St Josephs Day

First off, let me say that some of the following is NOT weight loss friendly, but instead food for other reasons. Theological concepts are sometimes better expressed through a table than a sermon. Second, this was one of the anticipated and planned for bumps in our week, so no , I did not lose my mind.That being said, I present to you our St Josephs table. A very minor affair compared to what is done by many others who celebrate the day.

St Josephs Day, to Italian and Polish Catholics, is a day that is marked in a similar way to St Patrick's day, but in a different fashion. It is not so much a day to proclaim your nationality , but rather one to say thank you to a special friend. St Joseph was the husband of Mary, and amongst the Sicilian people , a powerful friend in high places so to speak at times of hunger, danger and so forth. To say thank you, on his feast day an elaborate feast was created. Rules are the food had to be begged for, and then you had to invite everyone in the village to come and eat. Other rule was, the feast must be meatless. As a part of our homeschool lessons , we explore different festivals and their original meanings. This year we did a unit on St Josephs day, and being part Sicillian and very into food as theology, my son asked that we celebrate this holiday . So we both researched and learned just how to do this. My husband has only experienced these to a certain level in a church congregation, so it was a fun experience.

left to right- St Josephs bread, figs,zepoli
also included pictures of St Joseph, candle and red carnations

Breakfast-( not pictured, same as yesterday
Oats, barley and rye with pumpkin
ground flax,wheat bran, crasins,seed nut mix,coconut,goji berries,olive oil and peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, blood orange
coffee,water

Lunch-
Turkey and swiss on high fiber bread with olive oil mayo
Lentil veggie soup
apple, carrots, celery
yo plus digestive yogert,water

Dinner - the St Josephs meatless feast
Portabello stuffed ravioli
spinach, yellow squash
zeppoli, St Josephs bread
Fresca

Now what exactly is a zepoli you may ask ? Picture a cream puff, but rather than fill it with whipped cream sort of filling, fill it with a custardy sort of ricotta kind of filling. They can be baked or fried- ours were baked
I took a picture of the inside- they are more filling than dough !
I have absolutely no idea how many calories or points these have, but they are an important point of the celebration. St Josephs bread is the same way, but from all I can discern it is basically a French bread with sesame seeds that has been formed in a braided ring, so the caloric count would be the same.

Exercise involved a 45 minute walk after dinner. Definately not enough to burn off a zepoli, but....