Santa Lucia’s Braided Bread

 

Link to the recipe at the Family Fun site is here.  My only change was to add 1/4 tsp. of pure orange extract to the glaze because I thought it wasn’t flavored enough with just orange juice. 

I’d also like to try decreasing the recipe so that it fits in my bread machine.  This does make a huge amount of dough, so half the recipe would be enough for one meal or snack-time for our family.  I suppose if I’d have known ahead of time or actually read through the recipe last week, I could have made two rings and frozen one for later.  This time, we are just enjoying the leftover.

While I’d considered making the bread last week, I wasn’t prepared and it’s just been so hectic.  So, this was a little last minute… didn’t start on the dough until after lunch (I’m just too needed in the school-room until at least lunch/dinner).  It wasn’t baked until about 4pm and I frosted it before it was cooled because I’m just soooo impatient – and it smelled incredibly wonderful.

So, to celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy, we ate this wonderful bread and listened to her story – all because there happened to be a reminder to ‘read a story about the saint for today’ in Zeke’s syllabus.  No dressing up, no candles, no waking up early, just thankful to be reminded of our beautiful faith and trying to live it out in the smallness of our day.

St. Lucy’s Eyes

 

The credit goes to my good friend, Sarah G., on this recipe.  I couldn’t get enough of them at our All Saint’s Day Party!  So, in her words, here is the recipe … one you should try, in my opinion. 

ST. LUCY’S EYES

Yield: 4 dozen

Ingredients:

5 oz sliced olives (I used green)

1 pkg cream cheese (go crazy and use full fat! :)

16 slices deli roast beef ( I used roast beef salami)

8 (6-7 in.) flour tortillas

 

Directions:

Mix cream cheese with olives and spread on a tortilla. Top with 2 beef slices, overlapping slightly. Roll up tortillas, jelly-roll fashion. Trim off ends and slice each tortilla roll into 6 (3/4 in) slices. Lay them down and add a bit of cream cheese to the top for the whites of the eyes and add an olive with pimento to the top. Easy and yummy!! The kids made these all by themselves.

Saint Patrick's Day - Irish Boxty

In honor of St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland, we are having Irish Boxty for St. Patrick's Day on March 17. Boxty is a traditional Irish dish made of - go figure - potatoes! I haven't made this exact recipe before, but I have fried mashed potato cakes in butter. This is similar. While I cannot claim to have a trace-worthy hint of Irish in my blood, potatoes were a huge part of my Grandpa Earl's life. My mom's dad, Grandpa Earl is a potato farmer. At 95 plus years, he's still growing and harvesting potatoes. This root crop has been a part of every 'big meal' and many small meals in our family. Here's the recipe if you'd like to join us in sampling this Irish tradition.

Irish Boxty
Yield: 6

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups grated raw potato
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

1. Toss the grated potatoes with flour in a large bowl. Add mashed potatoes and stir until combined. In another bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Mix the egg mixture into the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drop in the potato mixture to form patties about 2 inches in diameter. Fry on both sides until golden brown (approximately 3 to 4 minutes on each side). Remove the patties to a paper towel lined plate. Serve while warm.

Saint Zita

SAINT ZITA Virgin(†1278)


Saint Zita for forty-eight years was employed in the service of a citizen of Lucca, Italy. During this time she rose each morning to hear Mass while all in the household were asleep, and then toiled incessantly until night came, doing the work of others as well as her own (I added the italics to emphasize this part! Isn't this what we moms do every day?).

Once Zita, absorbed in prayer, remained in church past the usual hour of her bread-making. She hastened home, reproaching herself with neglect of duty, but found the bread made and ready for the oven. She did not doubt that her mistress or one of her servants had kneaded it, and going to them, thanked them. They were astonished, for no human being had made the bread; Angels had made it during her prayer.


For years her master and mistress treated her as a mere drudge, while her fellow-servants, resenting her diligence as a reproach to themselves, insulted and struck her. Saint Zita offered these sufferings with those of Christ her Lord, never changing the sweet tone of her voice or forgetting her gentle and quiet ways. At length her employer, seeing the success which attended her undertakings, gave her charge of his children and the household. She dreaded this dignity more than the worst humiliation, but scrupulously fulfilled her trust.


By her holy economy her master’s goods were multiplied, while the poor were fed at his door. Gradually her unfailing patience conquered the jealousy of her fellow-servants, and she became their advocate with their hot-tempered master, who dared not give way to his anger before Zita. In the end her prayer and toil sanctified the entire house, and drew down upon it the blessings of Heaven. She died in 1278, and at the moment of her death, a bright star appearing above the attic where she slept showed that she had gained eternal rest.


Reflection: “What must I do to be saved?” said a certain person who feared damnation. “Work and pray, pray and work,” a voice replied, “and thou shalt be saved.” The whole life of Saint Zita teaches us this truth.


Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

So, why a post about St. Zita?? A few years ago, a very creative family attended the All Saints Party at our church. One of their daughter's dressed as a baker - St. Zita. It was clever, and I'd never heard of her before. As moms, we need to be economical and use time, talents and money in the most responsible way. St. Zita's bio mentions her attention to economy and that intriqued me. (In college, my major was Agricultural Economics, so I'm naturally inclined to think about economics!). There are many aspects of this saint that draw me to her . . . doing her share and more, unfailing patience, work and pray, being an advocate for others, and caring about the least while increasing her master's goods. I aspire to be like her - uncomplaining, never raising my voice, and being able to sanctify my whole house. There is much to do, both interior and exterior, so I will work and pray, like St. Zita!

Patron of Cooks

St. Martha
Feastday: July 29

Patron of cooks

Martha is the patron saint of servants and cooks. In Her Footsteps Dorothy Day said: "If everyone were holy and handsome, it would be easy to see Christ in everyone. But it was not Christ's way for himself. Ask honestly what you would do when a beggar asked at your house for food. Would you give it on an old cracked plate, thinking that was good enough? Do you think that Martha and Mary thought that the old and chipped dish was good enough for their guest? It is not a duty to help Christ -- it is a privilege." In what ways do you serve Christ and others grudgingly or sparingly? How can you serve them the way Martha served Christ, putting her whole self into it?

Prayer:
Saint Martha, pray for us that we might serve Jesus better. Help us to overcome our distractions and worries to listen to his words and be present to him this day. Amen

Excerpt from http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=79

In Honor of Saint Juan Diego...

Today is the feast day of Saint Juan Diego, humble servant of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It's not often I'm thinking ahead with feast days and corresponding them to the food we eat that day, but the Saint Gianna's Maternity Home newsletter came yesterday and featured a wonderful article about Saint Juan Diego. That started me thinking about today...

So, tonight we had a very modest meal, made very quickly in a dutch oven (supposed to be skillet, but sometimes you use what's convenient!). Here's the recipe and a few pictures to entice you to make the recipe sometime in the future.


Mexican Skillet with Corn Dumplings (Adapted from: 'Help, My Family's Hungry!')
Yield: 4 very large servings

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup chopped onion (I substituted 2 Tbl. minced onion)
1 can (16 oz.) chopped or diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1 can (4 oz.) black olives
1 package (10 oz.) corn bread mix

In a large skillet (or in my case, a dutch oven!) with a lid, cook and brown ground beef until cooked. Drain grease. Stir in taco mix, onion, tomatoes, corn, chilies, and olives. Cook 2 minutes, stirring often.

Prepare the corn bread according to package directions. Drop the batter by spoonfuls on top of the meat mixture.

Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until the dumplings are done in the center. The meal is simple and tasty. I did save time by using already browned frozen ground beef. If you do this, however, make sure you heat the mixture fully before dropping the batter over the top.