Feast Day: Presentation or Candlemas

Yesterday, February 2nd, was a feast day in commemoration of the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus to the temple, all in accord with Hebrew law of the time. It's also called Candlemas as it traditionally ended the Christmas season for the Catholic Church and the faithful brought their candles to be blessed ... as Jesus is the true Light of the World!

Our celebration of this feast turned into a wonderfully fun dinner party. The French teacher at dh's high school offered to make and serve the traditional crepes; I made ham/spinach lasagne and homemade bread. Talk about a feast.

The ham/spinach lasagna was a big hit! The recipe is so easy because you don't have to make the noodles first; you put them in the pan dry and they come out perfectly cooked! The recipe as we made it is included below.

Just before dinner, our very own french chef made the crepe batter (as it has to sit chilling for one hour). Kotch was her sous chef (and now we have someone trained to make these anytime for us -- pretty smart, eh?). Ms.K. also gave us a great handout on this French tradition, explaining that this holiday is called La Chandeleur, Fete de la Lumiere, or Crepe Day. It is traditional to hold a coin in your writing hand and a crepe pan in the other and flip the crepe into the air. If you manage to catch the crepe in the pan, your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year.

Discretion being the better part of valor .... we didn't tempt fate by trying this! But here is how we made the crepes:

Crepe Recipe:

2 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 large eggs

Blend all ingredients together, making a smooth batter. Cover batter and chill for one hour. Once chilled, heat an 8-inch nonstick crepe pan or skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan; quickly tilt pan in all directions to make a large circle (that is fairly thin). Cook about 1 minute. Carefully life the edge of the crepe with a spatula to test for doneness. The crepe is ready to turn when it can be shaken loose from the pan and the underside is lightly browned. Turn crepe over, cooking for another 30 seconds or until center is set. Place crepe on paper towel to cool. Place on a plate in a 200-225 preheated oven to keep warm while finishing the remaining batter.

Once you are ready to serve ... put out different types of sweeteners (we used white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar and honey), melted bittersweet chocolate, jam or just plain butter and allow guests to make their own. Place a small amount of filling down the center of the crepe, roll-up and eat with your fingers -- DELICIOUS!

Here's the promised Ham/Spinach Lasagna recipe:

Ingredients:
16 oz. cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
16 oz. jar tomato sauce
1-2 cups chopped cooked ham
1 package lasagna noodles (1 used 15 noodles)
16 oz. frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1 tbls minced garlic
2 tsp each dried basil, dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350. (I actually put this together in the morning; covered and refrigerated it; I removed the pan from the fridge when I started the oven preheating and then put it in the oven one hour before dinner).

In large mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, half of the mozzarella, garlic and herbs. Set aside.
Spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan; put a layer of dry lasagna noodles then a layer of half the cheese mixture; half the ham and spinach scattered atop. Do another layer of sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, ham and spinach. Finish with a final (3rd) layer of noodles, layer of sauce, and the second half of the mozzarella cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, removing the foil during the final 15minutes of cooking.

Feast: Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus et de la Sainte Face

The Little Flower(1873-1897)

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face was a young French woman who died at the age of 24 but was so in love with Jesus that her writings have claimed for her the title of "Doctor of the Church" -- throughout the history of the Catholic Church, there have been only 33 people named "Doctor", and one of only 3 female Doctors (Sts. Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila are the other two).

St. Therese, whose sisters were fellow Carmelites ... whose parents' cause is currently up for beatification (scheduled for October 18, 2008) ... whose life was full of ill-health, hardship and humility. This "little woman" with her "little way" proved the dignity of humility and subjugating self-will to the will of God.

We were fortunate to be able to visit Lisieux in 2000 on our European Pilgrimage. We stayed next door to the Carmelite monastery, went to Mass in the Chapel where St. Therese prayed, walked the streets where Therese too walked. What a wonderful time!

One small fact we learned at the time was that St. Therese LOVED eclairs. So, with String Bean helping (and keeping a watchful eye on the progress), we made luscious eclairs ... a specialized version that we dubbed "Little Flower's Eclairs" ...
from the reaction of the family, these will become a tradition every October 1st!Here's how we made it:

Little Flower Eclairs!
INGREDIENTS:
Batter: 1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs

Filling: 1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Glaze: 1 cup chocolate chips
2 tbls butter
3 tbls hot strong coffee or hot water (or more)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate completely after each addition. With a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a No. 10, or larger, tip, spoon or pipe dough onto cookie sheet in 1 1/2 x 4 inch strips.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and bake 20 minutes more, until hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling, combine pudding mix and milk in medium bowl according to package directions. Stir in the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

Cut tops off of cooled pastry shells with a sharp knife. Fill shells with pudding mixture and replace tops.

For the icing, melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir the chocolate till chips are all melted. Stir in the 3 tbls of hot coffee – add more if needed to make glaze “drizzle-able”. Drizzle over filled eclairs.

Refrigerate until serving. (We made 7 eclairs from this recipe, but I didn't have a pastry bag and had to do the rectangular shape by hand -- you may get more out of it!)

Would that me and mine would be remembered for fulfilling these words of the Little Flower:

“I have only ever sought the truth”.

Feast Day: Queenship of Mary

Is this not the most beautiful tapestry? This is one of four tapestries which was made for the Abbey of St. Walburga, a Benedictine Abbey nestled in north-central Colorado (just about into Wyoming). These tapestries were hand-made (!) in Germany by a Benedictine sister specifically for the Benedictines in Colorado -- when they built their new Abbey in the late 1990s, the design of the Chapel included prominent spots for these gorgeous tapestries.

This depicts the Risen Christ crowning his mother. The Latin translates as "forever singing allelulia".

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Queenship of Mary -- one week after we celebrate her Assumption into Heaven, we celebrate that Jesus than crowned her as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Mary... "mother of Eternal Glory" ... "temple of the Divinity" ... "queen of life" is crowned by her Son to reign over us all. She intercedes for us with God.

Pope Pius XII promulgated the encyclical AD CAELI REGINAM in 1954 (four years after his encyclical when the Church formally accepted the dogma of Mary's Assumption), an encyclical which fully explains the Church's teachings on the Queenship of Mary and her special place as the mother of God.

The collect for today:

Father, you have given us the mother of your Son to be our queen and mother.
With the support of her prayers may we come to share the glory of your children
in the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Here are the Latin words for ancient* prayer, "Hail Holy Queen":

Salve Regina, mater misericordiae: vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad
te clamamus exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. Amen.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

[* ... the Salve Regina was used as a processional chant at Cluny by 1135. Around 1218 the Cistercians adopted it as a daily processional chant and in 1251 as an ending to Compline. Both the Dominicans and the Franciscans also adopted it around this same time and the Carmelites used it for a while in place of the last Gospel at Mass. Gregory IX (1227-1241) ordered it to be chanted after Compline on Fridays. From the 14th century down to today it has been a part of Compline for the Latin Rite. Traditionally this antiphon is recited at Compline from Trinity Sunday until Advent.]

Here's what we made for dessert, Queen of Heaven Pie, (an original recipe that allowed us to have a great dessert without heating up the kitchen!).

Using chocolate cookie crust, icecream, blueberries, blueberry jello, whipped topping and sprinkles ...We came up with Queen of Heaven Pie -- chocolate cookie crust base, blueberries sprinkled over the bottom, vanilla ice cream spread over the blueberries. We then placed chocolate wafer cookies around the rim (to keep the good stuff in -- and after all, Mary, being perfect would definitely have LOVED chocolate!), then blueberry jello (half the 4 oz. recipe) layered over the ice-cream covered blueberries, blueberry jello (the other half) mixed with the whipped topping and spread over all, then the last of the whipped topping and star sprinkles to top it off.

Definitely a heavenly dessert that was enjoyed by all!