Chilled Soup and Rustic Pasta

For lunch is a chilled parsley soup made from ingredients we purchased from the farmer's market in town and from a recipe from the beautiful book 12 Months of Monastery Soups. The book is simple and lovely and focuses on using fresh, affordable seasonal foods. The recipes seem to take one back to the earth. We actually made the parsley soup for a weekend gathering with people from our local OCA parish. It was very well received. We served it hot for the potluck, but I have been eating it chilled since. I seem to require a fair amount of protein in my diet, and since I am attempting to make more or less fasting-appropriate foods for Daniel in the evening, I have been eating more protein at lunch time. So, the chilled parsley soup was paired with a salad of spinach, red onion, ham, hard-cooked eggs, grape tomatoes and light ranch dressing. To that was added one of the muffins I made last week.

Dinner was fasting-friendly with the exception of olive oil. I made a pasta dish inspired loosely by one of Dan's favorites at a restaurant near our first apartment in Tustin. I lightly browned in oil some red onion, shallots and fresh garlic. I then added bits of eggplant and sweet red Italian pepper. I added to that fresh varietal tomatoes, kalamata olives and artichoke hearts. Finally, just before serving, I added fresh minced rosemary, basil and Italian parsley from our garden. The sauteed vegetables were added to a small portion of whole wheat pasta, and olive oil was added to coat the pasta so it wouldn't become sticky. I served this with a rosemary bread from Trader Joe's and fresh dipping oil and vinegar with reserved fresh herbs.