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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Saint-O-Lantern Link Up!


A common activity for families, in preparation for All Hallows' Eve, is carving Pumpkins. We have found this to be yet another wonderful opportunity to tie in our Catholic Faith. Each year our children look forward to choosing a pumpkin and carving their "Saint-O-Lantern!"

In addition to all the pictures which can be found in the archives, here are some links to templates found online to help get you started:


Pumpkin Glow offers a number of free templates including:
Another great source is Squidoo's Christian Pumpkin Carving Page.

Also free, from American Life League, is the Pro-Life Pumpkin Template.   American Life League is also hosting a Pro-Life Pumpkin Contest this year!

My daughter and I enjoyed carving the Pro-Life Pumpkin last year! 

For a small fee you can purchase a number of "Have Faith" templates from the Pumpkin Lady.  Last year we carved the One Nation Under God and Mother and Child.


I also love the templates for the Savior, The Ark and The Lion & The Lamb.

This year I am thinking about trying The Yellow Rose in honor of St. Therese and my boys are considering carving this Knight in honor of St. George.

Other ideas for celebrating the feast of All Saints can be found over at Shower of Roses and in this All Saints Link Up, as well as in the archives under the labels for All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.


If you carve a Saint-O-Lantern this year, we'd love to see it!

To Add Your Post:

1. Create a post about your Saint-O-Lanterns.
2. Using the Mr. Linky below, enter the exact link to your post.
3. Link your post back to this post. (Please feel free to include the Saint-O-Lantern Button!)
4. Be sure to visit the links and check out everyone's Saint-O-Lanterns!
5. The linky will be open through October 31st.
6.  If you would like to share a picture but do not have a blog, please email it to catholiccuisine[at]gmail[dot]com and I will either post it here at Catholic Cuisine or on our Facebook Page.  


All Saints' Cupcakes


All Saints' Cupcakes

St. Isidore's Pumpkin Cupcakes:  (These are so easy, yet so delicious!) 

1 box Yellow Cake Mix + ingredients to make cupcakes
15 oz can Pumpkin Puree
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Prepare the cake mix as directed but with the following change: Add the pumpkin pie spice and substitute the can of pumpkin puree for the water called for in the package directions.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool.


Frosting:

1 cube (1/2 cup) Butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
2-3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla

With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.

Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate cupcakes.

Supplies:

Popsicle Sticks

Various Laminated Saint Holy Cards  (I used the images and template from the Faith Keepers CD - which home educators can purchase for 50% off - from Catholic Artworks and then laminated the cards myself.)   Another option would be the Happy Saints or Shining Light Doll Printables

Tape

Tape Laminated Holy Card to Popsicle Stick and insert one into each cupcake.


*For our party I quadrupled the recipe using 4 boxes of cake mix and 2 - 29oz cans of pumpkin.  This yielded 100 cupcakes.  We used them for a "St. Martha's Cake Walk!


Saturday, October 30, 2010

"Angel Curls" Cookies

The following recipe was submitted by Luis Acosta, a seminarian in Mexico.  Thank you Luis!  

I´m Luis from Mexico, I'm a Jesuit seminarian hoping to become a Jesuit priest someday.  This is a recipe I made for my seminarian brothers in a reunion we had. It´s perfect for all Hallows eve, all saints' day, all souls' day, guardian angels' day, St Michael's day, for any bakery sale at your church or just for fun!!!


"Angel Curls" Cookies

Ingredients:

-2 cups all purpose flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-400gr butter
-1 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-4 tsp vanilla
-6 cups quick cooking oats
-1 cup pecans
-1 cup raisins

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Mix toguether flour and baking soda, reserve
-In a separate bowl cream toguether the butter with the sugar
-Add the eggs and the vanilla to the creamed butter and mix it all toguether
-Stir in the flour with the baking soda and blend well
-Add the raisins and the pecans
-Stir the oats, 1 cup at a time and mix just until blended
-Drop mixture by spoonfulls in an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned
-Cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack until they´re completly cooled
-Store in a covered container.

This recipe will give you like 7 dozen cookies!!!! I´m not kidding.

Tips:
-Add 2 tsp of cinnamon to the flour and baking soda for and extra-touch
-Instead of pecans and raisins you can use walnuts, almonds, coconut, chocolate chips or anything else you want!!!

I hope you enjoy the recipe!!!!

And please, pray for me, for my brothers and for all the priestly vocations in the world, your prayers are our strength. God bless you all!


Please join me in praying for Luis and for all seminarians preparing for the Holy Priesthood!

God our Father, You have chosen Your Son, Jesus Christ, to reveal Yourself to us. You have chosen Your Church to show us Your love through Him. You have chosen Luis, your son, to be a priest as a sign of that love to Your people. We pray that the Holy Spirit continue to fill him with Your peace and joy as he prepares for the holy priesthood. We pray that through his priesthood he may proclaim the wonder of Your faithfulness and love to all through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fasting and Feasting for All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls Day



I originally posted this at Shower of Roses in 2008.

This coming week, on October 31st thru November 2nd, the Church will be celebrating All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls Day (also known as "Days of the Dead"). As we celebrate these feasts, we remember all those who have gone before us, whether they are recognized by the Church as saints or not.

First we have Halloween on October 31st. The name Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Eve, since it is the eve of All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' Day). Next, on November 1st we celebrate the actual feast of All Saints -- this includes all the Saints that have not been canonized and are unknown to us. Then, on November 2nd, we celebrate the feast of All Souls. This day is officially set aside to remember and pray for the poor souls in Purgatory.

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that through the communion of saints “a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things” (#1475)." AmericanCatholic.org

There are many wonderful traditions and recipes to add to the celebration, some we have made in the past, and others I hope to incorporate into future celebrations. Since I will be hosting our next From Thy Bounty Fair over at Catholic Cuisine tomorrow (you can now find the link to this post here), specifically for these upcoming feasts, I thought I would take the opportunity to share some of these traditions here as well.


October 31st ~ All Hallows' Eve:

"It is fun to celebrate Hallowe'en -- but only because we are linking it with the Christian reality of All Saints' and All Souls' which follow. The emphasis on ghosts and witches and eerie things-that-go-bump in the night is an attempt to return to old pagan ways. Christians know that old pagan superstitions and fear must give way to the joy of the Resurrection and the reality of eternal life." ~ A Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle

Originally (prior to Vatican II) Catholics were required to pray and fast before great solemnity feast days, including All Saints' Day. This fast included abstinence from meat, so the traditional recipes for celebrating All Hallows' Eve are penitential in nature. Although the "fast before the feast" is no longer required by the Church, it is still a good practice to prepare spiritually for the feast, and one that we try to implement in our home.

(Our local Home School group has a wonderful party on the Eve of All Saints each year -- I recently posted game and costume ideas! I wish that our actual party was on the feast of All Saints, and that we had something along the lines of this awesome All Hallows' Eve Party that Jennifer Miller suggests. Maybe next year!! Nevertheless, in keeping with the penitential nature of of this day, our children always save their bag of treats from the party to enjoy after Mass on the actual feast.)

Some recipes to try for All Hallows' Eve include:
From the Scotch we have the recipe for Salainn Bannock (Hallowmas). In Cooking for Christ, Florence Berger tells us that this cake was "made by Scotch lassies especially for Halloween. They stir about six teaspoons of salt into the dough so it is scarcely edible, eat it, and then, without a word or drink of water, they climb into bed to dream of their future husbands." I had to laugh and agree when she continued on to say, "We, who have good husbands and a lot of little olive plants besides, decided we didn't need any salty cake to make us dream."

All Hallows' Eve was also known as "Nutcrack Night" in England, where families gathered around the hearth to enjoy cider and nuts and apples. We won't be at home for All Hallows' Eve, otherwise it would be so much to light one of our burn piles and gather round the bonfire!! Maybe next year!

My personal favorite foods for All Hallows' Eve are Soul Cakes and Doughnuts, and the stories that go along with them. Did you know that "trick-or-treating" was originally a custom started by Catholic English children who would go about begging their neighbors for a "Soul Cake?"

In her book (which I highly recommend!) The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season, Mary Reed Newland says:
Begging at the door grew from an ancient English custom of knocking at doors to beg for a "soul cake" in return for which the beggars promised to pray for the dead of the household. Soul cakes, a form of shortbread — and sometimes quite fancy, with currants for eyes — became more important for the beggars than prayers for the dead, it is said. Florence Berger tells in her Cooking for Christ a legend of a zealous cook who vowed she would invent soul cakes to remind them of eternity at every bite. So she cut a hole in the middle and dropped it in hot fat, and lo — a doughnut. Circle that it is, it suggests the never-ending of eternity. Truth or legend, it serves a good purpose at Halloween.

The refrains sung at the door varied from "a soul cake, a soul cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake," to the later:

Soul, soul, an apple or two,
If you haven't an apple, a pear will do,
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for the Man Who made us all.

In Cooking For Christ, Florence Berger shares recipes for both Soul Cakes and Doughnuts:

SOUL CAKES
  • 1 cake yeast
  • 1/4 cp lukewarm water
  • 1/2 cp sugar
  • 1/2 cp butter
  • 2 cps scalded milk
  • 6 cps flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 beaten egg

Dissolve yeast in water with one tablespoon sugar. Cover and allow to rise until light. Cream butter and remaining sugar. Add scalded milk. When mixture is lukewarm, add yeast and sifted dry ingredients. Knead into a soft dough. Let rise until double in bulk. Shape into small round or oval buns. Brush tops with egg. Bake on greased cookie sheets in a hot oven (400°) for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350° and bake the cakes until golden brown. (picture credit)


DOUGHNUTS
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1 cp milk
  • 5 Tbs melted shortening
  • 4 cps whole wheat flour
  • 1 cp sugar
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Sugar
  • Cinnamon
Beat the eggs, milk and shortening. Stir in sifted dry ingredients. Roll the dough on a well-floured board until one-fourth inch thick. Cut with doughnut cutter. Fry the doughnuts in deep fat at 370° until brown. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon while still warm.

**Another simple option (especially for nauseous pregnant mommas) is to pick up some plain cake doughnuts from the bakery! ;)






November 1st ~ All Saints' Day:


After Mass, the first thing that my children usually do is pull out their treat bags from our party the night before... In fact, I think I did the same thing myself when I was a child. :)

Just like all the other major feast days -- including Christmas and Easter -- the feast of All Saints is a great day for a big feast day meal. In Cooking for Christ, Florence Berger says, "Back home we came for a real feat-day brunch with roast chicken and ham baked in red wine and all sorts of trimmings. At the table there were songs for the harvest and stories of our name saints." She goes on to say that, "For the feast we used our finest recipes, all-American choice and family favorites. What they were I will not tell you now. Use your best dishes and make your own All-Saints tradition."

What are your favorite feast day dishes? One of our favorite desserts for this autumn feast day (as well as for Thanksgiving and Christmas!) is the Frosty Pumpkin Dessert in Pampered Chef's cookbook Celebrate! I recently found out that I am intolerant to dairy, so I am determined to try and make this recipe with some Coconut Milk based ice cream instead... Wish me luck!

Frosty Pumpkin Dessert
  • 32 gingersnap cookies, finely chopped (1 1/3 cups crumbs)
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 (1/2 gallon) container vanilla ice cream, divided
  • 2 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
  • 2/3 cup toffee bits
  • 1 cup solid pack pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Pantry Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend
Directions:
  1. Chop cookies with Food Chopper, Place butter in Small Micro-Cooker; microwave on HIGH 30 to 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in crumbs. Firmly press crumb mixture onto bottom of Springform Pan. Place in freezer.
  2. Scoop half of the ice cream into Classic Batter Bowl using Ice Cream Dipper. Place in refrigerator 10 minutes to soften.
  3. Fold 1 cup of the whipped topping and toffee bits into softened ice cream just until blended. Spread evenly over crust using All-Purpose Spreader. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
  4. Place remaining ice cream in refrigerator 10 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, mix pumpkin, brown sugar and spice blend in batter bowl. Scoop softened ice cream into pumpkin mixture. Mix just until blended. Spread evenly over ice cream layer. Freeze until firm, about 8 hours or overnight.
  5. When ready to serve, place dessert in refrigerator 20 minutes for easier slicing. Fill Easy Accent Decorator with remaining whipped topping. Run Utility Knife around outside of dessert; remove collar from Springform pan. Smooth sides with spreader. Cut dessert into wedges. Garnish each serving with whipped topping and sprinkle with additional spice blend, if desired. Yield: 16 servings

In her book The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day, Meredith Gould shares another tradition for this feast, which I had never heard of before. She says:

Usually regarded as a traditional food for Lent, in some eastern European countries, pretzel making is also an All Saints Day ritual. The dough for these pretzels is shaped into a figure eight, to represent saints or martyrs.

She goes on to share easy super easy directions for making pretzels:

Unless you enjoy making bread from scratch, skip this labor-intensive step and use prepared bread dough from the supermarket. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into ropes about 12" long. Twist each rope into an eight. Place these "saints" on a greased baking sheet 1 1/2" apart, then brush with egg white beaten with water. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden in an oven preheated to 375 degrees F.

All Saints in Heaven ~ Pray for us!


November 2 ~ All Souls' Day:

"But our charity and love go out to those who, though dead, still stand and watch at Heaven's gate before they can taste of the Lord's feast. We turn from our gaiety to the sombre thought that we, too, may one day be waiting at the closed lattice because we are not perfect yet. We leave our friends to visit the loneliest spot on earth -- the cemeteries of the dead." ~ Florence Berger, Cooking with Christ

One of our favorite things to do for the Feast of All Souls' is to attend a Mass celebrated by a wonderful priest at a local cemetery and make a poster of souls to remember in our family rosary during the month of November. Since All Souls falls on Sunday this year, we haven't heard whether or not Father will still be having the Mass at the cemetery or not. I hope so!

We also love reading Father Philip tells a Ghost Story and The Spirit of Tio Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story. (Both of which remind us to pray for the souls of the departed.)

Various countries have different traditions and recipes for this feast. T
he English celebrate once again with Soul Cakes (recipe above), in Mexico one of the traditions for the day is Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead), the Italians make Eggs in Purgatory and Fave dei Morti (Beans of the Dead), and in Switzerland you will find them making Dry Bones Cookies.

Since my mother-in-law is Spanish (which makes my children 1/4 Spanish), I was particularly interested in learning about the Mexican traditions. In Catholic Traditions in Cooking (another great Catholic Cookbook), Ann Ball shares the following:

On November 1 and 2, altars are assembled throughout Mexico in honor of the departed. They are laden with flowers and sugar-candy skulls, skeleton toys, candles, photographs, bread, chocolate, and the favorite food and drink of the returning spirits. The Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos) is a family feast that commemorates the dead and at the same time celebrates life. In Europe, the faithful prayed for the souls of the faithful departed and those in Purgatory on All Souls Day. In Spanish-Indian Mexico, this day became the day of the Dead, and the Mexicans celebrated with those who had gone before, feasted with them, and welcomed them home for a visit. On the morning of October 31, the souls of the "los angelitos," the little innocent ones, return. Their parents have made altars in their homes for them, and there the little ones will find their favorite sweets, toys, flowers, and candles. By noon on November 1, the children have left, and the souls of the departed adults begin to return, to feast at altars with their favorite foods.

Ann Ball also recommends a whole number of Mexican dishes that are traditional foods for this feast including: Pan de Yema (a special sweet bread made in the form of a man, woman, or child), Tamales, Chicken Mole, Tinga, and Bone Punch to drink.

This year I am planning on trying out her recipes for Tinga and serving it with Bone Punch. (As we try a few of her recipes, we will also be praying for her soul, since she passed away earlier this year.)


TINGA
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • 1 small onion, chopped fine
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cups water
Brown meat in a medium skillet. Drain off excess grease. Add chopped onion and cook over medium heat until onion is clear. Dissolve cornstarch in water and pour over meat, stirring to thicken. Add spices. Serve hot over rice or in taco shells.



BONE PUNCH

  • 1 32-oz. can pineapple juice
  • 1 Bottle Hawaiian Punch concentrate, mixed as directed
  • 2 tablespoons dried mint leaves
  • 1 quart water
  • 1 can sugar cane or slices of peeled fresh cane
Place mint leaves in water and bring to a boil. Boil for five minutes. Cool and strain leaves. In punch bowl, mix pineapple juice, mint tea, and Hawaiian punch. Cut sugar cane pieces in fourths lengthwise. Float on punch. Yield: 2 gallons


I had also hoped to make Sugar-Candy Skulls this year, but unfortunately I never got around to ordering the supplies. Instead, I am planning on trying out Ann Ball's recipe for Ossi dei Morti (Dead Bone Cookies).


OSSI DEI MORTI
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 8 tablespoons margarine or butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup almonds, chopped fine
  • confectioner's sugar
Cream the sugar, butter and eggs together. Add the flour gradually, beating until smooth. Add the vanilla and nuts, blending well. Form each teaspoon of dough into a bone or crescent shape, placing the cookies an inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes in a 400-degree oven, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired.



O merciful God, take pity on those souls who have no particular friends and intercessors to recommend them to Thee, who, either through the negligence of those who are alive, or through length of time are forgotten by their friends and by all. Spare them, O Lord, and remember Thine own mercy, when others forget to appeal to it. Let not the souls which Thou hast created
be parted from thee, their Creator.

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

St. Crispin's Apple Crisp

October 25th is the historical feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, brothers who evangelized France in the middle of the third century. Even though they hailed from Roman nobility, they worked as simple shoemakers by night and preached the gospel during the day.

We will be celebrating the day with an apple crisp in memory of these cobblers. (Pun so totally intended!) Have you ever heard of a Crispin apple? It's a cross between a Golden Delicious and an Indo.  It's sometimes called a Mutsu apple so be on the lookout in your produce section! Here's my favorite crisp recipe altered for apples instead of berries but you could use any crisp recipe you like. Try to find some Crispin apples and make it a crispin apple crisp! Or honeycrisp might substitute well, too.

St. Crispin's Apple Crisp

1 C. flour
3/4 C.white sugar
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1tsp. plus 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
4-5 C. sliced Crispin apples (Honeycrisp or Golden Delicious if that's all you can find, I won't tell!)
1/2 C. raisins (opt.)
1/4 C. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place apples and raisins (opt.) in bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Toss to coat. Place fruit mixture in a greased 8 inch or 9 inch baking pan.

Combine flour, 3/4 C. sugar, baking powder, salt and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Add egg.; mix with fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top of fruit. Drizzle with butter. Bake 35-40 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm with ice cream or chilled with whipped cream!

Most people's familiarity of either of these two early Christian martyrs is probably from Shakespeare's famous speech in which Henry V inspires his army before battle. You can watch it movingly performed by Kenneth Branagh below:

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Edible Eagles



"E is for Eagles

Here where clear waters reflect the clean air, 
look to the deep sky,
up where big birds fly.
See! Against white clouds...a bald eagle pair!"


As an extra project to go along with our Geography Study of New Hampshire this past week, my boys made Edible Eagles!

Since the Eagle also symbolizes some of the saints, I thought this would be a fun addition to our collection of ideas and recipes here at Catholic Cuisine.  These Edible Eagles would be a great little treat to make for the feast of St. John in December, a fun snack for the first Blue Knights meeting for Year Two (featuring St. John), or even for the upcoming feast of All Saints!  

"The Eagle when accompanying St. John the Evangelist is an emblem of the spiritual character of his Gospel, but when the King of Birds accompanies St. Prisca it refers to the legend that an eagle held watch over her body until it was buried after her martyrdom.  When a figure bearing an eagle's head, or a four-winged eagle, or a male saint with an eagle is depicted, it always represents St. John, ot in the character of a simple Apostle, but as the Evangelist." ~   How to Distinguish the Saints in Art by Their Costumes, Symbols and Attributes

Acording to Saints.SQPN.com, the Eagle also symbolizes the following:
  • Our Lord, who could gaze undazzled upon the glory of God, the Father, as an eagle at the sun
  • Baptism by early Christians
  • Saint Augustine of Hippo as a symbol of inspiration
  • Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, who was fed by an eagle
  • Saint Florian of Lorch, whose corpse was protected from abuse by an eagle
  • Saint John of the Cross as a symbol of inspiration
  • Saint John the Evangelist as a symbol of inspiration and the Holy Ghost
  • Saint Juan Diego, whose birth name means “the eagle who speaks”
  • Saint Medard of Noyon, who was sheltered from the weather by a hovering eagle
  • Saint Ruggero of Canne, who was sheltered in his travels by an eagle
  • Saint Servatus, who was sheltered from the sun by an eagle while he travelled as a pilgrim
  • Saint Wenceslaus, due to his association with Bohemia

Edible Eagles

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips (we used candy melts)
  • 6 large marshmallows
  • Finely shredded coconut
  • Chocolate sandwich cookie
  • 6 Cashews (we used peanuts) 
  • Black decorators' gel

Instructions:

Melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips (or candy melts) according to the package directions. 

For each bird, drop a large marshmallow into the melted chocolate, using a spatula to coat it well. 

Remove the marshmallow from the chocolate and roll it in finely shredded coconut, leaving one end uncovered. 

Immediately set the marshmallow, coconut free end down, atop a chocolate sandwich cookie. 

Let the chocolate set a bit, then use a toothpick to make a hole in the side of the marshmallow and insert a cashew for a beak. (We attached our peanuts with a bit more white chocolate.) 

Finally, add black decorators' gel eyes. 


You can find a few other great ideas in the archives including the Eagle Marshmallow Pops & Eagle Head Quesadillas and the Eagle Cake.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Passionist Cupcakes for St. Paul of the Cross

The following post was submitted by Marcia, from I Wonder Why.  Thank you Marcia!

Saint Paul of the Cross means a lot to our family. In 2001 after visiting his tomb, we joined our family life to the Rule of St. Paul of the Cross. Today is his feast day and I tried something new.


This is how my counter looked before I started cooking. And here is the final result. I made heart shaped black bottom cupcakes. They were big hit. They reminded us of the symbol that Passionists wear on their habit and were delicious!


You can also see we put our relics of St. Paul of the Cross and St. Gemma Galgani in a special place on our table today.


Passionist Cupcakes
adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup sugar, oil and water until blended. Stir in the vinegar and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture until incorporated. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 1/3 full with chocolate batter, then top with a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes.


St. Paul of the Cross, Pray for Us! 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Spinning Sun Cake

Several other contributors here have posted "Miracle of the Sun" cakes in the past. It's a fun way to celebrate either the May 13 Feast of OL of Fatima or the anniversary of the sun miracle itself - October 13.

Here is our addition to the miracle sun cakes. It's really easy and a hit with the kids as you can imagine. I just used a round, double layer cake. It was lemon with lemon frosting to get the yellow sun effect. I put it on our lazy suzan, inserted several candles into the side of the cake, lit them. Then spin the lazy suzan gently to make the sun cake spin. It looks pretty cool in the dark, too.



So commemorate the day the sun danced above Fatima, Portugal in October 1917 with a sun cake. Any cake would work. Use a simple one like this or one of the more elaborate ones psoted here in the past. Enjoy.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Recipes for October ~ Month Dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary



"The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7th. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful."


A great way to celebrate the month is to make a commitment to pray the rosary daily, but here are a few more ideas for celebrating the feast days in October, from the archives!


October 1, Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (New):
October 2, Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (New, Trad.):

October 3, Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (Trad.):
(See October 1st)

October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (New, Trad.):
October 5, Feast of St. Faustina Kowalska (New/some places):


October 7, Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (New, Trad.):
October 7, Feast of St. Mark (Trad.):

October 11, Feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII (New):

October 12, Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar:

October 13, The Miracle of the Sun in Fatima:
October 15, Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (New, Trad.):




October 16, Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (New):

October 17, Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch (New):

October 24, Feast of St. Raphael the Archangel (Trad.):





Last Sunday of October, Feast of Christ the King (Trad.):




October 31, All Hallows' Eve (New, Trad.):

**We will be hosting a linky here at Catholic Cuisine later this month, Oct 21-31st, for anyone who would like to share pictures of the "Saint-O-Lanterns" you carve this year!**



Other:

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary,
Pray for us!