Blueberry Peach Parfaits for the Coronation

The following recipe for Blueberry Peach Parfaits was submitted by Mary from Better Than Eden.  Thank you Mary! 

I put together a super simple dessert for the feast day of the Crowning of the Blessed Virgin and thought I'd share it in case you were wanting a jumping off point or some inspiration for your own festivities!

The great thing about parfaits and trifles is that there are no hard and fast rules and they are so versatile and yet still look fancy and are a special treat. This is what I put together from what I had but use what you have and make it work!

The blueberries represent Mary and the peach her golden crown. The whipped cream symbolizes the heavenly clouds and I suppose you could even have the cake represent that she is fully human and still intercedes for us here on earth below.

Ingredients:

• Yellow Cake (Other possibilities: Nilla wafers, brownies, cookies, graham crackers, or just omit it altogether.)
• Blueberries (about 2 cups)
• One Peach (Or how about mango or pineapple?)
• Whipped Cream (I used about 3-4 cups. Other possibilities: Vanilla ice cream or pudding)

Assemble your glasses or use a trifle dish.

Peel your peach and slice thinly. Cube up your cake into bite size pieces. Then just layer it all together: cake, whipped cream, blueberries, whipped cream, and use several slices of your peach for Mary's crown. Simple, simple.

I experimented with several crownesque shapes...

and an abstract version. No rules, remember?

Enjoy!

"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Revelation 12:1

Mary, you who are mother of our King and queen of heaven, pray for us!

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St. Monica and St. Augustine Key Lime Pie Recipe

The following recipe was submitted by Susan from Sole Searching. Thank you Susan! 

In honor of these two great saints, here is a recipe for a special key lime pie. Creating some symbolism with whatever fare you make helps make a memory for the children. For example:

- The pie itself represents the sea of tears (blue color, round shape) shed by St. Monica for her son Augustine, that he may know Christ and so be converted by His love.

- The whipped cream with blue sprinkles represents heaven. St. Monica's sacrifice and prayers were honored by our Lord, and St. Monica and St. Augustine live on in eternity in heaven with Christ.

- The icons placed in the center of the pie were there to give the children a visual of the two saints while I read to them their story.

Key Lime Pie Recipe:

I used an already prepared graham cracker crust, but you can also make one with this recipe:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Press into an 8 inch pie plate and bake until golden, about 12-13 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325.

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup freshly squeezed key-lime juice*
1 tablespoon grated key lime zest
4-5 drops of blue food coloring (more or less, depending on the brand)

Combine milk, egg yolks, lime juice, food coloring and zest in a medium sized bowl and whisk together until blended. Pour into prepared, cooled crust. Bake until the center is set, but still quivers when the pan is nudged, about 15-17 minutes.. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until chilled. Top with whipped cream, homemade or Redi-Whip, and garnish with blue sprinkles before serving.

*I have used the bottled key lime juice as well as the fresh juice of regular limes and the pies have turned out just fine.

“You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our 

hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

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Heavenly Assumption Parfaits

The Solemnity of the Assumption, which is a Holy Day of Obligation, is coming up on August 15th!  These Assumption Parfaits, adapted from Yummy Finds, would make a simple and fun treat to celebrate the feast! 

To make these all you need is a box of Berry Blue Jello, Cool Whip, and Glasses. 

Prepare the Berry Blue Jello according to the directions on the package. 

 Layer spoonfuls of Berry Blue Jello and Cool Whip in narrow glasses to create the sky and clouds!

Be sure to alternate where you place the cool whip “clouds” so that you get a nice staggered effect.

Enjoy! 

You can see the rest of the pictures from our celebration here. 

"We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." ~ Pope Pius XII 

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St. Ignatius Cupcakes

~Happy Feast of St. Ignatius~

Our family loves this story of a brave Spanish soldier, who longed to be a knight.  In fact, his story inspired our cupcake decor!

After surviving a shot in the legs with a canon, he read the Bible and the lives of the saints while he recovered for months in bed.  Deciding he wanted to give his life to God, he made a pilgrimage to Montserrat, Spain, where a statue of the Virgin Mary still stands, carved by St. Luke.  There at the altar, he left his sword and all of his riches, deciding to devote his life to God.  

(Hence, the sword-shaped toothpicks came in handy for cupcake decor:)  

He went on to be a soldier for Christ and helped protect the teachings of the Church as part of the counter-Reformation in the 1500's.

He started the Society of Jesus, known as the "Jesuits."

IHS 
is the greek translation for the Holy Name of Jesus which became the symbol for the Jesuits.  Our beloved Holy Father, Pope Francis, is a Jesuit so how neat is that?
St. Ignatius of Loyola is also know for writing the well-know Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

Ingredients:

Your favorite cake/cupcake mix

Chocolate frosting

Icing for writing

Sword-shaped toothpicks 

Instructions:

Bake the cupcakes according to instructions and decorate according to the symbols of St. Ignatius above.

Enjoy learning about another great saint!

"Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow his grace to mold them accordingly." ~St. Ignatius Loyola~

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Shell Cakes for St. James

Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the Greater, which happens to be a "nameday" in our home!  In the past I have always made Tarta de Santiago or Coupe Saint-Jacques, but this year I decided to try out my new cookbook and madeleine pan and make madeleines Shell shaped cakes. (Cockle and Scallop Shells are symbols of St. James.)

They turned out great and I'm looking forward to trying some of the other recipes soon.  In fact our son's baptismal anniversary is coming up next week, which might be the perfect opportunity to try out the "Vegan Coconut Milk-Cinnamon" though he is really intrigued by the "Bacon and Chocolate!"  We might have to make both... This should be fun!

Basic Madeleine

adapted from We Love Madeleines

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour, Plus Extra for Dusting the Pan
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 3 Eggs, At Room Temperature
• 1 Egg Yolk, At Room Temperature
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted and Cooled to Room Temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
• Powdered Sugar for Dusting

Directions:

In a small bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla until the batter is thick enough to ribbon and lighter in color.  Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg mixture.  Carefully fold in the flour mixture using a rubber spatula, until just combined.

In a small bowl, whisk one-third of the batter into the melted butter, then fold the butter mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.  Let the batter rest for at least 1 hour.

Preheat over to 350˚F with the rack positioned in the center.  Grease a madeleine pan with melted butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling each mold three-quarters full.  Bake until the madeleines are golden brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.

When the madeleines come out of the oven, immediately turn them out onto wire racks and let cool.  Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Happy Feast of St. James! 

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Chocolate Graham Scapulars

+Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel+

Here's a simple idea to help celebrate!

This is all you need!

(No, I take that back. Our Lady is really all you need...To lead you closer to Jesus, of course!;) But here's a few more things you might need to make these treats...

Ingredients:

Chocolate Graham Crackers

Marshmallow Creme

Various colors of icing

Instructions:

Spread graham crackers with marshmallow creme and decorate with preferred scapular pattern.  The basic designs are obviously easier to make:)

Enjoy!

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, please pray for us!

Enjoy more information about this feast day here.

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Watch the weather on St. Swithin's Day

A sweet sister in Christ sent me a link, a few weeks ago, to this feast day recipe at Catholic Culture.

July 15, the feast of St. Swithin, is, apparently a day to watch the weather. It is said of this very popular English saint:

Saint Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain, for forty days it will remain; Saint Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, for forty days 'twill rain nae mair.

Saint Swithin's connection with the weather, and particularly with the rain, doubtless comes from the legend that in his humility he asked to be buried outside his cathedral, where passers-by would step over his grave and raindrops from the eaves would fall upon it. 

source 


Rain or shine, it would be a lovely day to bake a summer cake in honor of this memorable saint (and as July 15 is also the feast of St. Bonaventure, you have a doubly good reason to celebrate). The thought, however, of baking an spiced apple cake (as the recipe at the link suggested) in the middle of July, when apples are hardly in their prime in the Midwest of the United States, did not sound quite right to me. Thus, I turned St. Swithin's cake into a delicious shortcake-like cake with wild blueberries on top. It could not be an easier cake to bake, with the aid of baking mix, and for me, a one-pound bag of frozen wild blueberries. Blueberries are in season in much of America right now, but my bushes are not producing well this year, so a bag of frozen berries did the trick. (If you choose to use fresh berries, your baking time should be quite a bit shorter so set the timer for about 30 minutes and then check it every five minutes or so until it's done.)

My family enjoys any fruity cake, warm from the oven, with just a drizzle of cold heavy cream, but it would be delightful, as well, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a squirt of sweetened whipped cream. It would be a wonderful coffee cake for breakfast, at tea time, or for dessert.

I modified the recipe to accommodate my frozen blueberries, but refer back to the original recipe if you'd like an apple cake, and remember to shorten your baking time if you use unfrozen (fresh) berries.

St. Swithin's Summer Cake

(will it rain or will it shine?)

2 cups biscuit mix*

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 lb. frozen wild blueberries, thawed 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine biscuit mix and 1/3 cup sugar. 

Combine eggs and cream; stir into biscuit mix with fork. 

Spread dough in bottom of greased 8-inch springform pan. 

Pour thawed blueberries on top of the dough, spreading to an even layer, but avoiding touching the pan if possible. 

Sprinkle with sugar. Pour melted butter evenly over all. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes, testing just before timer goes off. 

Cool slightly and remove sides of the pan. Serve warm, cut into wedges with cream or ice cream.

*I use this recipe for a foolproof homemade version of standard Bisquick -- just a quick whirl in the processor and I store it in a glass jar.

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