Many Orthodox are not strange to attending the annual pilgrimage at St. Tikhon’s each Memorial Day Weekend. The weekend begins with commencement for the year’s seminarians and then concludes in an all day liturgical and prayer retreat for pilgrims or laity. We try to get up, but this year was again not feasible.  But that’s… Continue reading German Style Potato Salad (Vegan, Oil Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, No Mayo)

Scrap the idea that you need to re-create your momma’s or someone else’s day making sure you have everything because unless you aren’t paying a penny, you will be eating your own words. In the wedding industry, there’s a fee for everything and anything. Weddings are a business. By bringing service providers on, you are… Continue reading Setting The Budget

Once you become engaged, you’re probably less inclined to think of counseling and how it can benefit you. If you were like us, I was on cloud 9 calling relatives and updating my Facebook status and he wasn’t thinking of what could go wrong between us. We were just gushing about discussing the details for… Continue reading Premarital Counseling: Why it Matters. 

We met at my parish on a Sunday in November 2012. After a few well crafted emails and dates, The Orthodox Gentleman and I fell in love instantly. Orthodox courtships and engagements are traditionally kept very short and even though we  gushed about the prospects of getting married within less than one year, it was… Continue reading The Proposal

I haven’t posted anything since March. I guess you can say I’ve been busy between Lent and wedding planning but this Lent has been different. In some ways, I’ve struggled with how to focus on growing during the fast but I didn’t feel things to be fruitful this time around. You probably were well aware… Continue reading spring green stuffing

I never used to tolerate eggplant. I didn’t want to say I disliked it because I don’t dislike anything, but I knew my limitations. Let me preface, I loved food or thought I did. I craved junk. I ate McDonald’s a few times every week, bags of potato chips and had an odd fetish for… Continue reading roast eggplant, pepper and turmeric pizza.

Growing up, I only could read by imagining the perfect cup of hot cocoa: creamy, chocolate filled to the brim with fluffy mini marshmallows and whipped cream. It looked and tasted like Christmas morning, a ski weekend or being snowed in. It should sound and taste decadent like the perfect thing to warm up to… Continue reading mexican hot chocolate.

Clean eating recipes like this luscious pea and asparagus soup bring me to a topic that I find taboo in conservative Christianity but it’s an important one: menstrual cycles and reproductive health. I used to hate the way I acted on my period. The mood swings, the clumsiness and the unexplained eating habits. And in… Continue reading pea and asparagus soup

Being a vegan, it can be difficult to find or to bake tasty dessert options. While I am eternally grateful that Vegan Treats bakery of Bethlehem, PA set up shop, I am a little over hour away from Bethlehem and cannot always get my fix. The cupcakes, donuts, pies and cookies are vegan mecca.  When… Continue reading the cinnamon roll that will get everyone talking at coffee hour. 

Is there ever enough of hours a day to truly do what you what you want? Because what I really wanted was to experiment with the perfect vegan broccoli and “cheese” recipe with homemade croutons in a bread bowl. I’d easily need an hour and a half of prep time but see, as embarassing as… Continue reading broccoli and “please” soup.