Lent: Holy Thursday

Today is Holy Thursday ... tonight starts the Triduum (the three holiest days of the year) when Jesus fulfills his mission here on earth. Here's an impression of the Last Supper -- when Jesus instituted the Eucharist, something Catholics remember EVERYTIME Mass is celebrated; this is when the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ! How cool is that????LegoManiac served the Holy Thursday Mass tonight -- the washing of the feet, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the transfer of the Holy Eucharist with reposition of the Blessed Sacrmant in the tabernacle.

An interesting thing we learned this year is the idea of Grundonnerstag from the Germanic countries. Translated loosely, this means "green Thursday"; this is actually a slippage from the original which used the German word "gruen" for grieving or mourning. But, we followed Jennifer's advice from Catholic Cuisine and made only green things for dinner: coleslaw with lots of raisins and toasted walnuts (and homemade dressing) and spinach pie! Wow, that was a hit!

Here's the recipe we used (with our changes in parentheses -- I NEVER can follow directions!)
Spinach Pie

crust for 9" pie (2 shells; we used the Pillsbury shells in the refrig section
(1) 16oz. pkg frozen spinach - thawed
(1) 16oz. container ricotta cheese (we used cottage cheese)
1 cup fresh grated parmesan (we used 1 cup "pizza" shredded cheese)
1 large onion - chopped and sauteed in olive oil
1-2 tsp italian herbs (mix of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram)
3 eggs (we skipped the eggs because I didn't even see them in this recipe; boy, am I getting old!)

Press one pie shell into the bottom and sides of pie dish. Saute chopped onion in oil olive. Add thawed spinach to warm the spinach and mix in the onions. Cool. Add ricotta (cottage cheese) and ricotta into spinach mixture. Spoon into pie pan. Cover with remaining shell. Trim edges and slit top for venting -- we made a cross for the vent. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes -- cover with foil for the last 15 minutes if crust is getting too brown. Without the eggs, this actually tasted very reminiscent of spanakopita! YUMMY!