A Feast for Mary's Month of May!

Please welcome Kelly, from The Careless Catholic, who will be joining us as a contributor here at Catholic Cuisine!

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Yesterday, we finally had our home May Crowning ceremony. This month has blessed us with so many additional celebrations that I was having a hard time figuring out when I could fit another one in. But we have always had a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother and I really wanted to make sure we fit our May Crowning celebration in this month. The entire month of May is dedicated to Our Lady, so I figured anytime this month would work. Honoring Our Lady with a May Crowning has been a tradition in our home for only the past few years. Our local parish used to have one, but unfortunately like so many other beautiful traditions in the Church, this practice has fallen away. So, we started having our own May Crowning ceremony at home. Our home ceremony, like most of our liturgical celebrations, consisted of prayer (Hail Holy Queen, Regina Caeli, Litany of Loretto, To the Blessed Mother and our family Rosary), hymns (Hail Holy Queen, Mary Queen of the May and Immaculate Mary), and food. Last year I tried to have a few special items to eat as part of the celebration, but this year I wanted to make it a bit more memorable for the children. After seeing all the wonderful ideas presented here at Catholic Cuisine by Jessica, Charlotte and Tiffany, I was inspired. I decided to do an entire day of feasting with a Marian themed menu! As much as I could, I incorporated the colors blue and white. Blue for Our Lady's Mantle and white for Our Lady's purity. I also used the crown as a symbol to honor the queenship of Mary and the May Crowning itself. Also, I tried to infuse beauty. Beauty in the table setting, the music playing in the background and the food as well. Btw, a side note on the music linked; this music is sublime, especially Saint-Saens' Ave Maria. It is SO good I actually cried hearing it the first time.

Our May Crowning Day Menu:

Breakfast::

~Mini Blueberry Parfaits~

(inspired by Lena)

&

~Homemade Blueberry Waffles~ 

(Topped with blueberry preserves and powdered sugar.)

Luncheon::

~Crown shaped Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches~

(using Jessica's lily cream cheese filling)

~Turkey and Cucumber Roses~

(Inspired by Charlotte's meal, linked above in first paragraph.)

~Cauliflower Florets with Ranch Dipping Sauce~

~Blueberry Coffee Cake Slices~

(I didn't make this coffee cake. When we saw a package of these at the store we not only thought they looked yummy, we also thought they looked like crowns so we picked up a box. And of course being made with blueberries made it perfect!)

~Blue and White Crown Cupcakes~

(Thank you Jessica for introducing me to candy molding! It's so much fun!)

~Blue and White Candies~

(Hershey's Coconut Kisses & York Peppermint Pieces)

~Charlotte's Blue Punch~

(The kids LOVED this. Thank you, Miss Charlotte!)

Here are some more luncheon pictures:

(I decorated the table with a blue table covering with a plastic white lace one over top, a holy card of the Blessed Mother, my bluebirds, blue candles, our Pascal Candle we made with this kit, our Easter wreath that was the crown of thorns during Lent, and fresh lilies (a symbol of Our Lady) from the market.)

Dinner::

~Herbed Chicken Tortellini~

*pasta filled with chicken seasoned with rosemary (Our Lady's herb) in an alfredo sauce*

(A reality check: I did not make this from scratch. I did what any sensible overwhelmed mother of many does when planning a day long feast. I picked up two bags of Buitoni pasta and Bertolli Alfredo Sauce from the market.)

~Fleur-di-lis Rolls~

(I made these using refrigerated breadstick dough. I used two breadstick pieces for the middle, pinching them together, two pieces for the sides and one piece to wrap around the middle and then pressed together underneath. Three tubes of dough should make 7 large rolls.)

~Mixed Green Salad in Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil Dressing~

As you can see, I tried to keep dinner a little simpler than the luncheon earlier in the day. After dinner we sang our Marian hymns  prayed our prayers and then Dancer (the oldest daughter in our family) crowned the Our Lady of Fatima statue we have.  We ended our day with a family rosary before bed. It was a beautiful day and one that I hope the children will remember for years to come.

May God bless your Marian devotions!