Collection: The Catholic All Year Marketplace

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.

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.

Need a guide for the prayers and traditions of the Lent Season? The Catholic All Lent booklet is a printable booklet that guides you through the traditional Lenten prayers and hymns of the Lent season. It is perfect to supplement any Lent activities your family does or use it on its own as a way to enter more deeply into the holiness of the Lenten season.

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.

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!

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.

Our Guardian Angels are with us everywhere we go! Find seven in this picture who are keeping a close eye on their charges at the park!

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!

Use this coloring page for the feast of Ss. Louis and Zélie Martin on July 12!

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?

Here’s a fun party game to play on Our Lady’s birthday this year! Gather your family and friends and follow the clues to find Marian items around your home and yard.

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!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Immaculate Conception!

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

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

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!

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!

Cut and string this darling decor featuring Polish folk art Easter designs!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary!

All you holy men and women, pray for us while we color!

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.

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!

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.

This downloadable bundle includes everything you need for your most meaningful Advent yet!

A step-by-step guide to assembling your own rosary!

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!

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!

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.

Reenact the Incarnation by putting on an Annunciation play with this set! Print and cut out your own puppets—the archangel Gabriel, the virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit as a dove, and the narrator as angels—and attach to four popsicle sticks. Then, read the script in a dramatic fashion!

Your calendar medallions for the month of February!

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.

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! 

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!