Mantle of Stars for Our Lady

In the grocery store this week I saw a Limited Edition Pop Tart flavor which was blue frosted with white star sprinkles. It reminded me of the mantle of stars present in several images of Our Lady.

Some of the images where we see the Blessed Mother beautifully cloaked in a mantle of stars are shown here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Altagracia

Our Lady of Pontmain (OL of Hope)

So if you are looking for a quick and easy treat for a Marian feast day this could be an option. But act fast as this is a limited edition Pop Tart flavor. I don't know how long it is available as I assume they were from the 4th of July this summer and have only seen it in one store here (Albertson's). 

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Altagracia Cookies

This post was written by Catholic Cuisine contributor, Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda. 

Legend says that the pious daughter of a rich merchant asked him to bring her a portrait of Our Lady of Altagracia from Santo Domingo, but no one had heard of that title. The merchant, staying overnight at a friend's house in Higuey, described his problem as they sat outdoors after dinner. An old man with a long beard, who just happened to be passing by, pulled a rolled up painting from his bindle, gave it to the merchant, and said, "This is what you are looking for." It was the Virgin of Altagracia. They gave the old man a place to stay for the night, but by dawn he was gone, not to be seen again. The merchant placed the image on their mantle, but it repeatedly disappeared only to be found outside. They finally returned it to the church. 

In the picture book, A Gift of Gracias, by Julie Lavarez, a connection is made between this special feast day and oranges. These Orange Carrot Cookies would be a delightful treat for the Feast of Our Lady of Altagracia, coming up on January 21st, especially paired with a reading of the book. You can find the original recipe over at Dawn's blog, By Sun and Candlelight. I made a few changes that I will post here. Just FYI, these are soft, almost muffin-top like cookies, not crispy or crunchy cookies.

Altagracia Cookies

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 C. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 - 3/4 C. sugar (I used less.)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

the zest of 1/2 an orange (about 1 Tbl.)

1 C. mashed, cooked carrots

2 C. all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
(sugar sprinkles, optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine baking powder and flour and set aside. Cream the egg, butter, sugar and vanilla. Add carrots and zest and mix well. Slowly incorporate flour mixture being careful not to over mix. Drop by tablespoons onto parchment covered cookie sheets. Add sugar sprinkles if desired. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on a wire rack. 

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A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia

This afternoon my family enjoyed a (tea-less) "Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia," inspired by yet another one of Alice's amazing Liturgical Teas.  This one is is based on the Novena prayer to Our Lady of Altagracia, which was translated by Helen from the original Spanish!

~ Our Mother's Hand's ~

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our 
Patroness.
  Look at us here, prostrate in your presence, desiring 
to offer you this novena as a testimony of our love 
for you and in thanksgiving for the innumerable
 favors that we have received from your hands.

For this activity, the children made:
  "Our Mother's Hands" Stained Glass Windows

~ The Love of our Hearts ~

You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our 
needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to
 learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to 
offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, 
dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively 
to our supplications. Amen.

For this activity, the children all created "love notes" to our dear Mother Mary. I gave them each a large red heart shaped doily (I picked up a pack of 16 from the Dollar Store), a smaller white heart cut out of copy paper, and a pile of stickers.

~ Three Graces Tea Menu ~

Supplications

1. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, 
all pure and Immaculate from your Conception! We
 beseech you to bless us, your children, with the grace
 to love the purity you practiced and to preserve the 
innocence of our children. Hail Mary…

2. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, 
admirable model of Christian mothers and wives in the
 humble house of Nazareth, we beseech you to bless our 
homes, making them flourish in the holiness of
 matrimony. Hail Mary…

3. Oh sweetest Mother of Altagracia, 
you received into your arms the Holy Infant who died 
for us on the Cross, we give you all of our
 sufferings, so that at the hour of our death we may
 die with the name of Jesus on our lips and in our
 hearts, and fly to heaven with the help of your 
maternal arms. Hail Mary …

"The Novena specifies the three graces we request from Our Lady, and the menu offerings of the tea reflect them in a simple way."

1. Love of Purity ~ White ranch dip represents purity and will go well with the vegetables in the next menu offering.  This reminds us of the perfect purity of the Holy Family.

2. Home Blessing ~ This next offering reminds us of the humble home of the Holy Family in Nazareth, and we ask for a shower of blessings upon our homes, making them flourish in the holiness of matrimony.  Since Our Lady of Altagracia is patroness of the Dominican Republic, Alice suggests "we remember "Home Blessings" with produce that grows in this, her chosen homeland: snap peas or pea pods. When you break open the side of the pod, the peas inside look like a family in their house. "

3. Maternal Arms ~ In the last supplication we ask for the grace of flying to Heaven with the help of Our Lady's maternal arms.   For this offering Alice suggests serving small twisted pretzels.  She says, "The original German pretzels were meant to represent arms crossed in prayer, but I think they would make a wonderful maternal embrace for these purposes"

I also served a bowl of White (Our Lady's Purity) Pretzels (Maternal Arms).

~ Treats for Our Lady of Altagracia ~

For a delicious dessert in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia, Alice suggests serving caramelized bananas over coffee ice cream since the chief exports of the Dominican Republic are coffee, sugar and bananas.

Directions:  To carmelize the bananas, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bananas in half and sprinkle with butter and brown sugar. Bake about 7 minutes or so. If this is too difficult, use plain ripe bananas over coffee ice cream--or even vanilla ice cream with bananas and a drizzle of coffee syrup.

The next treat I made was a crown of stars for the "beautiful lady with golden skin and a crown of stars."   ~  excerpt from A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia   I placed our little hand painted Our Lady of Altagracia doll in the center.

Our Lady of Altagracia's Chocolate Stars

Melt and mold Yellow Chocolate according to directions using a star chocolate mold. 

Our Lady of Altagracia Orange Smoothies

You can find the recipe from this delicious drink in the archives.

Final Prayer 

Holy Virgin of Altagracia!

From your hands and your maternal heart we receive 
each day the sustenance that you give to us from Our
 Father in heaven. 
You are our defense in danger,
 our indispensable help in our necessities and our hope in the sacrifices required of the Christian 
life. 
Through your Immaculate Heart we desire to pay tribute
 to God with a hymn of thanksgiving for all the 
benefits you have distributed.
 We promise you, Oh Mother, gratitude and fidelity.
 You will always reign in our homes and in our town, 
where all venerate you as Our Lady and Mother, you who
 make all virtues increase and thrive. 
We are honored to be called your children.  We hope to finish our lives serving God and you until 
we reach the highest grace possible, the grace you
 will help us to attain, the great gift of heaven
 itself.  Amen.

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Our Lady of Altagracia Orange Smoothies

January 21st is the feast of Our Lady of Altagracia! Since we are still adjusting to having a new little baby in our home once again, I've had to keep our feast day cooking extremely simple.Our plans for tomorrow are to read and discuss the lovely book A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia, and then make Orange Smoothies.  We recently made them during "O" Week, as my daughters learn Along the Alphabet Path, and they were so delicious!

Here is our recipe:

Our Lady of Altagracia Orange Smoothies

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender.
Blend for about 1-2 minutes, adding ice cubes one at a time.
Pour into glasses and serve.

O Sweetest Mother of Altagracia, Admirable Mother, who in your little house of Nazareth, served as a model for Christian mothers and wives. We ask you to bless our homes so that the sanctity and holiness of marriage will flourish in them.

~ Excerpt from the Novena to Our Lady of Altagracia

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Orange Rolls for Our Lady of Altagracia

The Virgen de la Altagracia (Virgin of the Highest Grace) is the patron of the Dominican Republic. The story of Our Lady of Altagracia goes back to the Spanish colonization. Alonso and Antonio de Trejo, brought to the island a statue of the Virgin from their community of Placencia in Spain. The legend says that the image of the Virgin mysteriously disappeared from the house of the brothers Trejo. The statue later reappeared in an orange bush and this is the location where the first church of Higuey was built. Her feast day is celebrated on January 21. The connection to the orange tree is further developed into a lovely picture book by, Julia Lavarez, The Gift of Gracias.

Wake up to a delightful taste of orange with this breakfast sweet roll to celebrate Our Lady of Altagracia.

ORANGE SWEET ROLLS

Sweet Roll Dough
1 pkg. dry yeast
½ c. warm water
1/2 c. lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/3 c. butter, margarine or shortening
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 ½ to 4 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk sugar, butter, salt, egg, and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 ½ hours.

Orange Filling/Glaze3 tbsp. butter, softened
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
1 ½ c. sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. orange juice

Beat butter, orange peel, orange juice and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Roll dough into rectangle, 12x7 inches. Spread half of the orange mixture. Roll up dough tightly along 12 inch side. Pinch edge of dough to seal well. Cut into twelve slices. Place in greased pan. Let rise until double (about 40 minutes). Bake in 375 degree oven 20 minutes. Frost remaining orange mixture while warm. Pin It