Once Upon A Time Recipes

There is always that special recipe that brings back wonderful memories of family gatherings and grand times spent together.  Christmas is one of those times when memories flood back for me.
What about your?

The recipe I offer today is one that Ron's family has shared since they were small children.  And so it was on that special "cookie baking Sunday" that we all did our part to make these fun cookies.

Wes, Laura, David and Ron

having a wonderful time baking  together.

Burlingame, CA, 1973

Candy Cane Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
Crushed peppermint candy (optional)

Cream margarine and shortening.  Add sugar and egg.  Add dry ingredients.  Divide dough in half, color half with red food coloring.

Use 1/2 teaspoon of each color, roll and twist colored and uncolored dough then lay the cookie on an ungreased baking sheet, shape like candy cane.  Top with crushed peppermint candy if desired.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 9 minutes or until set and very light brown.  Makes 4 dozen.

If you wish you can also use green food coloring and twist the dough into wreaths.

 It was such fun baking and watching the little ones eye as they watched the cookies come off the cookie sheet.  They were so careful not to break the Candy Cane.

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Thanks be to God!

If you have a recipe your family enjoys traditionally every year, please link below so we can all share in the the excitement and try your recipe this year!!

Once Upon a Recipe

Today seems like the perfect day to share a "Once Upon a Time" Recipe. Why? Well, I have no wedding pictures yet (my camera bit the dust just as we arrived in Georgia) and it's a rainy day outside and I'm thinkin' hum...baked macaroni and cheese.

This is one of those recipes a family acquires but is never sure where it came from because it's been used for years. I started making this when we lived in Burlingame, California (just south of San Francisco) nearly 35 years ago. I have no idea how I got the recipe, I just know a week seldom went by without making it. Now it's the "Mother-In-Law" recipe. You know "The One Your Husband Asks You To Make Because His Mother Made It This Way" Recipe? So without further ado, here it is.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 stick of margarine/butter
4 cups macaroni, uncooked
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups grated Colby cheese/favorite cheese
5 cups milk
1 package smoky links

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9" x 13" baking dish melt margarine/butter in the oven. Add macaroni with salt and pepper to the baking dish and coat with margarine. Evenly distribute macaroni mix and top evenly with grated cheese (I sometimes use more that 2 cups). Cover mixture with milk. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with smoky links. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes. Cool about 10 minutes before serving.

I usually serve it with french cut green beans, and the kids always like to put ketchup on it and the "links."

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Please join the fun. Share your family recipe and memories surrounding it. Make your comments here and then go to Mr. Linky so we can visit and share your recipe. Who knows your recipe might start a new holiday tradition at someone else's holiday gathering.

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Thanks be to God!

Once Upon a Recipe

It has occurred to me that every time I post a recipe here, it's because it's a family favorite. With each recipe there is a story. It sounds like the title of a book doesn't it? Well, not yet.

Once in a while I'm going to post a recipe that we have had in the Keller Family for some years. When I post it I will share a story that is attached to it's history and this family. At the same time, I would ask you to share a recipe with a story you would like to share. This is a perfect time of the year to begin this project, because this is the season when we're all cooking and baking our way into just one more family tradition or continuing one that we have cherished for a long time.

So today I offer you a Keller standard. Cranberry Salad. I've been making it for about 35 years. I was first introduced to it when we moved to Eufaula, Oklahoma. It was our first Pot Luck Dinner at St. Paul's Church. It reminds me of the families who welcomed us that day and the family bond we developed. St. Paul's was a very small parish and Father Brooks had to drive 35 miles to say Mass every Sunday. Other members of the parish drove that far as well just to attend Mass. Every time we gathered we gathered as a family that had so much to offer and share. This recipe soon became part of the Keller Family Holiday Tradition.

Cranberry Salad

2 packages of raspberry Jello
2 cups hot water
16 ounce carton sour cream
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup chopped nuts

Dissolve Jello in hot water. Cool until thick. Add sauce, sour cream and nuts. Chill to set in your favorite holiday mold.

Please share your family recipes and memories surrounding it. Make your comments here and then go to Mr. Linky so we can visit and share your recipe. Who knows your recipe might start a new holiday tradition at someone else's holiday gathering.

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Thanks be to God!!!

You Broke The Reigns of Death, All Souls Day

Spiritually, I love the month of November, when the church seems to exercise a maternal concern for her suffering children and when the communion of saints seems more alive. In addition to my prayers for the church, for souls, for my loved one, and for those who have asked to be remembered, I especially like to pray for the souls in purgatory, for the dying.

~Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur

So it is that we pray for all the faithful departed this day.

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Thanks be to God!

Road to Providence

Canonization Mass Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
Picture taken
October 15, 2006

It was our privilege to attend the canonization Mass at "The Woods" the same day as Mass was celebrated in Rome. It was exhilarating and exciting. As an alumnus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College there was also a certain amount of pride.

Mother Theodore Guerin

Born October 2, 1789, in France, Anne Therese Guerin joined the Sisters of Providence of Ruille-sur-Loire at age 25, making her vows as Sr. Theodore in 1825.

Initially, she taught, but later she studied pharmacy and medicine. Then, in the late 1830's, the new bishop of Vincennes, Indiana (which included all of Indiana and a third of Illinois), began recruiting Catholic sister from his native France to serve in his diocese.

When her mother superior asked Sr. Theodore to volunteer for this mission, the nun initially declined, citing health problems. but, after much prayer, and although her training and gifts lay in other areas, she finally said yes.

On October 22, 1840, she and five other sisters arrived at a log farmhouse in a settlement named Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. They soon opened an academy for girls which became Saint Mary-of -the Woods College.

Sr. Theodore founded the congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the United States. But her time in the United States was not easy. The territory was considered the American Frontier, and she also faced much anti-Catholic sentiment. Her efforts to begin the new congregation were opposed by the local bishop who wanted to control her congregation and the deed to the land the sisters owned. At one point, he excommunicated St. Theodore--which her bishop in France reversed.

Mother Theodore Guerin died May 14, 1856.
On October 15, 2006, she became the eighth canonized saint from the United States.

The Little White Book

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Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is a wonderful institution of learning. It offers a variety of options for a degree including the WED (Women's External Degree) program. I was my honor to have graduated in 1994. It is a glorious campus and a remarkable place to learn.

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Thanks be to God!

The Empty Tomb

I was gifted with is from a dear friend, Juliene! I share it with you now because it is not just a wonderful story, but gives us, me in particular, better insights into Jewish tradition. Please read and enjoy. And to Juliene, I say, "Thank you very much!"

Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
I never noticed this.

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed
over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.

The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly
folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to
the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom
Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb,
and I don't know where they have put him!'

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely!

Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin,
you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and servant
and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the servant set the dinner table for the Master,
he made sure that it was exactly the way the Master wanted it.

The table was furnished perfectly and then the servant would wait,
just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the Master was finished.

Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.

The servant would then know to clear the table.
For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table.

Because..........

The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!! Be Blessed!!!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Ash Wednesday

I turned to the Lord God,
pleading in earnest prayer,
with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
~Daniel 9:3~

The use of ashes as a sign of penitence and remorse is rooted in Jewish tradition.

This Jewish penitential practice carried over into Christianity. In one early Church custom dating back to the fourth century, those who had committed serious sin would present themselves to their bishop on Ash Wednesday, and would then spend the rest of Lent wearing the hair shirt as a public display of sinfulness.

The Ash Wednesday custom of placing ashes on the forehead became universal in the 11th century. In the 12th century, the practice began of burning the palm branches of the previous year to make the ashes.

After the 16th century Reformation , most Protestant churches did away with this custom, along with many other external practices of the Catholic Church. However, in recent decades, Lutheran Presbyterian Methodist, and Episcopal churches have reinstated the use of ashes as part of their liturgical renewal.

~~The Little Black Book~~

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Thanks be to God

Reflecting on Lent

Reflecting on Lent
Originally uploaded by Chris Inside

As I begin my journey this year into the season of Lent, I would like to share with you a bit of history offered by the Little Black Book.

St Telesphorus is the pope often credited with instituting the tradition of a seven week Lent.

Whether that is true or not, Telesphorus was one of the Church's earliest popes, serving from about 128-129 A.D. until his martyrdom about 10 years later.

Little is known about this saint. It is thought he was probably Greek. Legend says that he was a hermit before he became pope during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.

But despite the scarcity of information of his background, he is credited (rightly or wrongly) with initiating may of today's Catholic traditions.

For instance, he is said to have begun the celebration of Easter on a Sunday, the tradition of midnight Mass at Christmas, and deciding that the Gloria should be sung at Christmas midnight Mass. It is also said that he started Quinquagesima Sunday (Shrove Sunday) to encourage Christians to prepare for Lent, and he determined the length of the Lenten season.

What is documented is that Telesphorus died a martyr possible because he was a powerful preacher who led many people to convert to Christianity.

The Greek Church celebrates his feast day, February 22.

And so tomorrow the Journey again begins just as it does every year. With plans and resolutions for our journey to the Cross and ultimately to the empty Tomb. May your journey be as fruitful as I hope mine will be.

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Thanks be to God!

The Quiet Man Film Locations, Cong, Mayo. Ireland

Tis the season...Yes, it is. Today in preparation for the Academy Awards TCM is showing The Quiet Man. Long has this movie been a favorite of mine. So visit with me the site of it's filming. Please enjoy!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!
And will no doubt be watching it
on the feast of Feast of St. Patrick. It's a tradition...

It's Sunday!!!

Whew!! With all the holiday festivities, travel and being off work, I've been at a loss as to what day of the week it really is...I have had more false Sundays in the last week (days that feel like Sunday) that it's a relief to have a REAL one. Does that sound strange?

At any rate I wanted to share this with all who have not visited Esther's domain A Catholic Mom in Hawaii, http://hicatholicmom.blogspot.com/. It is the Epiphany Blessing. It has a wonderful history and even more important it is a wonderful tradition. She also has posted a lovely prayer to the Holy Family.

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Thanks be to God!!!