Do you have an aspiring St. George in your midst? No need to stress over how to make a sword and shield so he, or she, can get to the important task of slaying the dragon! Just grab this digital download and a cardboard box and you're good to go!

Use this digital booklet to have a May Crowning and honor our Blessed Mother this May!

This cut-and-glue activity is a fun and easy way for your kids to have fun honoring our Blessed Mother this May!

The very first Novena, practiced by disciples, commanded by popes. If you’re only going to do one, do this one.

This cut-and-glue activity is a fun and easy way for your kids to have fun honoring our Blessed Mother this May!

Use this digital pattern to create beautiful embroidery to celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity!

Celebrate the feast of St. Joan of Arc on June 30th by recreating the flag that she carried into battle with her!

Use this fun activity to share the story of Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth (this feast is on May 31st) with your kids!

What better way to celebrate Jesus ascending into the heavens than with fluffy, cloud-topped cupcakes! This recipe uses real vanilla beans, right in the batter, which is so cool. For the best effect, top with Jesus cupcake toppers (for all the oohs and ahhs from children and adults alike).

The husband was raised in Chicago, and our family spent a couple years living there. Portillo’s Hot Dogs is a popular local restaurant chain famous for hot dogs, beef sandwiches, and . . . cake shakes. This is—yes—a milkshake into which is blended a whole piece of chocolate cake! Portillo’s moist chocolate cake is made in-house with a box mix supplemented with mayonnaise. It sounds crazy, but it tastes amazing. And since mayo is just eggs + oil, it’s not really all that off. The association with Blessed Alvaro del Portillo is mostly just a coincidence of names, but it’s also a Chicago thing. Blessed Alvaro visited Chicago in 1988, famously leaving behind a pair of shoes that were saved by a priest at the residence and, after Blessed Alvaro’s beatification, cut up into tiny pieces and attached to holy cards. I don’t know if anyone in Chicago took him out for a hot dog and a cake shake during his visit, but one can hope!

This burrito casserole is a long-time family favorite. Perfect with a MexiCoke for the Mexican Martyrs, it’s easily customizable and makes a great option for a meal delivery. For the chicken, substitute ground beef, pulled pork, or leave the meat out for a tasty meat-free Friday meal. For the refried beans, substitute drained black or pinto beans. Add sauteed corn, onion, peppers, and tomatoes for some veggies. Add pico de gallo, hot sauce, or diced jalapeño peppers for some heat!

In honor of the example given to us by Our Lady in the Visitation, I always try to take this day to prepare a meal or two for friends who are pregnant, have a new baby, or are experiencing hardship of some kind. I make a casserole-type dish in a foil pan and arrange to deliver it hot, or freeze it, then the recipient can heat it up in the oven whenever she would like. It’s not exactly the same as walking a hundred miles and staying for three months to help. But it’s always well-received. This chicken tortellini casserole is simple to throw together, freezes well, includes the major food groups, and is a big hit with kids. It’s also very customizable!

It’s probably my favorite dessert, so any excuse for crème brûlée is a good one in my book. The feast day of any French saint will do, but somehow the torching part makes it seem perfect for Saint Joan. Also, the fact that multiple nineteenth-century recipe books refer to crème brûlée as “Trinity Cream” or “Trinity Burnt Cream” means we’d be SILLY not to make this amazing dessert part of our Trinity Sunday celebration. (According to recipe historians—a real job, apparently—the name “Trinity” Cream is a reference to its three main ingredients: cream, sugar, and egg yolks.) This is a slightly fussier recipe than I’m up for on an every-day basis, but that’s the beauty of liturgical living for me. I can get motivated to do a fancy feast day meal for an important solemnity every month or two. THAT I can manage. And Crème Brûlée/Trinity Cream can be made ahead of time, which is always a bonus. But, just in case it’s helpful . . . last time I checked, they sell little individual crème brûlées in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s.

The “croque madame” is a French grilled cheese sandwich with ham inside and a fried egg on top. Sounds odd, but it’s SO good. It was my very favorite meal on our pilgrimage to Lourdes a few years back. THEN I realized that the name of the sandwich basically translates to “crispy lady” and I knew it was meant to be a part of our feast day celebration of Saint Joan of Arc. Gruyere is the cheese that’s traditionally used, but swiss works in a pinch.

This old-fashioned dessert is easy for kids to help put together and makes a great addition to a meal delivery for the feast of the Visitation, or any time. It keeps in the fridge for weeks, so your recipients can enjoy it at their convenience! Substitute the dried fruits of your choice.

While no analogy will ever actually explain or actually help us understand the Trinity (so we should probably quit trying) . . . symbols of the Trinity can help us remember and devote ourselves to the mystery of three persons in one God. A three leaf clover has long been used as a symbol of the Trinity, and these tasty three piece rolls are a fun dinner table reminder of this unknowable mystery. Rolling and dunking the dough balls is a good job for kid-helpers.

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!

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

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!