Lenten Soft Pretzels Perfect for Lent, homemade pretzels are a great way to jump into bread baking. Pretzels are historically associated with Lent, as their traditional shape is meant to look like arms folded in prayer (with a twist!). This easy recipe makes chewy...
Universal Homemade Soup What to do with all that lovely stock you just made? Turn it into a simple and infinitely customizable soup. For a quick dinner option, I use two 10-12 ounce packages of frozen seasoned vegetables, and a 1 pound bag of frozen meatballs. It’s...
Trash Can Soup Stock This is really just stock or bone broth, but my kids like to call it “trash can soup” because the stock is made entirely from things we would have otherwise thrown away. It’s free. It’s an authentically “whole” way to eat. It’s a natural way to...
Japanese Honey Cake In the sixteenth century, St. Francis Xavier and fellow Jesuits went to war-strewn Japan from Portugal to bring Christianity to the people. St. Francis’ simplicity and kindness won over many, and thirty years later, there were over a hundred...
Roman Egg Drop Soup A perfect meal for the feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicity—especially since it usually falls during Lent—is Stracciatella alla Romana: Roman egg drop soup. It’s quick and easy and has only a few ingredients. It’s Roman, as were they. The eggs...
Ember Days Shrimp Tempura In the original Latin, “Ember Days” are called “Quatuor Tempora,” or “four times” of the year. In the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries from Portugal settled in Nagasaki. As a meatless meal, they introduced what we now call “tempura”:...
Crispy Rice Lamb You could make a lamb cake . . . but those turn out creepy, like, 90% of the time. That’s kind of their charm. But you can make a slightly-less-weird-looking Rice Krispie Lamb in a fraction of the time. Everyone wins! Let a kid do the sculpting and...
Bitterballen Sometimes I find recipes that are historically associated with particular feast days and sometimes I make the association myself. This is the latter. Bitterballen are a popular Dutch pub snack, and seem unique without being overly complicated. Even...
Hot Mulled Cider Another option for a warm spiced beverage on a cool day is mulled cider. Putting it together at home is simple and tastes so much better than pre-made! One spice bag will flavor up to 8 quarts of mulled cider in one batch. Just keep the ratio of one...
Hot Mulled Wine - Bisschopswijn Hot mulled wine is also known as Bishop’s wine or Bisschopswijn after Saint Nicholas, third century bishop of Myra. It’s deliciously warming, and perfect for a December evening with family and friends. One spice bag will flavor up to 8...
Speculaas Cookies Dutch speculaas cookies are unusually perfect for this feast day, in that they are traditionally made in the shape of St. Nicholas using very beautiful, very intricate hand-carved wooden molds that range in size from a few inches to a couple feet...
Peanut Butter Kiss the Cross Cookies St. John of the Cross lived in Spain in the sixteenth century. As we can tell by his name, he had a love for austerity and a great devotion to the crucifixion. While praying one day, he was granted a vision of Christ crucified, in...
St. Lucy Eyeball Punch The stories say that the tortures suffered by St. Lucy included having her eyeballs poked out, and she is often depicted in art holding her own eyes. So, we like to make this punch in her honor on her feast day. (It’s also fun for Halloween)....
Mexican Wedding Cookies a.k.a. Snowballs Growing up in Southern California, Our Lady of Guadalupe has always been familiar to me, as are many other Mexican foods and traditions. As a sweet treat on her feast day, we like to have cookies and champurrada or Mexican hot...
St. Martin’s Weckmänn Weckmänn means “watchman.” These little bread men have been keeping watch over the celebration of Martinmas in Germany since the Middle Ages and make a lovely accompaniment to Six-Can Soup. To help them look more like Saint Martin, bishop of...
Eggs in Purgatory This dish, originally from Southern Italy, features eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce. The sauce is purgatory and the eggs are the souls hoping to escape, although the metaphor breaks down a bit once we get to the table . . . unless our tummies are...
Bread Pudding with St. Cecilia Sauce I love recipes that are about turning unwanted or past-their-prime ingredients into something delicious, and bread pudding is a great example. This recipe is a great way to upcycle extra rolls (if only Thanksgiving came a week...
Peruvian Jugo Surtido Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in 1579. He served the poor, the sick, and his fellow Dominican brothers, working in the infirmary and the kitchen. He maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat....
Chicken à la (Christ the) King This recipe is almost the same as the one I use for Saint Bartholomew Skinned Chicken and Biscuits. It also makes a lovely chicken pot pie filling, by the way. Recipes called Chicken à la King (or the like in other languages) have...
Martinmas Six-Can Soup I first saw this recipe in one of those parish fundraiser cookbooks at my grandmother’s house in Memphis, TN. It was called six-can soup, because each of the ingredients comes in a can. I like it as a simple, tasty, easy-to-assemble meal that’s...
Soul Cakes Soul cakes are a Christian Hallowtide tradition dating to the medieval period in England, Wales, and Ireland. They were baked for All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. On those days, adults and children would go knocking door to door, offering...
Little Way Rose Pastries On St. Therese's death bed, she said, "After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved." Her feast...
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Oeufs à la Coque (Soft-Boiled “Eggs in the Shell”) and Mouillettes St. Margaret Mary’s last name, Alacoque, means “in the shell” in her native French. This simple in-the-shell breakfast is fancy enough for guests, but the beheading and...
Spooky Baked Macaroni & Cheese All Hallows Eve, as the vigil day of the important solemnity of All Saints, was historically a day of required fasting and abstinence. Since 1962, the fasting and abstinence is recommended, but is no longer required. Our family...
Pope St. JPII Polish Sausage & Peppers Pope St. John Paul II’s favorite food, famously, is a puffed pastry and custard cream dessert now known as kremówka papieska or "papal cream cake." (A recipe for that dessert was included in the Catholic All Year Liturgical...
Bl. Carlo Acutis Nutella Sundaes Carlo Acutis is a millennial blessed, born in Italy in 1991. He died of cancer at the age of fifteen. We know that (in addition to Mass and the sacraments) he liked playing soccer and video games, and that his favorite treats were...
Edible Rosaries To celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we like to make an edible rosary! This can be accomplished with just about anything: mini muffins or donuts or cereal pieces at breakfast time, nuts or goldfish crackers or dried fruit at snack time,...
St. Thérèse French Onion Soup Gratinée My family loves this soup for the feast days of French saints, and it’s always one of the soups I serve at our Lenten Soup and Stations get togethers. To make it more crowd-friendly, I assemble the cheesy crouton topping...
Holy Cross Pesto Sauce There is a tradition that basil grew up around the foot of the cross, where Jesus’ blood and Mary’s tears hit the ground. St. Helen is said to have found the True Cross hidden beneath an overgrowth of basil. So for dinner on the feast of the...
Bellarmine & Galileo Sun Tea St. Robert Bellarmine was a theologian and professor, in addition to being a Jesuit priest and a cardinal. He negotiated a compromise with Catholic astronomer Galileo that allowed Galileo to continue to research his then-controversial...