Celebrate St. Martha with a Cook Off!

Want to have some fun this July 29th? How about enjoying a St. Martha's Day Cook Off?

July 29th is the Memorial Day of St. Martha, who is patron to butlers, dietitians, domestic servants, homemakers, hotel-keepers, housemaids, housewives, innkeepers, laundry workers, maids, manservants, servants, servers, single laywomen, travelers, and, of course, cooks.

That's right: cooks!

So, it is an ideal day to get your kids into the kitchen - or around a camp stove - for a Chopped-style cook off.

My children have enjoyed such cook offs for years and have been itching to do one again.

We've learned from experience not to do a full "Chopped" with an appetizer, main course, and dessert round, because it takes a long time and results in a huge mess to clean up. So, typically, we do just one course.

For St. Martha's day, I think I might do a main dish cook off with the following basket ingredients:

•  bread, since St. Martha is sometimes depicted serving bread
• a small bowl of fruit, since a bowl of fruit is one of her symbols
• lentils, said to have been common in Biblical times
• onions, chives, or leeks, since such things were also said to be a part of Biblical diets
• garden herbs mix, since herbs were also part of Biblical cooking.

You could do similarly or pick basket ingredients from whatever you have in your fridge, pantry and garden.

Then, enjoy your family cook off.

If you've never done one, here are some pictures of a recent Sweet Crunch Dessert cook off two of my children enjoyed recently so that you can an idea of how things roll.

I secretly set up two baskets with five ingredients each. 

The kids were called for the big reveal to see what they'd have to include in their dessert dish.

We announced each ingredient as they took it out of the baskets.

 

Thirty minutes was set on the clock and they began to cook using their basket ingredients and pantry/fridge items.

Each had their own portion of the table as a prep area.

They dashed about some, being mindful of safety and the clock.

They created different batters and concoctions.

Sweetness was added.

They know their way around out kitchen and easily shared space.

Each took one side of the stove to cook on.

Different strategies were tried.

 

Some worked better than others.

When one thing failed, another thing was tried.

Sometimes, mistakes had to be cleaned before pans could be used again.

The clean up of other mistakes was left until later.

A beautiful dish was created.

Plating went right down to the wire!

In case a Plan B dish did not bake in time after Plan A failed on the stove, a Plan C dish was created.

Dishes were presented to the judges - Mom and Big Brother.

Some plating could have been better (but flavor was great!)

Unity could have been considered, too, when Plan B and Plan C were both presented to the judges.

Our sibling contestants were asked to leave the room while Big Bro and Mom judges conferred, then hid the plate from the polished off winner's dish and put the other dishes under a large pan cover.

It was a close match, but the happier looking contestant in this photo actually lost due to lack of unity and not featuring the basket ingredients as much as the pantry apple, while the winning child was puzzled, thinking she has surely lost even though she won.

Clean up and requests for another cook off soon commenced. (The requests will be granted on St. Martha's feast day.)

Of course, before or after your cook off, I'd encourage you to read from the Bible, the Daily Readings, or another source about St. Martha, to highlight that there is both active and contemplative work in life, to take a few moments of quiet to contemplate and pray, and to chat about ways your family might serve Christ is by serving others.
I'd love to hear how your cook off goes and also to hear other ideas and resources you use for celebrating St. Martha. Enjoy the feast day!

Almighty ever-living God, whose Son was pleased to be welcomed in Saint Martha's house as a guest, grant, we pray, that through her intercession, serving Christ faithfully in our brothers and sisters, we may merit to be received by you in the halls of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~The Collect