Menu ideas for Pentecost Sunday

Ok... I am on a roll with the Pentecost theme!! I promise this is my last post... at least for today! ;)

Since another name for Pentecost is "Whitsunday," there is a tradition to serve white foods. In Lent and Easter in the Christian Kitchen, the authors suggest serving a breakfast of powdered sugar doughnuts or an afternoon snack of milk and macaroons.

They also suggest serving Cornish Game Hens (ok--maybe I will post a recipe for this, unless someone else has one!!), to remind us of a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, and a 12 Fruit Salad, symbolizing the 12 fruits of the Holy Ghost.

White side dishes for dinner could include: White Rice, Cauliflower, Potatoes and Pasta Alfredo, to name a few.

Another idea would be to go with a Red-Hot Theme since "the intense love and fire of the Holy Spirit are represented in the use of red as the liturgical color for Pentecost Sunday!" Examples would include: fiery hot food, food cooked over flames, and any other food that is red.

For Dessert we will be making a Pentecost Cake. Another idea, found in the above cookbook, would be to serve a frosted cookie topped with a red lifesaver holding a birthday candle to represent the flame, reminding us of the Holy Ghost in the Upper Room. As we blow out the candles we are reminded of the mighty wind that the apostles heard.

Don't forget to set your table with red if you can!! If you don't have a red tablecloth, you could make a centerpiece with seven red roses and seven red candles representing the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost!

Christine left a comment with even more decorating ideas: "If it [the tablecloth] is white, red flames cut from construction paper can be scattered on the tablecloth and hanging a dove from the dining room ceiling (either handmade or purchased from a craft store)." Thank you Christine!

However you celebrate, I hope you have a blessed Pentecost Sunday!!

Prayer to the Holy Ghost

COME HOLY GHOST, fill the hearts of thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of thy love

V Send forth thy spirit and they shall be created
R And thou Shalt renew the face of the earth

Let us pray. O God, who didst instruct the heart of thy faithful by the light of the Holy Ghost, Grant us by the gift of the same spirit to be truly wise and rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. 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

A Cake for Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday, also known as Whitsunday, ranks among the great feasts of Christianity. "It commemorates not only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples, but also the fruits and effects of that event: the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations."

To Celebrate, we will be baking and decorating a cake! I just love all the symbolism in this cake. It provides such a wonderfully yummy way to teach the children more about this feast.

Pentecost Cake

Directions:

Start with a white cake representing "Whitsunday." The cake can be home-made or store-bought, which ever you choose. To keep it simple, I usually just use a white cake mix.

Now for the decorations:

• White Frosting - For "Whitsunday"
• Large Candle in Center - represents Christ our Light, who promised to send the Holy Ghost.
• 12 Birthday Candles - represent the 12 Apostles and the tongues of fire.
• 7 red hearts - made of candy or icing, represent the 7 gifts of the Holy Ghost
• 12 strawberries - represent the 12 fruits of the Holy Ghost

Before cutting the cake, let the children blow out the candles representing the "mighty wind."

Serve with vanilla ice cream and even more strawberries!!

Enjoy!!



Update: Here is the picture of our cake from our 2009 Celebration!

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Ascension Pancakes!

My 8 year old son, after seeing this, asked "what do I have to eat to get that?" I explained this is our lunch! It's kind of a dessert pancake, for lunch! We made these today after Mass. In our diocese, the Feast day was moved to Sunday, so we get to celebrate the Ascension twice! We are planning on having Mathilda's Ascension Cloud dessert for supper tonight!

Paula told me she was planning on making Ascension Pancakes on Sunday, so I googled it and this is what I found:

Pancake = the earth Jesus walked on.
Fresh strawberries= blood Jesus shed.
Chocolate syrup= roads Jesus traveled.
Whipped topping= clouds our Lord ascended into.
Sprinkles= the sweetness of life in Heaven.

We also put regular syrup on these.
My pancake recipe: (I always double this though)
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1-2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup flour
2-4 Tbsp oil
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon (optional)

Beat egg until foamy. Mix rest of ingredients until smooth. Fry.

*It is such an honor to be a part of this wonderful Catholic Cuisine blog!! I was afraid Jessica would kick me out if I did not put something on pretty soon! I hope someday we can all sit down and have some Catholic Cuisine food together and meet in real life! Pin It

Bread - A Staple of Liturgical Year Celebrations

I am currently reading a great how-to book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. And I'm anxious to give the recipes a try. It makes the process sound very quick and I hope to include more fresh baked breads into our meals with minimal time involved. I know many of you are probably regular bakers of fresh bread already, but I've never gotten into the rhythm of doing it regularly so it has to be something I plan ahead for. If this technique is as easy as it seems fresh bread on a regular basis for feast day celebrations might be in our future.


Bread is such a significant image in our faith and I would love to have fresh baked bread be a more frequent part of our celebrations. As one of the most common foods around the world it is a staple of life. It has throughout history been a part of feasts and celebrations. There are so many times it is mentioned in scripture and Our Lord, the Living Bread is at the core of our faith. You have seen several recommendations of specific bread recipes here in the past. You will continue to see them in the future as there are often specific breads linked to saints or feast days. These are some ideas I had for general bread tie ins to upcoming feast days.
Upcoming May feast days where bread would be a fitting addition or centerpiece to the meal.

St. Philip and James (May 3) - Bread is a symbol associated with St. Philip and he is often pictured with two loaves. The loaves of bread recall St. Philip’s remark when Jesus fed the multitude: “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5).


Feast of Corpus Christi (May 25, 200/Second Sunday after Pentecost) , a Eucharistic solemnity, comes at end of this month. For this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ our Gospel readings always cycle through the stories of bread. The bread of life (John 6:51-58), the multiplication of the loaves and fish(John 6, 51-52), feast of unleavened bread and institution of Eucharist (Mark 14:6).

Feast of the Visitation (May 31) when we commemorate Our Lady's visit to Elizabeth. This feast day reminds us to be charitable to our neighbors. It would be a good day to take a fresh loaf of bread to someone.

Upcoming June feast days where bread would be a fitting addition or centerpiece to the meal.

St. Anthony of Padua (June 13) - There is a story associated with St. Anthony where a desperate mother whose toddler son has drowned, calls upon the intercession of St. Anthony promising if she obtained the blessing of her child back to life, she would donate to the poor bread equal to the weight of her son. This has resulted in the charitable tradition of St. Anthony's Bread.

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A Fluffy Cloud Dessert

... for the Feast of the Ascension.

I found this recipe in a BH&G magazine while waiting for the girls to finish piano lessons and thought it would be fun to serve for the Feast of the Ascension (which technically has been moved in our diocese, but not everywhere). I made a few changes to the recipe. First, I doubled the Oreos and the butter to make a good thick "crust". I also eliminated the strawberries on top to make the whole thing look more cloud-like and chopped the berries on the inside instead of mashing them so that the inner fluff would stay white instead of turning pink. It is chilling in the freezer right now.

Update with pictures......
Here's a peak inside!
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St. Catherine of Siena - Peace Bread

Today is the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, an Italian saint that worked tirelessly for God by advising and interceding on behalf of her Popes. Yes there were two at the time of her work here on earth. In the 1300's a schism divided the Church and Pope Gregory XI was at Rome while Pope Urban VI was at Avignon. It was Catherine that persuaded Gregory to return to Rome. She sacrificed herself for the peace of souls with her personal prayer and diplomacy.

Much like St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Catherine had a huge heart for the poor and baked bread daily for the poor of Siena. In honor of her Feast today, why not try some of this scrumptious bread. I'm calling it St. Catherine's Peace Bread for her great contribution to bringing peace in the fallen world of her times. I hope you'll try it, it's classic Itialian!!

Many blessings on this glorious Feast day!

Black Olive Bread (from The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins

For the Sponge: Make up to six hours or overnight ahead.

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Dissolve the yeast in warm water stirring with a wooden spoon. When the yeast is dissolved, stir in the flour. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise in a room that is on the cool side (60-70 degrees is ideal).

For the Bread:

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon olive oil for the bowl

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pitted black olives or kalamata olives

1 Tablespoon grated orange zest (optional)

When you're ready to bake, add 1 1/2 cups warm water and 2 cups flour to the sponge. Stir to mix well. If you wish to set aside starter for the next baking, transfer 1 cup of the mixture to a glass jar or bowl, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator.

Add 1 1/2 cups more flour to the remaining yeast mixture along with the oil and salt. Stir to mix well, first with a wooden spoon, and then with your hands. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup flour on a bread board and turn out yeast mixture. Knead very well, incorporating the flour on the board for about 15 minutes. (Or you can cheat like I do and do this in your Bosch Mixer or Kitchen Aid with a bread hook). When dough is smooth and elastic and satiny, return it to the rinsed bowl which has been wiped with the olive oil. Turn the dough in the bowl to coat it and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to double in bulk for about 2 hours. Turn dough out on floured board, punch down and knead briefly. Spread dough out and scatter the pitted olives over it. Now gather the dough together and knead just enough to distribute the olives throughout. Form two round loaves and set aside for another 30 minutes of rising. Preheat to 425 degrees and bake for 35 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and crusty and feels hollow when you rap on it. Turn out onto a rack and leave for at least 2 hours before cutting.

I look forward to hearing about how your Peace Bread turns out. It would be a wonderful thing to share one with someone less fortunate for this special Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena!!

Many Blessings!

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