In the section Trinity Sunday in The Catholic All Year Compendium, I wrote: I have a liturgical living bucket list of crazy foods I would like to someday be able to serve for feast days. They haven’t happened yet because they are difficult to obtain or prepare or are prohibitively expensive. On that list is my dream food for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity: Turducken. It’s a chicken, stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey (all deboned and sewn back together with various veggies and stuffings in there too). Three birds in one meat. The chicken is meat. The duck is meat. The turkey is meat. The chicken is NOT the duck. The duck is NOT the turkey. The turkey is NOT the chicken. How perfect would that be?

In 1873, Fr. Damien volunteered as a chaplain to the Hawaiian government-mandated leprosy quarantine camps established on the island of Molokai. He served the physical and spiritual needs of the members of the camps and, along with native member-leaders, brought education, arts, order, law, and culture to a forsaken community. Since his death from the disease in 1889, he has been remembered and celebrated by the people of Hawaii. Also called huli huli chicken (meaning “turn, turn”), this tasty Molokai Hawaiian BBQ chicken recipe is great for summer parties, especially with an iconic pineapple upside down cake for dessert.

On the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, we remember the day the sun miraculously danced in the sky. These cupcakes are a fancy treat to celebrate this great feast of the Blessed Mother! Orange zest in the cupcake batter AND the frosting makes them taste like sunshine, but it’s fun to decorate them that way, too. We recommend dried pineapple “suns” for an elegant topper, but candy corns work for a less-involved decoration!

Popovers are a favorite Sunday breakfast for our family, served with strawberry butter, and bacon on the side. But they are also a lovely accompaniment to meat and soups. I especially love them for the feast of the Ascension. The kids all standing at the oven watching them rise heavenward is liturgical cooking at its finest! These popovers REALLY rise—to about three inches above the pan—so if you’re making multiple batches, use the bottom and middle rack only, and be sure you have enough room between them.

The seafaring Portuguese have a love for shellfish and seafood, and are especially known for mussel recipes like this one. Mussels in the shell make for a FAST, fun, and memorable family meal my kids love. A crusty loaf of bread is lovely to sop up the tasty broth. Serve with a salad and some dancing sun cupcakes for dessert.

Saint Isidore would surely appreciate the ease and flexibility of this casserole. Substitute bacon or sausage, try other cheeses, add diced peppers or mushrooms. Make it the night before and store it in the refrigerator to bake in the morning. Great for family brunch, or as breakfast meal delivery to a new mom.

Authentic Mexican street tacos are simple, delicious, and easy to make at home.

Enjoy some apple pie in honor of Mama Mary, Mother of the Church! Tart Granny Smith apples are complemented by the sweet filling. This pie freezes well!

This Mexican “three milks” cake is light, moist, and not overly sweet, and no feast of the Mexican Martyrs would be complete without one! Can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, covered, for 3-5 days.

The impressive strawberry-red of these margaritas make them perfect for the feast of the Mexican Martyrs! They are fruity, tart, sweet, and refreshing. Served on the rocks, they are a delicious summer treat! Replace the tequila with a lemon-lime soda for a virgin option.

Your calendar medallions for the month of May!

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Saint Isidore’s guardian angel used to lend him a hand with his farm work so Isidore could go to morning Mass. Perhaps it won’t look quite so dramatic in our own lives, but when we are willing to give God our time, we often notice we are a little extra productive in return!

Banners like this were used by the Mexican Cristero fighters in their war against the anti-Catholic government of President Calles in 1917. This one features Our Lady of Guadalupe and “Long Live Our Lady of Guadalupe”, the Sacred heart of Jesus and “Long Live Christ the King”, and the coat of arms of Mexico, which depicts a Mexican golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake. This coat of arms symbolizes the triumph of good over evil.

Colorful homemade paper stars like this one are used as party decorations throughout Mexico. Color, cut, and assemble your star, hang it up, and celebrate the sacrifice of the Mexican martyrs!

Show some love for this relatively new Marian feast day by praying this prayer composed in her honor by Pope Francis in 2013.

This tasty casserole is our family’s favorite way to use up old bread and avoid food waste. Hot dog buns to artisanal sourdough, it all gets chopped up and tossed into the dish! The casserole can be made ahead and stored in the fridge overnight. It makes a great dish for the freezer stash, a meal delivery, or a holiday breakfast, and it’s a go-to for us for after-Mass Sunday brunch. I like to set the automatic timer on our oven and have it hot and ready to eat when we get home. I have made up to a quadruple batch at once, increasing the cooking time to 1:10.

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

In 1873, Fr. Damien volunteered as a chaplain to the Hawaiian government-mandated leprosy quarantine camps established on the island of Molokai. He served the physical and spiritual needs of the members of the camps and, along with native member-leaders, brought education, arts, order, law, and culture to a forsaken community. Since his death from the disease in 1889, he has been remembered and celebrated by the people of Hawaii. 

Pentecost is the name of the Jewish festival that was being celebrated in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit first descended upon Mary and the disciples. It is also called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. Originally, this was a spring festival celebrating the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. It also commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Tradition says that the people waited so long for Moses to return from Mt. Sinai that the milk curdled and white cheese was left, and so dairy products—specifically cheesecakes and cheese blintzes—are eaten at Shavuot. The whiteness of these dishes serves as a reminder of the purity or holiness of God's Law. These cupcake-sized cheesecakes are quicker and easier than their full-sized counterparts, and the cherry pie topping brings a festive Pentecost-red touch to the traditional white.

Pentecost is the name of the Jewish festival that was being celebrated in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit first descended upon Mary and the disciples. It is also called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The fruit of the salad . . . is up to you.

If you didn’t grow up in Southern California like I did, fish tacos might sound a bit unusual. But if you’re okay with fish sticks and tortillas, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Because that’s all it is! This is a fun and portable meal that works great for Friday picnics and beach days and sporting events. It is the perfect complement to St. Thomas s’Mores (get it . . . s’MORES?) on the feast of Ss. John Fisher and Thomas More. To have them on the go, bake the fish sticks and warm the tortillas at home. Wrap them in foil and pack the warm and cool stuff in separate coolers, then assemble at your destination. If you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute parsley or basil.

I stood in my kitchen one Friday afternoon, looking at a slightly runny red gelatin heart, decorated with orange segments and pretzel sticks. It was sitting before me, somewhat off-center on its cake plate. It was supposed to be the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but it had looked better in my head. Less oozy. Then, my four year old daughter walked in, took one look at it, and literally gasped in wonder at its beauty. She called the other kids in to see it. They agreed that it was awesome, but could use some whipped cream. So that’s what we did. We put some whipped cream on it. Over dinner, we talked about St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and her visions. We talked about the burning love that Jesus has for each one of us, and the pain that he suffers because of the sin and the ingratitude of mankind. Then we ate the weepy heart. And now my kids can’t imagine a feast of the Sacred Heart without one. That’s what living the liturgical year looks like in our home.

In Matthew 17:24–27 we find the story of the miracle known as the “coin in the fish’s mouth.” Jesus tells Peter to go catch a fish in the Sea of Galilee, in which he will find a coin with which he is to pay the temple tax. Galilean tradition tells us that the fish was a tilapia and so tilapia are known there as St. Peter’s Fish. A popular dish in the region is St. Peter’s fish served whole and fried, with chips (that’s fries to Americans). This is the dish I serve on the feast of St. Blaise, as we laugh in the face of dangerous fish bones after getting our throats blessed at Mass. But if you’re not feeling that vibe, this recipe can be prepared with fish filets. The cooking time is the same.

If you’ve got The Catholic All Year Compendium, you might remember the story of our Advent novena with a Ugandan priest who told the kids a VERY memorable tale about the Christmas Eve slaughtering of cows in Uganda. So we make these Ugandan Kabobs for the feast of Saint Charles Lwanga & Companions and we make them with beef! Kabobs in general are a favorite party food in our home. For a larger party, or for choosier guests, I’ll pre-cook various kabob ingredients and put them out individually to let guests assemble their own skewers. (I keep utensils and pans separate if cooking for guests with food allergies.) Ugandan kabobs are often made with meatballs, but I also like this quicker steak version. The spice traditionally used would be harissa paste, but chipotle or other chili paste, or a dry spice mix can be substituted in the marinade.

This is more of a concept than a recipe and as much an activity as a meal, but I wanted to share t as an example of how catechism and food are tied together in our home. Whether it’s as simple as an apple on the feast of Ss. Adam and Eve or as complex as turducken and crème brûlée on the feast of the Holy Trinity, food is a way to bring people together and start a conversation, sometimes with whatever happens to be in the pantry.

I think you guys already know where I stand on whether you should be eating actual locusts/grasshoppers for the nativity of St. John the Baptist. (Spoiler alert: I think you should.) But you might ALSO like to serve this fun ice cream version of a Grasshopper Pie.

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