Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

On Saturday morning we went to our local flea market. We haven't been there in awhile and I love scavenging for treasures. Even on days when I don't find anything, the fresh produce makes the trip worth it.

We came home with lots of fresh treats, including some beautiful mushrooms that I made last night.

First, cut the tops off and clean them out. Then mix 1 cup water, 2 T fresh lemon juice, 1 T soy and 1 T parsley. Whisk it well and then let the mushrooms marinate for about 20 or so minutes.

Next sautee some onions and minced garlic until lightly browned. Add spinach (I used one small bag), oregano, salt and pepper.

Once the spinach is cooked (about 5-7 minutes) remove from pan and chop until fine.

Stuff mushrooms. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, sunflower seeds and veggie cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Yields 8 mushrooms. Enjoy!!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Ace riding his bike without the training wheels for the first time! He was so excited! This photo was taken on February 20. Every chance he gets he wants to go outside and ride it. The weather has been so beautiful lately, who can refuse?

We spend some time every afternoon, after homework is done, playing outdoors. We play on the playset for awhile and then we usually play a game of tag or hide-and-seek. You know how I enjoy these breezy spring afternoons...

You know it's springtime around here because you see all the baby animals roaming the fields. Our neighbor's horses had foals this year so the boys were very excited to pet and help feed them the other day.

Last year we had Hopper and over a dozen peeps but we haven't had any new additions yet this year. We did plant the garden over the weekend though, well DH actually planted the garden, but I've helped water it! :) I have been so busy this year with the publication of A Pocketful of Seeds and other projects I've been working on that I haven't had much time to enjoy the outdoors. Hopefully, I've cut out some of the things in my schedule that were sucking up way too much time and I will be able to start spending more time in the garden and outside in general.

For those of you getting ready to plant your spring gardens, you might want to check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. In my opinion, they have the best variety of seeds and prices. I prefer heirloom seeds because I like to be able to take the seeds from the fruits and vegetables I grow each year and re-plant them the following season. You can't do that with hybrid seeds.

I'm still, by far, a novice gardener but I enjoy it so much and I learn a little more with each attempt. The way I figure it, even if nothing grows, I can still enjoy these. :)

Well, gotta run! Hope you all are enjoying the warmer temps!

Help Needed

I received the following email and wanted to share it with all of you and encourage each of you to help in any way possible.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I entreat you to please prayerfully read the appeal below, and offer both your prayers and assistance to this precious Monastic community. If you can only send a few dollars, that is fine. There are over 1200 of you beautiful souls on my general list, so even an average of $2 per person would raise more than enough to cover the utility bill; and a $5 average would give them some very needed "breathing room!" Thanks so much, and God bless the remainder of your Great Lenten Journey to the awesome Passion and glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Please help and please spread the word!

Received tonight from Fr. Martin at St. John's Monastery in Manton, CA:

The Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Cañones, NM is in dire straits. With their superior having been ill (ulcerative colitis) so long and now out of commission, they are in a financial crisis.

I learned tonight that they need $1400 in the next two days or they will lose power. No power means no ability to make candles, which is their major source of income (like us).

Please if you can help, write to Fr. Silouan at frsilouan@juno.com. Or call the monastery there in New Mexico (575) 638-5690. You can also send checks to PO Box 38 Canones NM 87516-0038.

May God reward your Lenten charity.

Making Maptia-Celebrating March 1st!

image found here

Every year on March 1st Greek children from all over the world begin wearing their maptia. This is not to be confused with "matia" which means eyes or evil eyes, which we as Orthodox Christians do not believe in. Maptia is derived from the Greek word Maptios, which is the month of March.

Maptia are basically friendship bracelets tied from embroidery floss. Depending on which part of Greece you are from, there are several variations of this tradition.

In our tradition, we made the bracelets on March 1st out of any color string we wanted. When we were younger, our bracelets were fairly simple, usually just a braid. As we got older, they became more complex, usually looking something like this or this (photo below).

Then we tied them around our wrist and wore them until Holy Saturday. Before Divine Liturgy that night, my great-grandmother would cut them off of our wrists and tie them to the pan that the lamb would be cooked in. She would always tell us, "See, your bracelets will burn up and disappear just like our sins do because of Christ's Resurrection."

I've heard of some places in Greece where the children make their bracelets using only red and white, to symbolize the blood of Christ's crucifixion and His Resurrection.

Other areas of Greece do not tie their bracelets to a pan but leave them outside for the swallows, or helidonia, to come and take them.

Before Ace started school we would sometimes pack a picnic lunch and go fly kites at the park and make our bracelets there. It was a lot of fun and it made it feel like a sort of celebration. Any way you celebrate it, it is a fun tradition that children look forward to.

Here are some links on how to tie different kind of maptia and other ways to celebrate March 1st:



Greek School USA--The Swallows are Coming!

Variation 1

Variation 2

Several Different Styles

I'll post pictures of the ones we make today later this week! If your family celebrates this March 1st tradition I'd love to hear how you celebrate!

Have a great day! Kalo Mina!!

Does God sneeze?

This morning during prayers we read the line in the Psalms that reads, "let our prayers rise like incense before You". Afterward, the following conversation took place:

Ace: So our words get all swirled up in the incense and floats all the way to Heaven?

Me: Yes.

Ace: So everyone's prayers and incense go up to God?

Me: Yes.

Ace: Does it make God sneeze?

Me: {smiling} Yes, I'm sure sometimes it does.

Kyra Sarakosti Recipe

Today we cut the second foot off of our Kyra Sarakosti. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Sunday of St. Gregory of Palamas. May you all have a blessed third week of Lent!

For those of you not familiar with the Kyra Sarakosti tradition, here is a little more about it.

In olden days, in order to keep track of the Lenten period, Kyra Sarakosti was created. She was drawn in the image of a nun. She does not have a mouth to remind us that we are fasting and her hands are crossed in prayer. She has seven feet for the seven weeks of Great Lent. Every Saturday one of her feet are cut off. After the last foot is cut off, it is placed in a bowl of fruits and nuts and whoever finds it receives a special blessing. The winner will write their name and year on the back of it and will keep it as a keepsake.

If you want to make one of these for your children, here is the recipe. It can also be found in the Festive Fast cookbook.

2-2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2-2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
water (as much as needed)

Combine flour, salt and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl and gradually add enough water to form a stiff, but flexible dough. Roll dough out to 1/2" thickness. With a sharp knife cut out the figure as shown above. Cut out two long narrow strips for arms and join at shoulders (wet surface to which arms will be applied). Make slits in dough for fingers. Mark closed eyelids and noise with pointed object. Wipe entire figure down with a lightly dampened cloth to make shiny. Bake in moderate oven until golden. *This is not edible!

Boston Diocese uses plastic spoons for Holy Communion?!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The enemy has moved within our walls. Please read the following letter written by a very well respected and humble theologian, Constantine Zalalas. It seems an Orthodox Church in the Boston diocese now offers the option of receiving Holy Communion with a plastic spoon to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

My heart became so heavy after reading this, I am truly sick at heart. Please do not take this lightly and share it with others. I also encourage you to contact the Boston diocese to protest this heresy.

In Christ,
Sylvia

Communicable Diseases and the Common Cup

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A Blessed Lenten Season!

It is with much sadness, pain of heart and love for our Holy Church that I write these lines only a few days after the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is the culmination of her many and great victories against heresy.

There was something different however about this particular Sunday of Orthodoxy in the Americas. I honestly did not expect to witness this sort of thing in my lifetime. It seems that my holy elder (A. Mitilinaios) was justified in teaching that ecumenism leads to secularism and faithlessness.

On this Sunday of Orthodoxy 2010, most of the parishioners of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Rutland Vermont (Diocese of Boston), separated themselves from the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church. Alas! They were administered “hold communion” with an individual plastic spoon!!!

The liberal and anti-orthodox agenda of the New York based newspaper National Herald, well known for the anti-monastic and extreme views of its theological section is what propagated this most sacrilegious and impious action. During the Christmas season (as most liberal newspapers spill out their anti-Christian venom to please their patron, Satan), the “theologians” of this Greek-American newspaper (most of its subscribers are Greek Orthodox) published a commentary by a Dr. John Collis a “distinguished physician and a former member of the Archdiocesan council” (God help us.), on the perils of contracting the H1N1 virus via the Eucharistic, or Common Cup.

His purely scientific, rationalistic, and secular views on this most central and profound mystery of the Body of Christ, of the Orthodox Church, is characteristic of the higher echelon of the scientific community. Tragically, that commentary sowed a great many seeds of doubt in the already darkened minds of the readers of this very popular newspaper.

The tares that he sowed (Matt.13:25) this past Christmas season in the minds of “these little ones for whom Christ died”, did not take long to sprout and grow according to the audacious testimony of a Theodore Corsones who seems to be quite proud of the innovationist spirit of his parish priest. I hereby include the contents of his entire letter to the editor of the National Herald issued 2/20-26/2010.

RUTLAND, VERMONT CHURCH

PROVIDES PLASTIC SPOON

To the Editor:

In response to the article written by John Collis, M.D., this is to inform you of the procedure in use this winter at our Greek Orthodox Church in Rutland, Vermont (St. Nicholas Orthodox Church).

The priest instructs the parishioners who prefer to use individual plastic spoons to be first in line. Then, as each one of them approaches, an altar server provides a plastic spoon and the priest administers hold communion (???) to each of then with a plastic spoon. Each spoon that is used is discarded!!! How!!! Where!!! [Emphasis is mine].

Then, those that wish to receive Holy Communion with the common spoon do so immediately afterwards. It works very well and all are pleased with this procedure.

During this winter season, most parishioners are using individual plastic spoons.

Theodore Corsones

Rutland, Vermont

I tried to refrain from any further comments on this travesty but I cannot resist enumerating some of my personal questions on this matter:

1. Did the parish priest receive a blessing from his Metropolitan Methodios?

2. Is he still using the Divine Liturgy of St. John the Chrysostom/Basil?

3. Does he still summon the communicants to draw near with: Fear, Faith and Love? What for?

The fear of God does not exist: It has been replaced by the fear of H1N1!

The faith in this awesome mystery has evaporated. Those scandalized by the Herald and Dr. Collins no longer believe that what they partake is the very Body and Blood of our Creator but a possible disease agent!

The Love for God, which is the first and foremost of the Christian commandments, has been superimposed by self-love, which according to the Fathers is the main source of many evil passions.

In closing I humbly suggest that the Metropolitan of the Holy Diocese of Boston should consider spending less time organizing dialogues and pilgrimages to the Vatican with his Papist friend Archbishop O’Malley, because it sends the wrong signal to his priests and confuses the weak members of the only Church of Christ - the Orthodox Church. More time needs to be spent to immunize the flock with the antibodies of traditional orthodox spirituality so they can once again worship our Lord with fear, faith and love.

For more information please refer to two of our past homilies: Communicable Diseases and the Common Cup. They can be found under the Question and Answer category #8 and #9 and can be downloaded (at no charge) from www.Philokalia.org.

Asking your ardent prayers to have this great temptation expunged from His Holy Church, and to grant forgiveness to His sinful servant Constantine.

**EDITOR'S NOTE: Please read this excellent post, entitled Poly-phenols and Not-So-Poly Faith, on the blog Orthodox Quiet Revolution.