Feast!: Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year

by Daniel Stewart, Haley Stewart

Feast! is a guide to observing the seasons of the Christian Year and honoring the saints through real food recipes and thoughtful reflections. It's the perfect introduction for those who want to learn how to celebrate the liturgical year and special saints days with simple recipes and traditions. Feast! features 23 simple real food recipes for the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, and well-known saints’ days like St. George’s Day, St. Rose of Lima’s Day, and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Day as well as less familiar saints like St. Charles Lwanga and St. Raymond Nonnatus. All recipes are gluten-free or have gluten-free variations. 18 recipes are main dishes, but also included are recipes for side dishes, cocktails, and a Christmas dessert. Feast! includes introductory reflections about observing the liturgical “What Is the Liturgical Year?”, ”Feasting with the Saints and Martyrs”, and “How Do I Get Started?” and 6 reflections on the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter, as well as some practical tips for observing these seasons in your home. With produce grown in their front yard urban garden, recipes created in their kitchen, and photographs taken in their dining room, Daniel and Haley Stewart wanted to honor the food traditions of Christians around the world and provide nourishing meals made from real, wholesome ingredients. Some recipes are inspired by the culinary traditions of the culture of a saint’s homeland (Ugandan Chicken Stew and Ugali for St. Charles Lwanga), the location of their ministry (Simple Garden Curry for Blessed Mother Theresa), a region particularly devoted to them (Shepherd’s Pie for St. George), or a meal that’s seasonal for their feast day (Stuffed Butternut for St. Martin of Tours). Featured saints St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, St. George, the Mexican Martyrs, St. Michael Ho-Dinh Hy, St. Charles Lwanga, St. Maria Goretti, Sts. Anne and Joachim, St. Michael and the Archangels (Michaelmas), The Chinese Martyrs, St. Raymond Nonnatus, St. Francis Borgia, St. Rose of Lima, Blessed Mother Theresa, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Martin of Tours (Martinmas). Recipes Shepherd’s Pie, Tahini Tilapia, Simple Black Beans and Rice, African Chicken Stew, Christmas Stuffed Apples, Three Kings Cocktail, Baked Tilapia with Spicy Cilantro Cream Sauce, Lomo Saltado, Grilled Pork Chops Lazio Style, Rajas con Crema, Vietnamese Peanut Sauce, Simplified Pasta Pescatore, Fried Rice, Catalan Chicken Picada, Garden Fresh Curry, Michaelmas Roast Chicken, Simple Spanish Tapas, Mujaddara, Hummus, Stuffed Butternut Squash, and more! So embrace good food, honor the saints, and set your clock by holy time!

Genres: Cookbooks, Christian, Catholic

124 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2013

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An introduction to liturgical cooking! This is a self-published cookbook from one of my favorite podcast hosts (Fountains of Carrots- IMO essential listening for a young, practicing Catholic woman). I wish it was a little more detailed but for a self-published work, I appreciate the information included.

[Catherine Gillespie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the e-books in a bundle I bought recently turned out to be an interesting resource on the Christian year. Feast! is full of practical tips and recipes for aligning your family culture with church culture.

The first two sections–on Advent and Christmas–were particularly helpful. I liked the ideas for ways to build up to Christmas and make that our focus, but without seeming Scroogey or anti-Christmas. A lot of the tips were ideas that would help to keep December less frantic by spreading out all the things we love about the season into a longer and more relaxed celebration. I’ve always felt that Christmas was this weird abrupt stop after a couple of weeks trying to cram too much in. I really like the idea of a more restful Advent and then a great fun long Christmas with plenty of time to listen to music, make gingerbread houses, and read Christmas books rather than putting everything away. The authors suggest adding to your Jesse Tree until Epiphany, which I remember my mom trying to do for us some years. The Stewarts suggest adding the names of God or attributes of Jesus for those extra twelve ornaments. I have this on my list to try.

I will say that after the Easter ideas the book wasn’t as applicable for me. The authors are Catholic and so they have special saints days they celebrate at different times, which isn’t something we do. But there was enough good food for thought in the other sections to make Feast a worthwhile read for me.

{Read more of my reviews at A Spirited Mind.}

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am pretty sure that I got this book in a homemaking bundle a few years back. What I mostly wanted to read about was the author's thoughts on Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. While I am reformed and am Presbyterian I love the church calendar and think it has much to offer in the rhythm of life. With that, I don't agree with the Catholic church's theology of saints. However, I did find it interesting to read about those who proclaimed Christ and walked this earth before me. There are always things that we can learn from brethren and their testimonies of Christ.

What I did like in this book is that all the recipes were real food recipes. Many were simple and totally doable for larger families and those on tighter budgets.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the interest of full disclosure...I gave this book 3 stars because I'm not a Catholic, and I disagree with the theology about the saints in this book. That alone would have given it 4 stars, however, I brought it down to three because I am a Lutheran protestant and I think the authors of this book should be more informed and realize that SOME PROTESTANTS DO CELEBRATE THE CHURCH YEAR! Ok maybe the all-caps is a bit much, but seriously, we celebrate the church year and love it. And our theology is better too. So maybe the authors should consider becoming Lutheran so they can have the best of both worlds. That's all : )