Collection: July

Use this download on July 25th, the feast of St. Christopher the patron saint of travelers!

Use this download on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16th to enroll you and your family in the Brown Scapular Confraternity!

Swedish meatballs are a must for celebrating the feast of Saint Bridget! Serve your meatballs on top of mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles and don’t skip the delicious, creamy gravy included in this recipe. Just add a scoop of lingonberry jam on the side to complete this classic Swedish meal!

Use this coloring page for the feast of Ss. Louis and Zélie Martin on July 12!

Enjoy this traditional Swedish dessert soup for Saint Bridget’s feast day! It can be served chilled in the summer and warm in the winter and is especially delightful when topped with whipped cream and a cookie.

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Precious Blood!

Luke 8:1-3 tells us that Mary Magdalene was healed by Jesus of seven evil spirits. As a reminder of that, we like to include 7UP on our feast day table. And, because my mom was raised in the South, I know that an excellent way to include more 7UP at a party is with a traditional Southern 7UP pound cake. This recipe is adapted from a 7UP company promotional recipe pamphlet, published in 1953.

This Vietnamese-style chicken recipe is the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and is popular with all ages. Serve over steamed rice.

Saint Anne is one of MANY patron saints of lacemaking, which, I guess, seems complicated enough to warrant that. These cookies, on the other hand, are pretty straightforward. And quite tasty. Almond flour is available in the baking aisle of my local grocery store, but can also be created by pulsing sliced blanched almonds in a food processor until they make a crumbly flour. Lace cookies can be enjoyed as is, or, after cooling, brushed on the bottom with a coat of chocolate.

Send some snail mail to let your grandparents know that you’re praying for them on the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim!

Fry bread is a staple that stretches back generations. It is part of the cuisine of many different tribes from various regions of the U.S. In the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nation of which Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was a part, it’s called Ghost Bread, and was associated with the mourning period after a death in the family. It’s great served with Three Sisters Soup. For a sweet treat, it can be topped with cinnamon and sugar, or dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with honey.

Mary Magdalene is remembered, among other things, for having been exorcized by Jesus of seven demons (Luke 8:1-3) and for being the first to see the risen Jesus, having arrived at the tomb at daybreak on Easter morning, carrying spices with which she and the other holy women planned to embalm Jesus’ body (Matthew 28: 1-10). This simple vegan recipe combines seven spices in a tasty feast day meal that’s also great for meat-free Fridays. If you’re looking to add more protein, ground beef or turkey can be added when cooking the onions (drain the excess fat before adding the spices) or cooked, shredded chicken can be added at the end before serving. Feel free to adapt the spice blend to your family’s preferences or what you’ve got in the pantry. Serve with a salad over rice, noodles, or polenta.

Ask these three holy siblings to intercede for you and your siblings, then read their stories aloud as your kids color this coloring page! The story of Mary and Martha can be found at Luke 10: 38-42, and the story of Lazarus can be found at John 11:1-44.

You know me, I like a good food-pun. For the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, I like to play up the near-homophone relationship of “carmel” and “caramel.” Full-disclosure, this isn’t “real” caramel sauce (that would be made of melted sugar, with added butter and cream) but if you’ve ever watched The Great British Bake Off, you know how finicky caramel can be. This dulce de leche sauce, popular in Latin America, is practically foolproof, super delicious, and made with just one ingredient: a can of sweetened condensed milk. Dulce de leche can be made on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker (like the instant pot). It is traditionally cooked right in the sealed can, but transferring the sweetened condensed milk into a jar before cooking avoids some issues of cooking in the can. Plus that’s how I was going to store it in the fridge anyway, and it’s less messy to transfer it before cooking. Serve it with sliced green apples, over a banana split, or make carmel brownie ice cream sundaes for the feast day, that’s what we’ll be doing!

Fresh, homemade corn tortillas are WORLDS away from their crumbly store-bought counterparts. And they're a fun activity to do with kids.

This cake, which features many traditional Spanish ingredients, is said to have been offered as a celebratory reward to pilgrims who had just finished the Camino de Santiago, the long, prayerful walk to the grave site of St. James. Many pilgrims walk over 62 miles over several days to complete this journey, so I think a cake like this is a fitting greeting! Use a stencil of the traditional cross of St. James to give this cake its signature flair.

Eighteenth-century Jesuit missionaries like Father Sébastien Rale and Father Joseph-François Lafitau described the making and use of maple syrup by the indigenous peoples with whom they lived. Making maple snow taffy is a simple way to enjoy maple syrup as Saint Kateri might have! As you might have gathered from the name, this treat is usually enjoyed during the winter. We don’t have snow at our house, ever. So we might as well make this treat in the summer. All that’s required is to bring real 100% pure maple syrup to a boil, then pour it over “snow” (we make our own in a blender). It cools to a sticky maple taffy that can be rolled up onto a stick. We like to use backyard sticks, as they seem more authentic, but if you prefer your treats to be 100% tree bark-free you might prefer a popsicle stick. P.S. Snowball fight!

A novena to Saint Anne can be prayed for any intention, but her intercession is frequently invoked by those seeking a spouse or hoping for a child.

In Spanish, “magdalena” means “muffin,” and this tall, fluffy, lemony version made with extra virgin olive oil and a distinctive cone shape is ubiquitous in coffee shops across the country. The story goes that there was a young woman named Magdalena who would bake little cakes and serve them to the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago (the Way of Saint James), the pilgrims went home and recreated them all over Spain, spreading their popularity. As Magdalena was likely named for Saint Mary Magdalene, these muffins are a great way to celebrate her feast day on July 22 AND Saint James on July 25, so maybe make a double batch? It makes a lovely breakfast, snack with afternoon tea, or dessert.

All the saint of the day images for the month of July!

In France, lobster is served for the feast of saints Anne and Joachim. But because lobster isn’t always an option we love to serve shrimp scampi. It’s shellfish, it’s delicious, and it’s a little bit more manageable than an entire lobster on your plate.

Have the whole family join in on dinner prep tonight as you make a fun meal to remind you that Jesus has real power over death! As you wrap up your hot dog you can talk about how Lazarus died, was put into a tomb, and most importantly how Jesus raised him from the dead.

St. Kateri is known as the Lily of the Mohawks. She lived in a Mohawk village in what is now western New York state. Three Sisters Soup is a traditional Native American recipe from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nation, of which the Mohawks are a part. The term “Three Sisters” refers to the three main crops of some North American tribes: maize (corn), squash, and beans. The three plants were planted close together and like close sisters, aided one another in their respective growing processes. Regular corn can be substituted for hominy, but hominy is more traditional. Serve with corn muffins . . . boiled if you want to be authentic!

Here are four different ideas for how your family can pray for your grandparents this month. Don’t forget to cut out your spiritual bouquet to send along with your Grandparent’s Day card!

Your calendar medallions for the month of July!

Your original 2" calendar medallions for the month of July!!