Assumption Day and First Fruits

August 15, the feast of the Assumption, is a harvest feast day and associated with "first fruits". We are reminded that Mary goes before us in Faith and also as a first fruit of the Resurrection, of which all the faithful will experience at the end of time (1 Corinthians 15:20-21). In many Catholic counties Assumption Day marks the period for invoking blessings on various "fruits" or fruiting plants - - particularly vineyards/grapes, fruit trees, grains, and herbs.

One idea is to serve "First Fruits" shortcake and topped with whipped cream - symbolizing the clouds of the sky in scenes depicting Mary being raised into heaven. You can use a variety of fruits on packaged shortcake cups.

A very simple idea along the same lines is a fresh fruit tray with whipped cream for dipping.

Grapes are especially associated with the feast of the Assumption. Armenian communities all over the world bless grapes on Assumption Day. Great trays are piled high with ripe grapes and carried to church, where they receive the blessings of the priest. Since grapes so often have this prominence in Assumption feasting we will often have this refreshing grape enhanced salad on this feast day.

Silverglade Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

6 cups spinach, rinsed and stemmed

6 ounces cheese, shredded or cut into julienne strips (Cheddar or Jack or combo)

2 cups seedless grapes, halved

Dressing:

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup oil

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons brown sugar

4 slices bacon, fried crisp, drained, & crumbled

2 green onions, sliced thin

Directions:

To prepare dressing, whisk together vinegar, oil. mustard, and brown sugar. Stir in bacon pieces and onion. Refrigerate. In a large bowl combine spinach, cheeses, and grapes. Toss with dressing. 

O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary, Pray for us. 

Pin It

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!

Pin It

Classic Polish Cucumber Salad for St. John Paul II

There are two foods that I associate with going to visit my relatives on the farm where my Polish American father was born and raised - and Mizeria, cucumber in a creamy dill dressing, is one.  It was a staple. From most Polish families you will hear the same. As a classic Polish salad side dish it seems very fitting for the feast day of St. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła), October 22. And it is super simple to make - a bonus for a busy day.

Mizeria - Polish Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large cucumber 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
• pinch of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

Directions

Peel cucumber(s).  Slice cucumber very thinly and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle slices with salt and let sit for 30 minutes to pull the liquid. Drain water from the salted cucumbers and gently squeeze to expel any remaining water.  Pat dry with paper towel.  

Mix sour cream, vinegar, sugar, and dill in medium bowl.  Toss cucumber slices in mixture. Allow the salad to marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Taste, season with salt and freshly ground pepper as needed and serve.  Garnish with dill if desired. Serves 4 but is easily doubled or tripled. 

St. John Paul II, the Great, Pray for us!

Pin It

Italian Flag-Shaped Caprese Salad

Here's an idea for any Italian Saint's Feast Day or Papal Celebration!  We used this idea to celebrate the Canonization of JPII and John XXIII this past weekend at the same time as we gathered for our Rome Pilgrimage Reunion.

 

Caprese salad is a common salad entrée found in Rome so we thought it quite fitting for an Italian feast! 

 

Don't forget that both St. Catherine of Siena and St. Francis of Assisi are the 2 Patron Saints of Italy...It would be quite fitting for their feast days as well:)

It's very simple to put together and even more festive in the shape of the Italian flag!

Ingredients:

Typically, Caprese consists of  sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves, drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. It's that easy and it's so fresh and delicious!

*I used a fresh mozzarella log and Roma tomatoes for the flag so the shapes would correspond in size.*

 

Depending on your taste, balsamic vinegar may be added or a different blend of spices.  Dining in Rome, we rarely experienced it being served with vinegar.

Instructions:

Wash and gently dry fresh basil leaves and set aside.  Slice fresh mozzarella log and tomatoes of choice.  (We used Roma) Arrange according to flag colors, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Buon appetite!

 

Pin It

Italian Balsamic Honey Bean Salad for St. Joseph

Italian Balsamic Honey Bean Salad

This dish can be made on either feast of Saint Joseph to represent Italy's devotion to Saint Joseph and the symbolism of the fava bean in their devotion. 

Italian Balsamic Honey Bean Salad

any variety of cooked beans (we used white navy and garbanzo beans)

chopped raw baby spinach

diced tomatoes (Roma or grape best)

sauteed sweet onions (or raw if that is your preference)

balsamic vinegar (good quality, ours is from Italy but it can be just a symbol of Italy)

honey

olive oil

lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Mix beans, spinach, tomatoes and onions gingerly in a large serving bowl. In a separate small bowl mix a 2:1:1:1 ratio of balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil and lemon juice. This ratio really is to your individual liking as it is just the dressing for the salad. Add salt and pepper to taste. Dress the salad before serving. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us!!

Pin It

Curried Chicken Salad

A couple years ago Mary shared about the tradition in some areas of picnicking on hilltops on the Feast of the Ascension.  Our family really enjoyed our picnic last year, and we are looking forward to having another one later this afternoon.  I will be following Mary's suggestions (for the most part) and thought I would take a second to share my new favorite chicken salad recipe with you all.  My friend Carrie shared the recipe with me, after bringing them to my baby shower last year, and it is delicious!

Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
1 medium unpeeled red apple, chopped
¾ cup dried cranberries
½ cup thinly sliced celery
¼ cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
¾ cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 teaspoons lime juice
½ teaspoon curry powder
12 slices bread
Lettuce Leaves

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Combine mayonnaise, lime juice and curry powder; add to chicken mixture and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Assemble sandwiches with lettuce and chicken salad.

Happy Ascension Thursday!

Pin It

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

Since today is the feast of St. Helena, I thought I would share another recipe containing basil since tradition says that sweet basil grew all over the hillside where Saint Helena discovered the Holy cross on which our Lord died.  This salad could also be served on September 14th, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

I made it a couple weeks ago for a family get together and it was SO delicious!

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

adapted from Pioneer Woman

Dressing:

• 8 oz extra moist sundried tomatoes  (or 1 jar of sundried tomatoes, drained)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Salad:

• 2 - 16 ounces bags of pasta
• 1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives
• 1-2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes, halved  (I used 1)
• 15-20 basil leaves, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour  dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Note:  To make a smaller salad, use just one bag of pasta and pour the extra dressing over a block of cream cheese.  Serve with crackers. 

Enjoy!!

Pin It

Confirmation Party Foods

People often wonder what to serve at celebrations following the reception of sacraments. "Are there foods that are traditional for the various sacraments?" and "What kinds of foods might be symbolic for the sacrament?" are questions I have heard. Last spring we highlighted First Communion Celebrations in Catholic Cuisine's first From Thy Bounty Fair, but there have been only a few post related to foods which would be fitting for a Confirmation celebration.

Our family recently celebrated a confirmation and I wanted to share some of the ideas we had for the party that followed. Since we are still in the Confirmation season, hopefully some of these ideas will be helpful to you or spark other ideas. And of course any ideas that would work well for a Confirmation party could also be incorporated into a Pentecost celebration as well.

Our party included some typical buffet-fare (deli sandwiches, potato salad, and chips) which we accented with several special Confirmation themed foods we though would be symbolic of the day. Our buffet included:

• "Fruits of the Spirit" Salad (Though we used only 7 fruits - more like the gifts - rather than the 12 fruits. And no dressing was used, just the fruits.)


• Seven-layer bean dip (7 again to represent the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit)


• "Tongues of Fire" Salad (A green tossed salad with strips of red, yellow and orange bell pepper on top)

A fun and sweet treat for after the meal was Dove chocolate - calling to mind the dove imagery of the Holy Spirit.

And the main centerpiece of the celebration was the cake which we decorated with the dove and tongues of fire representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We first traced and cut out a paper dove the size and shape we wanted for the cake top. We placed that on the frosted cake (chocolate was used so that the white dove would stand out) and traced around the outline with a toothpick.

When the pattern was lifted we had an outline of a dove to fill in with the white frosting. We used a star tip to fill in the body and one of the tips with the elongated hole (either the leaf or rose tip) to form the feathers. We pulled a toothpick through the frosting to give the feathers a more "feathery" appearance. The tongues of fire, the beak and the rays from the doves head were piped on with yellow-orange tinted frosting.

If you have ideas for foods to celebrate a Confirmation, please share then with us. If you have a link to a blog post that would be great. Either leave your link or idea in the comments section or send it to me at mary.cathcuisine at gmail dot com. I'd love to do a follow-up post, a mini From Thy Bounty Fair, if there is enough response.

Pin It

St. Joseph Salad

The Catholic Cuisine Category for St. Joseph already has a few ideas for foods for his feast days. I thought I would add one more very simple one.

Twelve Months of Monastery Salads: 200 Divine Recipes for All Seasons by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette is another cookbook that I use for inspiration as a break from the "same-old" salads. He makes simplicity elegant with his French touch in the kitchen. This salad is simple and delicious.

Brother Victor explains why this salad is named after St. Joseph. This passage continually inspires me in my own cooking throughout the Liturgical Year:

The monastic calendar, like the secular one, is repeated year after year. It waits for no one and always arrives on time. It is based on the seasons of the liturgy and provides us daily occasion to remember God's friends and our intercessors, the saints. No one should be surpised, then, that so many recipes bear a saint's name. This is completely natural to me, for each day I think of and pray to the saint whose memory is kept on that date. I keep continual company with the Mother of God and the saints, and I am inspired by their words and examples.

Someone once asked me if there was a special mystical meaning in my recipes that bear the names of saints. Ther person thought the recipe was the creation of the saint for whom it was inscribed. She was later mystified, and almost disappointed, by my simple response. I told her that there were many ways of honoring the saints and keeping their memories alive. One of my ways was to name recipes after them, so that others might think of and remember their legacies.

St. Joseph Salad
(makes 6 servings)

Salad
1/2 pound baby spinach
1 small head radicchio, shredded
18 cherry tomatoes
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
2 shallots, finely chopped

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons tarragon vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

1. To assemble the salads, in a large salad bowl, toss together the spinach and radicchio until well combined and divide equally among 6 salad plates. Arrange the cherry tomatoes and egg wedges attractively on top. Sprinkle the shallots over everythere.

2. Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together in a measuring cup or small bowl until thickened and pour evenly over each of the salads. Serve immediately. Pin It

Pistachio Mallow Salad for St. Patrick's Day

Even though this recipe is in no way typical Irish fare, it still made a nice addition to our St. Patrick's Day menu today... At least it is green! ;) It was delicious, but not too sweet, and quite simple to prepare.

Pistachio Mallow Salad

Source: All Recipes

1 (16 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
6 drops green food coloring (optional)
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup chopped pistachios or walnuts (I omitted these)

In a large bowl, combine whipped topping, pudding mix and food coloring if desired. Fold in the marshmallows and pineapple. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, sprinkle with nuts. Enjoy!

Serves 12.

Pin It

Feasting for the Assumption

August 15 marks the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, a holyday of obligation. In the Eastern churches it is called the Dormition, or sleeping of our Lady.

I had lots of ideas for this day, but my planning time was usurped by family matters and upcoming events. I don't have pictures to share for these recipes, but you can use your imagination.

The most notable tradition on this day is the Blessing of Fruits and Herbs, although in some areas the blessing includes wheat and specifically, grapes. This is a first-fruits feast, a feast reminding us of the Old Testament offering to God the best of their beginning of the harvest.

The Directory on Popular Piety explains the significance of this feast and the custom of blessing herbs:

In the Germanic countries, the custom of blessing herbs is associated with 15 August. This custom, received into the Rituale Romanum, represents a clear example of the genuine evangelization of pre-Christian rites and beliefs: one must turn to God, through whose word "the earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds in their several kinds, and trees bearing fruit with their seed inside in their several kinds" (Gen 1, 12) in order to obtain what was formerly obtained by magic rites; to stem the damages deriving from poisonous herbs, and benefit from the efficacy of curative herbs.

This ancient use came to be associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in part because of the biblical images applied to her such as vine, lavender, cypress and lily, partly from seeing her in terms of a sweet smelling flower because of her virtue, and most of all because of Isaiah 11, 1, and his reference to the "shoot springing from the side of Jesse", which would bear the blessed fruit of Jesus.

So for this feast, I'm incorporating fruits and herbs in my dishes. I like to make this Assumpta Salad with our fresh tomatoes, technically a fruit, with lots of herbs. This recipe is by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette from his Twelve Months of Monastery Salads. I love this cookbook, particularly in the summer.

Assumpta Salad

"This enticing salad is always served as an appetizer. It is one of our favorites for the feast of Our Lady, and we especially like it on the Feast of the Assumption on August 15, when garden tomatoes are at their best."

Salad
8 medium-size ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup pitted black olives, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup cubed feta cheese (I omit because of food allergies)

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together until thickened. Let stand for about 1 hour before using to steep the garlic. For the salad, arrange tomato slices on 6 to 8 salad plates. Sprinkle the onion and olives among them. Sprinkle the herbs evenly, then add the cheese cubes in the middle of each dish. Whisk vinaigrette just before serving and drizzle evenly over each plate. Serve immediately.

I love to grow herbs -- they are actually a lazy gardener's (or busy mama's dream), as they are so low maintenance. I am going to make a bouquet of some of our herbs (and flowers) and have a family blessing, and then incorporate some of our harvest of fruits and herbs into food and crafts.

One plant we have and enjoy is lavender, known as Mary's Drying Plant (rosemary has a similar title). One doesn't normally think of eating lavender, but the flower is edible. I thought a sugared lavender flower and lavender cookies would be an easy treat to make.

This recipe can be found in Herbs for Weddings & Other Celebrations by Bertha P. Reppert (first printed as A Bride's Herbal).

Lavender Sticks

12 stalks fresh lavender flowers
1 egg white, beat until frothy
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Cut just the flowers from the stalks. Dip the sprigs in beaten egg white. In a separate bowl then roll or dust on granulated sugar. Air-dry on waxed paper. Makes 1 dozen edible flowers.

I found several versions of Lavender Cookies in cookbooks, including Susan Branch's The Summer Book and the Internet, such as this recipe.

The variances are many, but generally I'm finding either shortbread, sugar, or butter cookie dough as the base for the recipes, then add lavender. Some call for dried flowers, other fresh. I think I would prefer using fresh flowers, rather than crunchier dried ones. For my son I was going to use an allergy free sugar cookie mix for my son and add some fresh lavender flowers. Having the cookies and edible flower bites would make a lovely dessert display, also perfect nibbling food for tea.

Or I may take an even simpler route, make a dessert (with icing) and decorate with flowers and herbs. All in the spirit of honoring Our Lady!

Our Lady assumed into heaven, pray for us! Pin It

Green Is For the Growing Time

Do you hear that? I think the Church is taking a collective sigh of relief. The Liturgical Calendar has had a shift in the liturgical seasons and now we are in the slower-paced, less festive Ordinary Time. We have come through the cycle of Christ's birth, life, passion, death, and resurrection. The festival season of Easter is over, and we've had Pentecost. We were filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Now the Church gives us time to let those fruits grow within us; it is the growing time of Ordinary Time, reflected with the green liturgical color. My son calls this the BIG Ordinary Time because the green section on the Liturgical Calendar wheel is the largest section.

Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. It's unfortunate our English language has that definition of the word. The use of the word "Ordinary" is merely meant as in time, ordinal, keeping track of the number of weeks. The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar explains this time:

VI. Ordinary Time

43. Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time.

It's also known as ferial time, a time without feasts. In the Traditional Calendar this season is referred as "Time After Pentecost". I find both titles in English fall a bit short, but we just have to look at the Church calendar and around us (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) to understand what this liturgical season should mean to us.

Weatherwise, this is summertime. (Yes, not officially, but meteorologically it is). My vegetable garden is planted, and now I'm waiting for it to grow. We're deep into lawn mowing season in the suburbs, and the forecast is for hazy, hot, humid days, with the usual afternoon thunderstorms. We are watching our little gardens, tending and weeding, keeping them from pests and diseases.

We'll be spending more time together as a family, either on outings or vacations, or family celebrations. We stay up longer, enjoying the sunlight. The heat almost forces us to slow down the pace. Those with children in organized sports will be sitting poolside, field side, or perhaps bleachers, with lots of car trips. But again, we're doing a lot of it together.

Perusing the calendar for the next few months, there are many saint feast days that we are commemorating. These saints give us the example of how to LIVE our Faith. They are part of our family, and we'll be spending time with them. We'll continue the instructions of the mysteries of our Faith and meditate on the teachings of Christ during this season, and use the example and intercession of the saints to apply it our lives. We've got to slow down the pace to be able to listen, to tend and weed our souls, and allow those graces we've received at Pentecost to grow -- and then share the harvest.

The cookbook I pull out this time of year is Twelve Months of Monastery Salads: 200 Divine Recipes for All Seasons by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette. There are lots of ideas for vegetarian salads. I either use them as sides for our main meal, or some recipes can be adapted by adding strips of chicken or steak or tuna on top.

But I'm leaving you with a very simple spinach salad of my own concoction; a green salad to reflect our green growing time!

Spinach Salad
Ingredients::1 pound fresh spinach
sliced mushrooms
1 avocado, diced (optional)
8 slices bacon
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped or sliced
2 tablespoons red vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Cook bacon until very crisp. I use a microwave and paper towels to keep down the grease and odor. But if you want to use the drippings over the salad, fry in a pan or oven.
Wash spinach; trim if necessary. With paper towels gently pat dry.

Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper and whisk. Put the spinach leaves in a large bowl. Add avocado cubes, chopped eggs, and mushrooms. Break the bacon into pieces and sprinkle into salad. Add the dressing and toss all ingredients and serve immediately. Optional, pour a few tablespoons bacon drippings on salad, toss, and serve.

The bacon adds a salty dimension, and I use hormone and nitrate free bacon. But this salad can be made as a dinner salad by adding cooked chicken pieces, either substituting the bacon, or just adding the chicken. Pin It

Twelve-fruit Salad

In her book, A Continual Feast, Evelyn Birge Vitz says that, "It has long been traditional to list twelve fruits or graces of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, Galatians 5 having provided the essential idea. The twelve are charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity. This is a wonderful season for fresh fruit. What could be more fitting or appetizing for this feast than a mixed fruit salad?"

Twelve Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

• 12 kinds of fresh fruit. Some possibilities include: red or green grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pineapples, plums, apples, oranges, bananas, grapefruit, kiwi, mangoes, watermelon, cantaloupe and honey dew.
• Sugar (optional)
• Lemon juice (to prevent fruit from browning.)

Directions:

Wash, hull, peel and slice the fruit as necessary. If you are using melons, cut into bite-sized chunks or melon balls.

You can either mix all the fruit together in a large bowl or lay them in an attractive pattern on a bed of greens.

Sprinkle wit ha little sugar if you wish, and then with a little lemon juice.

Evelyn also recommends serving the Twelve-fruit Salad with a Curry Mayonnaise. I haven't tried it before, but it sounds interesting!

Curry Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons lime juice

Combine all ingredients. Yield: about 1 1/4 cups sauce.

There are so many great meal ides for the feast of Pentecost, I am really looking forward to celebrating!!! Pin It