The author of The Nasty Bits has it right. Without butter or meat, its almost not worth cooking. Sadly thro, a practicing Orthodox fasts about 1/3 of the year.  Miss Haley, on reading the old blog, did ask if I even knew a meat free recipe. So here's one:

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
2 cups unbleached flour
Salt

Boil cleaned potatoes for 30-35 minutes until just tender. Remove from water and cool until you can handle them. Squeeze them thru the medium disk of a ricer onto a floured surface (My mother gave me a ricer. It is so cool. Much cooler than a food processor). Sprinkle a cup of flour onto the potatoes and knead together. Add more flour in small amounts until you get a soft dough. Roll out into a rope about 1/2 thick and cut into 3/4 long pieces. Put pieces aside and mark the top with the back of the tines of a fork (It makes them look right but I don't bother.)

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water (2 tsp per 4 quarts) to full boil. Add about a quarter of the gnocchi and let cook without stirring. When they bob to the top, let them sit 10-15 seconds and scoop out with a slotted spoon. Repeat in batches. Serve immediately covered with sauce.

4 cups peeled tomatoes (I use canned with the liquid)
1 medium yellow onion
4 Tbsp olive oil (this is not fasting, so in the fast we use a non-stick pan and skip the oil)
10 fresh basil leaves

Chop the tomatoes and the onion up coarsely. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a pan. Add tomatoes and onion. Cook until the liquid is evaporated, about 20- 30 minutes. Insert the stickmixer and puree everything into a sauce. Add the remaining oil and heat to simmering. Pour over gnocchi and garnish with basil.

Outside of the fast, I'll make the same quick sauce but start with a pound of mixed venison-pork ground meat. After that is browned, I scrape the fond and continue as above. The meat goes back in after the sauce is pureed.