Ice Cream w/ Salted Honey Caramel Sauce on the Feast of Blessed Solanus Casey

Blessed Solanus Casey is known as a miracle worker. One story that I came across happened to feature ice cream. Considering that there is this miraculous story involving ice cream, this frozen treat seems a proper dessert option on his midsummer feast day today. I decided to top it with a honey caramel sauce because he took care of the beehives at the monastery and was known to soothe the bees with his harmonica playing. 

One hot summer day, Blessed Solanus had seen many people at the door seeking his blessing and counsel. One visitor had come to thank him for his help in one manner or another, bringing ice cream cones to celebrate. Called to another situation, Blessed Solanus sat the ice cream in his desk drawer.

About 30 minutes later, one of the friars returned to the monastery from the dentist’s office. He had gone to arrange an operation to take care of a serious infection of his jaw. Before he left, he sought Blessed Solanus’ blessing, which he received. Blessed Solanus did not believe that religious should normally ask for miracles because they should embrace the sufferings God placed before them. But, as the custom of the day dictated, such a major health complication for a novice likely would mean they would have to leave the order. Blessed Solanus took pity on this friar, and in giving his blessing indicated the dentist might be surprised. Sure enough, the infection was gone.

When the friar returned to the monastery, he recounted the good news. He knew it was the prayer of Blessed Solanus that brought him healing. But Blessed Solanus offered a detraction from any attention that might be paid to him, and he initiated a celebration for the friar’s healing by pulling out the ice cream cones he earlier placed in his desk. They were fully intact and as cold as if they had been in the freezer all along.    ~ From OSV article

Salted Honey Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
½ teaspoon sea salt

Directions: 
Combine sugar, honey, and water in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil; cook until mixture is golden brown and smooth in texture, additional 4-6 minutes.

Remove from heat and carefully whisk in cream, butter, and salt (be careful, mixture will splatter). Let cool. Spoon over ice cream and serve. Sprinkle with additional sea salt if desired.

Sauce can be refrigerated for up to two weeks. Reheat before serving.


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St. Ambrose and the Bees Honeycomb Cake

The feast of St. Ambrose, patron saint of beekeepers, bees, and candlemakers, is celebrated on December 7th. Here is a recipe for Honey Bun Cake baked in a Honeycomb Cake Pan in honor of St. Ambrose, the honey-tongued doctor.

St. Ambrose and the Bees Honeycomb Cake

adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

Cake:

• baking spray for cake pan
• 1 package (18.25) oz plain yellow cake mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs

Filling:

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Sugar Glaze:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Note: I only used half of the glaze after baking the cake in the Honeycomb Pull Apart Cake Pan. This cake can also be baked in a 13-by-9 inch baking pan. 

Honeycomb Pull Apart Cake Pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat pan with non-stick baking spray. Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.

Tip: If using the Honeycomb Pan, don't fill the pan more than 3/4 of the way full, otherwise you may end up needing to remove a scoop or two of batter while it's baking to prevent it from overflowing! ;) 

Add the filling. Drizzle the honey on top of the batter, then sprinkle on the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans if desired.

With a dinner knife, swirl through these ingredients blend them slightly. Place the pan in the oven. 

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 38 to 40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes while you prepare the glaze.  

For the glaze, place the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl and stir until the mixture is well combined. 

Flip the Honeycomb Cake onto serving platter and pour the glaze over the top of the hot cake. 

Note: If you used a 9x13 pan, leave the cake in the pan and pour the glaze over the top of the cake, spreading it to the sides with a spoon. 

Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes more before serving warm. 

Saint Ambrose and the Bees from Brother Wolf, Sister Sparrow: Stories about Saints and Animals

I shared additional pictures over at Shower of Roses. 

You can scroll through the archives for additional recipes in honor of St. Ambrose. 

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St. Clement's Honey Clementine Vinaigrette Salad

Clementine Vinaigrette 

Ingredients:
3 clementines
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions: 
Juice two of the clementines. Save the third Clementine for the zest (and Clementine segments for salad). Add the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard and pepper to the juice. Slowly stir in honey and oil until thoroughly mixed. Zest the third Clementine and add to mixture. Serve over salad of baby spinach, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries and clementine wedges.

 Pope St. Clement, Pray for us!

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Honey Arnold Palmer - Refresher for St. Bernard Feast Day

The "Arnold Palmer" drink is a mix of half tea and half lemonade served chilled over ice. It is also called half-and-half. It is one of our family's favorite drinks, especially in the summertime. I came across a honey sweetened version on the National Honey Board Website. The inclusion of honey seemed a natural to add to the mid-August feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, as he is a patron of bees and beekeepers. There are other beekeeper patron saints but this one falling on August 20, seems particularly fitting since this time of year we are looking for ways to beat the summer heat and add refreshment.

I have adapted the recipe as follow:

Ingredients:

1 part - lemon juice

1 part - honey
2 parts - water

4 parts - unsweetened tea

For honey-lemon syrup/lemonade:

1 part - honey
2 parts - water
1 part - lemon juice (fresh squeezed or concentrate)

Combine ingredients in sauce pan over low heat. Stir until dissolved. Cool.

Mix honey-lemon mixture with 4 parts tea for the half and half.  Add more tea or water to taste.  Stir, refrigerate, and serve over ice. May need to stir again while drinking as honey settles to bottom if left too long. Garnish with lemon or mint if desired. Relax. Enjoy.

ETA: Apparently, August 20 is also National Lemonade Day - I had no idea. How convenient to have suggested a lemonade drink already. The honey-lemon/lemonade portion of this recipe is very tasty on its own and I recommend it as well. 

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Beehive Buns for the Feast of St. Ambrose

On December 7th we celebrate the feast of St. Ambrose of Milan.

"St. Ambrose is also known as the "Honey-Tongued Doctor," a pun on the saint's name (the word for honey in Latin is ambrosia); his preaching was said to be mellifluous, as sweet as flowing honey. Also according to legend, when Ambrose was a baby, a swarm of bees settled on his mouth, an omen that he would be a great orator. St. Ambrose is the patron of bee keepers, bees, candlemakers, domestic animals, learning, Milan Italy, and students. He is often depicted with a beehive or bees in his iconography, symbols which also indicate wisdom." ~ Catholic Culture

Here is a great recipe for Beehive Buns, which I made this past June for our last Good Shepherd's Garden Party.  The recipe is originally from an Easy to Bake, Easy to Make recipe card.

Beehive Buns

1 envelope (.25 oz) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105F - 115F)
2/3 cup warm milk (105F - 115F)
1/2 cup honey, divided
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 -3 3/4 cups flour (I ended up using just over 3 cups)

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in milk, 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup butter. Stir in salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl turning to grease the top also. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Lightly grease or spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each half of dough into a 12 X 6 inch rectangle.

Cut one inch strips from the long edge of each rectangle. Curl into a behive shape with a wider base and narrower top on the baking sheet.

Cover; let rise until doubled in size again, about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake buns until golden, 15-20 minutes.

Combine remaining honey and butter in a small saucepan.  Heat until butter melts.   Brush warm glaze over buns.

Yield: 1 dozen.

Additional recipes for the feast of St. Ambrose can be found in the archives. 

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Honey-Curry Chicken

Tomorrow, December 7th, is the Feast of St. Ambrose. Since St. Ambrose is also known as the "Honey-Tongued Doctor," I am planning on serving one of our favorite chicken dishes for dinner, which is made with honey. Here is the recipe:

HONEY-CURRY CHICKEN

In a 9x13 pan, mix the following:

4 TBSP butter (optional)
1/2 Cup honey
1/2 tsp curry
1/4 cup mustard
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
Soy sauce to taste (about 1-2 TBSP)


Now throw some chicken breasts (I use six), or chicken tenders (boneless is best), into the pan and mix it all around and bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour. I cover it for the first 45 minutes and then usually uncover it for the last 15 minutes. Best served over rice, as the sauce is VERY tasty and is great over rice with some veggies!! Yum!

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Grasshoppers and Honey

From the Gospel for 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B, Mark 1:1-8:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins....
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.

This Advent our family is focusing on the four primary figures of the Advent Liturgy, Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. I shared our Advent Wreath and Poster idea on my blog.

This week starts our focus on St. John the Baptist, who ate locusts and honey. Today would traditionally be St. Ambrose feast day, and his symbol of honey ("Honey-Tongued Doctor,") is also a perfect match for the honey that St. John the Baptist. All the wonderful food posts for St. Ambrose can do double duty.

I also plan on making a Grasshopper Pie this week to celebrate St. John. The simplest recipe would be using mint chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cookie pie shell -- easy and delicious. Although Cooks.com has several versions, this recipe seemed to have the most detail. I'm actually going to make this for my son who has food allergies to milk, eggs, and wheat. I have some allergy free chocolate cookies, Cool Whip (contains a small amount of casein which he can tolerate), and almond milk to replace some of the ingredients and we're good to go. We'll see if it works out.

Now, if you want to be a little more authentic, you can actually order food grade crickets in sweeter flavors.

Prepare the Way of the Lord, Make Straight His Paths! Pin It