The Daniel Fast

As I said yesterday, I started doing a Daniel Fast. I'm on day 8 of 21. Last Sunday I stocked the house with healthy foods for the fast. If you've never heard of a Daniel Fast before, it's a partial fast in which some foods are restricted. In a nutshell, it's a Vegan diet on crack. No animal by-product, No sweeteners/sugar, No refined or processed food products, No deep-fried foods, No solid fats, Only water to drink. Needless to say, after the first day I knew it was going to be a rough three weeks. I am a snacker. I love sugar. I love meat. I love milk and cheese.

I went to the store and bought The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory. I found out about her by stumbling upon her blog: http://danielfast.wordpress.com/ I highly recommend this book! It has information about what the Daniel Fast is, how to make the most of it spiritually, it has lots of delicious recipes (and I'm pretty picky sometimes), and it comes with a devotion for a 21 day fast.

Tonight I made one of her recipes: Black Bean, Corn, and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers; doesn't it look lovely? :) I also bought some Matzos crackers to eat with it (those are my new favorite snack food, and I will continue to buy them even after the fast is over). The meal was DELICIOUS!!!

Ingredients:

- 2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, drained (I only used one can and it was more than enough)

- 3 cups brown rice, divided

- 1 cup frozen corn kernels (I used canned; just be sure there's no sugar added to it)

- 2 scallions, sliced

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have any and it was still yummy!)

- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (just "eyeball" it)

- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I didn't have any limes, so I used 1/2 a lemon and it was great)

- 1 clove garlic, minced (I only had garlic powder; still great)

- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

- 2-3 large bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and cored

- 2 cups 100% vegetable or tomato juice

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using a large bowl, gently combine the beans, 1 cup of brown rice, corn, scallions, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Place the pepper halves in a large glass baking dish and stuff them with the bean and rice mixture.

4. Carefully spoon some of the juice over each stuffed pepper, trying not to disrupt the filling. Pour the remainder of the juice into the dish. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes.

5. To serve, place about 1/2 cup of brown rice on each plate, spoon some of the juice from the baking dish on the rice, and then place a stuffed pepper on top of the rice.

6. Serve hot.

Makes 4 servings

For now, I am going to keep my reasons for fasting to myself. But as I learn and grow, I will share with you what God does. After the fast, I will talk about everything, including what I am fasting for. If you think about it, please pray for me the next two weeks. Thanks! More to come on the Daniel Fast tomorrow.....