Today is the feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. Hers is a very interesting story; you can read more about it here. We were especially interested to learn she is the patron saint of bakers. (You might remember I breathed a quick plea to her last month during a near cornbread fiasco.) And since we enjoy baking very much, we thought today would be a good day to whip up a few mini-loaves of pumpkin bread! (These freeze beautifully and will make nice gifts next week at Thanksgiving.)
Baking and sharing bread is a tradition on this feast day, when "children might follow the example of Saint Elizabeth, benefactress of the poor, and bring bread to their neighbors ..." (Catholic Culture)
Well, all of our neighbors head out pretty early in the morning, but we did send Daddy in to work with a loaf and we brought one to Earlybird's speech therapist, as well.
I had bought a package of mini-loaf pans at the grocery store last week, the aluminum kind that come with clear covers. Throughout the holidays I find these nice to have on hand for impromptu gifts, as well as perfectly sized treats for tea with the boys. (At one time my plan was to follow the seasons and stock my freezer with breads made from the fruits of the land - strawberry, raspberry, peach, zucchini, pumpkin, etc. So far that has not happened on any major - or even minor - scale.)
The recipe I use makes 2 large loaves or 6 mini-loaves. This morning we made 6 small pumpkin bread loaves to eat and to share. We left ours plain, but I've been known to add a cream cheese frosting for an extra sweet touch.
After reading about Saint Elizabeth's legend of bread and roses, we decided to adorn our small loaf pans with stickers of roses:
And below is how it looks with a Thanksgiving sticker.
(You could do this for any holiday of course - what a neat idea to have a ready supply of pans and stickers and you will be well prepared for any special day of the year!)
Since we don't have a Saint Elizabeth holy card in our collection, I searched for her image online. I found several here. We chose our favorite, printed it out to card size, and adhered it to some plain white card stock (with double-sided tape). Lastly, we added a gold glitter border. This was entirely Earlybird's idea - he got into the glitter when I wasn't looking!
As the boys colored a page about Saint Elizabeth (and munched on their bread) we lit a floating pink rose candle in a small bowl of water.
We also took some time to read about how generous Saint Elizabeth was to the poor. We talked about upcoming opportunities for us to do the same - this weekend's coat drive, the Christmas Giving Tree, the toy drive that Bookworm's CCD class is hosting next month. With Thanksgiving upon us next week it is such a good time to reflect on our blessings and remember those less fortunate in prayer as well as charitable works. The wonderful example of the saints comes from how they lived their lives for and like Christ. There's rich tradition in every feast day as well as beautiful lessons to be learned.
And the tea? Well, this week it was cocoa - with marshmallows!
My mum came by today for a visit and to help me with more pre-holiday tasks.The boys were proud to surprise her with a bread to take home for she and Papa to share. And one last thing! I don't have the time today to make this delicious Hungarian braided bread, but I will use the bread machine later - I hope. :) (But maybe this weekend! And maybe with some Hungarian stew - thanks for the idea, Theresa!) Whenever we do get that bread baking, the house will smell great and we'll think of St. Elizabeth and how fortunate we are to have good bread to eat!
I'll bet you, like I, will be busy this weekend getting ready for Thanksgiving next week. I pray that it is a happy and safe one for you!
"I want to see you, God, in all persons who are in need. Give me the eyes of your love. Amen." ~ Saint Elizabeth's Prayer
