Daniel Fast for Lent

 Hello my friends!

Lent is quickly approaching February 17-April 1 and I got a great idea from my mom to go through my book, Confessions for the Narrow Road and do the Daniel Fast. My book is a 40 day devotional, so it works out perfectly to go through the book for Lent. I usually do the live, online book study every Saturday at 9 am CST, however I'm taking a break from that in order to go through the book within the 40 days. It is my hope that you will join me. Instead of using Facebook Live, I will set up the sessions on Zoom, so we can have a discussion "face to face". So please email me at confessionsandbeyond@gmail.com if you want to join in. It will more than likely be at 8 am CST every day from February 17-April 1. I will let you know for sure by 2/12.

So, I created recipes for a Daniel Fast in 2012 and I will post them here, we will go through the set of 21 days of recipes twice. I created recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that would repeat for 3 days and then the next set of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for three days, and on from there for 21 days. I hope that's not too confusing. I'm posting the recipes here, so if you have any questions, you can post them here or email me.

2021 Daniel Fast Meal Plan: Days 1‐3

Note: The 40 day meal plan is set up in such a way that each daily plan will be used for 3 days and then a new one

will be posted on my blog. You should see 7 meal plans over the course of these 21 days, and each meal plan includes a breakfast, lunch and dinner, which should be followed for 3 days. Once the 21 days is completed, we will repeat the 21 days, but only use the first set of recipes twice. I will post the meal plans tonight in separated posts, to make it easier to follow. Recipe instructions are provided, along with photos of each meal, to give you a guide to follow. The recipes created were inspired by the nutrition work of the late Dr. Mary Ruth Swope. 

Keep in mind that no salt or sugar was used in the creation of these recipes, to ensure the integrity of the fast. If you use the recipes outside of the scope of the fast, feel free to add a bit of salt! However, you will discover that the longer you go without salt, the less your body will desire it. May you enjoy every meal and see the healing that your body, heart and mind desire. Happy fasting!

Breakfast for Days 1‐3: Fruit Smoothie (12 ounces) and Fruit and Nut Mix (1 cup)

Fruit Smoothie (Makes 48 ounces)

 1 ripe Banana

 2 cups Papaya (chopped)

 1 Avocado (chopped)

 1 ripe Pear (skinned, cored and chopped)

 1 Apple (preferably fuji or braeburn, skinned, cored and chopped)

 1 tsp Flax Seed Meal

 ¾ cup Purified or Distilled Water

Instructions:

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a blender, and at least ½ cup of the water. Puree and add remaining water as needed, until the mixture is smooth. It is best to consume 12 ounces per day. In order to preserve freshness, feel free to portion the other 2 days worth into 12 ounces each and freeze. Be sure to move the smoothie to the refrigerator the night before you need it, so that it will be completely thawed. Eating the smoothie frozen will be a shock to the digestive system.

Fruit and Nut Mix (makes ~ 3 ½ cups)

 ½ cup raw Cashews

 1 cup Walnuts

 ½ cup Almonds

 1/3 cup Dates (buy chopped)

 1/3 cup dried Apricots (chopped to size of raisins)

Instructions:

Combine ingredients and mix well. Eat 1 cup per day. Keep the remaining mix in a Ziploc bag or in a sealed container.

Lunch for Days 1‐3: Creamy Vegetable Soup (2 cups), Lemon and Herb Roasted Potatoes (1 ½ cups), Matzo Bread with Almond Butter (1/4 of sheet with 2 TBSP Almond Butter)

Creamy Vegetable Soup (makes ~6 quarts)

 4 Garlic Cloves (put in whole)

 1 Zucchini (large chunks)

 1 Squash (large chunks)

 1 Leek (cut in half lengthwise, then ~1/2 inch slices)

 1 Onion (large chunks)

 ½ Cabbage (cut in 4 sections, then into large chunks)

 2 cups Watercress (cut stems from bunch)

 ½ bunch Spinach (cut stems from bunch)

 4 slices Ginger Root (skinned and ~1/8 inch thickness)

 ¼ Lemon (add in with rind, no need to squeeze)

 Zest of ½ Lemon

 8 cups Water

 ½ tsp Chili Powder

 1 tsp dried Parsley

 1 tsp dried Cilantro

 1/8 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

Instructions:

Combine vegetables and lemon in an 8 quart pot with water, over medium‐high heat. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow the vegetables to simmer for 45 minutes on low heat. After the vegetables have simmered for 30 minutes, add the 4 seasonings listed above. Once 45 minutes is reached, turn off the heat, remove the lid and blend soup in the pot, using an immersion or stick blender. Blend until smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender, allow the soup to cool and then puree the vegetables with the liquid in portions, using a regular blender or food processor. If you attempt the blend the soup while it is hot and covered, the movement or the blender will cause the top to blow off and the soup to fly all over your kitchen, so please allow it to cool before processing with the other methods. You can just reheat the amount you will eat each day. Since you will probably have some leftovers, consider freezing a portion of the soup, on the first day, to preserve its freshness.

Lemon and Herb Roasted Potatoes (makes full 9 x 13 pan)

 6 Red Potatoes (cubed)

 ½ tsp garlic powder

 ½ tsp onion powder

 1 tsp Italian Herb seasoning

 Juice and Zest of ½ Lemon (zest outside of the lemon finely using a grater or a zester)

 ¼ cup Black Pepper

 ¼ cup Olive Oil or Safflower Oil

 Additional juice of ¼ lemon (reserved for after potatoes are roasted)

Instructions:

Pre‐heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ingredients in a medium size bowl

and mix thoroughly with hands until the potatoes are fully coated. Place

coated potatoes in 9 x 13 pan, glass preferable, and roast in oven uncovered

for 1 hour. Check potatoes after 45 minutes and move around slightly to

ensure the potatoes do not stick.

Dinner for Days 1‐3: Creamy Vegetable Soup (2 cups), Brown Rice (1 ½ cups),

Matzo Bread with Almond Butter (1/4 of sheet with 2 TBSP Almond Butter)

Brown Rice (makes ~3 cups)

 1 cup Brown Rice

 2 ¼ cups Water

Instructions:

Combine rice and water in a medium size pot, over medium‐high heat. Bring to a

boil, then allow to simmer for ~35 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. If only

preparing for one person, reduce the measurements down to 1/3 cup of rice and

~3/4 cup water. It is best to prepare rice daily, instead of re‐heating.

Daniel 1:12 "Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink."

Daniel 10:3 KJV I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till

three whole weeks were fulfilled."

May God bless you as you fast. I'll post the next set of three shortly.