Recipes for March ~ Month Dedicated to St. Joseph

**This post has been updated and re-posted here. 

The Month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus.

"The silence of Saint Joseph is given a special emphasis. His silence is steeped in contemplation of the mystery of God in an attitude of total availability to divine desires. It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, watches over the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, continuously comparing it with the events of the life of Jesus; a silence woven of constant prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of His holy will and of unreserved entrustment to his providence. It is no exaggeration to think that it was precisely from his "father" Joseph that Jesus learned -- at the human level -- that steadfast interiority which is a presupposition of authentic justice.... Let us allow ourselves to be "filled" with Saint Joseph's silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God's voice."   ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, December 18, 2005

March 1st, St. David (New and Trad.):

• Daffodil Cake for St. David's Day (As well as a couple soup recipes!)

March 4th, St. Casimir (New and Trad.):

• Polish Sugar Cookies

March 7th, St. Thomas Aquinas (Trad.):

• The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (Cake can be found here)

March 12th, Feast of St. Gregory the Great (Trad.):

• Enjoying Chant with St. Gregory the Great
• St. Gregory's Cherries (Crisp)

March 17th, St. Patrick (New and Trad.):

• Blarney Biscuits
• Irish Soda Bread
• Candied Popcorn
• Saint Patrick's Shamrock Cupcake Bouquet
• Slainte'
• Saint Patrick's Day Peppermint Candy Shake
• Shamrock Mint Cupcakes
• Sweet Shamrock Pretzels 
• Pistachio Mallow Salad for St. Patrick's Day
• Other uses for those Saint Nicholas Cookie Cutters!
• Feast Day Sugar Cookies
• Shamrock Toasties
• Irish Beef and Guinness Stew
• Irish Potato Pancakes
• St. Patrick's Beans
• Shamrock Chocolate Molds would be a fun addition for this feast, and would make a cute and easy decoration for cupcakes, etc.  Here is the link to the inexpensive mold I purchased.   There are all sorts of Shamrock themed baking supplies available including Cookie Cutters, Cake Pans, and Muffin Pans. 

 

  

March 19th, St. Joseph (New and Trad):

• Foods for St. Joseph's Altar
• St. Joseph Salad
• St. Joseph Sfinge (Cream Puffs)
• St. Joseph's Staff
• Minestrone Soup
• Nativity Cookies
• Gingerbread Tool Box for St. Joseph the Worker
• St. Joseph Raspberry Cream Cupcakes
• St. Joseph Altar Blog Fest
• Lily Sandwiches (The lily is a symbol of St. Joseph) 
• Mother Most Pure Calla Lily Sandwiches (The lily is a symbol of St. Joseph) 
• Lily Chocolate Molds would be a fun addition for this feast, as well as for the feasts of St. Gabriel, the Annunciation, and even Easter!  You can find the ones I purchased here and here.

March 24th, Feast of St. Gabriel the Archangel (Trad.):

• Upcoming From Thy Bounty Fair: Angels (With ideas and suggestions!)
• Angel Curls Cookies
• From Thy Bounty Fair - Feasting with the Angels!
• Lily Sandwiches (The Lily is a symbol of St. Gabriel) 
• Blessed Mary Mother of God Brownies (The Fleur-de-lis is a symbol of St. Gabriel) 

March 25th, Annunciation of the Lord (New, Trad.):

• Annunciation Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Lily Sandwiches
• Mother Most Pure Calla Lily Sandwiches
• Lady Day Feasting
• Annunciation Waffles
• All Recipes for the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Saint Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!

Baked Rockfish for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

This morning as I was meditating on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, this rockfish recipe came to my mind. It seems so appropriate to make fish today and since the name Peter means "rock" it would be the obvious choice for today. :-)

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh spinach

2 (6 ounce) fillets rockfish

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons minced fresh dill

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 lemon slices

2 onion slices

1 teaspoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Layer the spinach in the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish. Lay the rockfish atop the spinach. Scatter the tomatoes around the fish. Pour the broth into the dish. Season the fillet with the dill, garlic powder, lemon pepper, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Place the lemon, onion, and butter on the rockfish. Cover the entire dish with aluminum foil.

3. Bake in preheated oven until the fish flakes easily, 20 to 25 minutes.

Golden Chair of St. Peter Fruit Salad

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

February 22nd

In commemoration of the day when St. Peter held his first service in Rome, we made this 

Golden Chair of St. Peter Pineapple Fruit Salad.

It doesn't exactly look like this picture,

but it was fun to make.

We just carved out a pineapple in the shape of a chair.

First, cutting the skin,

Then carving the chair.

Next, we combined the following "golden" fruit:

(They may sound like a strange combination but it definitely worked~yum!)

Diced pears

Diced peaches

Diced cantaloupe

Diced pineapple

Mandarin orange slices

Golden raisins

We also mixed in a natural oats and honey granola for some crunch!

(If you like a creamy fruit salad, we love to add honey flavored Greek yogurt).  

Note:  We placed toothpicks in the mandarin orange slices on the pineapple chair to represent the Holy Spirit, as seen in the actual photo (above).

Intercessory Prayer to St. Peter:

O God, who hast given unto They blessed Apostle Peter

the keys to the kingdom of heaven,

and the power to bind and loose:

grant that we may be delivered,

through the help of this Intercessory,

from the slavery of all our sins:

Who livest and reignest world without end.

Amen.

Edible Chairs for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

With the feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch coming up on February 22nd (a First Communion Anniversary in our home), the Toaster Pastry Throne I came up with during Our Sixth Good Shepherd's Garden Party last year came to mind as a fun treat to make for this feast day.  

Edible Chairs/Thrones

Supplies:

Toaster Pastries/PopTarts (We love Nature's Path Organic Toaster Pastries, Frosted Wildberry Acai)

Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes or Pirouline Rolled Wafers

White Almond Bark, Candy Melts or White Chocolate Chips, melted

Directions:

Cut the Toaster Pastry to make the seat and back of chair/throne, making one side bigger than the other.  Place the taller side on the top end of the shorter side using melted chocolate. 

Cut the cookies into four even sections to use for the legs of the throne and two for the arms... Attach them (as shown below) using melted chocolate.   

Please feel free to leave a link in the comments (or post a picture to our Facebook page) if you end up making these and would like to share a picture.  I'd love to see them!