dishes on their tables. After all, on this day, not everyone can afford to limit themselves from delicious food and not everyone does not fast. What should be the menu for every day during the Nativity Fast? It can help when creating your own diet orthodox calendar. You can navigate exactly according to it, but choose dishes to your taste.

Approximate diet meals during the Nativity Fast for a week

1. On the first day you can eat fish, but not fatty fish. It is also allowed to include products of plant origin in the menu.

For first breakfast: buckwheat, beans in tomato, pickled tomatoes and tea.

For second breakfast: Between the first breakfast and lunch, you can eat one banana.

For lunch: cauliflower soup, salad with radish, seasoned sunflower oil and bread. As a drink, jelly made from strawberries or any berries is suitable.

Afternoon: a couple of hours after lunch you can drink 110 ml of carrot juice.

For dinner: boiled fish, sauerkraut, seasoned with oil and rice porridge. As for drinks, include water cocoa in your diet. In addition, coffee is taken throughout the day.

To add some spice to drinks, add a little cinnamon. In between meals, you can eat dried fruits, walnuts and apples.

2. On the second day, just like on the first, it is recommended to take plant foods with oil and lean fish.

For first breakfast: oatmeal cooked in water. You can sprinkle chopped nuts and poppy seeds on top of the porridge. Try it for dessert oatmeal cookies And strong tea with lemon.

For second breakfast: you can eat a sandwich with soy cheese and drink a mug of sweet coffee.

This sample menu for the week of Advent. You can create your own diet based on the Orthodox calendar.

It is very easy to remember what you can eat throughout the fast. You are allowed to eat foods of plant origin for 7 days, and on weekends you can eat lean fish and drink a little wine.

Try to develop your menu so that it includes variety of products nutrition. This is necessary due to the fact that throughout the entire fasting period there are restrictions on the consumption of meat and dairy ingredients. If the diet contains dishes of different variations, then throughout the entire period of Advent Lent the body will retain useful substances.

Simple and delicious recipes for Lenten dishes

Experts say that giving up meat dishes is good for you. human body. Many people make the mistake of eating Lenten baked goods. This dish is suitable for fasting week, but adds extra pounds. Flour products It is better to replace with fresh vegetables and fruits. To create your own diet, it is important to have several healthy recipes in your arsenal.

Cabbage cutlets

Ingredients:

White cabbage;
carrot;
potato;
bulb;
2 cloves of garlic;
salt and pepper to taste;
green.

Cooking:

Cut the cabbage into two halves and place in boiling salted water. Boil for 5 minutes and set aside from the stove. Cool the cabbage and cut into pieces. While excess water is draining from the cabbage, you need to peel and chop the onions, carrots and garlic.

Then pass all the ingredients through a meat grinder. Add flour and spices. Mix everything and leave for 10 minutes. Then you can shape and fry.

Oatmeal cutlets

Ingredients:

300 grams of rolled oats;
potatoes (1 pc);
onion (1 pc);
3 garlic cloves;
2 tablespoons potato starch;
salt and pepper to taste;
green.

Cooking:

Pour the flakes into a deep container and pour boiling water over it. Don't add too much water; just enough to cover the oatmeal will be enough. Cover the top of the bowl with a lid. Meanwhile, peel the onion. It needs to be crushed and added to the mixture. But some people prefer fried onions. That's possible too!
Prepare potatoes and garlic. Grate raw potatoes. Send the chopped onion and grated potatoes to the swollen oatmeal.

Be sure to add salt and pepper to the mixture to your taste. Greens and garlic are also sent here. At the very end, starch is added. Mix everything and form cutlets from the finished minced meat. Then all that remains is to fry them.

All these dishes are lean, so you can safely include them in your diet when creating your own menu for the week during the Nativity Fast.

Prohibited and permitted foods during the Nativity Fast

Before compiling a daily menu, you need to determine for yourself what is allowed to eat during the Nativity Fast and what is not allowed. And we will start with foods that are strictly forbidden to eat. These include poultry and animal meat, all meat products (lard, sausages, frankfurters), milk, fermented milk products, butter, baked goods, sweets, alcoholic beverages and eggs. And it’s not even worth listing the dishes prohibited during fasting before Christmas, because they include all those dishes that contain foods that cannot be consumed by those who are fasting.

When coming up with a menu for each day for the Christmas fast, you also need to focus on those products that are allowed on one day, but prohibited on another. These products include fish, fish dishes, red and black caviar and seafood, which can be consumed on Tuesday, Thursday and weekends, but only until January 1. You can also eat fish and dishes made from it during church holidays. And on church holidays and weekends you are allowed to drink wine or oil, but only in very small quantities, because the main thing in fasting is moderation in everything. And those with a sweet tooth can sometimes indulge themselves

But there are a whole bunch of permitted foods for fasting before Christmas. At this time, you can eat all existing vegetables and fruits, cereals and legumes, corn, herbs and spices, mushrooms and herbs, flour products, but not butter products, seeds and nuts. Yes, and you are allowed to drink any drinks - even tea, even coffee, the main thing is not to add cream and milk to it, plus you can drink fruit drinks, compotes, juices and jelly without restrictions. In addition, sweets are also not completely excluded from this post, because instead of sweets, cakes and ice cream, you can eat raisins, dried fruits, dark chocolate, marmalade and honey.

Sample menu for every day for a week

First day

Second day

Fourth day

Breakfast. Oatmeal with water and fruit. Berry compote.
Dinner. , vegetable salad.
Afternoon snack. Berry jelly.
Dinner. .

Fifth day

Breakfast. Lenten pancakes.
Dinner. Lenten borscht with beans and mushrooms.
Afternoon snack. A piece.
Dinner.

Sixth day

Eating delicious food during the Nativity fast

But in order for the foods that fasting people are allowed to eat before Christmas to form a very tasty and healthy meal, you need to carefully review the various recipes for the Nativity Fast 2018 and choose from them those that appeal to you the most. Moreover, there are a lot of such recipes!

Those who are fasting can have delicious porridges as a side dish, seasoned with vegetable oil, to which various spices and seasonings can be constantly added so that each time the taste of the porridge is so different from the previous one. And you can make a lot of lean dishes from potatoes - you can cook potatoes in their jackets, boiled potatoes, potatoes with tomato sauce or mustard sauce. You can also cook delicious ones. There are also practically no restrictions in the first courses: soups for every taste, lean borscht, cabbage soup from fresh or sauerkraut - all this can be cooked every day, the main thing is not to add meat or meat broth. And on days when fish is allowed, the first thing you can do is make a fragrant fish soup, which both children and adults love.

You can prepare so many delicious dishes from vegetables that even those who do not observe the Nativity Fast will envy their variety. You can make salads from vegetables, prepare a tasty and nutritious vinaigrette, fry them in vegetable oil, eat canned vegetables, bake them in the oven, cook grilled vegetables, add various spices and sauces to vegetables. The variety of these dishes is simply off the charts - know, choose the most suitable recipe for yourself.

Therefore, you need to competently create a menu for the Nativity Fast. It is best to develop your own Christmas fast menu for every day, week by week, in order to eat tasty and healthy, feel a surge of strength and not harm your health with restrictions during the winter period, which is so difficult for the body.

Lenten salad recipes

There must be salads on the table during the Advent Fast. These are those dish options that contain natural ingredients. Many interesting recipes in this regard can be gleaned from vegetarian dishes. If you come to a monastery during Lent and see what they serve in the dining room, you will definitely come up with interesting ideas for your Lent table. In this material we present a couple of excellent recipes.

Preparation begins with grating the peeled carrots on a coarse grater. Cut the tomatoes into slices, cut the bell pepper into strips, and chop the greens. Mix all the ingredients, add corn grains, lemon juice and vegetable oil, but add salt and spices as you wish, depending on the taste.

With mushrooms

It is worth remembering that mushrooms are excellent ingredients for Lenten dishes. This is a product of plant origin, so you can eat mushrooms on any day of fasting. To prepare this salad you need 0.5 kg of pickled champignons, onions and two tomatoes, a can of canned peas, vegetable oil and vinegar. Even more delicious.

Lenten borscht recipes

With vegetables

A Lenten table is not complete without a first course. Especially in winter, it is important to cook yourself vegetable soups, which will strengthen your strength and give your stomach healthy hot food. The most useful dish in this regard will, of course, be borscht.

To prepare a delicious and satisfying vegetable borscht you need 0.3 kg of fresh cabbage and four potatoes, onions, carrots, two beets and a tablespoon of tomato paste, three cloves of garlic and a bay leaf, vegetable oil, three and a half liters of water and herbs.

Advice! You can safely add other ingredients to this vegetable borscht. These are pitted prunes, grated celery root, greens, boiled beans.

Lenten cookie recipes

Did you know that you can make delicious dessert cookies using any brine? During the Lenten period in winter, when there are few fresh vegetables in stores, winter pickles are extremely popular, so many people end up with brine. To prepare such cookies, in addition to a liter of any brine, you also need three glasses of flour, a glass of sugar and a little baking powder, vegetable oil.

During this period, you cannot eat certain foods, so many are interested in the question of how to organize the menu so that it not only complies with all the rules of fasting, but is also complete for the body.

It is worth immediately noting here that even deeply religious people do not need to strictly observe fasting if they have health problems. The same applies to pregnant women and children.

Lenten pickle
Second courses

What not to eat during the Nativity Fast

Strict fasting lasts from November 28 to January 6. And in order to compose detailed menu During these long 40 days, we should consider in more detail the question of what you can eat and what you cannot eat.

Products that can be consumed in Lent, quite enough to support normal condition body, lead a normal lifestyle and even improve health. After all, it is on these days that you should not eat fatty, high-calorie foods, which are the most harmful to our bodies.

Meat;
eggs;
dairy products.

The latter include not only milk, kefir or sour cream, but also butter. That is why all dishes during Lent are prepared exclusively in vegetable oil.

It is also worth saying that the forty-day Nativity fast is considered strict, but in fact it is quite gentle, and this fact is connected precisely with its period. After all, it begins in late autumn, when the harvests of vegetables and grains have been collected from the fields, in the basements there is large number all kinds of conservation, and fishing time is in full swing.

But what can you eat during the Advent Fast? The list of these products significantly exceeds the number of components that cannot be eaten at this time.

Fish (except Wednesday and Friday)
cereals;
mushrooms;
legumes;
all types plant food(vegetables and fruits);
pickles;
sugar, salt, all kinds of seasonings.

If you want to adhere to the basic rules of fasting, then there are some restrictions regarding Friday and Wednesday. These are the days of dry eating. That is, they exclude eating oil and wine. In addition, you need to eat foods that are not subject to heat treatment.

This doesn't mean you only have to eat raw vegetables and fruits, any pickles will go into food. And, of course, on Wednesdays and Fridays, eating Lenten bread is not excluded. It can be white, gray or black.

Detailed menu for the week during the Nativity Fast

As noted earlier, the list of foods that can be consumed during the fasting period is quite extensive. Basically this is - herbal products and cereals. Garlic, cloves, red and black pepper can be used as seasonings.

But it is worth remembering that fasting is, first of all, aimed at cleansing and restoring the state of the soul and internal balance, which is achieved precisely by abstinence and restriction. Therefore, it is better to at least partially refuse to buy all kinds of exotic fruits and eat them daily.

The products should be as simple as possible, preferably those that grow in our fields and gardens, because for a long time during the Nativity fast the menu was based on fruits and vegetables that could be prepared independently for the winter and, thanks to them, be fully nourished throughout the cold season year.

So, the basis of the menu for the week can be the following dishes:

1. Monday: hot food based on plant products without oil.

2. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - hot dishes to which you can add oil, you can eat fish.

3. Wednesday and Friday – dry eating.

The second week of fasting is the same as the first.
The only addition is the holiday of December 4: on this day the Entry into the Temple is celebrated Holy Mother of God, on the occasion of which you can indulge in some red wine. On January 1, on the occasion of the secular holiday of the New Year, you can also drink a little wine.

1. Monday, Wednesday and Friday – dry eating.
2. Tuesday and Thursday – hot food without adding oil.
3. You can cook vegetable products with oil on the weekend.

As for Christmas Eve, that is, the day before Christmas, fasting on this day should be especially strict.

These rules are for those who do not want to make any mistakes during fasting. If you think that you can’t cook a full meal without oil, then you’re wrong. After all, based on simple and uncomplicated products, you can make such simple, but tasty and healthy soups and main courses, which even after the end of fasting can compete with high-calorie, meat dishes.

What dishes to cook during the Advent Fast

There are many different Lenten dishes that are quick and easy to prepare. If you are used to using a multicooker to simplify the process, then there are no restrictions in this regard. The main thing is to adhere to the basic rules for using products on fasting days.

Lenten pickle

Ingredients:

Pearl barley – 1 cup;
pickled cucumbers – 3 pcs.;
4 medium potatoes;
1 onion;
1 large carrot;
salt, pepper;
fresh greens.

If desired, you can add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to the soup.

Preparation:

1. Boil pearl barley for half an hour in 2.5 liters of salted water.

2. Place the frying pan on low heat. Since our dish will be without oil, we don’t use it. There is a little secret here: if you need to cook a completely lean dish, just take a frying pan with a non-stick coating and fry the vegetables for sautéing on medium mode, stirring them constantly.

They need to give off an aroma and acquire a faint golden hue. This is quite enough to make the soup or main course aromatic and tasty.

3. Thus, fry the finely diced onions and carrots.

4. We also peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. We transfer everything into the barley broth. Cook for half an hour. Add spices to taste.

The oil-free sauteing rule applies to any Lenten dish. These days we prepare borscht, soups, cabbage soup, cabbage soup and any other first courses that we are accustomed to during normal times.

Second courses

The main second dish during Lent is porridge. Instead of butter it can be seasoned with vegetable oil. For more flavor, you can add some fried mushrooms to the porridge, which is not at all prohibited. You can also prepare main dishes from them.

Mushrooms and fish are products that can be considered real delicacies during Lent. They can be prepared in completely different ways. Frying in oil is far from the only way creating culinary masterpieces, although for fasting this expression, in principle, can be considered superfluous.

For heat treatment We use a double boiler or a multicooker; simply boiled fish can turn out very tasty, the broth from which can be used to prepare the first course.