About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
SHOPPING ONLINE? Please, come here first!
Your use of my Amazon link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.
Try AmazonFresh Free Trial
Shop Amazon Gold Box - New Deals. Everyday
Shop Amazon Gift Cards - Instant Delivery or Free One-Day Shipping
Try Prime Discounted Monthly Offering
And you do need a Kindle! - HERE
Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe if it is useful.
That way I have steady income I can plan on, and you wind up regularly on my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I periodically say Holy Mass.
For a one time donation...
I set up a
CONTINUE TO GIVE
account, which functions rather like PayPal. Some of you use it. Here is a QCode you can use with your smart phones. Try it!
Also, to receive a link to donate via Continue To Give using your smart phone SEND MESSAGE:
4827563 TO: 715-803-4772 (USA)
Some donations also come through CHASE. That works well. I don't think they take any percentage as fees.I was at this conference last year. I’ll probably go this year! That’s how enjoyable it was. I’ve marked my calendar.
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Yes, Fr. Z is taking ads…
Because it matters what children read…
Be a “Zed-Head”!
I carry one of these super-strong rosaries in my spare mag pouch! The Swiss Guards have them too!
CHALLENGE COINS!
My "challenge coin" for my 25th anniversary of ordination in 2016.
Want one? I do exchanges with military and LEOs, etc. and you can make a donation.
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
Loading ...WDTPRS POLL
Loading ...“Rigid”? Pfffft. “Faithful!” No priest’s desk or kitchen is complete without one, for young, old, and priests in general.
Fr. Z’s stuff is everywhere
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
GREAT causes to support
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Ok, now I’m going to have to make that. Old fashioned and simple but it looks good.
We dont eat meat on Fridays and this is often our meal. A simple but sometimes necessary choice, especially if one hasn’t had the chance to get to the store. Tomato soup and cheese always seem to be at hand, and we are grateful that God grants us these simple comforts.
To enliven the sandwich some weeks, we mix two kinds of cheeses or slice an avocado in the sandwich, which adds a nice creamy texture as it melts. Bon Appetit, Father! :-)
A favorite for years. That was my lunch yesterday. So comforting & tasty, too.
Still love it. But I had a small piece of cod, a dolup of mashed sweat meat squash, and a small roll.
For some reason, I can really only bring myself to eat tomato soup during Lent, even now that I keep meatless Fridays all the time. Tonight’s dinner was linguine with a quick tomato sauce, with lots and lots of crushed red pepper on top.
I’m not a tomato soup fan but the grilled cheese looks good.
Found some frozen shrimp in the back of the freezer so last night it was Pasta with Shrimp and salad.
My kids know there are two times of the year we have grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. :-)
Last night was something my family calls “pizzelles,” which is pizza dough squares fried in really hot oil until it turns into big puffy pockets, then slit open and with mozzarella inside, and dunked in sauce. It’s not exactly penitential, but it’s meatless.
Living in Wisconsin, fish fries are everywhere on Fridays! I had two beer battered cod fillets.
I sometimes put some caramelized onion into the sandwich along with a sprinkle of garlic powder.
Question for you cooks out there (I stopped “cooking” years ago – had to throw away all of my cookware because of a strange mold infection and Since I hate cleaning the oven, I microwave): can one make melted cheese sandwiches in a microwave? Is it any good? [I suppose you could fake it by toasting the bread, then assembling the sandwich, and putting it for a few seconds in the reactor. My experience is that bread will get soggy in a microwave. You would do better to get a couple useful pans.]
The Chicken
It looks delicious… If you buy canned Tomato soup be sure to check the ingredients, it often has a meat stock (beef/chicken) as an ingredient. Unless meat stocks don’t count?
Masked Chicken: I don’t think you will like the results of microwave cheese sandwich, but if you have a toaster you can toast your bread first, then add your cheese to the toasted bread and try melting it in the microwave. I make my grilled cheese sandwiches in my toaster oven and it works great. First I toast 2 slices of bread, then add some butter to the toast and let it melt in the toaster, then I add the slices of cheese and toast again for a few minutes until it melts. It makes a nice crunchy cheese sandwich.
I like to make grilled cheese on sourdough bread. Smear a little butter on the “outsides” of the bread, a little mayo on the inside, and cut some fairly-thick slices of Swiss and a few slices of tomato, and assemble the sandwich. Sprinkle some oregano on the sandwich before putting the “lid” on. Grill on the stovetop. MMMmmm. Grilled cheese taken to the next level!
As a vegetarian I am feeling really sorry for you meat-eaters faced with meatless Fridays. But don’t worry I’m from the government and I’m here to help. :)
Here is an extremely easy and very quick meatless recipe that we really love: penne pasta tossed with toasted pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese. To make: while the pasta is cooking, toast some pine nuts, about a 1/4 cup or so (takes just a minute, put them in a pan with no oil and watch them carefully, turn them often and when they begin to brown transfer them to a plate so they don’t burn). Next, in a COOL pan poor a generous amount of olive oil, sufficient to coat your pasta with (don’t pour oil into a hot pan, never never never do that!!!). Turn on the heat and add the garlic, LOTS of basil (lots and lots), some red pepper flakes and the pine nuts. Saute for a minute or two. Drain the pasta and toss it with the oil mixture and serve with generous amount of parmesan cheese. It is really fast and tasty! Serve it with a salad if you want, and/or maybe some garlic bread.
Masked Chicken, you can make this in the microwave (just warm up the nuts instead of toasting them). Cook your pasta, drain it, and warm up your olive oil mixture in the microwave.
I hope this is helpful and gives you some ideas for meatless Friday meals, enjoy!
Grilled cheese tomato soup is such a winning combo. Whether you have campbells soup and American cheese on wonderbread or gourmet homemade soup with fresh mozzarella on sourdough, it’s the best.
The old New England way would be to follow up on Saturday night with franks and beans.
Ahhh, one of my favorites for Friday or any cold day!
My Friday lunches, when I’m not in school, might be Tom+Chee’s. It’s a grilled cheese and soup restaurant in Louisville and Cincy.
We had stuffed shells with red sauce last night; it was excellent.
Having been vegan for a number of years, I have a large veggie arsenal, let me know if you need any ideas! I’m also looking forward to a good honest fast now that I am not currently pregnant or nursing. Having no ethnic traditions or culture, I’m excited to embrace a Catholic culture and identity.
Looks good, but I don’t think I could survive on that.
In the islands, we snuggle a slice of pineapple into our grilled cheese sandwiches…..yeah, don’t mock it ’til you’ve tried it! Meatless for me last night was spaghetti tossed with butter, parsley, and fresh grated pecorino. Yummy.
Cheese and pineapple are an outstanding combination!
Dear Masked Chicken,
You can make a good grilled cheese sandwich using the ironing board and aluminum foil method: put butter or margarine on both sides of the sandwich, wrap securely with foil, and heat up the iron. Then hold the hot iron over each side of the wrapped sandwich (without pressing too firmly) until the bread is brown and the cheese melted. I learned this years ago from an Aunt who lived in a tiny apartment and was saving up money to have her stove repaired. Haven’t tried it myself since colege, so I can’t give specifics about timing and iron temperature setting.
Chicken, if you have a toaster, you can toast your bread as some have suggested, and microwave the cheese until it melts. Then spread it on the toast. Or, invest in a little panini machine…I love mine.
Comfort food at its best!
Sissy, that sounds like something Tom+Chee’s would do if it decided to have a Hawaiian special.
Menu here: http://www.tomandchee.com/TomandChee-Menu.pdf
Now, they could also put it on a donut…
Most Catholic (and of course, Orthodox, Coptic, etc.) countries and ethnicities have a very strong Lenten/various fasting levels/abstinence tradition of cooking. Sometimes, ethnic cookbooks will even give you handy sections pointing this stuff out. (And most cookbooks from the Middle Ages were arranged to deal with this.)
In 1975 &’76 I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup every day for lunch. I’d do it again, although never on a Friday or as a Lenten meal. It gives me way too much pleasure.