Try Our St. Joseph's Sawdust Pasta

 

For years now, my children have enjoyed St. Joseph's "Sawdust" Pasta at our St. Joseph Table events.

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Yesterday, as we shared some at a potluck for the feast day, a friend asked me for the recipe, which made me realize I had never shared it here for easy-access. So, I am doing so now.

• 2 bags of your favorite gluten-free  linguine or spaghetti (We typically use the Sam Mills, which can be found at a local-to-us discount store, but can also be purchased on Amazon)
• water
• 1/2 cup soy-free Earth Balance
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4-1/2 cup raw local honey (depending on how sweet you like things)
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley (can use fresh if desired)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• crushed gluten-free, casein-free crackers - or GFCF bread crumbs (As much as you like)

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions. Then, drain.

2. Meanwhile, sauté garlic in Earth Balance.

3. Stir in honey and herbs.

4. Pour over drained pasta, stir together, and sprinkle with "sawdust" (crushed crackers or breadcrumbs).

We hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Try This SOS-Free Vegan Irish Stew!

Our whole household has been sick this week, so I have not been out to a store and will be making our St. Patrick's Day meal from our pantry and fridge.

As a part of it, I will make a simple salt-oil-and-sugar-free vegan Irish stew.

If you'd like to make something similar, here's the recipe:

1 onion, diced
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of GF flour
3 cans white potatoes, chopped
4-6 carrots, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups water
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 can green beans
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
a generous splash liquid amino acids

1. Put just enough water in the bottom of a large pot to cover the bottom. Add diced onions and minced garlic. Cook for several minutes until starting to become translucent.

2. Sprinkle flour on onion-garlic mix and stir in.

3. Add potatoes, carrots, tomato paste, water, and herbs. Cook until carrots are as soft as you like them.

4. Add green beans, vinegar, and amino acids. Stir in.

You can eat this stew freshly made, or let it sit for a bit for the flavors to mix together and deepen. Any canned ingredients can be swapped out for fresh or frozen and vice versa. You can also add other vegetables if you like. It's quite a forgiving recipe and one my entire family likes despite it being vegan, salt-, oil-, and -sugar-free (which *I* love, but my family sometimes balks at.)

St. Patrick, pray for us.

 

Enjoy Simple Eats with Our Lady of Lourdes

French toast is super easy to make - even if your gluten-free like some of us. So, it has become one of our go-to's for celebrating the liturgical year at home on Feburary 11, the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Why French toast? Because Our Lady appeared in Lourdes, France.

And, of course, one of our toppings is always Our Lady's blue(berries).

We also sometimes serve something yellow - such as defrosted frozen mango chunks or chunked pineapple to remind us of the yellow roses at the feet of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.

And to drink? Water, of course, which reminds us of the miraculous and healing spring in Lourdes.

For decoration at the table, we typically put out our Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette peg dolls from our Marian apparation set.

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Then, if our day is not too jam-packed, besides praying and recalling the story of Our Lady of Lourdes, we revisit a variety of stories or movies, which include:

The Saints Chronicles, Collection 3

Source: Amazon

Bernadette: Our Lady's Little Servant.

Source: Amazon

 Saint Bernadette Soubirous: And Our Lady of Lourdes.

Source: Amazon

Saint Bernadette: the Little Girl of Lourdes.  

Source: Amazon

Our Lady of Lourdes Coloring Book

Source: Amazon

Bernadette, Princess of Lourdes

The Song of Bernadette

If you're celebrating, too, you might consider having an Our Lady of Lourdes Poet-Tea like we did in the past.

Source: Training Happy Hearts

Some years, we even get fancier with our eats, such as they year we hosted an Our Lady of Lourdes Poet-Tea.

We also sometimes play our All Saints Day Build-a-Grotto for Mary game!

Always, we are blessed by our simple eats with the saints.

Perhaps you can enjoy similar simple eats and blessings!

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Serve Up Super Simple Eats for the Exaltation of the Cross

Some days, liturgical year celebrations in your domestic church can be in depth, and other years. not so much.

If this September 14 is one of the latter, her'es a super easy way to celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross with simple eats.

Simply grab a box of your favorite gluten-free or other toaster waffles, cook them up, take some kitchen sicssors, and cut them into the shape of a cross.

Place five raspberries, strawberry pieces, or any other red food on the cross to symbolize the wounds of Christ.

Then, serve the cross with your favorite toppings.

While enjoying these simple eats, talk about the feat day and its significance.

Easy. Low stress. Perfect for a quick breakfast or simple snack.

If you want more detailed or indepth ideas for eats, reources, and more, check out our Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross archives.

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

~The Collect

Enjoy Waffle Sundaes for Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Busy days get the best of us at times, but days are rarely too busy to slip in celebrating the liturgical year with simple eats!

One way we have done so many years on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is with waffle sundeas.

When all the kids and I were all eating gluten-free, casein -free, this was such a quick an easy treat.

I'd just run to the store and grab some gluten-free toaster waffles, a container of casein-free vanilla "ice cream",  some blueberries, and some "golden sweetness" (honey).

I'd toast the waffles and stack them up like a cake with a candle on top so the kids could sing "Happy Birthday" to Mama Mary.

I'd also set out a bowl of "ice cream" and one of blueberries (blue and white for Mary's colors). 

Some years I'd get cocowhip, too.

Then, after singing, the kids would build their sundeas, we'd chat about Mama Mary, and we'd pray a decade or more of the Rosary.

A delight for the kids and simple for me.

These days, not all the kdis are still eating gluten-free, casein-free, so sometimes we get real ice cream for some as a treat. Plus, now that my daughter likes to cook more, seh sometimes makes us belgium waffles instead of using the toster ones.  

Still easy for me. Still enjoyed by the kids. Still pausing to pray and celebrate in our domestic church even when life is busy.

Simple traditions are ones that last. Do you have any for the Feast of the Nativity of th Blessed Virgin Mary?

Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin may bring deeper peace to those for whom the birth of her Son was the dawning of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

~The Collect

Enjoy Simple Eats as You Celebrate St. Padre Pio

St. Padre Pio's feast day is coming again in a few weeks, so I thought I'd share the simple eats we enjoyed last year in case you and yours would like some inspiration for living the liturgical year in your domestic home.

Sometimes the kids like dessert with the meal - and this was the case on St. Padre Pio's day when gluten-free donuts remind us to "pray, hope, and 'donut' worry."

Treat #2 was gluten-free, casein free pizza, which reminded us that Padre Pio is from Italy.

Alongside that, because we have both vegetarians and meat eater in the house, there were Italian sausages of both kinds.

Then, to balance out the treats, we had a "stigamata salad".

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The table was simply decorated with a peg doll and two books.  We used the St. padre Pio page in the frist of these, Boy Saints for Little Ones, for me to draw quick saint trivia question ideas from.

Then, we reread the St. padre Pio story in the other book, Stories of the Saints.

It was a simple celebration, easy to throw together and enjoyed by all!

What simple - or more extravagant - eats do you and yours enjoy on Saint Padre Pio's feast day? what other traditions, stories, or resources do you tap into? We always welcome new inspiration and ideas!

 

May you have a beautiful St. Padre Pio day when September 23 rolls around.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us.

Enjoy Super Simple Eats for St. Therese's Feast Day

 

Our local homeschool group is called Little Way Home Educators and is under the patronage of St. Therese.

So, more years than not, we celebrate St. Therese's feast day with others - sometimes "all out", sometimes simply.

Last year, we stuck to simple, gathering with just a few friends, where we enjoyed praying, sharing simple eats, chatting, reading together, and more.

For our celebration, we covered an outdoor table with a floral print tablecloth and had a bouquet of little flowers atop it all, of course, pointing to The Little Flower and her way of doing small things with great love.

Our simple eats consisted of French bread (to remind us that St. Therese is from France), plus produce and chickpeas arranged in "little flower" patterns.

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The book Girl Saints for Little Ones became both a table decoration and a jumping off point for a chat about St. Therese.

Then, the St. Therese reading from Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints prompted thought and discussion as I read it aloud to the children while they devoured snacks.

It was a simple, enjoyable celebration.

Perhaps it will inspire you in living the liturgical year with your own children or homeschool group.

St. Therese, pray for us.

Enjoy a Nutritious Salad for St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's Feast Day!

It's no secret that I like to focus on faith, family, outdoor time, and Saint Day celebration here. In case you do, too, I'd like to share a simple, nutritious idea for a  St. José Luis Sánchez del Río feast day picnic and walk with you!

Whether it is bright and sunny, as it was on an All Saints Day when my son dressed as Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río...

... or a bit brisk, as it was on St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's feast day here a couple of years ago...

...you can enjoy a simple salad paired with a nature walk as part of your St. José Luis Sánchez del Río feast day celebrations on January 10.

The Mexican-inspired salad is easy to make and has symbolism, too, since the colors of the salad reflect the colors or the Mexican flag and since the red stripe made from tomatoes (which could be subbed with chopped red peppers) can remind us of  St. José Luis Sánchez del Río's martyrdom.

To make the salad, simply start with a bed of greens.

Top those with rows of black beans, corn, chopped onion, and chopped tomatoes or red peppers. (Or put the salad greens in one serving dish and the stripes in another if you have picky kids like I do.)

Then, blend an avocado with the juice of a lime, a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast, some cilantro, a garlic clove or two, and some water to make a dressing.

Serve all this with a side of tortilla chips (if your kids, like mine, love them) as well as some Mexican Hot Chocolate (or Mexican-esque Hot Chocolate made from nut milk or coconut milk if you are casein-free, sweetened with date syrup if you are sugar free), and you've got a relatively nutritious and easy picnic as Simple Eats with the Saints.

Before eating, pray one of these prayers found at Synod.Va, where you can also find a brief biography about St. José Luis Sánchez del Río.

Dear Lord, 

Help me to be courageous and steadfast in my devotion to you. Help me to identify causes and injustices in my day that are worth defending and standing up for. Give me perseverance and a desire to help others at any cost. Help me to revere Christ as the king of my life. Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. Amen.

Dear Lord, 

Help me to be brave and strong. Help me to pray for those who hurt me and those who hurt others. You are the king of my life. Help me to listen to you and to tell others about you. 

Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. Amen. 

Credit: Holy Heroes

You may also want to listen to The Story of Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río: Glory Stories CD, Volume 9 before or after your picnic to learn more about Saint José Sánchez del Rio in a child-friendly way.

Walk, Talk and Enjoy

I also suggest going for a nature walk before or after you eat to ensure plenty of time to pause to pray... to amble along chatting about St. José Luis Sánchez del Río... to give thanks for the faithful saints that inspire and intercede for us... and to enjoy time together as laugh, discover, and connect.

Some of my children and I surely did some of this when we went on our St. José Luis Sánchez del Río picnic and nature walk a couple years ago, and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

Here are some snapshots of our walk to inspire you - and us - to get outside for a picnic and walk this St. José Luis Sánchez del Río day!

We pray that your feast day is a fruitful, faith-filled one.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

St. José Luis Sánchez del Río, pray for us.