Grasshoppers and Honey

From the Gospel for 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B, Mark 1:1-8:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins....
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.

This Advent our family is focusing on the four primary figures of the Advent Liturgy, Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. I shared our Advent Wreath and Poster idea on my blog.

This week starts our focus on St. John the Baptist, who ate locusts and honey. Today would traditionally be St. Ambrose feast day, and his symbol of honey ("Honey-Tongued Doctor,") is also a perfect match for the honey that St. John the Baptist. All the wonderful food posts for St. Ambrose can do double duty.

I also plan on making a Grasshopper Pie this week to celebrate St. John. The simplest recipe would be using mint chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cookie pie shell -- easy and delicious. Although Cooks.com has several versions, this recipe seemed to have the most detail. I'm actually going to make this for my son who has food allergies to milk, eggs, and wheat. I have some allergy free chocolate cookies, Cool Whip (contains a small amount of casein which he can tolerate), and almond milk to replace some of the ingredients and we're good to go. We'll see if it works out.

Now, if you want to be a little more authentic, you can actually order food grade crickets in sweeter flavors.

Prepare the Way of the Lord, Make Straight His Paths!