Saturday, January 28, 2012

Recipes for February ~ Month Dedicated to the Holy Family



The Month of February is dedicated 
to the Holy Family.

"Nothing truly can be more salutary or efficacious for Christian families to meditate upon than the example of this Holy Family, which embraces the perfection and completeness of all domestic virtues." ~ Pope Leo XIII


February 1st, St. Brigid (Hist.):
 


February 2nd, Presentation of Our Lord (New and Trad) also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Candlemas Day (Trad):
 


February 3rd, St. Blaise (New, Trad.):


February 5th, St. Agatha (New, Trad.):


February 8th, St. Josephine Bakhita (New):


February 11th, Our Lady of Lourdes (New, Trad.):





February 14th, St. Valentine (Trad.):

Breakfast
 

Dinner



Desserts and Treats


 





February 16th, St. Paul Shipwrecked (Malta):

February 18th, St. Bernadette Soubirous (New, Trad.):


February 20th Bls. Francisco Marto & Jacinta Marto (New/some places):


February 22nd, Chair of St. Peter:


February 27th, St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Trad.):


Lord Jesus Christ, who, being made subject to Mary and Joseph, didst consecrate domestic life by Thine ineffable virtues; grant that we, with the assistance of both, may be taught by the example of Thy holy Family and may attain to its everlasting fellowship. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
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Posted by Jessica Gordon on Saturday, January 28, 2012 2 comments
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

"My First Holy Communion" Party Favors


In addition to the Baptism Favors, I also made First Holy Communion Lollipop Favors for the Cake Reception following the girls' First Holy Communion and the baby's Baptism.  For these I used the Girl Communion Candy Mold (a boy version is also available), along with Lollipop sticks, white and pink candy melts.

You can see an example of how the multi-colored candies are made in this post.  I poured the melted white chocolate into the center of the mold first, let it harden in the fridge, and then finished the lollipops by filling the mold the rest of the way with the pink candy and adding the lollipop stick.   It would have been helpful to have more than one mold, but since I really couldn't make very many at a time (due to a little one who loves to be held) I made them four at a time over a three day period as I had little bits of free time.

I packaged the candy shells in Clear Treat Bags, tying them with Pink Curling Ribbon. I made similar tags to the Baptism favors, some reading "My First Holy Communion...Deo Gratias!" and some that were customized with "God Bless (Child's Name)"at the top, and the date of the First Holy Communion on the bottom.  I just used scissors to cut the circles, which really didn't take long, but I would love to purchase a 2" circle punch for the future.  I cut the 2 1/2" scalloped backgrounds using my Cricut, Winter Woodland Cartridge, and gold card stock.


Here is the link to my document for the "My First Holy Communion" tags, which I printed out onto white card stock, in case anyone would like to use them in the future:



I was planning on making a couple dozen Cross Lollipops as well, but ended up running out of time even thought they are quicker to make and also take less of the melted candy. These would be a great option if you need a lot of favors.

I wasn't sure how I was going to display the lollipops, and started looking for a styrofoam block.   I wasn't able to find anything, and wasn't about to spend $8-10 dollars for one from Walmart, so I ended up cutting down a shoebox (from a cute pair of new boots), to make it shallower, wrapped it in gold wrapping paper, and then punched holes in the top with a hammer and nail.  The lollipops didn't stand up completely straight, but I thought it worked well enough, especially since it didn't require purchasing any more supplies.  :)


Here are a few other First Communion Themed Candy Molds available:

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Posted by Jessica Gordon on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 5 comments
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"My Baptism" :: Scallop Shell Baptism Favors


In addition to making the Baby's Baptism Cross for on top of the cake, I also decided to make some Baptism Favors for the reception following our baby's baptism.  These were also inspired by Cupcake's Baptism Reception. The challenge was finding white candy melts, since the local store was completely sold out of them after Christmas and New Years, and I had used my stash for our Gingerbread Fun on New Year's Eve.  I was finally able to get to Michaels, when I went to town to order the cakes, and then started making a few candies at a time, when I had free hands.  Thankfully they are quick and easy to make, and between Sunday-Wednesday I had found the time to make about 50 Baptism and First Holy Communion favors. (This ended up being not nearly enough, but I had no idea we would have nearly 100 guests on a Friday morning!  Who says there isn't enough interest for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in our area?!)

There are a number of candy molds to choose from, but like Charlotte I decided to go with the Seashell Chocolate Mold, since it is the symbol of Baptism.

"Scallop shell: the sea shell, especially the scallop shell, is the symbol of Baptism, and is found frequently on Baptismal fonts. The dish used by priests to pour water over the heads of catechumens in Baptism is often scallop-shaped."

Charlotte made her shells a beautiful pink and white swirl.   They just didn't look right with blue and white, and I wanted to make them as quickly a possible, so I decided to make ours solid white.

I packaged the candy shells in Clear Treat Bags, tying them with White Curling Ribbon.  I then made my own tags for the favors.

I decided to create some tags that read "My Baptism...Deo Gratias!" and some that were customized with "God Bless (Baby's Name)"at the top, and the Date of Baptism on the bottom.  Here is the link to my document for the "My Baptism" tags, which I printed out onto white card stock, in case anyone would like to use them in the future.  These could also be used for cupcake toppers.


I just used scissors to cut the circles, which really didn't take long,  but I would love to purchase a 2" circle punch for the future.  I cut the 2 1/2" scalloped backgrounds using my Cricut, Winter Woodland Cartridge, and silver card stock.    I placed the favors in one of our Easter Baskets, placing the Joseph's Studio Baptism Wall Cross I found for the baby at our local Catholic Book store next to the basket.  I was very pleased with the results!

Here are additional Baptism themed candy mold options. I'll be back soon with pictures of the First Communion Favors we made for the girls.


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Posted by Jessica Gordon on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2 comments
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