St. John Bosco's Candy Juggling Balls

St. John Bosco, patron of educators and a spiritual father to boys in need, has his feast day today, January 31. He is known for having used magic tricks and juggling to entertain the youth he wanted to draw closer to God. St. John Bosco was a skilled showman and crowds would be drawn to him. During his performance, he would stop to teach and people would stay to listen to his message.

It is also said that he kept candy in his pockets as treats for the boys, and even “turned" pebbles into candy with illusion. For those reasons, I am sharing this idea of a simple treat to celebrate his feast day - M&M’s are candy, that resemble juggling balls.

Let us enjoy a sweet reminder today this caring and entertaining priest.

St. John Bosco, Pray for us!

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Alphabet Soup for the Saint Educators

With the upcoming feast of St Elizabeth Ann Seton (January 4), it seems a good time to feature an idea for those saints associated with education.  A hearty vegetable meatball soup is a good one for a winter evening and adding in alphabet pasta is a way to recognize teaching saints. We have several saints this month associated with education, who are patrons of students or teachers or who were teachers themselves, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who opened schools, trained teachers and prepared textbooks for use in the schools.

• St. John Neumann (January 5) is credited with  establishing the first system of parochial in US and opened 100 schools in eight years in Philadelphia while bishop.
• St. Marguerite Bourgeoys (January 12) established an order of teaching sisters in Canada and opened the first school in Montreal. 
• St. Francis de Sales (January 24) is a patron of educators.  
• St. Angela Merici (January 27) founded the Ursuline Order, the first religious order for women dedicated exclusively to the education of girls.
• St. Thomas Aquinas (January 28) is the patron of universities, Catholic schools and students.  
• St. John Bosco (January 31) ran a school for boys and is the patron of youth. 

The saints associated with teaching are numerous and their feast days can be found throughout the year. To find out feast days for other education related saints such as, St. John Baptist de La Salle (April 7), St. Rose Venerini (May 7), St. Mary MacKillop (August 8), St. Madeline Sophie Barat (August 25), St. Gregory the Great (September 3), St. Teresa of Calcutta (September 5), St. Theodore Guerin (October 3), St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (November 18), and more...

You can check out these patronage lists:
http://catholicsaints.info/patrons-of-students/
http://catholicsaints.info/patrons-of-schools/
http://catholicsaints.info/patrons-of-teachers/
http://catholicsaints.info/saints-who-were-teachers/

Meatball Vegetable Alphabet Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey
3/4 cup alphabet pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef or chicken broth
1 can (14 oz) pureed tomatoes
1 cup chopped kale (optional)
2  Tbsp tomato paste2 tsp Italian spice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

In bowl, combine mayonnaise, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and ground meat; mix well. Shape into bite-size balls and arrange on 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Bake meatballs in oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, rinse, drain and set aside.

In large saucepan, heat oil and sauté onion and garlic, celery and carrots for about 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste and Italian spice; bring to boil. [I added chopped kale as an option since it is considered a "brain food" and this is a soup for educators.] Reduce heat and simmer, for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add pasta and meatballs. Reheat and serve.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and all patron saints of teachers, education, and students, Pray for us. 

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St. John Bosco Sticks

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

Tomorrow, January 31st is the feast of St. John Bosco. He is best known for starting a school for boys to help keep them off the streets. He first caught their attention by entertaining them with things like juggling and magic tricks. As an educator myself I admire his commitment to educating the entire person, mind, body, and spirit. His advice to the young boys he taught, "Run, jump, make noise, but do not sin!" would make a wonderful motto for any classroom. Learn more about St. John Bosco here.

When I was subbing at a small Catholic school, I quickly learned that everyone's favorite school lunch day was Bosco Stick day. A Bosco stick is a mozzarella cheese filled breadstick. It would usually come with some marinara sauce for dipping.

In my classroom I liked to write the saint of the day up on the board, and read a short bio about that saint. When St. John Bosco day came around, the kid's first reaction was "did they name Bosco Sticks after him!?" I don't know how the Bosco Stick company decided on their name, but in that spirit I decided to try to make my own "St. John Bosco Sticks" to help celebrate this Italian saint.

St. John Bosco Sticks

Ingredients:

• 1 tube thin crust pizza dough
• 4 sticks of string cheese
• Marinara sauce for dipping

Makes 8 breadsticks

Directions:

First open and unroll your pizza dough. Stretch it or roll it out so it is more or less an even rectangle. Peel the string cheese in half long ways so you have eight sticks. Place these on one half of the dough.

Next fold over the dough and use your hands to seal on the bottom and inbetween each cheese stick.

Next use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut into individual breadsticks. You will end up with leftover dough. You could re-roll it to make more breadsticks, or just shape into plain breadsticks and bake along with the cheese ones.

Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes. You will probably end up with some cheese oozing out of some of the breadsticks, but hey that just makes it better! Serve with your favorite pizza dipping sauce. I like marinara, but you could also use ranch or garlic butter. I made a large batch for a big group I'm cooking for tommorrow and froze them after I baked them. So check back for reheating instructions later!

A Prayer for St. John Bosco

O glorious Saint John Bosco, who in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to mould them in the light of faith and Christian morality didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst set up a proper religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from Our Lord a holy love for young people who are exposed to so many seductions in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen.

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Breadsticks for the Feast of St. John Bosco

The following breadstick recipe was submitted by Erin Yerian, for today's feast of St. John Bosco. It would make a great addition to an Italian dinner in his honor.  Thank you Erin!

Here is our St. John Bosco treat for the day. We had the idea from the story of St. John Bosco and the dog Grigio.   (You can read the story, taken from the book All About the Angels by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, here:  Saint John Bosco and the Gray Dog)

We just shaped extra pizza dough into bone shapes and baked according to the recipe. My bread machine pizza dough recipe is as follows:

3/4 t. salt
3 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oat bran
2 t. yeast
1 3/8 c. water
3 T. olive oil
dash honey

Shape into pizza or breadsticks (bones) as desired and bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Pin It

Stuffed Peppers for the feast of St. John Bosco

From Catholic Culture: "If you feel brave, try cooking the stuffed raw peppers suggested for today. Mama Margaret probably cooked Peperoni farciti à la Piemontaise (peppers stuffed with boiled rice), a speciality from Turin, for St. John Bosco's boys."

Today I'll be making stuffed peppers for dinner in honor of St. John Bosco. I made these last year and even my picky eaters loved them. I hope you try them. They are delicious!

Stuffed Peppers

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 cup water
6 green bell peppers
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.

Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)

In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.

Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

Top with Cheddar cheese.

Update:  Here is a picture of the above recipe, which I recently made for my family, substituting red peppers for the green.  It is a favorite! God bless, Jessica

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St. John Bosco's Feast Day

Enjoy yourself as much as you like

- if only you keep from sin. - Saint John Bosco

We love celebrating the feast of this very joyful saint. Our tradition every January 31st is to make Bachelor Button cookies and drink (decaf) caffe lattes. From our celebration two years ago:

To celebrate this feast day, we a have a little family tradition of making Bachelor Buttons. I started this a long time ago and The Professor has never let me off the hook. I chose this recipe simply because you roll the dough into balls and then roll them in sugar before putting them on the pan to bake. I told the children they were like the juggling balls Don Bosco used to entertain people with. In exchange for the entertainment, he would ask them to go to Mass or say a rosary. I am sure there are many cookie recipes that would also require this step, but the Bachelor Buttons are the ones requested. (Maybe because they sound so masculine?)

Here is the recipe I use. It is from a friend of the family who passed away several years ago but who is remembered fondly whenever I pull out that yellowed, wrinkly card from my recipe box:

Bachelor Buttons
3/4 C. butter
1 C. brown sugar
1 egg
2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. nuts, chopped (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in nuts. Chill several hours. Shape into balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Cook 2 inches apart at 375 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes. Use a mix of walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc... for a special treat.

(My kids are not fond of nuts in cookies so we make them without.)

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Skillet Lasagna

January 31st marks the Feast of St. John Bosco.  My family will be celebrating with an Italian Dinner and Movie Night in his honor... I plan on making homemade bread sticks and Skillet Lasagna, just like we did last year.

The Skillet Lasagna is really easy and can be made in less than 30 minutes, start to finish!  I've also prepared it with other types of pasta (ie: penne, bow tie) in the past, which tastes yummy too.  Enjoy!

Skillet Lasagna
from The Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner

1 jar (24 - 26 oz) marinara sauce
3 cups water
8 oz lasagna noodles
1 lb hot Italian turkey sausage (casings removed)
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 oz Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Additional grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Combine sauce and water in 12" Skillet. Cover; bring to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, wrap noodles in clean kitchen towel and break crosswise into quarters. Stir noodles into sauce. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 16 - 18 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.

3. As noodles cook, place sausage into 10" skillet; cook and stir over medium-high heat 6 - 8 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink, breaking into crumbles. Add pressed garlic; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir sausage into noodles and sauce.

4. Meanwhile, grate Parmesan cheese. Chop parsley; set aside about 1 Tbsp parsley for garnish. Combine cheeses, remaining parsley and black pepper in bowl. Scoop cheese mixture over noodles. Cover skillet and simmer gently 3 - 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and ricotta mixture is heated through.

5. To serve, sprinkle lasagna with reserved parsley and additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

(Makes 6 servings)

St. John Bosco, pray for us! 

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