Collection: Recipes

What’s better than a charcuterie board for a New Year’s Eve party? One that’s liturgically themed! Put together a fun snack (or dessert!) board that has all the colors of the liturgical year to celebrate a new year. You’ll need foods that are purple, green, red, and white. Bonus points if you add just a couple pink — or, rather, rose — foods!

It’s little-known these days, but every Friday of the year is still a required day of penance, and the recommended act of penance is still abstinence from meat (although an alternate sacrifice is permitted in some dioceses outside of Lent) . . . EXCEPT when a solemnity falls on a Friday, which the solemnity of the Sacred Heart ALWAYS DOES! Time to celebrate!

Enjoy dipping your favorite veggies or some pita chips into this delicious homemade hummus! Tradition tells us that after her martyrdom, angels carried Saint Catherine’s body to Mt. Sinai where it was later discovered by the monks who lived on top of the mountain. Saint Catherine’s Monastery is now a place of pilgrimage for Christians, and we hope that this hummus recipe helps you imagine what visiting there for yourself might taste like!

Even though angels technically don’t have hair, being pure spirits and all, we still love this delicious and simple pasta dish using Angel Hair noodles to celebrate the feast of the Guardian Angels!

This warm, hearty, comforting pub dish was a favorite of my family on our pilgrimage to Ireland.

This traditional Mexican beverage is thick and tasty and filling. It’s great with toast or pastry for breakfast or an afternoon snack, alongside a spicy pozole at dinner, or for dessert.

This is lemonade with a sophisticated herbed twist. Other fruits and herbs can be substituted. Make it a cocktail by adding vodka to the finished drinks. We love this lemonade for the Assumption and also for the feast of the Holy Cross, which is traditionally associated with basil.

Enjoy this Peruvian dinner staple for Saint Martin de Porres’ feast day! Full of warm comforting flavors, this dish is perfect on a cool fall evening with your family.

“Our life, our sweetness, and our hope . . .” aka Our Lady, who had to endure many sour moments in her life. We love that this recipe calls to mind the love which she shows to us, her children, as well as the love her sorrowful heart holds for her Son.

Our Fat Tuesday menu is all about celebrating a New Orleans-style Mardi Gras. And you can’t do that without a king cake. Named for the Three Kings aka the Three Wise Men and enjoyed around the world, all the variations are served on or before Fat Tuesday and have something hidden inside to represent the baby Jesus. Depending on where you are in the world, it might be a bean or a nut or a ring, but in New Orleans it’s a little plastic baby Jesus—so that's what we're going to do!

On a visit to his hometown of Wadowice in 1999, Pope John Paul II casually mentioned how fond he was of the cream cake or kremówka that he and his school friends had often pooled their funds to buy. The next day, he was swimming in gifted cream cakes, already renamed Kremówka Papieska or “Papal Cream Cake” by the residents. This dessert of vanilla pastry cream sandwiched between layers of puff pastry and dusted with powdered sugar is delicious, if a bit messy.

There are plenty of great options for a New Orleans-style Mardi Gras dinner: gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, po-boy sandwiches . . . but we always have shrimp etouffee. “Etouffee” is French for “smothered” and in this recipe our shrimp get smothered in a tasty sauce of butter, flour, red and yellow bell peppers, sweet onion, and tomato. We make sure to serve it over rice too so we can enjoy every last drop of sauce!

The Auspice Maria, sometimes called the Marian monogram, is a symbol that means “Under the protection of Mary”. It’s a reminder that Mary is our mother, and that she watches over and protects us.

The story goes that after his attempted assassination, Pope John Paul II, while recovering in the hospital, requested pierogis to eat. The doctors tried to persuade him that this was not a wise meal to have after surgery, but the Pope’s persistence wore them down; and it turns out that pierogies are just the thing for recovering from an attempted assassination.

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!

In Swedish “Our Lady’s Day” is “Vårfrudagen,” which sounds a lot like “Våffeldagen” which means “Waffle Day.” So they went for it! But what makes this recipe even better from a traditional waffle is that it’s stuffed with blueberry cheesecake filling. But wait, why blueberry? Because blue is Our Lady’s color and she gave birth to a baby boy, of course! 

The hurricane, which originated in the 1940s at a French Quarter bar called Pat O’Brien’s, is the quintessential New Orleans beverage. Although this is traditionally a rum cocktail, we just do the juice part in our house. But both versions are absolutely delicious! And of course, make sure to serve your drinks in a glass shaped like a hurricane lamp.

Is it really Christmas if there isn’t some sort of festive white chocolate sprinkle bark involved? We think not! These layers of goodness can also give us a chance to think about the layers–challenges and triumphs–of the year, and encourage us to be our very best in the coming year! Who knew it could be so symbolic?

Enjoy a traditional dessert from Spain for Saint Teresa’s feast day. These small orange sweets are named for Saint Teresa, and were invented in her home town of Avila!

This recipe is great because it works for Christmas Eve, but can be served on the Immaculate Conception as an appetizer too! As you bite into the creamy white brie and shiny red cranberry, remember the paradise Adam and Eve enjoyed before everything went wrong: listening to bad influences, not trusting God, not obeying rules, lying, blaming others for our bad behavior . . . and remember that even though we all do this stuff, God still has great love for his creation! And we get to celebrate that with the birth of Christ!

What better way to finish an all-white dinner than with an all-white dessert! Reflect on Mary’s profound purity and humility in between bites of this delicious brownie!

Ring in the Catholic New Year with this fun, bubbly treat! Make it alcohol free by using sparkling grape juice or cider instead of champagne.

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, cupcakes or candies for dessert.

Ss. Perpetua and Felicity were arrested and imprisoned in the year 203. They refused to renounce their faith and were thrown to wild beasts in games celebrating the birthday of the emperor. But they remained steadfast, and before they suffered gruesome injury by a line of gladiators, a boar, a bear, a leopard, and finally a “savage cow,” St. Perpetua fixed her hair so she could present herself to God looking beautiful, for “it was not meet that a martyr should suffer with hair disheveled, lest she should seem to grieve in her glory.” So today, we choose to celebrate their courageous martyrdom with fancy updos and beautiful braided bread!

The word Agnes means “lamb” in Latin, so she’s usually pictured holding a lamb. To celebrate, 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 then you won’t have to take credit for your lamb’s looks. #momhack

On the day after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Traditional St. Stephen’s Day dinners are all about using up leftovers! And this St. Stephen’s Day Pie is not only a great way to clear out your holiday leftovers, but the meat and potatoes in this recipe sort of look like rocks . . . which were used to stone St. Stephen to death. Let it also be known that he, like Jesus, was wrongfully accused and killed. And like Jesus, he died forgiving his executioners. In that way, he is an example to us of living our lives in imitation of Christ! And although it is unlikely that most of us will be called to imitate Christ as literally as St. Stephen did, certainly we will have many opportunities in our lives to practice evangelization and forgiveness today and in the years to come.

This Marian blue mocktail made with 7UP calls to mind our Mother in heaven as well as our devotion to her sorrowful heart, particularly her seven sorrows. You can also serve this drink for Our Lady’s birthday on September 8th! Add your favorite liquor to taste for an alcoholic version.

On (or around) the feast of Epiphany we like to throw one last Christmas party, because it’s still Christmas! We encourage novelty Christmas accessories for the occasion. Because the Three Wise Men are traditionally understood to have come from different continents: Europe (Melchior), Asia (Caspar) and Africa (Balthasar), I like to serve various international “parcel”-type finger foods, so that our dinner spread is as universal as our Catholic/catholic faith.

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 tall. They’re very impressive. They can also be made with regular cookie cutters, or cut out using a St. Nicholas-shaped template. The basic ingredients are simple; what makes them really special is the spices. I like to use cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, mace, white pepper, and cloves. It just smells so much like Christmas.

Well, the whole story is in Acts 9, but the short version is that, while on the road to Damascus with some companions, hurrying to persecute and arrest more Christians, Jesus appeared to Saul as a white light, flashing from the sky, and knocking him to the ground, presumably from a donkey or horse. Jesus identified himself, told Saul to knock it off with the persecuting, blinded him, and ordered him to get going. Saul’s companions helped him up, and got him to Damascus, where he was healed after three days, baptized, and began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, calling him the Son of God. We think that deserves a tasty treat to celebrate!

This delicious British treat combines caramelly apple filling and a toasty oaty topping, crowned with a festive strawberry St. George’s cross. I like to use a mix of grammy smith and fuji apples, but any apple or combination will work. Serve it with vanilla bean ice cream for a dessert that’s sure to slay.

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 chocolate (see the CAY July recipe packet). I always make a big batch of these Mexican wedding cookies. My midwestern mother-in-law is the one who first introduced me to them. But she called them snowballs. They are a fun, powdered-sugary treat, and make a great addition to our freezer stash of Christmas goodies that gets saved for 12-days-of-Christmas treats and cookie-plate-gifts.

This variety of cheesecake is similar to a soufflé—light in texture and less sweet. It’s the perfect finish to your feast day celebration whether you’re enjoying homemade sushi or ordering in Japanese-style curry!

The perfect dessert for an Irish feast day! This chocolate cake features delicious Guinness beer, founded in Dublin in 1759. Bonus: you can use our recipe for homemade butter to whip up the sweet Irish buttercream frosting!

Between Epiphany and Lent we celebrate Carnival, a little season of Ordinary Time. One popular tradition from this medieval European celebration is the King Cake, named for the Three Wise Men, and decorated with colored sprinkles: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Save time without compromising flavor with this cheater recipe. Serve warm for breakfast—and make sure someone finds baby Jesus!

Saint Catherine was the daughter of a third century Egyptian governor, and she converted to Christianity during a time of persecution. She publicly rebuked the anti Christian government and bested all of the pagan scholars who opposed her (and converted many of them, too)! She was sentenced to death for her beliefs by torture on the breaking wheel, but it shattered at her touch, and she was instead beheaded. The wheel is now known as “Saint Catherine's wheel,” so on her feast day we like to make wheel cookies as we remember her strength and cleverness—an early example of the feminine genius!

Saint Jerome was responsible for translating the bible from Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek into Latin, the common language at the time. Celebrate his feast day by making these ridiculously easy (and delicious) bible bars!

When you eat these sour gummies with your family, we recommend handing out seven to each person and then eating one gummy as you read about each of Mary’s seven sorrows from the bible.

Perfect for Lent, homemade pretzels are a great way to jump into bread making. 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, yeasty homemade soft pretzels in only 40 minutes. My kids love to make the Lenten pretzels, even if the ones they make don’t necessarily end up looking pretzel-like. Don’t be scared of the baking soda bath. That’s what gives the pretzels their dark brown color and distinctive chewy texture. You can do it!

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 which St. John saw Jesus from above, as God the father would have seen him. For the feast day, I like to add to our Advent cookie stash by making peanut butter kisses. The brown peanut butter cookie reminds us of the wooden cross, and the chocolate kiss on the top is for the particular love St. John of the Cross had for it. I always make at least two batches. We eat a couple each on the day, then the rest go into the freezer to make cookie plates for teachers, friends, and neighbors.