Collection: The Catholic All Year Marketplace

A perfect meal for the feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicity—especially since it usually falls during Lent—is Stracciatella alla Romana: Roman egg drop soup. It’s quick and easy and has only a few ingredients. It’s Roman, as were they. The eggs highlight the motherhood of these martyrs. Stracciare means “to rip to shreds” in Italian. In this soup, it refers to the process of whisking in the eggs, and . . . I’m just going to stop there and not make any wild beast parallels. Homemade chicken stock is lovely in this recipe, but I’ve also used chicken stock paste with success. It’s also a great choice for Lenten Friday Soup & Stations.

These hearty and delicious doughy-potato-y bundles are a traditional Jewish delicacy. However, full-disclosure, they wouldn’t be served at an observant Passover meal, because chametz (anything containing grain that has come into contact with water and risen) must be avoided at Passover. However, since we are not attempting an observant Passover meal, and they are amazing, we like to have these. They are great with applesauce, sour cream, or spicy mustard. A more authentic, chametz-free choice would be potato latkes.

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

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

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 Note: I use a large canning pot for this recipe. If you don’t have a VERY large pot, but you do have a very large mixing bowl you can pour the hot marshmallow mixture over your cereal in a very large mixing bowl. Or, halve the recipe and make a smaller lamb

These tasty flatbreads are quick and easy and make an excellent side for curries and any meal that needs a “pusher.” They’re great with dips or folded and filled with sandwich fixins. They are relatively flat, but allowed to rise (chametz again). A more authentic addition to a Passover meal would be store-bought or homemade matzo bread (more like crackers).

A downloadable calendar to use with your March Medallions!

Your membership resources for the month of March!

In the original Latin, “Ember Days” are called “Quatuor Tempora,” or “four times” of the year. In the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries from Portugal settled in Nagasaki. As a meatless meal, they introduced what we now call “tempura”: battered shrimp and/or vegetables fried in a traditional Portuguese-style. It’s perfect for Ember Days, Fridays, and the Feast of the Japanese Martyrs on February 6. You’ll get the best results using big shrimp or prawns from the seafood counter. 16-20 count per lb are great. Smaller shrimp will also be delicious, they just won’t look as much like restaurant tempura. This batter is also often used on veggies like broccoli florets, baby corn, green beans, mushrooms, and slices of onion, sweet potato, and eggplant.

Green herbs and Irish cheese make these scones perfect for the feast of St. Brigid, St. Patrick, or any Irish saint. Making the butter yourself from heavy cream also gives you the buttermilk you need for this recipe. Stopping the homemade butter process just a tiny bit early saves the step of grating or chopping butter for the mixture and makes a really lovely scone dough. But you can also use frozen chopped or grated homemade or store-bought butter.

My son Bobby is in charge of crepe-making at our house. This simple recipe (just eggs, milk, and flour) was passed down to him by his great-grandfather, for whom he was named. Crepes are traditionally associated with Candlemas in France, and this recipe also works well for the feast day of any French saint. Sweet or savory, they are appropriate for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

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

A downloadable calendar to use with your February Medallions!

Saint Apollonia is the patron saint against tooth pain and fear of the dentist. Let’s try to avoid both of those with this perfected recipe for that quintessential party treat: popcorn balls. Still sticky and sweet with even more flavor, these popcorn balls are softer and more chewable than the standard version.

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Holy Name!

St. Thomas Aquinas’s “dumb ox” nickname is the inspiration for this fun feast day dinner! I love it when I get to serve a saint story-themed meal to my children, the idea of which will be shocking and horrifying to them, but that is actually a totally normal dinner that they’ll like eating. Oxtail soup is perfect. An ox is just a bull with a job (and some surgical modifications), so oxtail is just a cow’s tail, which, once it’s skinned and whatnot, is just a piece of beef with some bones in it. Ethnic grocery stores often have them in stock, but any store’s butcher counter should be able to get some for you. In a pinch, you can make mock oxtail soup with a combination of beef stew meat and marrow bones.

This delicious caramelized, crustless cheesecake is a traditional recipe from the town in the Basque region of Spain called San Sebastian. . . making it the perfect way to celebrate the saint! Not to mention, it’s decadent and delicious. This dessert is best enjoyed two hours after chilling, but it can be refrigerated until the next day, if needed.

Also works for pouring and sprinkling. Because the Baptism of the Lord is almost always observed on a Sunday, we like to invite our kids’ godparents to join us for dinner. They are spread out all over the country (and there are a lot of them!) but it’s worth a try. And, whether or not godparents can join you, what better way to celebrate Saint John the Baptist dunking Jesus in a river, than by dunking bread in melted cheese? Right? RIGHT? Baptism of the Lord fondue party! Aldi is a great place to find affordable European cheeses.

Names are important and Jesus’ name is the most important of all. To celebrate the day, I like to make this tasty alphabet soup, and then . . . let the kids play with it! The kids get to scoop letters out with their spoons to build their names—and Jesus’ name of course—on the edge of their plates. You can pull the bay leaf and thyme sprigs out before serving, or you can just tell your family that whoever gets them in his bowl is king/queen/duke/princess/etc. of dinner. That’s what we do. For a heartier meal, add prepared meatballs, cooked chicken, or diced ham. The soup makes great leftovers, just add some water and reheat.

This rustic soup is a real family favorite. We have it on Christmas Eve and sometimes also for our “all white dinner” on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and it’s perfect for a German saint day. It’s always in the Lenten “soup and stations” rotation, and the kids often choose it for their special days. I have very fond memories of cutting dumplings into bubbling soup with my grandfather, and I love doing it with my kids now. It’s not exactly a quick and easy process, but the results are so worth it. The soup thickens up with time and gets even better. It can be made a day or two ahead if desired. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop, adding water if necessary. Stir very often to keep from scorching the bottom when reheating.

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

Saint John’s symbol as one of the four evangelists is an eagle. This is said to symbolize the lofty nature of John’s gospel compared to the other three (synoptic) gospels.

British chef Fergus Henderson’s renowned restaurant “St. John” is named for the street on which it sits in the Smithfield area of London. Chef Henderson specializes in “nose-to-tail” eating and gourmet versions of British comfort food. This is an adaptation of his recipe for a classic American dish, which—if not officially associated with St. John the evangelist himself—bears the saint’s name and makes for a lovely meal on a cold winter’s day.

Your membership resources for the month of November!

Plantains or “cooking bananas” are a major food staple in Africa. Green plantains are used like potatoes: fried, boiled, or processed into flour to be used in a variety of tasty dishes. Plantains are widely available in the produce section at grocery stores in the U.S. They look like large green bananas. Uglai is a corn porridge similar to smooth grits, made with corn flour. Potatoes can be substituted for the plantains and grits or rice for the ugali if necessary. (But it won’t be quite as much fun!)

This recipe is pretty ubiquitous in Catholic parish fundraiser cookbooks. I haven’t been able to find an explanation as to why it’s called spinach “Cabrini,” and don’t know if there’s any association intended with the saint, but sometimes it's better not to look a gift recipe in the mouth, right?

This soup is a longtime fall family favorite passed along by Gramma Tierney. It’s great for Halloween and All Saints parties, lunch or a first course on Thanksgiving, and any time during pumpkin season.

In honor of Saint Jude and his tongue of fire, we’re making fire-roasted veggies, but . . . in the oven.

This recipe originally appeared in Thomas Dawson’s The good huswifes Jewell, part 1 in 1596.

Your membership resources for the month of October!

The spookiness comes from cutting a ghost shape out of cheese slices and laying it on top of the macaroni and cheese as soon as it comes out of the oven. Very scary. And meat-free.

Your membership resources for the month of September!

These fun platters can be made to any size, for a few or a crowd. My first exposure to them was when a friend brought a couple to a party we hosted, and they were a bit hit. They can be made with any red/orange/yellow fruits and veggies you prefer.

Traditional cream cheese and cucumber tea sandwiches get an open-faced Saint Patrick’s Day twist for a feast day tea party. These can also be made as a traditional closed sandwich.

The surprise is that these sugar cookies get their lovely green color from . . . spinach! You really can’t taste it, honest.

Get it? Because St. Michael has a spear? This recipe works with thin or thick asparagus, just adjust the cooking time as necessary.

The traditional dinner for Michaelmas is goose. But, nine years after I first blogged about being unable to interest my family in the idea of goose, or even procure one if I could, I still . . . haven’t. We have continued to enjoy the compromise of cornish game hens!

There is a tradition that basil grew up around the foot of the cross, where Jesus’ blood and Mary’s tears hit the ground. St. Helen is said to have found the True Cross hidden beneath an overgrowth of basil. So for dinner on the feast of the Holy Cross, I like to make a basil-heavy meal.

Any combination of apples will work. My favorite is Granny Smith + Honeycrisp.

The blessing of herbs is traditionally associated with the feast of the Assumption. This tasty roast can be made with blessed or unblessed herbs and served alongside a fluffy cloud of horseradish whipped cream. I use rosemary, sage, oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, and chives.