Homeschool Is Where The Heart Is

My friend shared her delicious Irish soda bread recipe with me for the feast of St. Brigid and is graciously allowing me to share it here. It is sweeter than some of the more traditional recipes, but that is how we like it! I halved the original recipe and cooked it in a round cake pan to make it more like scones (original version below).

Irish Soda Bread
2c flour
3/4c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 c raisins
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 egg
1 c buttermilk (or 1T lemon juice w/ milk to equal 1c)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

Whisk dry ingredients together, and wet ingredients together seperately. Mix together. Dough will be sticky. Place in pan and bake at 375 for 25-30m in pie tin or baking sheet, or 45-50 in loaf pan.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, January 31, 2016

February Saints and Feast Days

General February Links

February Activities for Catholic Families @ Real Life at Home

10 More February Activities for Catholic Families @ Real Life at Home

February Saints and Feast Days Word Search @ Real Life at Home

February 1^st – St. Brigid of Ireland

St. Brigid was a converted pagan Irish saint in the style of St. Patrick. She evangelized, founded convents, and was generous to those in need. Read more about her at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Brigid @ Waltzing Matilda

St. Brigid @ Saints to Color

Activities:

St. Brigid’s Cross @ Catholic Icing

St. Brigid’s Day Playdate @ Real Life at Home

School:

St. Brigid Poem @ Training Happy Hearts

St. Brigid Story @ Catholic Saints

Food:

St. Brigid’s Bread @ Catholic Cuisine

Cultured Irish Butter @ Catholic Cuisine

Irish Cheese Toasties @ Catholic Cuisine

St. Brigid Vegetable Soup @ Catholic Cuisine

St. Brigid’s Oaten Bread @ Catholic Cuisine

Boxty @ Catholic Cuisine

St. Brigid Irish Soda Bread @ Homeschool is Where the Heart Is

Prayers:

15 Prayers of St. Brigid @ Catholic Culture

Litany of St. Brigid @ Catholic Culture

February 2^nd – The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas)

This feast celebrates the presentation of the Lord in the temple 40 days after his birth. Read more about this feast at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

The Presentation at Ray-Chill’s World

Presentation @ St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

Activities:

Candle Napkin Folding @ Our Domestic Church

Presentation Puppets @ Catholic Inspired

Toilet Paper Roll Candles @ Family at the Foot of the Cross

Candlemas Crafts @ Our Domestic Church

Votive Cover @ Waltzing Matilda and Under Her Starry Mantle

Food:

Candlemas Tea @ Catholic Cuisine

Candle Cake @ Catholic Cuisine

Savory Candles @ Catholic Cuisine

Candlemas Crepes @ Catholic Cuisine

Candlemas Cookies @ Catholic Cuisine

Presentation of Our Lord Snack @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is

Prayers:

Pray the 4^th Joyful Mystery

Bring the year’s liturgical candles to the church for the priest to bless.

Read Luke 2:22-35

Read St. John Paul II’s Homily @ Vatican

Prayer for the Feast of the Purification @ Catholic Culture

February 3^rd – St. Blaise

St. Blaise was a bishop and physician in Armenia and patron saint of throat diseases and illnesses. Read more about him at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Blaise @ Catholic Playground

St. Blaise @ Waltzing Matilda

Food:

St. Blaise Cookies @ Catholic Cuisine

Any of the recipes from Candlemas on Feb. 2^nd

Fish Bone Apple Snack @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Prayers:

Prayer to St. Blaise @ Catholic Culture

February 5^th – St. Agatha

St. Agatha was martyred and tortured by having her breasts removed and being raked over coal. Read more about her at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Agatha @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (coming soon)

Activities:

Fire Safety @ Equipping Catholic Families

Food:

St. Agatha Rolls @ Catholic Cuisine

St. Agatha’s Gold @ By Sun and Candlelight

February 6^th – St. Paul Miki and Companions

St. Paul Miki was a Japanese Jesuit, martyred along with 23 companions. Read more about him at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Paul Miki and Companions @ Snowflake Clockwork

Activities:

Origami Cross @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Food:

Japanese Style Steak @ Catholic Culture

February 8^th – St. Josephine Bakhita

A Sudanese born slave who converted to Catholicism. Read more about her at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Bakhita @ Catholic Playground

St. Josephine Bakhita @ Waltzing Matilda

St. Josephine Bakhita @ Snowflake Clockwork

Food:

African Inspired Dinner @ Catholic Cuisine

Sudanese Cinnamon Tea & Peanut Macaroons @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Prayer:

Prayer in Honor of St. Josephine Bakhita @ Catholic Culture

February 9^th – St. Apollonia, Fat Tuesday

St. Apollonia was tortured by having her teeth pulled out and martyred in Alexandria. Read more about her at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Page:

St. Apollonia @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Food:

St. Apollonia Teeth Snack @ Family at the Foot of the Cross

Fat Tuesday

Read more about Fat Tuesday at Catholic Culture. See my Lent 2016 post for more info.

February 10^th – Ash Wednesday, St. Scholastica

St. Scholastica was the twin of St. Benedict, and devoted her life to God. Read more about it at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Scholastica @ Catholic Playground

St. Benedict and St. Scholastica @ Real Life at Home

Activities:

Thunderstorm Art @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Food:

Thunder and Lightning @ Catholic Cuisine

February 11^th – Our Lady of Lourdes

Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes several times, proclaiming that she was “The Immaculate Conception”. Read more about this Marian apparition at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

Our Lady of Lourdes @ Catholic Playground

Immaculate Conception @ Waltzing Matilda

Our Lady of Lourdes @ Drawn 2B Creative

Activities:

Grotto Crafts @ Catholic Inspired

Food:

French Onion Rice @ Catholic Cuisine

February 14^th – St. Cyril and Methodius, St. Valentine

Sts. Cyril and Methodius were brothers who worked diligently to convert the Slavonic nations. Read more about them at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

Sts. Cyril and Methodius @ Catholic Playground

Food:

Pirogs @ Catholic Culture

Pierogi @ Catholic Culture

St. Valentine

St. Valentine was a Roman martyr who married many couple in secret in direct disobedience of Emperor Claudius’ decree. Read more about him at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

St. Valentine @ Catholic Playground

St. Valentine @ Waltzing Matilda

Before My Eyes @ Look to Him and Be Radiant

A Friend Loves @ Look to Him and Be Radiant

Activities:

Spiritual Boquet for Valentine’s Day @ Catholic Icing

Heart Napkin Fold @ Catholic Playground

Love Is Minibook @ Drawn 2B Creative

Valentine Thankful Craft @ Catholic Inspired

St. Valentine Placemat @ Real Life at Home

St. Valentine Word Search @ Real Life at Home

Socks of Love Service Project @ Family at the Foot of the Cross

Valentine Saint Game @ Catholic Culture

Catholic Valentines @ Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is (Coming Soon)

Food:

Valentine Bible Verse Candy Heart Cookies @ Catholic Playground

February 20^th – Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco Marto

Two of the children whom Mary appeared to at Fatima. Read more about them at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

Beatos Francisco y Jacinta Marto @ Familia Cristiana

Our Lady of Fatima @ Catholic Playground

Food:

Portuguese Meat @ Catholic Cuisine

Quindao Dessert @ Celebrations in the Catholic Home

February 22^nd – The Chair of St. Peter the Apostle

Celebration of the papacy as instituted by Christ. Read more about this feast at Catholic Culture.

Coloring Pages:

P is for St. Peter @ Saints to Color

The Chair of St. Peter @ Snowflake Clockwork

Food:

Edible Chairs @ Catholic Cuisine

Golden Chair of St. Peter Fruit Salad @ Catholic Cuisine

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Christmas 2015

Despite my best intentions to make a peaceful, prayerful Advent, the month of December got away from us. I'd blame it mostly on my new little side business of making peg dolls, but realistically, that was just one of too many things on my plate. One of these years I'll get it right.

I loved making them but next time I'm starting in July!

On the plus side, even though it was busy, we had a great time celebrating many of our fun family traditions and enjoying some fun group parties.

Gingerbread houses, River of Lights, Making Cookies, Zoo Christmas Enrichment, Making Tamales

AHG Court of Awards, Little Flowers/Blue Knights Minute to Win It Christmas Party,
Co-op Geography/Science Fair, Gem and Mineral Club Christmas Party

Of course, we added some new traditions to celebrate our precious Joaquin on his first Christmas in heaven.

Christmas Eve and Day were wonderful. We spent Christmas Day at my sister's house enjoying our time with family.

Every year we go to San Antonio for a week after Christmas to visit Phil's mom. This year, we left earlier than expected to get away from being snowed in by an incoming blizzard.

In the photo on the right you can see the blizzard in the mirror. We were literally outrunning it most of the day.
Of course, when we finally got to San Antonio, it was HOT. Thankfully it cooled down, because I didn't pack any warm weather clothes!

We had a lovely time once we got there, spending time with Grandma and playing with cousins. We even managed to squeeze in a date night!

Decorating Grandma's Christmas Tree, Date Night, Picking Fruit

We had fun with Wisemen Adventures again this year from Christmas leading up to Epiphany.

When we got home, the snow from Snowmaggedon still hadn't melted in our front yard so the kids still got to play in the snow!

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Feast Day Food: Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding for St. Edmund Campion

Today is the historical feast of St. Edmund Campion. While he may no longer be officially celebrated in the U.S., I am a professed Anglophile and couldn’t help adding in his feast day to our celebration rotation.

St. Edmund lived during the protestant reformation in England and served as a priest to the underground Catholic church for many years before we was finally caught and martyred. I have such respect for a man who risked death to bring sacraments to the faithful and to keep the church going in such times.

I always try to make some sort of snack or dessert for feast days but couldn’t seem to find much for St. Edmund. Inspiration hit, and I decided to make figgy pudding, a dessert both liturgically and seasonally appropriate. It originates in 16^th century England, so may have been around at the time of St. Edmund. I wasn’t too keen to try the “traditional” versions of figgy pudding that can be both time consuming, and a bit repellent to a modern american palette. I managed to dig up a few modern interpretations that caught my eye.

(Figgy) Pudding Cookies @ The Actor’s Diet

Figgy Pudding Butter Cookies @ Food 52

Figgy Cobbler @ Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen

Simple Traditional Figgy Pudding @ Food Viva

Figgy Pudding Smoothie @ The Blooming Platter (Vegan but can easily adapt to non-vegan)

Figgy Pudding Baked Oatmeal @ Foodtastic Mom

The version I made is adapted from the Figgy Pudding at Gourmet Mom On-the-Go and is more a muffin or dense cake than a "pudding".

Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding

6T butter, softened, whipped
3/4 c molasses
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk (or 3/4c milk w/ lemon juice mixed in to make 1c)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
zest from 1 lemon
2 c all purpose flour
1 c dried figs, stems removed and chopped finely
1/4 c dates, chopped finely

Add molasses, eggs, and buttermilk to the whipped butter, mixing well in between each addition. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add dried fruit and mix well. Pour into your baking pan of choice and bake in a 325 degree oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

My 5 ramekins took about 40 minutes. I'm assuming muffin pans would cut the time by quite a bit.

Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

St. Edmund Campion Coloring Page

Catholic priest during the protestant reign of Queen Elizabeth in a newly protestant England. He served the secret English Catholic church, refusing to apostatize and eventually being martyred for it. Read more about him at Catholic Culture.

Download Coloring Page

Thanks for reading!

The Holy Family

Heavenly Father, you have given us the model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth. Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth where love, peace and joy reign. May it be deeply contemplative, intensely eucharistic, revived with joy. Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow in family prayer. Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our families, especially in their distressing disguise. May the eucharistic heart of Jesus make our hearts humble like his and help us to carry out our family duties in a holy way. May we love one another as God loves each one of us, more and more each day, and forgive each other's faults as you forgive our sins. Help us, O Loving Father, to take whatever you give and give whatever you take with a big smile. Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us. Amen.