El Salvador, where I grew up, is a very Catholic country where all religious traditions are observed as part of the culture. One of those is Cuaresma, or Lent.
We didn’t really have the tradition of giving something up during the 40 days of Lent, other than meat on Fridays. Those days, I knew some form of fish and veggies would be served at my house. Growing up I was never a fan of fish or seafood, so I would most likely just eat veggies or plátanos fritos and frijoles. Any excuse for platanitos is good, no?
We’re not practicing Catholics in my home, but I respect the tradition of Lent and know it is a huge part of being Latino. These two veggie recipes from Ani Simon (Nestlé Culinary Expert) I´m sharing below are perfect for meatless-Fridays. The Zucchini Boats Stuffed with Lentils and Potato Corn Patties with Cream Sauce are fun and easy enough to make that you can invite your kids in the kitchen with you and enlist their “help” in making these. They will love to scoop the flesh out of the zucchinis to make boats!
These two recipes include ingredients that are very common to find in most Latin households: media crema and salsa Maggi. So much so, that I remember that, when traveling from El Salvador to Houston to visit my dad every year, I had to load up my suitcase with large bottles of salsa Maggi for him to pour all over his rice! I’m not joking here. My dad’s main encarguitos were always salsa Maggi and queso Petacones.
Well, we don’t need to get any of these ingredients in through customs anymore. Nope, now we have Walmart for that. I was able to find Nestlé Media Crema and an abundant supply of Maggi seasoning sauce at my nearest Walmart store. Oh, and while I was there I stocked up on some delicious Mexican Jarritos soda, too!!! (My daughter loves the Fresa flavor; I’m more of a Mandarina!)
Zucchini Boats Lent Recipe
{Click on any of the two images below to download and print both recipes}
Potato Corn Patties Lent Recipe
We truly hope you enjoy making and eating these. Please let us know if you do and if your niños were able to help you cook.
Disclosure: We received a gift card and compensation as part of the Walmart Moms program to facilitate this post. As always, all stories and opinions are our own.
Salsa Maggi!!!! Ana, we’re crazy for salsa Maggi in my house. I don’t buy it in the U.S. – I only buy it in Mexico and bring it home to Chicago because what they sell in the U.S. doesn’t taste the same to me. But recently I was craving grilled cebollitas con salsa Maggi and I caved in and bought a bottle here because it’s going to be another few weeks before my husband takes a trip for Semana Santa (and fulfills my Mexican grocery order). I seriously am sending him with a shopping list of things I can’t get here or that don’t taste the same to me. I recently “placed an order” with a friend coming back from Mexico for Knorr Suiza de pollo because I ran out and the one in the U.S. tastes too salty to me. Thanks for these yummy recipes to put my salsa Maggi to good use besides the usual recipes!
Wonderful ideas!!! My friends often ask how I do make through Lenten season. It’s funny becasue it’s usually my fav time of the year, the flavors are kicked up and I strive to create new recipes. I mix the old with the new, thanks for sharing!
have a great week!
sweetlife
I am so glad I found this site!! We are a bilingual family too! I am sharing this post in my blog here:
http://familiacatolica-org.blogspot.com/2012/03/recetas-para-cuaresma.html
Thank you s much!!