Lily Lollipops for St. Joseph

Jessica has turned me on to making candy decorations and I've discovered that it's a very easy way to add a little elegance to a celebration! I'm making these as a favor for the St. Joseph's Day baby shower/luncheon I am hosting tomorrow. I ordered this lily lollipop mold and picked up some white peppermint candy melts and yellow vanilla melts from the local craft store. I've never made a two color candy before but I really wanted the lilies to have their signature yellow anthers in the middle. Here is what worked for me...

I melted a little of the yellow and using a toothpick, dabbed a few tiny drops right where the anther indentations were on the mold. Here's a close up:

Let that set in the fridge for a few minutes and then fill the lilies with the melted white candy as normal. I inserted the lollipop sticks and added another small dollop of white to the back side to help hold it in place. Once your candy is completely firm, pop them out of the mold. It was much easier than I imagined! I think I might make some as Easter favors for some friends. Or maybe for the feast of the Annunciation!

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May Crowning

A May Crowning has become a tradition in our house and while I like to do it as early in May as I can, it can be done at any time during this month of Mary. I thought I would share some scenes and ideas from today:Our May Crowning tradition is to celebrate the many beautiful titles of Our Lady found in the Litany of Loreto and to pray a Memorare each night for those people who might fall under her patronage through a specific title. You can see one of our past lists here. We sing hymns, crown our three Mary statues and place flowers on our Mary altar. We pray the Litany of Loreto and then enjoy a feast. As for the menu, some old favorites and some new treats were planned and prepared.

~Mother Most Pure Calla Lily Sandwiches~

A variation of these. Peanut butter inside of white bread circles and pinched at one end. A banana segment rolled in yellow sprinkles and a green swizzle stick stem completes the lily nicely.

~Mirror of Justice Bites~
We chose tuna fish (Star of the Sea) on top of Melba toast rounds served on a mirror but you could choose anything since it is the mirror that ties this in. Might I suggest a little cream cheese on the bottom of each bite. Mirrors make very slippery serving trays. Ask me how I know.

~Queen of Martyrs Cake~
I did not make this delicious cake. We picked it up from a local bakery. It is a Strawberry Boston Cream Cake and it is delicious! As my son said, "The red is for the martyrs and the strawberries make it look like a crown." Bingo! I did decorate some sugar cookies with frosting forget-me-nots as part of our decorative theme.

~Tower of Ivory, House of Gold~
Mozzerella Cheese Sticks and Colby Jack cheese cubes.

~Mystical Roses~
Turkey breast roses and cucumber roses. I used the leftover turkey breast from the sandwiches below and a cucumber following these instructions. For some reason that website takes a long time to come up so wait for it. Also, I think Japanese cucumbers have smaller seed pockets. Mine held together only because they were impaled on toothpicks but they did look cool!

~Vessels of Honor~
My kids know that using great-grandma's punch bowl and cups is a huge honor. This year, we used 7Up,vanilla ice cream, and one small box blue gelatin (unsweetened if you can find it) to make our Mary Blue Punch. Stir the 7Up and gelatin together until gelatin dissolves. Pour into punch bowl and float vanilla ice cream clouds on top.

~Morning Star~
Star shaped turkey and cheese sandwiches (because we ran out of Calla Lilly stems). I did serve them with their tops on and a little mayo/mustard mixture on the side.

If you need more information to make one of these I'd be happy to help and I would love to see what a May Crowning looks like in your home!

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Lily Sandwiches

Lily Sandwiches for Our Lady

( from Catholic Traditions)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2-3 TBSP milk
• 20 slices fresh white bread
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• green pepper
• carrot

Combine and work into a paste the cheese, cream, salt, and paprika.

Remove crusts from bread. Roll into cornucopia shape by bringing two straight edges together and letting them overlap slightly. Hold the edges together with a little bit of the cheese mixture, pressing gently. Roll and chill the bread "lilies" before filling.

After sandwiches are filled with the cream cheese mixture, insert a thin strip of carrot for a stamen. Cut bell pepper into leaf shapes and attach a leaf to each sandwich with additional cheese.

Chill sandwiches until time to serve.

Yield: 20 finger Sandwiches

The lily of the valley is a symbol for the Blessed Virgin Mary because of its pure white flowers, sweet smell and humble appearance. It symbolized Mary’s Immaculate Conception and represents the purity of both body and soul by which Mary found favor with God.

We made these sandwiches for our afternoon snack on the Feast of the Annunciation. Other than the peppers, they were a hit with my children.
I thought they were pretty yummy too! I posted the rest of what we did to celebrate on my other blog, Shower of Roses.

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