Collection: The Catholic All Year Marketplace

As the old Irish rhyme goes, “Boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan, if you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man.” Maybe irrelevant by today’s standards, but what remains important is that it’s a popular dish across Ireland. So what exactly is it? Boxty are fluffy potato cakes that are pan-fried like pancakes and served at breakfast. Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day–or any day, really! Just grab some freshly made or leftover mashed potatoes to get started.

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!

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 Martin de Porres is a great example to look to when practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy! Use the clues to fill in the crossword, then think of a few ways that your family can follow the example of Saint Martin de Porres and practice the corporal work of mercy together!

Celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa by praying the prayer on the back of this holy card and by displaying her image for the day!

Work your brain with this word search featuring words from St. Monica and St. Augustine's story!

Retell the story of the Transfiguration with the help of some DIY puppets! Just color, cut out, and glue to craft sticks for a tangible transfiguration activity.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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

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!

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

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

The whys and hows of this traditional Catholic devotion, featuring instructions, illustrations, prayers, and Bible readings for a Holy Hour, or a Holy Few Minutes!

Originally compiled in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the prayers in this Palm Sunday at Home booklet can be used for placing already blessed palms in a place of honor in the home!

Simple and sweet, these ice cream sundaes are a tasty way to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. We use red and blue fruit and/or sprinkles to represent the rays of love and mercy that emanate from the heart of Jesus. I think vanilla ice cream makes for the prettiest presentation, but my kids prefer more exciting ice cream flavors. Fresh or frozen berries will work.

At a Jewish Passover Seder meal like the one Jesus was celebrating on Holy Thursday with the apostles, bitter herbs are served as a reminder of the bitterness of the slavery endured by the Jewish people in Egypt. This salad is bitter and sour (and yet very tasty). Kids don’t usually LOVE it. But in our family everyone must try it. If they don’t like the bitterness, we discuss how that’s kind of the whole point.

Recite the Tantum Ergo on Holy Thursday.

Saint Katharine is a model of our Lenten goals of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Color this page and ponder how God is calling us to serve the people around us.

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

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.

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

Find the letters of Jesus’ name in this bowl of soup! To learn more of titles of honor of Jesus, look up and pray the Litany of the Holy Name.

The stories say that the tortures suffered by St. Lucy included having her eyeballs poked out, and she is often depicted in art holding her own eyes. So, we like to make this punch in her honor on her feast day. (It’s also fun for Halloween). The kids love to help! Nota bene: The sorbet eyeballs melt quickly in the punch, so add them just before serving. Makes 24 approximately 8oz servings. To add two eyeballs to each serving, double the amount of sorbet and blueberries used.

Saint John is often pictured holding a cup with a cute little serpent coiled around the edge to symbolize a cup of poisoned wine that didn’t kill him. Saint John’s Day is traditionally the day to bring a bottle of wine to Mass with you for Father to bless. If you’re not able to make it to Mass, or your wine isn’t, the head of the household can ask God to bless the wine.

Hot mulled wine is also known as Bishop’s wine or Bisschopswijn after Saint Nicholas, third century bishop of Myra. It’s deliciously warming, and perfect for a December evening with family and friends. One spice bag will flavor up to 8 bottles of wine in one batch.

Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in 1579. He served the poor, the sick, and his fellow Dominican brothers, working in the infirmary and the kitchen. He maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat. Perhaps he would have prepared this traditional Peruvian juice for himself or those in his care. “Jugo Surtido” means “assorted juice” but we would call it a smoothie. The addition of dark beer and a raw egg makes it “Jugo Especial.” But . . . I have yet to try it like that.

I love recipes that are about turning unwanted or past-their-prime ingredients into something delicious, and bread pudding is a great example. This recipe is a great way to upcycle extra rolls (if only Thanksgiving came a week earlier!) or stale breads of any kind. I can’t find any indication of why this is called Saint Cecilia sauce or where the recipe comes from, but it does show up in quite a few vintage cookbooks, and is SOOOOO tasty. If you are concerned about raw eggs, you can substitute whipped cream for the Saint Cecilia sauce, and make the bread pudding with three whole eggs instead.

These pastries are a very impressive (and tasty) way to honor St. Therese. The trick is to slice the apples as thin as you possibly can. The thinner the slices are, the easier they roll into pretty roses. It's a little bit fiddly - but the perfect thing to offer up in the name of St. Therese's "Little Way".

The Magnificat, also known as the Canticle of Mary, is taken from Luke 1:46-55. Use this page to decorate, and—if the family doesn’t already know it—practice and learn the prayer by heart this month.

Banbury Tarts are a traditional tea treat named after the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire in England. They have long been associated with late summer fairs held under the patronage of Saint Luke.

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.

My family loves this soup for the feast days of French saints, and it’s always one of the soups I serve at our Lenten Soup and Stations get togethers. To make it more crowd-friendly, I assemble the cheesy crouton topping separately.