The Good Shepherd's garden Party :: Week Six

The sixth week of Easter has just passed, which leaves just one last week as we celebrate the Easter season using The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter. The Good Shepherd's Garden Party for week 6 was based on the theme "Oh! What a Beautiful City!"  Since it falls during May this year, and since the symbols provided a perfect opportunity, Charlotte and I turned our weekly party into a "May Crowning!"

Oh! What a Beautiful City! Menu Suggestions

Pretzel & Cheese Construction Kits
Shirley Temples
Bride Strawberries
Groom Strawberries
Crown Cake

Decorating Ideas

Play the “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel
Have children decorate “Thrones” for the “Bride and Groom” (Mom & Dad)

Here is the link to the picture's from Charlotte's family's 6th Good Shepherd's Garden Party...  

... and you can visit Shower of Roses to see the rest of our pictures!

Now it's your turn!  How did you and your family celebrate the fifth week of Easter?  We'd love to see pictures and hear about how you modified our Good Shepherd's Garden Party for your family, or incorporated any of our other ideas (whether you choose daily activities or just one party for the week) into your celebration.  We'd also love to see any pictures from your May Crowning or Ascension Celebrations as well!

To Participate:

1. Create a post about your Good Shepherd's Garden Party, May Crowning, or Ascension celebrations.
2. Using the linky below, enter the exact link to your post.
3. Add a link your post, referring back to this post so that others can find the party as well!  (Please feel free to include the Good Shepherd's Garden Party Button if you'd like!)
4. Be sure to visit the links and see how everyone else has been celebrating!
5. The linky will be open until next Monday when we add a new one for Week 7 and Pentecost.

*Be sure to take a look at all of the Week Seven links from last year 2010 and 2011 for all sorts of great ideas!

An Edible Bouquet for Our Lady in May

The following pictures were submitted by Seth Peters, from CatholicLand! He made these, using ideas from our various May Crowning posts, to take to the May Crowning luncheon at his wife's school. They turned out beautifully!  

"I made the cucumber roses, though I had to hold mine together with toothpicks." 

 "I made the fleur-de-lis out of crescent rolls." 

"I modified the calla lily recipe to be cream cheese and green onion & stems rather than peanut butter and swizzle sticks. Thanks for the inspiration!"

A Marian Titles May Crowning Luncheon

Inspired by Charlotte's May Crowning Feast, I decided to host a Marian Titles May Crowning Luncheon following our May Little Flowers Meeting, which was based on Mary Mother of God and the virtue of Cheerfulness.   Each of the girls in our Little Flowers group selected one of the menu items to bring and I filled in the gaps.  We had one of our wonderful priests join us for the afternoon! He gave a talk to the girls on Our Lady and the virtue of Cheerfulness, taught them a Marian hymn, led a Marian procession, and then we all prayed the Litany of Loreto before enjoying our feast.   It was a lovely afternoon! 

~ Queen of Martyrs ~

One of the girls brought a Strawberry Boston Cream Cake, Charlotte's suggestion for Queen of Martyr's since her son pointed out that "The red is for the martyrs and the strawberries make it look like a crown."  It was a hit!

~ Holy Mary (Sancta Maria) ~ 

I picked up a couple packages of Marias cookies for Sancta Maria (Holy Mary) and served them with Nutella.  

~ Mystical Rose ~

I made these Strawberry Rose Cupcakes in honor of the Marian title Mystical Rose, saving the rest of the batter to make our Blue Phlox Cupcakes (the flower of the month for Little Flowers). 

I had a number of candy molds in my cupboard that tied in with some of the Marian Titles, so I couldn't resist making a few batches to add to our table   These Rose Candies were made with this mold and a mix of Red and White Candy Melts. 

~ Blue Phlox Cupcakes ~ 

Though not based on one of the titles of Mary, theses cupcakes were topped with Blue Phlox Flowers for our study of Our Lady and the virtue of Cheerfulness.  The Blue is for Mary and the five petals represent five dimensions of Cheerfulness:  Marian, Courageous, Heroic, Consistent, and Contagious.

~ Mother Most Pure ~ 

I made these Mother Most Pure Lily Lollipops made with this mold, though it doesn't look like I took a picture after adding the second batch...

I had a feeling that no one would sign up for our Lily Sandwiches and sure enough I was the one to make them.  They really aren't as difficult as they look. . . I ran out of time and only had 30 20 minutes to make them before the girls started arriving.   I was able to pull it off!  :)  I made a couple modifications to our regular recipe, flattening the bread with a rolling pin after cutting it out (which really helped!) and then inserting swizzle sticks for stems (inspired by Charlotte).  I am so glad I had a chance to make them and they didn't last long!

~ Morning Star ~

These Star Shaped Tea Sandwiches were made by my friend Kathleen and her daughter.

I also made a batch of Star Chocolates with this mold. 

~ Mirror of Justice ~

I happened to have a mirror from our old hutch, which came in handy for these Mirror of Justice Chicken Salad Sandwiches, brought by Amy's girls. 

~ Tower of Ivory, House of Gold ~ 

This was also inspired by Charlotte and also brought by Amy's girls. 

~ Health of the Sick ~

For this menu item, which was brought by Dee Dee, I opted for a Veggie Platter, though a plate of Apples would work nicely too!  

~ Vessel of Honor ~

Our punch bowl Vessel of Honor, was a wedding gift to my parents and passed on to us.   We used Charlotte's suggested recipe for Mary Blue Punch, mixing 7-up with a small box of blue gelatin (I wasn't able to find the unsweetened version) and topping it with vanilla ice cream clouds.  

Here is the document I created for the buffet signs.  I printed them out onto light blue card stock, adding a dark blue Fluer-di-lis quickly created with my Martha Stewart Fleur De Lis Punch.

O God, Who by the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Feast for Mary's Month of May!

Please welcome Kelly, from The Careless Catholic, who will be joining us as a contributor here at Catholic Cuisine!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yesterday, we finally had our home May Crowning ceremony. This month has blessed us with so many additional celebrations that I was having a hard time figuring out when I could fit another one in. But we have always had a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother and I really wanted to make sure we fit our May Crowning celebration in this month. The entire month of May is dedicated to Our Lady, so I figured anytime this month would work. Honoring Our Lady with a May Crowning has been a tradition in our home for only the past few years. Our local parish used to have one, but unfortunately like so many other beautiful traditions in the Church, this practice has fallen away. So, we started having our own May Crowning ceremony at home. Our home ceremony, like most of our liturgical celebrations, consisted of prayer (Hail Holy Queen, Regina Caeli, Litany of Loretto, To the Blessed Mother and our family Rosary), hymns (Hail Holy Queen, Mary Queen of the May and Immaculate Mary), and food. Last year I tried to have a few special items to eat as part of the celebration, but this year I wanted to make it a bit more memorable for the children. After seeing all the wonderful ideas presented here at Catholic Cuisine by Jessica, Charlotte and Tiffany, I was inspired. I decided to do an entire day of feasting with a Marian themed menu! As much as I could, I incorporated the colors blue and white. Blue for Our Lady's Mantle and white for Our Lady's purity. I also used the crown as a symbol to honor the queenship of Mary and the May Crowning itself. Also, I tried to infuse beauty. Beauty in the table setting, the music playing in the background and the food as well. Btw, a side note on the music linked; this music is sublime, especially Saint-Saens' Ave Maria. It is SO good I actually cried hearing it the first time.

Our May Crowning Day Menu:

Breakfast::

~Mini Blueberry Parfaits~

(inspired by Lena)

&

~Homemade Blueberry Waffles~ 

(Topped with blueberry preserves and powdered sugar.)

Luncheon::

~Crown shaped Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches~

(using Jessica's lily cream cheese filling)

~Turkey and Cucumber Roses~

(Inspired by Charlotte's meal, linked above in first paragraph.)

~Cauliflower Florets with Ranch Dipping Sauce~

~Blueberry Coffee Cake Slices~

(I didn't make this coffee cake. When we saw a package of these at the store we not only thought they looked yummy, we also thought they looked like crowns so we picked up a box. And of course being made with blueberries made it perfect!)

~Blue and White Crown Cupcakes~

(Thank you Jessica for introducing me to candy molding! It's so much fun!)

~Blue and White Candies~

(Hershey's Coconut Kisses & York Peppermint Pieces)

~Charlotte's Blue Punch~

(The kids LOVED this. Thank you, Miss Charlotte!)

Here are some more luncheon pictures:

(I decorated the table with a blue table covering with a plastic white lace one over top, a holy card of the Blessed Mother, my bluebirds, blue candles, our Pascal Candle we made with this kit, our Easter wreath that was the crown of thorns during Lent, and fresh lilies (a symbol of Our Lady) from the market.)

Dinner::

~Herbed Chicken Tortellini~

*pasta filled with chicken seasoned with rosemary (Our Lady's herb) in an alfredo sauce*

(A reality check: I did not make this from scratch. I did what any sensible overwhelmed mother of many does when planning a day long feast. I picked up two bags of Buitoni pasta and Bertolli Alfredo Sauce from the market.)

~Fleur-di-lis Rolls~

(I made these using refrigerated breadstick dough. I used two breadstick pieces for the middle, pinching them together, two pieces for the sides and one piece to wrap around the middle and then pressed together underneath. Three tubes of dough should make 7 large rolls.)

~Mixed Green Salad in Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil Dressing~

As you can see, I tried to keep dinner a little simpler than the luncheon earlier in the day. After dinner we sang our Marian hymns  prayed our prayers and then Dancer (the oldest daughter in our family) crowned the Our Lady of Fatima statue we have.  We ended our day with a family rosary before bed. It was a beautiful day and one that I hope the children will remember for years to come.

May God bless your Marian devotions!

A May Crowning Lunch Menu

The following post and May Crowning Lunch Menu was submitted by Tiffany, from Family at the Foot of the Cross, for publication here at Catholic Cuisine.  Thank you Tiffany!

On the First Friday in May the beautiful sunshine was glorious in our neck of the woods.  We (sadly) have to miss 2 other opportunities, later in the month, for group May Crownings in our homeschooling community (sigh).  Settling with doing it with our immediate family, we decided to make the best of it!  This First Friday in May was picked with the intention of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in mind.  We are gearing up to plant our Mary Garden on Mother's Day so we crowned Our Lady (here at home) first, so we don't stomp over our newly planted flowers after Sunday!  Then we traveled over to our parish shrine to crown Our Lady there.

We followed our morning May Crowning with a Crown-themed lunch! We were originally inspired by the crowning lunch ideas that we saw here at Catholic Cuisine by Waltzing Matilda...Then we took off from there! We offer prayers and thanks to these inspiring and amazing ladies. Our menu would also work for many other Marian feasts...

This was our Crowning Lunch Menu:

Crown-shaped sandwiches

Crown-tipped Chips

Crown Jewel Berries

Our Lady's Blue Lemonade

~For Dessert~

Queen of Heaven Crown Cake

Crown Shaped Sandwiches

(These Crown Shaped sandwiches are cut out from the large-faced sour dough bread. I made turkey and cheese sandwiches first, cut them out, and then added the pickles as the crown jewels.)

Crown-tipped Chips
(Just Triangle Shaped Tortilla Chips)

Crown Jewel Berries
(Serve a bowl of Fresh Strawberries!)

Our Lady's Blue Lemonade

(Regular yellow lemonade with blue food coloring.)

Queen of Heaven Crown Cake

**Updated to add brief directions.  Please click over to Tiffany's blog for a tutorial on her beautiful crown cake!

We created our own "home" ceremony which we conducted prior to our crownings. It included the following prayers and hymns:

1. Regina Coeli
2. Litany of Loreto
Hymns:
Immaculate Mary
Hail Holy Queen

You can see the rest of the beautiful pictures from Family at the Foot of the Cross's May Crowning here.