New St. Joseph Apron :: Free Shipping for a Limited Time!

Catholic Embroidery has generously offered Free Shipping, to all Catholic Cuisine visitors, on pre-orders of their brand new limited edition St. Joseph Apron! Offer expires on February 12th, so be sure to pre-order your apron soon.

Viva San Giuseppe - Long Live St. Joseph!

Such is the traditional cry of honor given to the Foster Father of Our Lord, St. Joseph, in the spirit of Italian custom, around the world. This apron, embroidered with the Portrait of St. Jopseh in traditional and bright Italian colors, will take it's place proudly in your March 19th feastday celebrations - or any time of year. A great gift for that special man in your life.



Embroidered - not printed! Our durable cotton-twill apron provide ultimate stain protection and comfort. Designed with two large pockets and an adjustable strap, they measure 23”W by 30”L.. Extra long 39” ties and reinforced bar tacking construction promises durability and practicality.

*All aprons will be shipped directly from Catholic Embroidery.   Catholic Cuisine will receive a percentage of any of the aprons purchased directly from this page.  Thank you for your support!  

January 1, 2015 Update: Unfortunately these beautiful aprons are not currently available. 

St. Paul Lunch

The following post was submitted by Lisa, from Catholic Missionary Family, in honor of today's feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. It would also be perfect for the feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29th. Thank you Lisa!

For the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul today I put together a special lunch for the kids using St. Paul symbols. It was easy, quick, and very kid friendly. Maybe this is what I had for lunch as well, so maybe it's also adult friendly.

Here is what you'll need to put on your shopping list.

"Wait, what is the ice cream for?" you ask. It's for the stormy sea dessert! Let's start there.

St. Paul made many voyages to spread the gospel. On one such trip there was a massive storm that left him shipwrecked. To remind us of this Pauline adventure we mixed Sprite, blue food coloring, and vanilla ice cream to create a stormy sea.

Because St. Paul was a Roman citizen he was not crucified, but rather beheaded with a sword. For this reason the sword is St. Paul's symbol. To incorporate this symbol into our lunch we made hotdog swords with pretzel stick blades. The kids loved being able to dip these into ketchup and eat them in one bite.



As I already mentioned, St. Paul made many voyages, so we made apple and cheese ships for the many boats he traveled on.



Finally, St. Paul is the author of many of the books of the New Testament. In the past the Scriptures were written on and read from scrolls. To remind us of St. Paul's writings we had Fruit by the Foot scrolls.

St. Paul, pray for us!

Marshmallow Lamb Cookies

The lamb, as a symbol of purity, is one of the symbols of St. Agnes. Every year on January 21st, the memorial of St. Agnes, the pope blesses two lambs that have been raised by Trappists of the Tre Fontane Monastery outside of Rome. After the lambs have been blessed they are taken to Benedictine nuns at the Monastery of St. Cecilia in Rome. Here the nuns care for them and use their wool to weave the palliums worn by the Pope and his Archbishops. The palliums are conferred on new archbishops (those appointed as archbishops during the preceding year) on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29th.

"The palliums are about 3 inches wide and have a 14-inch strip hanging down the front and the back. The strips are finished with black silk, almost like the hooves of the sheep the archbishop is symbolically carrying over his shoulders." (CNS)

According to The Church's Year of Grace, "Our saint's name should be traced to the Greek hagne - the pure, rather than to the Latin agna - lamb. But the Latin derivation prevailed in the early Church. The reason may have been that eight days after her death Agnes appeared to her parents with a train of virgins, and a lamb at her side. St. Augustine knew both derivations. "Agnes", he writes, "means 'lamb' in Latin, but in Greek it denotes 'the pure one'."  (Catholic Culture)

Because of St. Agnes's association with lamb,  I made some quick and easy Marshmallow Lamb Cookies for the children to enjoy while coloring pictures and listening to a story about the life of St. Agnes in honor of her memorial.  These Marshmallow Lamb Cookies would also be perfect to make during the Easter season!

Marshmallow Lamb Cookies 

Adapted from Last Minute Mel

Ingredients:

• Graham Crackers
• Mini Marshmallows
• 1 T Confectioners Sugar (and a drop of milk to make icing)
• Raisins
• Food Marker

Directions: 

Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut the graham crackers to a somewhat oval shape.

Spread a thin layer of the powdered sugar icing over the top of the graham cracker and cover with marshmallows. 

Microwave on high for approximately 10 seconds.  Remove from microwave and gently push the marshmallows together and flatten slightly.

Add the raisin for the ear and draw in an eye.  Enjoy! 

Agnesenplätzchen (St. Agnes Cookies)

In honor of today's feast of St. Agnes I finally had the opportunity to bake Agnesenplätzchen (St. Agnes Cookies), with lots of help from our six year old, adapting the recipe found in Cooking with the Saints.  The recipe for these delicious jam filled shortbread cookies was originally from an old German cookbook first published in 1924.

Agnesenplätzchen (St. Agnes Cookies) 

adapted from Cooking with the Saints 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 jar apricot jam
• powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Cream the butter with the sugar. Gradually incorporate the flour until it becomes a smooth dough. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

On a clean work surface, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thick. Cut out an even number of circles about 2 inches in diameter.

Let the dough rest for about 30 to 60 minutes.  

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350˚F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely. Spread apricot jam on the top of one cookie and cover with a second cookie.

Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.  

You can find additional pictures and ideas over at Shower of Roses. 

St. Agnes, Ora Pro Nobis!

Edible St. Agnes Lambs

The following post was submitted by Sarah Rose, from Rose's Supposes, for the feast of St. Agnes. Thank you Sarah Rose!

St. Agnes' feast day is today, January 21st! She was a young Roman girl who promised her life to God. Because of her beauty many men wanted to marry her, but she always refused, saying "Jesus Christ is my only Spouse." One of them became so angry when she refused him, he turned her in for being a Christian. She was then tortured and killed for refusing to deny her faith. She was only thirteen years old when she was martyred. She is the patron of young girls, (among other things.) Learn more about St. Agnes here.

In art she is often pictured holding a lamb, as her name is very similar to the Latin word "Agnus" which means lamb.

So today I decided to make a healthy snack of vegetable lambs in honor of St. Agnes. 

For each lamb you will need:

• 3 toothpicks cut in half (kitchen shears work well for this)
• 1 white mushroom cap or 1 cauliflower floret
• 1 large black olive

Stick four of the toothpick halves into the bottom of the mushroom or cauliflower. These are the legs. Then stick one toothpick half in the top to hold the head. The black olives already have a hole in the middle so you can just slide them on! Serve them as is or with a dip. You could even give them a meadow of salad to frolic on.

While we were making the lambs I read a short bio of St. Agnes, and then afterwards we said a St. Agnes prayer.

Prayer to Saint Agnes

St. Agnes, although you were only a child, you believed that Jesus was always with you; help us to remember that he is also with us, and to remain true to his presence.

St. Agnes, you refused to give up your faith; help us to be proud of our faith, to love it, to be strong in it, and to give witness to it daily.

St. Agnes, patron saint of children, watch over the children of the world; keep them safe from harm; be with them in their hour of need; and always pray for them. Amen.

Saint Felix and the Spider :: Spider Web Snacks

In honor of the memorial of Saint Felix of Nola which is celebrated on January 14th, and inspired by the newly published picture book Saint Felix and the Spider, yesterday afternoon we made Spider Web Snacks.  These delicious sweet and salty snacks were easy to make and so much fun!

Spider Web Snacks

adapted from Mom Endeavors

Ingredients: 

• pret­zel sticks 
• white chocolate/bark candy coat­ing (I used white candy melts)
• milk choco­late (baker’s, candy melts, or chips would prob­a­bly all work)
• raisins
• bag­gie or pas­try bag
• wax or parchment paper

Directions:

Lay out your pret­zels on the wax paper in “star­burst” arrange­ments of 6 or 8 pretzels. (You can place the paper on a cookie sheet for transport stability, but I just made ours on the counter.  The candy melts set up pretty quickly.) 

After melt­ing your white chocolate/bark coat­ing, place in a pastry bag or bag­gie and cut the cor­ner off. Start pip­ing your choco­late in the mid­dle of the pret­zel arrange­ment, mak­ing sure to coat all the pretzels.

Con­tinue pip­ing out­ward around the pret­zels, until you have a web. Then, place two raisins in the mid­dle for the body of the spider.  Melt your milk chocolate and pipe over the raisins. On some of the spiders I used a toothpick to add the legs from the chocolate on the body.  

Note: On the second batch I piped the legs of the spider first before adding the body and these spiders turned out the best.

Let set on the counter, or place in the fridge for a few minutes, until the choco­late is hard.  Gently peel back the wax paper and serve. 

I posted a few additional pictures over at Shower of Roses. 

Eggnog Cupcakes with Eggnog & Rum Buttercream Frosting

Eggnog Cupcakes

adapted from Wendy Paul

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup eggnog
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp rum extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat together the cake mix, eggnog, eggs, extracts and spices for two minutes. Batter will be thick. Fill paper cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly golden and springs back when lightly touched. Cool completely.

Eggnog & Rum Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp rum extract
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 Tbsp eggnog
• nutmeg
• 5 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and extracts until blended and creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar in, about 1 cup at a time, until frosting forms a paste. Add eggnog in between powdered sugar additions until the frosting begins to come together and make the frosting stiff yet spreadable and creamy. Blend in the pinch of nutmeg, if desired.



Frost cupcakes with eggnog buttercream and sprinkle with additional nutmeg.

Meri Meri also makes a set of 48 cute cupcake toppers for the 12 Days of Christmas.