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The Seasoned Franciscan

Welcome to The Seasoned Franciscan. Sisters and their partners in mission—including affiliates, prayer partners and staff—share these recipes hoping to provide you with new ways of looking at the food around you. Being mindful of the food we eat is integral to making lasting change throughout the world. We focus these recipes on five themes: eating seasonally, exploring our heritages, pursuing meatless meals, foraging or using food scraps and embracing indigenous and ethnic foods.

New recipes are shared on a regular basis and can be submitted to the FSPA Eco Pact Team at ecopact@fspa.org.

Japanese Pancakes - Okonomiyaki

Japanese Pancakes - Okonomiyaki

Meredeth Hink shares a recipe, saying, it "should be appropriate for this time of year. I have been making these pancakes for my family since I was in high school. They are easy to make and a great way to use up leftover vegetables, especially cabbage/coleslaw mix." Discover Japan's strong values of culture, health and the environment in the way many cities do school lunch.

Maple Amaranth Cornbread

Maple Amaranth Cornbread

This delicious recipe for Maple Amaranth Cornbread is shared by Meg Paulino who has been part of maple syrup production on Saint Joseph Ridge.The recipe was posted by the Ho-Chunk Nation's Division of Health as a Harvest of the Month. For Indigenous people, both maple syrup and amaranth have many uses and sacred connections to their food sovereignty, culture and spirituality.

Basic Bread Recipe

Basic Bread Recipe

Christians celebrate 50 days of Easter, giving us time to consciously engage in Resurrection transformation: to be of service, forgive, prayerfully plant seeds, surrender to joy, bake bread. Use this Basic Bread Recipe to bake bread, "transformational food!" Also included: a reflection inspired by baker theologian Peter Reinhart called From Wheat to Eat.

Red Lentil Tacos

Red Lentil Tacos

Another ethnic meatless recipe, Red Lentil Tacos are spiced with delicious taco seasonings for a healthy alternative to ground meat. It can be whipped up with only a few simple ingredients in just 20 minutes. Read on for more meatless recipes from Earthbeat, the Sisters of Mercy and the Meatless Mondays campaign and their planet health reasons to limit meat consumption.

Canned Fish for Light Meals and Snacks

Canned Fish for Light Meals and Snacks

A partner-in-mission suggested that Seasoned Franciscan feature meatless meals with sardines. So, this post, Canned Fish for Light Meals and Snacks suggests ways to use sardines and other canned fish. They may be a pantry staple for you or a new food to try! Read on for "fishy" facts you might find interesting regarding the environment, health and doing penance.

Enchilada Casserole

Enchilada Casserole

An easy meatless Enchilada Casserole with a side of refried beans, offers protein and veggies! This recipe uses convenient, nutritious vegetables frozen at their flavor peak! I discovered veggies and fruits grown locally in my grocer's organic freezer section! Look where you shop!

Hmong Egg Rolls

Hmong Egg Rolls

Egg rolls are a celebration food! When the Hmong Community Center has an egg roll sale in La Crosse there is often a line out the door! Yee Xiong, virtual worker at St. Rose Convent, used to make this recipe on special occasions at the Villa to entice Sisters and staff to the Terrace for an event! She will tell you that they are served at important family occasions in Hmong culture. Needless to say, they are made with love and care!

Easy Vegetable Frittata

Easy Vegetable Frittata

Frittata is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner and a great way to use whatever veggies you have on hand or leftover pasta. It’s easier than quiche, but may take practice to get it set how you like it! What meatless dishes come to you from your food heritage? We’ll be sharing some this Lent!

Bran "Penitential" Biscuits

Bran "Penitential" Biscuits

Saint Rose Convent Nurse Zona Kern writes, “Over the years many sisters have mentioned that "penitential biscuits" were being served to them on occasion. (Apparently, it used to be on Good Friday.) This year one of the sisters brought a biscuit to the nurses to try and it was very good. The recipe is attributed to Sister Marcella Marie Dreikosen.

Monastery Lentil Soup from "Diet for a Small Planet"

Monastery Lentil Soup from "Diet for a Small Planet"

With Lent approaching, this recipe from Jean Feeney for "Monastery Lentil Soup" uses a versatile plant protein and great pantry staple.  She got it from "Diet for a Small Planet" by Francis Moore Lappe published over 50 years ago.  Make it for Lent.  Meet another author named Marion Nestle who writes about how to vote with our fork and our votes to help our small and warmer planet today!

Red Rice for African American History Month

Red Rice for African American History Month

Rice is a nutritious pantry staple. It provides nearly 80% of the nutrients for 50% of the world’s population. Make some Red Rice, also called Gullah, Savannah or Mulatto Rice which was a staple for West Africans. Enslaved people brought it to the low country of Georgia and the Carolinas. Red Rice tells a story of African American culture as we celebrate African American History Month.

Tuna and Noodles Hot Dish

Tuna and Noodles Hot Dish

Tuna and noodles hot dish, aka casserole, is part of the upper, Midwest's unique food story. This recipe is similar to the one from a Campbell’s soup label. Is the quick supper that many of us grew up on! It’s a quick “from the pantry” meal that appeals to all ages. Maybe it’s the potato chip crust! We called Mrs. DeCur's version “Toodles and Nuna,” a slip of the tongue that stuck! What’s your favorite “hot dish” memory?

Vicki Lopez-Kaley – I am an affiliate with FSPA and a member of the Eco Pact Team. For me the kitchen and garden are about slowing down and being creative. Sharing stories and connecting with others and the earth through food can bring great meaning and pleasure.

Isabel “Iggy” Bauer – I served as an AmeriCorps Service Member with FSPA. Sustainable food is one of my passions and I have a vision of bringing local food, gardens and green spaces to urban areas in support of human health and happiness.

The FSPA Eco Pact Team – We are a cooperative group of sisters, affiliates and partners in mission focused on making an impact on integral ecology through the lens of Laudato Si’. Since beginning our mission in the summer of 2021, Eco Pact has brought forward many changes, including initiating effective recycling practices at St. Rose Convent. Connect with us at ecopact@fspa.org.

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