Holy Thursday in the Home

In a few days we begin the holiest days of the year, the Sacred Triduum. In planning for Holy Week, my first thoughts go to menu planning. Is it good that I'll be doing extra things in the kitchen to prepare for Holy Week? Am I being more of a Martha than Mary and detracting from the feast? I watched Joanna Bogle's Feasts and Seasons on EWTN and she also mentioned something about being in the kitchen more during holydays such as Holy Week than the rest of the year. She had an opposite opinion and allayed my fears — spending the extra time making these treats for the holy days marks the time and food as special, unique. She said it more eloquently, but it made me feel more confident to continue.

Holy Thursday is marked with many food traditions. I'm sharing my Holy Thursday meal traditions, but also wanted to mention a few cultural ones from around the world.

Traditions of Holy Thursday

Father Francis X. Weiser, S.J., The Easter Book (1954) explains the popular names of Holy Thursday:

The second day of the celebration of Tenebrae bears the liturgical name "Thursday of the Lord's Supper" (Feria Quinta in Coena Domini). Of its many popular names the more generally known are:

• Maundy Thursday (le mande; Thursday of the Mandatum) — The word Mandatum means "commandment." This name is taken from the first words sung at the ceremony of the washing of the feet, "A new commandment I give you" (John 13, 34); also from the commandment of Christ that we should imitate His loving humility in the washing of the feet (John 13, 14-17). Thus the term Mandatum (maundy) was applied to the rite of the feet-washing on this day.


• Green Thursday — In all German-speaking countries people call Maundy Thursday by this name (Gründonnerstag). From Germany the term was adopted by the Slavic nations (zeleny ctvrtek) and in Hungary (zold csutortok). Scholars explain its origin from the old German word grunen (to mourn) which was later corrupted into grün (green). Another explanation is that in many places, before the thirteenth century, green vestments were used for the Mass that day.


• Pure or Clean Thursday — This name emphasizes the ancient tradition that on Holy Thursday not only the souls were cleansed through the absolution of public sinners but the faithful in all countries also made it a great cleansing day of the body (washing, bathing, shaving, etc.) in preparation for Easter. Saint Augustine (430) mentioned this custom. The Old English name was "Shere Thursday" (meaning sheer, clean), and the Scandinavian, Skaer torsdag. (Because of the exertions and thoroughness of this cleansing in an age when bathing was not an everyday affair, the faithful were exempted from fasting on Maundy Thursday.)


• Holy or Great Thursday — The meaning of this title is obvious since it is the one Thursday of the year on which the sacred events of Christ's Passion are celebrated. The English-speaking nations and the people of the Latin countries use the term "Holy," while the Slavic populations generally apply the title "Great." The Ukrainians call it also the "Thursday of the Passion." In the Greek Church it is called "The Holy and Great Thursday of the Mystic Supper."

In some Latin countries sugared almonds are eaten by everybody on Maundy Thursday. From this custom it bears the name "Almond Day" in the Azores. In central Europe the name "Green Thursday" inspired a tradition of eating green things. The main meal starts with a soup of green herbs, followed by a bowl of spinach with boiled or fried eggs, and meat with dishes of various green salads.

Easter the World Over by Priscilla Sawyer Lord and Daniel J. Foley (1971) mentions the Czechoslovakian traditions for Holy Thursday. I'm not sure if this is a Czech or a Slovak tradition:

On Green Thursday (Holy Thursday) the Czechoslovakians eat "Judases" and greens--a soup of green herbs followed by a green salad. Housewives busy themselves with the preparation of the Easter foods that will be consumed on the holy weekend. They say:

Soon will come Green Thursday
When we shall bake the Lamb;
We shall eat Judases farina
And three spoonfuls of honey.

"Judasas" are served with honey at breakfast in Czechoslovakia. These are breakfast cakes of twisted dough, made to look like rope, suggesting the fate of Judas the Betrayer, who "went and hanged himself" in remorse after he had identified Jesus to His enemies. Honey is considered a preventive against disaster (p. 58).

I have searched through all my books and on the Internet, and I cannot find any recipes for Judases in the English language and measurements. If I had the Czechoslovakian word perhaps I would have better luck. It has been mentioned as a bread, sometimes cake, but no recipe. Update 2015: I did find a few recipes, one which I posted here: Judases. Anna also shared a link to a recipe in the comments, Judas Rope.

Jennifer Mackintosh already mentioned the tradition of eating green for Green Thursday, including a wonderful recipe for Spinach Pie. Evelyn Vitz in A Continual Feast suggests a Seven-Herb Vichyssoise, and fish with a green herb butter, spinach, a mixed green salad, and green desserts such as Mint or Pistachio Ice Cream or Lime Sherbet. The custom of the green foods can be traced to the Jewish Passover meal with the bitter herbs, but also a health focus, as spring is arriving, and the green herbs provide a healthy spring cleansing. Since some people serve all green meals on St. Patrick's Day, that would be another place for inspiration for serving green foods.

Passover Meal

Since I was a young girl my family has gathered to celebrate a Holy Thursday meal. We never called it a Seder, although we have called it a Passover meal. The purpose was to remember Jesus' Last Supper, and to prepare the family for participation at the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. I did try to learn more about the Jewish Seder meal, and over the years we would try to be more "authentic". But I have to say the men in my family were always a good barometer -- "Why are we doing this? We're not Jewish." They pointed out that we are Catholics trying to recall Jesus' last days, not trying to practice the Jewish faith. I found in my reading that the current Seder meal wasn't established until after 70 A.D., and many sources say not until 500 years after Christ's death. After prayerful consideration, why would we implement a ritual that was written after Christ that emphasizes awaiting the Messiah when He has already come? Wouldn't it make more sense to look back at the Old and New Testaments and imitate what Jesus the Messiah did at His Last Supper?

It was interesting to study, butI realized I wasn't sharing the night with Christ. I respect the Jewish religious ritual of a Seder meal, but not as something to implement in my home. I used the Old Testament and New Testaments as inspiration. Francis Fernandez (In Conversation With God, Volume 2) mentions that the Last Supper is "to be the last Jewish Passover and the first Passover in which her Son is both Priest and Victim" (p. 252). (See also The Hunt for the Fourth Cup by Dr. Scott Hahn.) I want to look forward to the Paschal Feast, which is the Mass, and particularly the Easter Vigil liturgy.

I found it so interesting that in Celebrating the Faith in the Home: Lent and Easter in the Christian Kitchen by Laurie Navar Gill and Terea Cepeda (printed by Emmanuel Books) that Mrs. Gill came to a similar conclusion:

The "Christian Seder" or Passover meal on Holy Thursday has become popular in some circles in the past few decades. I have attended such dinners and have even tried to put one on myself. I enjoyed learning more about the Jewish Passover traditions as Our Lord observed them -- the symbolic foods, the toasts, the questions and the beautiful Jewish blessing prayers.

Yet my own sense is that too closely to imitate a Jewish Passover rings falsely at my table. Our Holy Thursday menu does include some symbolic foods from the Passover meal. We read about both the Exodus of Jews and the story of the Last Supper, but we do not imitate the narrative and blessings from the Jewish observance.

Instead, we try to concentrate on the fulfillment of the Passover in Jesus. Through His blood, He has saved us from death. And in the Holy Eucharist, He feeds us with His own flesh and blood. The high point of our Holy Thursday observance is our participation in the true carrying on of that last Passover meal. No re-enactment around our table, no matter how authentic, can compare with the Truth that we encounter in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

While reading Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede, I was struck by the description of Holy Week in the Benedictine Monastery. While this is a fictitious work, the author based the writings on actual convent life. I have the whole quote here but I loved this description of the table for Holy Thursday dinner, and have used it as inspiration for my own table:

On that same day, the Abbess, following her Master’s example, became the servant of the whole community, serving them at midday dinner. The sight of the refectory was inviting: each place was laid with a snow-white napkin, a glass of wine, a bunch of grapes, a small wheaten loaf, and a brown earthenware bowl of vegetable soup. Apricot puffs and cheese were laid along the side tables. When the nuns were seated, the Abbess came in, wearing a white apron and white sleeves, and with her came the kitchener, Sister Priscilla, bearing a great silver salver of fish. The Abbess went to every nun, serving her and laying beside her plate a nose-gay of small flowers: violets, wood anemones, primulas, grape hyacinths, tiny ferns, pink heaths.

Father Francis Weiser from his Religious Customs in the Family gives some wise instructions on a family celebrating a Passover-type meal on Holy Thursday:

In many homes the memory of the Last Supper is brought out by the arrangement of the main meal in the evening. Of late the custom has been suggested in various books and pamphlets, of imitating the ancient Passover meal even in its details. A yearling lamb is to be roasted and served with bitter herbs and a brown sauce. Jewish matzos, together with wine, are to be distributed by the father in silence to all members of the family, thus commemorating the institution of the Blessed Sacrament.

The use of some pious "ritual" at the supper on Holy Thursday is surely to be recommended, although a complete I imitation of the Last Supper of our Lord in its details does not seem to be advisable. Children, with their gift of keen and faithful observation, might easily conceive the ritual at the family table as a "photographic" reproduction of the Last Supper and thus acquire inaccurate and unhistorical notions about it. To mention only one example, are we sure that Christ used massah (unleavened bread) of the shape and size of modern Jewish "matzos".

Our Holy Thursday Meal

I love how Florence Berger in Cooking for Christ answers the apostles' question:

Whenever I hear Peter and John asking the Lord, "Where wilt Thou that we prepare the Pasch?" I want to interrupt and say, "Come to our house, please do." But even today we, as Catholics, can bring Christ and His friends home with us. When we receive the Holy Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, He lives within us. When we gather guests at our tables to re-enact the last supper, Christ is in our midst. For, as the antiphon of Holy Thursday sings, "where charity and love are, there is God." There is a divine bond between our altar and our home.

Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Eucharist was established within the Passover meal by Jesus with His Apostles. A wonderful way to bring home the richness of this feast is to imitate the Last Supper by recalling some aspects of the Passover meal, and a foot washing ceremony with the family in imitation of Jesus. This a wonderful tradition to start in the family. If things are rushed on Holy Thursday, move the meal sometime before Holy Thursday (Wednesday night, for example) so that the whole family can participate in imitating Christ at the Last Supper.

The idea is serving foods reminiscent of the Passover meal as the Jews did in Egypt and Christ did in imitation of the Exodus, not in imitation of Judaic religion. Elements of the Mass of the Lord's Supper are included to prepare us for participation at the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Incorporating the various senses in this meal really helps active participation, particularly for children.

Holy Thursday is one of the biggest feasts in the Church year, since it commemorates the institution of Holy Orders and of the Holy Eucharist. Sunday-best should be worn by participants and the table should be beautifully decorated, with a white tablecloth (in imitation of the white vestments used at Mass) and even the good china and silver. For dessert (since this is a special feast day, no Lenten abstaining here), at times I have baked a cake in the shape of a lamb (there are numerous types of lamb molds available at craft stores or baking supply stores). Before or during the dinner, we read from Exodus 12:1-20 —- the story of the first Passover. Then someone reads from the New Testament reading about the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist rom either Matt 26:17:30; Mark 14:12-26 or Luke 22:7-20.

Simple Menu Suggestions:

These ideas loosely follow the instructions in Exodus, "A lamb...a year-old male lamb without blemish...That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs...."

• Bitter Herbs: Cooked spinach and raw celery sticks dipped in salt water, mixed green salad (the greens also incorporate the "Green Thursday" tradition)
• Unleavened bread: Crackers or store-bought matzohs, pita bread or homemade unleavened bread
• Wine: red wine and/or grape juice
• Lamb: Leg of lamb, or roast lamb, lamb chops, or meatloaf baked in shape of lamb (use a lamb cake mold)
• Haroset: Applesauce with raisins, reminding of the bricks and mortar the Jews laid in Egypt. (This is an additional element we have added.)

Our Holy Thursday Dinner Menu:

• Roast Beef (Reminder of the Passover Lamb, and Christ the Paschal Lamb)
• Mashed Potatoes (allergy free, made with safe margarine and chicken broth and seasonings)
• Cooked Spinach (reminder of the bitter herbs)
• Applesauce (reminder of the Charoses, the bricks and mortar in Egypt)
• Bread (reminder of the Unleavened Bread and the Eucharist)
• Grapes (reminder of the wine of the Last Supper which becomes the Blood of Christ)
• Dessert (Because it is a festive day in the eyes of the Church)
• Wine and/or Grape Juice

Our family doesn't like the taste of lamb, so I'm actually serving roast beef. It looks similar to lamb. It seems Holy Week has extra constraints, so while I want to make a festive meal, sometimes time, energy, (and nowadays) and budget is lacking. One year my mother actually made a meatloaf in the lamb cake mold pan. It was definitely memorable.

We usually save making the lamb cake for Easter. I usually choose a dessert that won't have leftovers to taunt us during Good Friday. Depending on my time, I might make unleavened bread, following Maria von Trapp's recipe. If I use regular bread it will be small individual loaves at each place setting. For my son with food allergies, I will serve gluten free bread sticks. Another alternative is serving Hot Cross Buns, again, following Maria Von Trapp's recipe.

Before eating, the family gathers for the "Washing of the Feet", which I've described on my blog.

The children are reminded that this meal is different than what the Jews celebrate because Christ already died and saved us, so we are not still awaiting a Messiah. We are not obliged to follow the directives for the Passover meal, we are merely doing it in imitation of Christ, so we can use all of our senses to know, love and serve Christ. While eating the reading from Exodus 12: 1-20, the story of the First Passover, is read out loud. This is the same first reading at the Mass of the Lord's Supper.

The meal is simple, joyful, and family-friendly, and wonderful preparation to enter more deeply into the liturgy of the Sacred Triduum. Pin It

Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally served on Good Friday. They are a spiced bun and each bun is marked with the shape of a cross to symbolize Christ's suffering and crucifixion. I usually serve these to my family for breakfast on Good Friday. Sometimes I make them from scratch, and when that is not possible I frantically try to find some in town order some from our local bakery.

In her book A Continual Feast, author Evelyn Birge Vitz shares the traditions behind serving Hot Cross Buns on this day, as well as a delicious recipe:

"The Hot Cross Bun is the most famous, and probably the oldest, of the many English buns. Unlike today, when it is to be found throughout Lent, the Hot Cross Bun was originally eaten only on Good Friday. According to tradition, Father Rocliff, a monk and the cook of St. Alban's Abbey, in Hertfordshire, on Good Friday in 1361 gave to each poor person who came to the abbey one of these spiced buns marked with the sign of the cross, along with the usual bowl of soup. The custom was continued and soon spread throughout the country - though no other buns could compare, it was said, with Father Rocliff's. Hot Cross Buns became enormously popular in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Street cries were commonly heard on Good Friday:"

Hot Cross buns, Hot Cross buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot Cross buns!

If your daughters won't eat them,
Give them to your sons;
But if you have none of those little elves,
Then you must eat them all yourselves!

The author goes on to say that "Hot Cross Buns, and other forms of Good Friday bread, were considered blessed, and were believed to provide powerful protection against disease and danger."

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

• 1 package dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (about 100-100 degrees F)
• 1 teaspoon white or light brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sweet butter
• 1/3 cup brown or raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2/3 cup dried currants
• Optional:
• 1/3 cup finely diced or julienned citron

Frosting:

• 2 tablespoons milk
• 4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar (more if needed)
• grated rind of 1 lemon

Directions:

Sprinkle the yeast into the lukewarm water. Stir in 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit until frothy.

Scald the milk. Add the butter, sugar, and salt. Stir until blended. Cool to lukewarm. Beat the eggs until light, and combine with the milk mixture. Add the yeast.

Sift 3 1/2 cups of the flour with the spices into a mixing bowl. Make a well, and pour in the yeast mixture. Beat for 5 minutes. Toss the currants, and citron, if using it, with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Mix into the dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. The dough should be fairly firm, otherwise it will not take the cuts for the cross.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover the dough with a towel and put it to rise in a draft-free spot until doubled in volume. This will take about 2 hours.

Punch the dough down. Shape it into 2 dozen buns.

Place the buns 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart on well-greased cookie sheets or in muffin pans. With a sharp knife cut a cross into the top of each bun. Allow them to rise until doubled in bulk, 30-45 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

For the frosting, mix the milk with enough sugar so that the icing is not runny. Add the rind. Brush a cross on the top of each bun.

Yield: about 24 buns

Variations: (also from A Continual Feast)

Try varying the spice ratios: for example, eliminate the cinnamon, and use only the other spices (increasing the quantities proportionately). You can also substitute allspice for the ginger.

Eliminate the icing: the icing on Hot Cross Buns is considered by some purists to be new-fangled.


Since I promised pictures, here are a couple even though they didn't turn out near as good as others I seen online. They tasted delicious, or so I was told!


The Hot Cross Buns in this first picture were baked on a cookie sheet:

The Hot Cross Buns in this picture were baked in a muffin pan:

Since I made them for Good Friday, I left the frosting off... I'll add frosting to the remaining Hot Cross Buns and serve them with our Easter Brunch.


Be sure to read Jen's interesting post on the History of the Hot Cross Bun.


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Living Easter Grass

Bring a little springtime into your kitchen.

With Easter quickly approaching we have just about the perfect amount of time (7-10 days) to grow a living basket of Easter grass. Wheat berries (or rye berries) from the pantry are used for this project. Plant them and in about a week you’ll have a lovely and living basket. It makes a beautiful center piece with a few colored eggs inside. Don’t forget the health benefits of wheatgrass – which could be juiced or blended into a smoothie after the celebration. Wheatgrass berries are famous for their medicinal and nutritional benefits. They are an excellent source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur, cobalt and zinc.

If you don’t normally keep wheat berries on hand, you can purchase them at most health food stores. To prepare your basket(s), first, rinse the seeds. Then soak them in water for 6-12 hours (until slightly sprouted – just opening). Choose a container (basket, tray, flower pot). If you choose a basket cut a piece of cellophane or plastic wrap large enough to line the plus stick out over the top edge by about one inch (this will keep it from getting soil or water all over). After the wheat grass seeds have sprouted, line the bottom of your growing container/basket with approx. 2 inches of potting soil (or vermiculite mixed with soil). Drain and rinse seeds and spread them over the soil in a single layer, with seeds close but not overlapping. Cover with a very light layer of soil. Lightly water the seeds with a spray bottle.

Place basket or container in a warm area but not in direct sunlight. Cover it with newspaper or paper towel. Each day mist the seeds with water. Do not use too much water – just keep moist. Remove the newspaper once the leaves start to sprout (usually a couple of days). Watch them grow. In about a week you’ll have several inches of lovely green Easter grass.

In researching I found several cutlures where setting out seeds to sprout before Easter was a common tradition. Italy, Greece, Finland are mentioned. The symbol of a seed bringing forth new life and the image it calls to mind of the death and resurrection make this a timely project for the Easter season.


Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. ~John 12:24

Update: Day 4

Update Day 7

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An Overview - Planning the Menu for Holy Week

There are some weeks during the year, liturgically speaking, that allow us to link our offerings in the kitchen to the Church year more than others - Holy Week is one of those weeks.

Florence Berger perhaps sums it up best in her book, Cooking For Christ, when she says,

"...the cooking which we do will add special significance to the Church Year and Christ will sanctify our daily bread. That is what is meant by the liturgical year in the kitchen."

There are so many recipes here - ideas for those lovely teas, Resurrection Rolls - and so many others in the archives...and yet to be posted. How does one organize and shop for all these ideas to live the liturgy through our humble offerings in the kitchen?

I'd like to offer a weekly menu planning sheet for you to use as you plan your offerings next week.


Click on the image, and then print the menu. Fill in your plans as you go, add in a teatime next week, your meals, the significant focus of each day. Use the menu to shop from as you go to market. I know on a week like Holy Week I like to have a good plan going in so that I too can observe a little silence rather than rushing around wondering if I have everything I need for Hot Cross Buns.

I use this menu sheet year round to help me plan because it helps me link seasonal offerings at the market with meals, teas, and menu plans that link the liturgical year with my family table.

Consider the days of Holy Week:

Palm Sunday
Figs are associated with Palm Sunday - possibly because of the traditionally held belief that Christ ate figs after His entry into Jerusalem. There is also the account of the withering fig tree right after Our Lord's entry.

**A plate of fresh figs and cheese would be lovely on Palm Sunday.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week
These days are usually set aside for intense cleaning and tidying so that the house is made ready to rejoice in the Resurrection and so that the woman of the house can spend Holy Thursday and Good Friday immersed in the liturgy, observing silence, and reflecting in prayer. These days are good days for baking and preparing foods for the days to come. Consider:

**Pretzels
**Several loaves of homemade bread
**Your Maundy Thursday meal as you are likely to return home late after the liturgy that evening.
**Get a head start on Easter baking.

Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday
Maundy comes from the Latin "Mandatum", more specifically "Mandatum novum do vobis" -- "A New Commandment I give to you", Our Lord's words spoken to His disciples on the eve of His death. In Germany, Holy Thursday is referred to as Green Thursday. It's actually quite odd how the name came about - Father Weiser explains in Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs,

"In all German-speaking countries people call Maundy Thursday by this name (Grundonnerstag)...Scholars explain its origin from the old German word grunen or greinen (to mourn), which was later corrupted into grun (green)."

**In light of the green connection, albeit a strange one, why not consider a Spinach pie? (recipe below). It is easy to use a paring knife to etch a symbol into the top of a Spinach pie...consider a simple crown of thorns, a Cross, a nail.
**How about shaping your bread dough into a rope to signify the ropes Our Lord was bound by during the scourging?

Spinach Pie

2 boxes of Pillsbury frozen pie shells (in the refrig section)
2 pkgs. frozen spinach - thawed and squeezed to remove excess water
1 lg container ricotta cheese
2 cups fresh grated parmesan
1 large onion - chopped and sauteed in olive oil
3 eggs

You'll need 2 9inch pie dishes. Press a pie shell into the bottom and sides of each pie dish.

Mix spinach, ricotta, onion, eggs, and cheeses in large bowl. Divide in half and split between the two pie dishes. Cover with remaining two pie shells. Trim edges and slit top for venting. Brush with egg if desired. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.

Good Friday
Without a doubt, the Church leads the faithful on a journey throughout Lent building us to this point - Good Friday. Pius Parsch calls this "Christendom's great day of mourning" and that is exactly what it is. On this one day of the year, out of reverence for the day that Our Lord sacrificed Himself for us, Holy Mother Church restrains from offering the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass. The altar is stripped, sanctuary lamp is dark, lights are out. Our Lord is on the Cross. He thirsts. We mourn.

This one statement by Our Lord, "I thirst", motivates my entire meal plan for the day - it should leave us thirsting. I don't mean that I withhold liquids from my family, but I do mean that the meal offerings are stripped of every extra, every shred of decadence. According to Florence Berger in Cooking for Christ, "Pope Gregory (I) directed that only bread, salt, and vegetables be eaten on Good Friday." For a few years now, we've tried this.


**Consider a hearty, whole-grain bread to sustain everyone on this day.
**How about a vegetable tray for lunch?
**Try roasting or baking some vegetables as a dinner with the whole grain bread - roasted sweet potatoes, baked potatoes (minus all the toppings) with chives and salt, cucumber salad tossed with vinegar.
**Consider incorporating vinegar into an offering this day as a remembrance that vinegar was offered to Our Lord on the Cross.
**Consider water only as a drink for the day remembering that from the Cross Jesus thirsted.

May your Holy Week plans allow you and your families to immerse in the sorrowful tone of the week so that you may rejoice all the more when we hear the Alleluia once again on Easter morning! Pin It

Pretzels

Traditionally, the pretzel was only eaten during Lent. It is available all year round now, but before it became a popular snack food it was available from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. There are records of Lenten pretzels in a 5th century manuscript in the Vatican Library. Early Christians ate no dairy products during Lent, so pretzels were made from the simplest of ingredients - flour, salt, and water.

It is made in the shape of two arms crossed in prayer. The origin of the name comes from the word "bracellae" (little arms). In German it became "Bretzel" which then changed to "Pretzel".

If you haven't yet made pretzels during Lent, why not try it during Holy Week?

Pretzels

1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour (I make mine with half white, half whole wheat sometimes)
Coarse or kosher salt
1 egg, beaten

Add the honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Blend in flour, and knead the dough until smooth. Cut the dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. Place pretzels on lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush them with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 425 for 12 - 15 minutes - or until the pretzels are golden brown.

These pretzels make a lovely Lenten tea. Pair them with a nice Earl Grey or your favorite tea. Pin It

Resurrection Rolls

Last year I shared a recipe for Resurrection Cookies that I make with my children each year on Holy Saturday. This year I thought I would share another great recipe, which is also full of symbolism, and is a great hands-on way to tell the story of Christ's Resurrection to children.

Resurrection Rolls

What you will need:

• 1 package Crescent Rolls, divided into triangles
• Butter, melted
• 8 large Marshmallows
• Cinnamon/Sugar mixture
• 8 squares of foil (with child's name written on it if desired), sprayed with cooking spray
• Cookie Sheet
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus.

Have the child dip the marshmallow in melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.

Next, have the child dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar. This represents the spices used to anoint the body.

Demonstrate how to wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up...but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside). This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after His death. (Optional: Have each child work on a square of foil with their name written in permanent marker on the foil to easily identify after baking.)

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb--pretend that it has been three days!

While waiting for the rolls to bake, use Resurrection Eggs or a child's Picture Bible and tell the story of Christ's Passion and Resurrection.

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN!

The rolls will be hollow because the marshmallow melted. While the children enjoy the rolls, explain that knowing Jesus is alive and He loves us feels so good, like the rolls taste good and sweet.


Update: I posted pictures of my children making these rolls here.

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Monkey Bread Cross

Our family has a tradition of eating monkey bread, sweet, gooey and delicious, on Easter morning. Usually I make it in a bundt cake pan, but this year I wanted to try making it in a cross shaped pan to honor Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross. I bought the cross cake pan for $5 on ebay. It took me a couple trial runs to figure out how to change the recipe for the different cake pan, but no one in my family minded eating monkey bread twice this past week.

Cross Monkey Bread

• 4 packages of standard size biscuits
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 sticks margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut each biscuit into four quarters. Mix all dry ingredients above in a bowl.

Spray surface of cross cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Dip each individual biscuit quarter into the cinnamon sugar mixture and then into the cake pan.

Pour half of remaining sugar mixture evenly over biscuits. Melt margarine in microwave and pour all of it evenly over biscuits.

Then pour remaining sugar mixture over biscuits especially in pools of melted butter. Place cake pan on foil covered cookie sheet because it will spill over and be messy. Bake for 35-40 minutes depending on your oven. We like our monkey bread a little undercooked so we cooked it in that range. If you like it really cooked or even a little crispy, then maybe cook between 40-45 minutes. Immediately after taking out of the oven, carefully flip cake pan onto platter and let stand until cool enough to eat.

(please note the above picture was taken on a practice round when I didn't cook it long enough so that is why there is margarine and melted cinnamon seeping out when I flipped the cake pan)

If you want to make it in the traditional circle bundt cake pan, follow the same recipe as above but only cook it for 30 minutes and you don't need the cookie sheet under the cake pan. One idea for being creative with the circle monkey bread would be to put toothpicks in it and have it resemble a crown of thorns. This would be more appropriate earlier in Holy Week. Another idea on Easter Sunday would be to put a white candle in the center symbolizing Christ being the light of the world.

This post was written by Robina, at Motherly Loving, and submitted for publication here at Catholic Cuisine. Thank you Robina!

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