Honey Arnold Palmer - Refresher for St. Bernard Feast Day

The "Arnold Palmer" drink is a mix of half tea and half lemonade served chilled over ice. It is also called half-and-half. It is one of our family's favorite drinks, especially in the summertime. I came across a honey sweetened version on the National Honey Board Website. The inclusion of honey seemed a natural to add to the mid-August feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, as he is a patron of bees and beekeepers. There are other beekeeper patron saints but this one falling on August 20, seems particularly fitting since this time of year we are looking for ways to beat the summer heat and add refreshment.

I have adapted the recipe as follow:

Ingredients:

1 part - lemon juice

1 part - honey
2 parts - water

4 parts - unsweetened tea

For honey-lemon syrup/lemonade:

1 part - honey
2 parts - water
1 part - lemon juice (fresh squeezed or concentrate)

Combine ingredients in sauce pan over low heat. Stir until dissolved. Cool.

Mix honey-lemon mixture with 4 parts tea for the half and half.  Add more tea or water to taste.  Stir, refrigerate, and serve over ice. May need to stir again while drinking as honey settles to bottom if left too long. Garnish with lemon or mint if desired. Relax. Enjoy.

ETA: Apparently, August 20 is also National Lemonade Day - I had no idea. How convenient to have suggested a lemonade drink already. The honey-lemon/lemonade portion of this recipe is very tasty on its own and I recommend it as well. 

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Cranberry Valentine :: Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

from Cranberry Valentine (affiliate link)

Ingredients: 

1 box of yellow cake mix

4 to 5 cups raw cranberries (we forgot to measure and used one bag... probably pretty close)

2 1/2 cups of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 stick of butter (1/4 lb.)

1 cup of walnut halves or pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚.

Slice the stick of butter in thin pieces.  Distribute the pieces evenly over the bottom of a 9-13-inch pan or a large round one.  (We used a 12 inch heart pan - affiliate link) Sprinkle the walnut halves or pieces over the butter.

Wash and dry the cranberries, and pour them over the nuts.

 Add the white sugar and the brown sugar, spreading evenly over the cranberries.   

Mix the sugar and the cranberries slightly.

Follow the directions on the box to prepare the yellow cake mix, and pour it over everything.

 

Bake at 350˚ for 40 to 50 minutes.  It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Let cool for 10 minutes.  Then, with a knife, loosen the cake from the edges of the pan, and turn over on a plate.  Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Happy St. Valentine's Day! 

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Healthy Snacks for St. Valentine's Day

The following recipe was submitted by Jen, from Enter Under My Roof, for the upcoming feast of St. Valentine.  Thank you Jen! 

Normally, when I think of St. Valentine's Day, I get an instant stomach ache at the thought of all the sugar that comes along with it (even if it isn't edible). Luckily, I have an amazing mama friend who brought these adorable healthy tomato heart snacks to a St. Valentine's Day party last year and I've literally been waiting an entire year to break this recipe out! I'm sure this idea is all over Pinterest, but I'll always thank Kristi for bringing these into my life.

This healthy recipe definitely plays up more into the commercial side of St. Valentine's Day (hearts galore) but I promise, there is a spiritual aspect to these as well. By the time you're 3/4 of the way done making them, you'll be praying for patience. Trust me (wink-wink).

While a bit tedious, I really did enjoy making these. Little man was happily playing with dad in the other room, and I relished in the quiet time (get it? tomatoes? relish? ...wait, are there even tomatoes IN relish??). All in all, it took me about :30min to make a dozen of the heart tomatoes, but that's from start to finish and includes the time to gather the supplies, learn my way through a few mistakes, and clean up.

WHAT YOU NEED

• two dozen mini tomatoes (the oval shaped ones...not the round ones)
• one dozen toothpicks
• white labels
• a really sharp knife (I found a steak knife worked better than a kitchen knife. Go figure.)

HOW TO MAKE (recipe makes a dozen tomato hearts)

Select 24 tomatoes, picking them out in pairs. Make sure each pair of tomatoes is about the same size/shape. The more oval shaped, the better.

Slice the corner off the tomato as show in Figure 1 above. I found it helpful to close one eye and visualize half a heart on the side of the knife. You'll look weird if anyone walks into the kitchen while you're doing this, but it'll get you the shape you need. A tip: save your tomato graveyard of leftover corner pieces - you can throw it in the freezer and toss it into your next pasta sauce. Yum!

Repeat the above step 23 more times. Are we having fun yet or what? Remember to keep your tomatoes in pairs. Romantic, no?

Using a toothpick, spear the two tomato halves together as shown in Figure 2 above. I thought it looked cutest if you put the toothpick through on an angle, but get creative and do what you like best.

Let your toothpicks dry. This is important - if you try to stick the arrow ends onto the toothpick you just pushed through the tomatoes, it won't stick...it's too wet. Not that I'm saying this from personal experience or anything...

Using a label, or other paper with a sticky back, cut out a double triangle and two long thin strips as shown in Figure 3 above. Stick them onto the toothpick. You'll actually stick the paper onto itself by folding it in half over the toothpick. This holds it in place.

Repeat the above step 23 more times. Pray for patience. Be thankful you have the time and ability to make cute snacks for your loved ones. Remember what inspired you to do this in the first place.

Voila! You're done. I left mine in the fridge overnight in an egg plate and they held up just fine.

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A Paleo Strawberry Coconut Trifle

This post was written by past Catholic Cuisine contributor Amy.

It is a little late for this Easter, but I wanted to share this with you anyway.  It would be a great dessert for many feast days, including Valentine's Day or Pentecost.  Add some blueberries and it would be a fun dessert for Divine Mercy Sunday as well!

In our family we have people with gluten intolerance and one poor little muffin who is lactose intolerant.  So I generally have to get a bit creative with our holiday treats. 

All I could think about was the fact that I wanted to have that wonderful trifle here at Catholic Cuisine we have every year on Easter.  So I searched the net, but nothing looked very good (well to me, that is, I was being picky).  Then I found, on Pinterest, a link on how to make whip cream from canned coconut milk.  With that and a gluten free cake mix from Pamela's I knew I had it!

A Paleo Strawberry Coconut Trifle

• 1 package Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix
• 3-4 pounds strawberries (you can do less, but we went for it)
• 1/2 to 1 cup almond or coconut milk
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice  (you could use agave or another sweetener I am sure to your taste)
• 2 cans Native Forest unsweetened FULL FAT coconut milk

Bake the cake according to directions.  Do this the night before and let it cool completely.  I had to hide mine on top of the fridge.  In the morning cut up into 1 inch cubes.  Poor the almond or coconut milk over the cubed cake till it is moist but not soaked.  Cut the strawberries and sprinkle with coconut and sweetener, mix.  Make the coconut whipped cream.  Follow these directions.  They work and it is AMAZING.  I didn't have enough whipped cream for the top because one of my cans got shook up, which was a huge disappointment.  So we only had one layer of the coconut whipped cream instead of two.  I ended up drizzling the other can a little over everyone's servings instead.

On the bottom of your trifle or glass bowl, put half the cake.  Put half the strawberry mixture on top of that, then half of the 2 cans worth of whipped coconut cream.  Repeat.  On top place a decorative strawberry and some toasted coconut.



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A Healthy St. Valentine's Day Treat!

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been trying to come up with some alternatives to the usual candy treats for St. Valentine's Day this year, since it falls during Lent.  I originally ran across this idea over at Happy Money Saver and decided to create my own document incorporating St. Valentine into the greeting for one of my children to assemble and give to his friends at our St. Valentine's Party and Card Exchange this Thursday.

Here is our Document:  

St. Valentine's Day Cutie Printable

Some of the other non-candy treats we will be giving away this year include bags of pretzels, goldfish, fruit snacks, and fruit leathers.   

I'm so thankful that at least St. Valentine's Day is not on Ash Wednesday or on a Friday...  How does your family celebrate St. Valentine's Day when it falls during Lent?  

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May you be CEREALsly blessed...

With St. Valentine's Day during Lent this year, my children have been trying to come up with some alternatives to the usual candy treats they give to their friends at our annual St. Valentine's Day party and card exchange!  There are many great ideas and printables to be found online, but since we prefer our cards to include references to "St. Valentine" I have been making a few of our own and thought I'd share them with you all.  

After seeing this idea online, I picked up a case of individual cereal boxes at Costco last week for my oldest daughter to give on St. Valentine's Day. We decided to change the suggested text from "I CEREALsly Like You!" to "I pray that you are CEREALsly blessed this St. Valentine's Day!"   

My daughter cut out each of the tags with my 1 1/2" circle punch, punched a tiny hole on one side, and side them, along with a plastic spoon, on to the cereal box with some white ribbon.   They turned out so cute and she is very excited to share them with her friends! 

 

(We started with these) Version One (I pray that you are...) Downloads:

CEREALsly Blessed in Red

CEREALsly Blessed in Pink

(But decided we liked these better) Version Two (May you be...) Downloads:

CEREALsly Blessed in Red

CEREALsly Blessed in Pink

This would also be a fun treat to surprise your children with on 

St. Valentine's Day!  

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A St. Valentine's Day Dinner

The following meal suggestion for a St. Valentine's Day dinner was submitted by Eliana Murphy.  Thank you Eliana! 

I found this recipe for a heart-shaped meatloaf back in the mid-90's and thought it would make a charming St. Valentine's Day meal. Together with the salad and some steamed veggies, it could form a wonderful part of St. Valentine's feast! The pictures are from when I prepared it six years ago for some friends at my grad school apartment.

Strawberry Hearts Salad

In keeping with the heart theme, I would suggest making a strawberry spinach salad with fresh baby spinach leaves and sliced strawberries. Other topping suggestions include gorgonzola, brie, almonds, carmelized pecans or red onion. My family normally just buys a berry dressing at the store, but if you feel like making your own, many cooking sites such as this one offer homemade dressing recipes for strawberry-spinach salad.

A Heart-Shaped St. Valentine's Meatloaf

This meatloaf has a nice Italian flavor to it and is an easy dinner for St. Valentines Day that the kids can help to make! Just make sure those little helpers wash their hands well before and after mixing the meatloaf...  The recipe is adapted from Mom's Magic Meatloaf from the Sunset Magazine Low Cholesterol Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon dry basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 4 egg whites
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
• 2 pounds ground lean top round
• 3 pounds thin-skinned potatoes (each about 3 inches in diameter)
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, cheese, basil, pepper, egg whites, garlic, and 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Add beef and mix lightly. In a rimmed shallow baking pan (about 10 inches in diameter), shape mixture into a 2-inch-thick heart. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove from oven; carefully drain fat from pan, then top loaf with remaining tomato sauce. Bake for 15 more minutes.

While meatloaf is baking, place potatoes in a 3 to 4-quart pan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat; then reduce heat, cover, and boil gently until potatoes are tender when pierced (about 20 minutes). Drain and peel. Mash with a potato masher or electric mixer until smooth; slowly beat in milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer meat loaf to serving plate. With a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe potatoes around meat loaf. (Or simply spoon potatoes around loaf.) Makes 8 servings.

This meatloaf goes well with steamed vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, California blend, frozen artichoke hearts(!), etc.

Heart Shaped Cookies

A nice dessert for this meal would be heart-shaped Linzer cookies!  I made these a couple of years ago but unfortunately cannot find any pictures from that time to share.

Prayer to Saint Valentine

Dear Lord, who art high in the Heavens, giver of Love and Passion, and He who strings the heart’s cords, lead the Lovers this day, February ten plus four. The day during the month of two, when the date is the perfect number of God greater two souls and two hearts. Some Loves are fleeting, but that which is built on you will never fail. So guide the Lovers to know what is to be. Your truths the Lovers’ mouths should speak, for Your truth is that which is honest to the heart. Only this, then, should pass over the red lips of the Lovers. Your art, the Lovers simply a medium. It is only with True Hearts that You can create a Masterpiece, So let the Lovers remember that their Soul’s Desire is the one for which You light their Fire. And let it be You who creates the Art of the Lovers; The art of two into one. Amen.

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Heart of St. Valentine Egg Toast

..."Man looks at how someone appears on the outside.  But I look at what is in the heart."

~1 Sam. 16:7~

It works!

We have been SO excited about trying this idea that we found in one of our children cookbooks.  We finally gave it a whirl this morning and it works!  

This was a fun idea for St. Valentine's Day and the heart would be perfect for the Sacred Heart of Jesus or Immaculate Heart of Mary feast days.

Pick your cookie cutter and imagine the FUN while having a healthy breakfast...We want to try a clover for St. Patrick's Day!  You could also use anything that might fit an egg...Maybe a flower for St. Therese, a fleur de lis for Marian feast days, Mardis Gras, etc., etc!  The best part...It's a "piece of cake" toast!

Ingredients:

Larger size whole wheat bread

Cooking spray

Margarine

Eggs

Cookie cutter of choice

Step 1.

Spray a cookie sheet generously with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay out your toast and spread a light coat of margarine across the toast.  Use a cookie cutter to cut out the shape of your choice. 
Note:  If you would like your toast a little extra crispy, try toasting it lightly prior to this step! 

Step 2.

Crack the egg into a shallow saucer first!

Then slide the egg over into the hole from the saucer...Ours just slid right in place so easily!

Step 3.

Bake for 7 minutes at 400 degrees for slightly runny...Our family's favorite.  Bake A little longer if you like your eggs with no runny yoke.  Scoop them off the cookie sheet with a spatula, directly on to your plate.  Do not attempt to flip them over.

They turned out so cute and fun!

(And they didn't stick a bit:)

Share the love!

"Today it is your turn and my turn to love one another as Jesus loved us.  Do not be afraid to say yes to Jesus."~(Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta~


A little side note...If you are looking for an easy way to remember the love that Jesus first had for us, you can easily convert plain heart cookies into Sacred Hearts with a little brown icing.

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St. Valentine's Day Cocoa with Sprinkles

This isn't really a recipe, more of just a fun tip for decorating glasses for St. Valentine's Day Cocoa. I already posted about it at Shower of Roses, but I thought I'd go ahead and share it here too.

Supplies:

Glass Coffee Mugs (mine are very similar to these ones, though handpainted by a friend)
White Chocolate Chips or Candy Melts, melted
Sprinkles
Your Favorite Hot Cocoa or Coffee Drink
Whipped Cream (I made mine in a couple minutes with some heavy cream, my iSi Easy Whip and some Chocolate Liquid Stevia) 

Directions:

Dip the rims of the coffee mugs into the melted chocolate.
Dip again into a bowl of sprinkles, coating the rim of the mug.
Let sit for a minute or two to harden.
Fill mug with hot cocoa.
Top with whipped cream and additional sprinkles.

*As Sarah mentioned in the comments at Shower of Roses, these could easily be modified for St. Patrick's Day using green sprinkles, or for Christmas uisng red/green... the options are endless!

I hope you all have a very happy feast of St. Valentine!

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St. Valentine’s Sweet Pizza

 

SAINT VALENTINE

Priest and Martyr

~~~

Here is a yummy and semi healthy treat.

I found my inspiration from here.

Last year I used a boxed brownie mix and skipped on the suggested cream cheese spread.

This year I’m following a recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes found at Elana’s Pantry.  I’m also using her Vegan Chocolate Frosting.  It has quickly become a family favorite.  These cupcakes even passed the test for extended family who despises coconut flour and loves sugar.  

ENJOY this Sweet Treat with your loved ones on St. Valentine’s Day!

~~~

Recipe: Chocolate Cake/Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 min. | Cook Time: 15 min.| Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8 Cupcakes or 1 - 8in round cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• /4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 1/2 cup agave nectar

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• In a med. bowl, mix coconut flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
• In a large bowl, mix eggs, oil, and agave.
• Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Mix well.
• Grease cake pan with coconut oil or line cupcake pan with 1/4 cup of batter
• Bake at 375 ° for 10-15 minutes or until middle is set.
• Cool and cover with icing and heart-strawberries.

NOTES:

I recommend that you adjust the amount of agave nectar to suit your taste.  This was a bit sweet for me. 

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Recipe: Chocolate Icing

Prep Time: -- | Cook Time: 25 min.| Difficulty: Easy | Servings: enough frosting to lightly frost 2 dozen cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and grapeseed oil.
• In a large bowl, mix eggs, oil, and agave.
• Stir in agave, vanilla and salt.
• Place frosting in freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken.
• Remove from freezer and whip frosting until it is thick and fluffy.
• Frost cake

NOTES:

“This gluten-free, dairy free and creamy chocolate frosting” fools everyone who tries it.  Sparkles and dad even ate the frosting in its solid state.  I love the sea salt!

----

Love Berries

INGREDIENTS

• strawberries

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• remove the stem by cutting a small triangle into the top of the strawberry
• slice strawberry in half – horizontally

NOTES:

Best with fresh strawberries. Pin It

St. Valentine’s Healthy Heart Breakfast

“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” –1Jn 4:16

SAINT VALENTINE

Priest and Martyr

February 14 -  feast of St. Valentine in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

SIMPLE / RED

During the persecution under Emperor Claudius II, Valentine, a zealous priest in Rome, ministered boldly to the martyr. He was arrested and taken before the prefect, who made tempting offers to induce him to apostatize. Finding that he was wasting his breath, the prefect condemned Valentine to death. The beheading took place on February 14, about the year 270. The true follower of Christ ignores worldly caution when he is called upon to bear witness to Jesus. "The inclination of the flesh is death, but the inclination of the spirit, life and peace" (Rom. 8:6)

~~~

St. Valentine is my family’s patron saint for 2012.  We are trying to find simple ways to celebrate.  This is the first, complete year for my family’s radical diet change.  That mean’s no more traditional sweet treats for us.  (Don’t worry, we are not deprived and we do eat!)

We start the day with a healthy serving of protein, usually eggs and bacon.  Here is our take for St. Valentine’s Breakfast – Egg cupcake, heart bacon, and love berries.

I’ve listed more St. Valentine’s resources here.

St. Valentine ~ ora pro nobis

~~~

Recipe: St. Valentine’s Health Heart Breakfast

Egg Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 min. | Cook Time: 18 min.| Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 18-20 Egg Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 10-12 eggs 
• cooked meat (optional)
• 1 green onion
• 1-2 zucchini
• 2-3 cups spinach
• red & yellow bell peppers
• olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• Grease muffin pan with olive oil
• Scramble eggs in bowl
• Use the food processor to finely chop spinach, zucchini, bell peppers and green onion. (Do not purify mixture.)
• Add the mixture to the scrambled eggs.   Mix well and season to taste.
• Fill the muffin pan with 1/4 cup of the egg mixture. 
• Bake for 18-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle. – DO NOT OVERCOOK.

NOTES:

The kids love this version of eggs.  It’s perfect for breakfast on-the-go.  We use it for our Sunday breakfast since we have an hour drive to Mass.  You could also make these the night before and re-heat.

Dad likes to garnish his egg cupcakes with salsa.  I prefer guacamole.

I pictured another version of eggs - soft boiled egg and plain egg cupcakes.  Soft boiled egg – break the egg into a greased cupcake pan, season, and bake for 8-10 min. Plain Egg Cupcake – follow the directions above sans veggies.

-----

Heart Bacon

INGREDIENTS

• bacon

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• fold two pieces of bacon into a heart shape
• cook in a George Forman Grill or oven.

NOTES:

This shaped bacon works better in a George Forman Grill.

-----

Love Berries

INGREDIENTS

• strawberries

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• remove the stem by cutting a small triangle into the top of the strawberry
• slice strawberry in half – horizontally

NOTES:

I often use frozen berries.  Defrost the berries. 

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Saint Valentine's Oatmeal Bake

This post was written by past Catholic Cuisine contributor Amy.

I have been using a certain recipe for Oatmeal bake for about a year now, but decided to change it up a bit. Then I figured, I would share it with you!  This would make a perfect Saint Valentine breakfast or treat with some added white chocolate chips!

Since there are some people in this house that would rather eat dirt in this house than eat a bowl of oatmeal,  this is a nice alternative.  Everyone likes it and it make a ton, so even if you do not have a large family you can stick it in an air tight container and snack on it.

Oatmeal Bake
serves approx. 12

1 cup butter
1 cup all natural peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup applesauce
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 cups oats
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cherries
shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream together butter and peanut butter.  Add sugar and whip till fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla.
In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients except dried fruit and coconut.  Slowly add to wet ingredients.  When fully combined add dried fruit.
Press into a buttered 10x15  pan.  Helpful hint: wet down your hands.  Sprinkle with shredded coconut and arrange some extra dried cherries on top in he shape of a heart.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Arrange some extra dried cherries on top in he shape of a heart.

This is so yummy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

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