Recently Justin and I decided to do the Daniel Fast. Our goal in this was to help us grow closer to God. If you have not heard of the Daniel Fast before, it is based off the prophet Daniel’s dietary and spiritual experiences as recorded in the Book of Daniel in the Bible. This partial fast focuses heavily on vegetables and other healthy whole foods. Leaving out any animal sources of protein. Like many other people who do the Daniel Fast, we followed it for 21 consecutive days.
The Daniel Fast is specifically referenced in the Bible in two sections of the Book of Daniel:
“Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables [pulses] to eat and water to drink.”
Daniel 1:12
“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.”
Daniel 10: 2-3
The hard part of this for us was figuring out meals to pack for lunch and to make for dinner for 21 days that adhered to the fast’s guidelines. Thankfully the internet is an amazing source for finding recipes that meet the guideline. It wasn’t very hard to find things that we could make but finding things that were not far from our food comfort zone was another story. Thankfully we were able to adjust some of our favorite recipes and make them Daniel Fast friendly. Along with finding recipes for delicious snacks that we thought would be out of the question for the fast.
Recipes
Vegan Bean Taco Filling Recipe
Tacos are a huge staple in our weekly dinner plans. Since getting married almost two years ago, there has not been one week where we didn’t have tacos at least once. So going without for three weeks was almost unthinkable. So off to the internet I went to look for a Daniel Fast friendly taco filling.
The only difference between this and the ground turkey we normally use for tacos is the texture. It tastes just like tacos! Maybe even better! I can’t speak for Justin but this recipe was so good that I didn’t even really miss cheese or sour cream on mine. For those of you that know me, a taco is not complete without cheese and sour cream. But this was so good it didn’t need it.
Ingredients:
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Onion – 1 diced
Garlic – 2 cloves minced
Bell pepper – 1 chopped
Black beans – 2 (14.5 ounce) cans rinsed, drained, and mashed
Yellow cornmeal – 2 tablespoons
Cumin – 1 1/2 tablespoons
Paprika – 1 teaspoon
Cayenne pepper – 1 teaspoon
Chili powder – 1 teaspoon
Salsa – 1 cup
Instructions:
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Stir in onion, garlic, and bell pepper; cook until tender.
- Stir in mashed beans.
- Add the cornmeal.
- Mix in cumin, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, and salsa.
- Cover, and cook 5 minutes.
Notes:
We used our homemade salsa on for this recipe. You can find it’s recipe just after this one.
Also to keep it Daniel Fast friendly, we used whole wheat tortilla shells.
We kept our toppings simple and just used more salsa and lettuce.
Restaurant Style Salsa Recipe
The name of the recipe speaks the truth. This salsa is just like what you’d get at your favorite Mexican Restaurant. We like this salsa so much that we’ve already made 4 batches of it within two weeks. That equals out to about 12 32 ounce jars of salsa. Now in our defence, the taco recipe calls for a cup of salsa for the bean filling and then we top them with salsa too.
For the chips, we used corn tortillas. We cut them in fourths and gave them a light coating of olive oil and salt then baked them at 325 until crispy. They are super yummy and again, just like you’d find at a Mexican restaurant.
Ingredients:
Whole peeled tomatoes – 1 can (14.5 oz)
Diced tomatoes with green chilies 1 can (14.5 oz)
Onion, 1/2 roughly chopped
Cilantro – ¼ cup
Jalapeno – ½ seeded and diced*
Salt – ½ teaspoon
Lime – ½ juiced
Cumin – ¼ teaspoon
Garlic powder – ½ Teaspoon
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse to desired consistency.
- Let salsa stand in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving
Notes:
*Taste your jalapeno to determine how hot it is. Add more or less than half of the pepper depending on your preferences. The seeds can be added for more heat.
Salsa will keep up to 7 days in the fridge.
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce (No Sugar Added!) Recipe
Let me start off by saying, Justin doesn’t really care for spaghett. It’s not really something he ever things to eat because it’s never really been that good. The first time we made this, he ate three large plates full of spaghetti. That is just how good this sauce is.
As you’ll see in the note section below, we did use more garlic than the recipe called for and at first that was on accident. We had added the garlic before reading that it should be sauteed with the onion so we just added some of the minced garlic we had in the fridge to make up for it not being sauteed. In making the second batch of this sauce we learned that extra garlic is what really put this sauce over the top. So be sure to taste your sauce before pouring it into jars.
This recipe will make about two 32 ounce jars of sauce. From our experience, one jar is the perfect amount for one box of whole wheat noodles.
Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cans (28 oz each) whole San Marzano tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute more.
- Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- For a chunky sauce, break up tomatoes with a spoon. For a smooth sauce, use a blender or food processor.
- Serve with whole grain pasta.
Notes:
The recipes calls for 5 cloves of garlic but we used probably closer to about 8-10. We really like garlic lol I’d suggest starting with the initial amount and then added some minced garlic when blending depending on your tastes.
Thank you so much for reading!
All these recipes are now staples in our home. I’m not sure that we will ever buy salsa or spaghetti sauce again. These recipes were so much better than anything we have ever gotten from these store. I highly recommend you try these recipes. They are great for the Daniel Fast but also just great in general.
Don’t forget to check us out on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube. For more family-focused posts, click here. Again, thank you for reading! God Bless!
