Penne Pasta "Quills" for the Evangelists

There are hundreds of kinds of Italian pastas, and each one has its own special name.  Each pasta name actually means something which can be really fun and symbolic for making a connection for a creative dish or celebration.

Penne pasta is a tubular shaped pasta with slanted ends. The name means “quills” or “feathers” and is so named because of this shape. We associate quills with feather pens and writing. Many saints who were writers, doctors, evangelists are depicted holding a quill.

Because of its shape, penne complement virtually every sauce and are exceptional when paired with a chunky sauce. Penne pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces. It is also a good shape to use for baked dishes.

Red is the vestment color used liturgically for the feast of martyrs and also for the evangelists. St. Mark, whose feast is today was both. Making a dish using the "quill" shaped pasta in a creamy sauce with sun-dried tomatoes will include the symbols both of him as a writer of the Gospel represented by the quill shape and as a martyr/evangelist with the red.   While I chose a sun-dried tomato and cream basse option, any of the marinara sauces would be equally fitting for an evangelist. 

Evangelist Feast Days

St. Mark - April 25

St. Luke - October 18

St. Matthew - September 21

St. John - December 27

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Penne

2 C. dried penne or mini penne pasta
1 T. olive oil
1/2 C. sun-dried tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 C. cream
1/4 C. freshly grated parmesan
1/2 t. garlic powder

Boil pasta. While waiting for pasta to cook, saute sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil for a few minutes. Add cream and mix. Add parmesan and garlic powder. Mix. Drain pasta and pour sauce over warm pasta. Serves 4.


Pin It

Homemade PayDay Bars for the Feast of St. Matthew

Last All Hallows' Eve I filled one of our All Saints Guessing Jars with PayDay bars for St. Matthew, patron of accountants! In honor of his feast today I decide to try a recipe for some Homemade PayDay bars. They were quick and easy and, according to my children, tasted better than the actual candy bars.          

Homemade PayDay Bars

adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 oz) jar dry roasted peanuts
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 (10 oz) bag peanut butter chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions:

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan. Pour half of the peanuts into the pan..

Over medium-low heat, melt butter and chips. Remove from heat and mix in sweetened condensed milk. Stir in marshmallows, do not melt marshmallows.

Spoon mixture over peanuts in pan, pat down.

Top with remaining peanuts and press down to help adhere the top layer of peanuts. 

Chill until set. 

Cut into desired serving size.

These bars only took about 20 minutes to assemble and another 20 minutes to chill. If you are looking for something even easier you can always just pick up some PayDay candy bars.  I hope you all have a blessed feast day!

Matthew from The Twelve Apostles by Marianna Mayer

You can find additional ideas for celebrating this feast over at Shower of Roses. 

St. Matthew, ora pro nobis! 

Pin It

St. Matthew Winged Cupcakes

The following recipe was submitted by Julie Machado, from Marta, Julie e Maria, for the feast of St. Matthew. Thank you, Julie!

A symbol for St. Matthew is a winged man or angel. Some link it to the geneology at the beginning of his Gospel while others to the angel that appeared to Joseph. I had the idea to make winged cupcakes, with the figure of a man, but you could also draw a lion for St. Mark, an ox for St. Luke or an eagle for St. John and put on the wings. (View the various symbols here.)

First, melt some chocolate, put it in a frosting dispenser or plastic bag with the tip cut off and draw angel wings on wax paper. Let them set in the refrigerator.

Make cupcakes and frost them according to whatever recipe you like best. I used a sugar and spice recipe from a cupcake book. Draw a man stick figure on the cupcakes using the melted chocolate. Stick the wings on.

It is hot here so my wings started melting pretty fast out of the refrigerator.

"Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her."  Matthew 1:20

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

Pin It

Bible Cookies for the Year of Faith

A couple years ago, when trying to come up with a snack for our Little Flowers Girls' Club meeting on the virtue of Wisdom, I came up with these cute little Bible Cookies to place on top of our cupcakes.  Lacy expanded on this idea by cleverly adding a little bookmarks made from fruit roll ups!   We just made them again, since one of our Kindergarten Themes this past week was "B is for Bible" inspired by A is for Altar, B is for Bible, and I thought I'd share the directions with you all, as we begin The Year of Faith.   

Bible Cookies 

Ingredients:

• Fig Newtons (we made these with "Gold" Peach & Apricot Newtons)
• White Icing (I used Wilton's Icing Writer, but any white icing/frosting would work)
• Red Fruit Roll-ups

Directions:

Begin by trimming off one long side of each fig newton with a sharp knife.   This creates the book, with three sides of "pages" showing with the binding on the remaining side.  

I have found that standing them on their end and cutting straight down leaves a nice clean edge, versus cutting through the cookie/cake:  

Using a sharp knife, cut "bookmarks" from the red fruit roll ups. Stick them into the end of the "book" (newton) using a toothpick (or the end of the knife, like I did).       

Decorate the cover and binding with icing to complete the "Bibles."

This idea can also be modified, using different flavored/colored cookies and decorations, like we did for our "Story of a Soul" cookies last year.  

These cookies would make a great snack anytime during this "Year of Faith."  They are also perfect for the feasts of the Evangelists, Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or for the feast of St. Paul and any other of the many saints that are symbolized with a "Book."   

Pin It

St. Matthew's Silver Dollar Pancakes

September 21st is the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist. Since St. Matthew was a tax-collector and often symbolized by a bag of coins or loose coins, I thought Silver Dollar Pancakes would be perfect for celebrating his feast day! 

You can make these using your own favorite pancake recipe, a gluten-free recipe, or my favorite which can be found in the archives.   This time, however, I'm planning on using an extra quick and easy Pancake Mix!   My husband has been out-of-state on a wildfire assignment (today is only day 8 of 16) and I'm on my own with our seven kiddos.  Quick and easy is about all I can manage at the moment! 

Once you have your pancake batter ready to go, heat a griddle or frying pan until it is good and hot.  (Or you can use a Silver Dollar Pancake Pan, if you happen to have one on hand.)  Grease the pan and drop spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle - just enough to spread to an approximately 2 1/2-inch round.  (I used a 1 Tablespoon Scoop for this step.)  

When a few bubbles form on top of the pancakes, flip them over and cook for another minute or so.  

Repeat the process until all of the batter has been used. Transfer pancakes to warm plates and serve with your favorite syrup.

You can find additional ideas for celebrating this feast day over at Shower of Roses.

Happy Feast of St. Matthew! 

Pin It