Rose Cupcakes

I recently ran across the directions for making these adorable rose cupcakes at Family Fun and decided to add them to our celebration of St. Therese's feast day this year. Even though they were simple to make, they did take a bit of time. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it and they turned out so cute!

Since this recipe only makes 12 mini cupcakes, and therefore uses very little cake batter, I ended up baking the rest in two round 8" pans for our Rose Petal Coconut Cake.

Here's what you need:

• 12 mini cupcakes
• White icing
• Scissors
• 6 rolls of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather in Cherry Rage or strawberry flavor
• 1 roll of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather in Color by the Foot flavor

Directions:

Frost 12 mini cupcakes with white icing.

To make a rose, unroll a piece of the cherry or strawberry fruit leather and divide it in half along the wavy perforated middle line. (Note: If their isn't a wavy perforated middle line, cut your own with either a pizza cutter or scissors.)

Take one of the halves and roll up about 5 inches to form the flower's center.

Set the rolled strip wavy side up in the middle of a cupcake.

Continue to loosely wrap the remaining fruit leather around the center at a slight angle until the flower is completed.

Repeat this process for the remaining flowers. (You should be able to get 2 mini roses out of each roll of fruit leather.)

Cut leaf shapes from the wavy edge of the Color by the Foot strip, then tuck the leaves under the roses.

I hope you all have a very blessed feast of St. Therese!

Easy Beef Burgundy for Feast of Saint Thérèse

My mother used to make this for me on my birthday by special request. It is a simple and more American than French version of beef bourguignon. Also a lot easier!!

With the feast day of St. Thérèse fast upon us, I had thought about trying to make Julia Child’s beef bourguignon again (had to promise the kids that next year I would go through the all day process!!!), but knew that time would not be on my side that day, so instead I am making the easier and quite yummy beef burgundy! I gave you the recipe as I make it (for a small army) but this is easily halved.

Amy Caroline’s Beef Burgundy (actually it is her mom’s recipe)

1 lb lean stew meat

2 cans Golden Mushroom soup

2 cans mushrooms (drained)

Burgundy wine

Extra Wide Egg noodles

In an ovenproof casserole add stew meat, soup (keep cans), and mushrooms. Fill the two empty soup cans with the Burgundy wine and add to casserole dish. Mix well, cover and stick in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook for two to three hours. Check the meat on occasion to make sure that it is cooked through and is still tender. This is usually at about two hours.

Take out of the oven and let rest while you make the noodles to package directions.

Drain noodles and add to the beef Burgundy.

Serve with a fresh garden salad and French bread. Voila! French cooking made the American way... easy!

Bon Appétit and have a blessed Feast of Saint Thérèse!

Recipes for October ~ Month Dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary

"The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7th. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful."

~ Catholic Net

A great way to celebrate the month is to make a commitment to pray the rosary daily, but here are a few more ideas for celebrating the feast days in October, from the archives!

October 1, Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (New):

• Easy Mini Éclairs
• Crepes for St. Therese
• Rose Cake and Punch for St. Therese
• Chocolate Roses for St. Therese
• Easy Beef Burgundy for the Feast of St. Therese
• adaptable: Rosy Treats
• Rose Cupcakes

October 2, Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (New, Trad.):

• Upcoming From Thy Bounty Fair: Angels (includes suggestions!)
• From Thy Bounty Fair: Feasting with the Angels!
• Angels and St. Francis of Assisi

October 3, Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (Trad.):

(See October 1st)

October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (New, Trad.):

• Angels and St. Francis of Assisi
• A Taste of Umbria with St. Francis of Assisi
• Saint Francis, Italian-American Style
• Saint Francis and the Wolf ~ Wolf Paw Cookies
• Remembering St. Francis (treats for Dogs and Cats!)
• Tonsure of St. Francis Cake

October 5, Feast of St. Faustina Kowalska (New/some places):

• Divine Mercy Sunday

October 7, Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (New, Trad.):

• Victory Vessels for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
• Cupcake Rosary

October 7, Feast of St. Mark (Trad.):

• Risi e Bisi ~ Venetian Rice and Peas
• Cupcakes for St. Mark's Feast Day
• San Marco Pasta and Animal Cakes
• St. Gregory's Cherries (Crisp)

October 11, Feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII (New):

• Papal Polenta

October 12, Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar:

• Our Lady of the Pillar Cake

October 13, The Miracle of the Sun in Fatima:

• October 13 - Miracle of the Sun Cake
• Dancing Sun Cupcakes

October 15, Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (New, Trad.):

• Sopa de Ajo Castellana
• Pan de Santa Teresa ~ St. Teresa's Bread

October 16, Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (New):

• Appetizer for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart
• Sacred Heart Cookies
• Sacred Heart Cheesecake

October 17, Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch (New):

• St. Ignacio's Nachos

October 24, Feast of St. Raphael the Archangel (Trad.):

• Upcoming From Thy Bounty Fair: Angels (includes suggestions!)
• From Thy Bounty Fair: Feasting with the Angels!

Last Sunday of October, Feast of Christ the King (Trad.):

• Simple Cupcake Crowns
• Food fit for THE King
• Cookie Crown Cake

October 31, All Hallows' Eve (New, Trad.):

• Hallowed Days: All Saints & All Souls Fair
• All Saints' Day Treats ~ St. Lucy Cupcakes
• All Saints' Day Treats ~ Bones of Eliseus
• Saint-O-Lanterns

Other:

• Fruits of the Harvest Fair

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary,

Pray for us!

St. Francis and the Wolf ~ Wolf Paw Cookies

The feast of St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated on October 4th.

Since one of the famous stories of St. Francis tells how he tamed the wolf that was terrorizing the people of Gubbio, I wanted to share a recipe for the Wolf Paw Cookies we made this past Easter Season as one of our Garden of the Good Shepherd activities. These cookies were a hit with my children (Especially my boys!), and they were sooooo easy to make.

All you need is:

• 1 package Voortman's Iced Almonette Cookies
• Chocolate Almond Bark or Chocolate Chips, melted for dipping
  
• White Chocolate Chips (or white frosting) to use for claws

Dip one side of each cookie into melted chocolate. Add 4 or 5 white chocolate chips for the claws. (Wolfs have 4 claws on the back paws and 5 on the front.) Let cool.

(You may want to place the cookies onto wax or parchment paper to cool, so they don't stick to your serving platter.)

Before eating the cookies, we read either Saint Francis and the Wolf by Richard Egielski, or the story about St. Francis and the Wolf found in Legends of Saints and Beasts by Ann Marie Jauss. (You can read another version online here.)

* If you are unable to find the Almonette Cookies, you can substitute with another kind. Charlotte used Pepperridge Farm Tahiti Cookies and they turned out darling too!

St. Michael's Waffles

The feast of St. Michael the Archangel, also known as Michaelmas, is celebrated on September 29th.

In her book Cooking for Christ, Florence Berger shares the tradition of making waffles baked in a Gaufrette Iron for Michaelmas Day. She says, "Our family has not yet invested in a true French Gaufrier, but we use a waffle iron to make an American version of St. Michael's Gaufres. The recipe is like that of waffles." I think I will follow her lead and do the same!

GAUFRES
(St. Michael's Waffles)
from Cooking for Christ

2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4-1 cup milk
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blend eggs and sugar. Add flour and milk alternately. Beat hard. Add butter and vanilla. The mixture is thin and should spread evenly on the preheated iron. If Gaufres tend to stick, butter both sides of the iron. Serve hot or cold.

We will be topping our breakfast "Gaufres" with Blackberry Syrup. Doesn't that sound yummy? In A Book of Feasts & Seasons, the author, Joanna Bogle, says that "It is a tradition that blackberries are no good to eat after September 29th because 'the Devil spat on them when he was cast out of Heaven into Hell on Michaelmas'! So the days just before Michaelmas are your last chance for bottling blackberries and making blackberry jam."

Perhaps this year I will be able to take my children blackberry picking, in preparation for the feast day.  If not, we will pick some up at our local Grower's Market, like last year.  

*This post is an excerpt from our Plans for Michaelmas. 

Instant Gnocchi for Michaelmas

On Michaelmas, or the feast of St. Michael, which is celebrated on September 29, many Italians serve Gnocchi, or potato dumplings.

The following recipe was submitted by a Catholic Cuisine reader, Fred Hass:

The following recipe for Instant Gnocchi is terrific. It was formulated by a dear friend, Florence Machetta. It takes all the work out of making gnocchi!

The history of gnocchi is very interesting and may be traced to the time of the Roman legions. The word "gnocco" in Italian means a stupid person. How the word gnocchi derived is not clear. Various regions in Italy have their own distinctive variations one of which from Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol is spinach gnocchi, called strangolapreti. This translates to "choke the priest." The use of potato is a relatively recent innovation, occurring after the introduction of the potato to Europe in the 16th century.

Hope you like this recipe.

Instant Gnocchi

from Florence Machetta, “my own formula”

Ingredients:

Potato flakes 2C
Flour ½ C
Powdered milk ¼ C
Salt 1 t
Garlic powder ½ t
Egg 1
Water 10 oz
(Can use 10 oz milk instead of dry)

Instructions:

Put dry ingredients in bowl.
Beat egg in water.
Add wet to dry and mix well and knead on floured board until dough is elastic. Form one inch ropes of dough and cut into 2 inch pieces.
Roll each piece over a grater or end of dinner fork to form the gnocchi. Bring pot of water to a boil and add the gnocchi. Reduce heat and simmer until gnocchi float to top then remove with slotted spoon.
Serve with sauce of your choice.

Mangia bene!

Cordyceps Militaris Chicken Soup

Cordyceps Militaris (虫草子实体) is a parasitic ascomycetous mushroom that has long been used in Chinese medicine to treat Numerous illnesses, Promote longevity and Relieve exhaustion. As opposed to the wild ones, cordyceps militaris are artifically grown and yet they are similar to wild Chinese Cordyceps in terms of medicinal value. They are also rich in protein, zinc, vitamins A & E and microelements that are essential to human body.

Functions: It protects the Lungs, benefits the Kidney and also defy aging.

Helps: To relieve cough due to Lung-Asthenia; strengthen Yang and body essence.


I have read about the usage of this Cordyceps Militaris in some Chinese Soup Book some months back but I didn't give it a try because I thought we might not be able to find this in Singapore as it is not a common soup herbs. But my view changed when I chance upon a soup recipe from FOOD 4 TOTS called Chicken & Cordyceps Militaris Soup. Thank LK, for sharing this herbs and a wonder soup recipe :)

She mentioned about this herb and how she got it from her mother-in-law. So without hesitate, I also try my luck in one of the Chinese Medical shop in Chinatown where I managed to get hold of this herbs at $11.00 (during their promotion) for "一两 (38g)".

Ingredients:
1/2 Chicken
5-7g of Cordyceps Militaris (虫草子实体)
6 Big Red Date (红枣)
1 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞)
5g Yu Zhu (玉竹)
1000ml water

Method:
1. Clean, remove the extra fats from the chicken then cut it into half if your double-boiled pot is too small.
2. Bring some water to boil in pot, blanch the chicken for about 2 - 3 minutes, rinse and set aside.
3. Rinse all the herbs and set aside.
4. Next bring the 1000ml of water to almost boil, add in the rinse herbs and bring to boil for about 2 minutes then add in the chicken.
5. Let it bring to boil again then simmer for about another 3 minutes.
6. Transfer to the double-boil pot and place it in a slow-cooker with hot water in it.
7. Double-boiled for about 2 - 2.5 hrs.
8. Serves with rice or you can drink before meal.

Note:
1) I just season the soup with pinch of salt before consume. The adding of herbs do makes the soup taste sweet and fragrance so it's ok if you omit the salt seasoning.

According to the shopkeeper by adding some Yu Zhu (玉竹) can nourishes Ying and stimulates saliva to quenches thirst. It also can be used to heals coughing and clears the internal Heat as well as pain the the throat. And there also also a few types of Yu Zhu available is most of the medical shop which I have shown two types over here. The 1 on the left which is darker brown in colour is more towards the fresh cut without being press thin and dry compare to the whiter colour 1 on the right.


Recently I also spot another type of vacuum sealed packing of this Cordyceps Militaris from Fook Huat Chinese Medical Shop (福华). But I am not sure how it taste and look like compare to this type that I get from the Medical Shop in Chinatown. So do give this soup a try if you managed to find this herbs. It really add extra flavour and fragrance to the soup which make it taste great.

Singapore Blog Awards - Best Food Blog

16 September 2009 is the date where most of the Singapore Blog Award finalists look forward to. Our family are so happy to be invited to attend the OMY Singapore Blog Award Ceremony that is held at Supperclub at Odeon Tower. We were so excited to see so many blogger from different nominated categories as well as some other guest blogger. You can take a look at the full-list of winner for each category HERE.

To read more about the Blog Award Ceremony, hop over to the main blog at CUISINE PARADISE for more review........

Singapore Blog Awards - Best Food Blog

16 September 2009 is the date where most of the Singapore Blog Award finalists look forward to. Our family are so happy to be invited to attend the OMY Singapore Blog Award Ceremony that is held at Supperclub at Odeon Tower. We were so excited to see so many blogger from different nominated categories as well as some other guest blogger. You can take a look at the full-list of winner for each category HERE.

Upon registered at the entrance of the event hall, each of the nominee or blogger who attend will be given a door-gift from "Fabrix" which is a - camera case. These cases come in a few colour and designs and Rey request this design from the counter. These cases are also of quality material that comes with extra slot for memory cards too.

Before the Guest-of-Honour, Foreign Minister George Yeo arrive, blogger and nominees were chatting around with each other and helping themself with some light refreshing and drink. They are also some performances by award-winning local Chinese instrumentalist group, The Teng Company, as well as singer Chen Diya.

I managed to grab a photo of this Salmon Pasta that served in a mini Chinese take-away box, which look more presentable and edible compare to the rest of the snacks like over-cooked fries, not so appetising looking pizza and etc. There is another deep-fry beef balls which look crispy and nice on the outside but....errrr.... cannot make it when you pop into your mouth :)

Group photo of all the winners with OMY members and Minister, George Yeo.

Some of my photos for receiving the awards and doing interview.

All blogger and guests who attend the ceremony will bring home a set of this goodie bag which consists of 1 omy logo recycle-bag, a T-shirt, some instant noodles by KOKA, torch light and note pad and some vourchers.

Tata... so dear friends and readers with all your support, nomination and voting.... Cuisine Paradise managed to win the BEST FOOD BLOG award for 2009 :) Thank you for all your supports...... I am really speechless when I saw my blog and name being shown on the big screen while revealing the Food Blog result.

This is my award Certificate for the BEST FOOD BLOG.

You see... all winner walks home with all these different flavour of Instant Noodles by KOKA. Whatever flavour you name, you have it... Pepper Crab, Spicy Black Pepper, Spicy Marinara Beef Pho, Chicken Abalone, Laksa...etc... wow... don't know what to do with all these noodles.. maybe can come up new DISHES with them.. :p

Other than the above, winner also have a movie premium hamper from United International Pictures. It consists of CDs, books, posters and USB port mouse pad and etc....

And.. to my surprised, my blog actually got into the top 5 most voted blog category which enable me to win a set of this HTC Diamond, touch screen hand phone. This extra gift is given to me by those who voted my blog during the 7 weeks voting period. I thank everyone for all your support and time and with all your daily votes and also Jocey Yeong who nominated my blog for selection. With all these Cuisine Paradise is able to have such a great spark in blogging life....... Thank you.

Triumph of the Cross Cookie Hunt

Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. From the Women for Faith and Family website...

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (or Triumph of the Cross) we honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. The public veneration of the Cross of Christ originated in the fourth century, according to early accounts, beginning with the miraculous discovery of the cross on September 14, 326, by Saint Helen, mother of Constantine, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem -- the same day that two churches built at the site of Calvary by Constantine were dedicated.

A friend of mine put this idea in my head many, many moons ago and I always think of it when this feast day rolls around, especially when it rolls around on a water soaked day like today!

Make some simple cutout sugar cookies in the shape of a cross. Any cut-out cookie recipe will do although, it might be fun to try a chocolate version to simulate the wood of the cross. Frost all of the cookies white except for one. Frost that cookie red. Now, go hide the cookies all over the house during rest time or while the children are distracted. The red cross represents the True Cross that everyone should be hunting for and at the end of the hunt you should have a plate of cookies to enjoy together.


Now, if the idea of cookie crumbs all over your house just sends your spine a tremblin', never fear... you can wrap the cookies in cellophane or use paper crosses instead, maybe even craft stick crosses! Surprise your little hunters with a plate of cookies after they have hunted for and found the True Cross like St. Helena.

Also... this is a coloring page I made for St. Helena's feast day, but it could also be used for today. This link will take you to a short YouTube video on the church of Santa Croce and the story of St. Helena and the True Cross. And for more ideas for celebrating today, click here and stroll through the lovely posts from last year's blog fair.

*I think the wet weather outside kept my frosting from setting up and drying, so we ended up hunting for craft stick crosses!