Good morning! On today’s show, Matt Swaim and Anna Mitchell welcome Rita Heikenfeld to discuss recipes for Valentine’s Day and Fat Tuesday. Other guests include pastoral counselor Kevin Prendergast on setting yourself up for a fruitful Lent, and Gary Michuta on what the Epistle of St. James has to say about treasure in heaven. Plus news, weather, sports, and more…
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St. Thomas More Prayer
Give me thy grace, good Lord,
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
But that the hearing of worldly fantasies may be to me displeasant.
Gladly to be thinking of God,
Piteously to call for his help.
To lean unto the comfort of God,
Busily to labour to love him.
To know my own vility and wretchedness,
To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God,
To bewail my sins passed.
For the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Amen.
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RECIPES FROM RITA: MUFFULETTA WITH OLIVE DRESSING
Instructions
One large loaf Italian bread, sliced into two horizontally.
Vary meats and cheese to suit you.
Filling:
1/2 pound each: thin sliced baked ham and provolone cheese
1/4 pound thin sliced hard salami
Thinly sliced tomatoes
Thinly sliced red or other onions
Leaf lettuce (opt)
Dressing
Go to taste on this. If you don’t like black olives, use Greek or green. You may wind up with dressing left over. It makes a nice spread for wraps.
Ingredients
Go to taste on this, tasting after it’s made.
1/2 cup minced black olives
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped or 2 teaspoons dried
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Pepper to taste
Instructions
Whisk together dressing ingredients. (Can be made a day ahead). Set aside.
Hollow out bottom loaf, leaving ½” thick sides.
Hollow out top loaf, but leave sides a bit thicker.
Spread dressing on inside of top and bottom loaves. Set top aside.
Start layering meats, cheese, vegetables and lettuce, brushing each layer with dressing, until you run out of filling.
Press each layer down really firm as you go.
Press top onto sandwich, pressing down really firm, wrap and chill for 1 – 8 hours.
Cut into big wedges to serve. Skewer with long toothpicks.
Take the bite out of onions!
Put slices in ice water for 20 minutes to several hours, then drain.
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BONUS RECIPE: VALENTINE’S DAY SHORTBREAD COOKIE HEARTS
Easily doubled. Makes up to 1-1/2 dozen, depending on size.
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add vanilla and beat until combined.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and add slowly to butter mixture. As soon as it’s mixed well, stop beating. Too much beating results in a tough cookie.
Form dough into ball, put in plastic wrap and smoosh down to flatten. Makes rolling out easier.
Refrigerate 1 hour or up to a few days to firm up.
Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4” thick.
Cut into desired shapes, re-rolling as necessary. (If you’re going to sprinkle with sugar, do it now and press down real gently to make it stick).
Bake 14-17 minutes or just until edges start to turn light brown. Cookies will be a bit soft but will firm up nicely after cooling.
Powdered sugar frosting with milk or water
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk or water
1/2 or so teaspoon vanilla
Food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Whisk everything until you get right consistency.
Add food coloring drop by drop.
Extra can be stored in refrigerator and whisked at room temperature.
Powdered sugar frosting with light corn syrup (more glossy and dries harder).
Ingredients
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted, then measured
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3-4 tablespoons milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Whisk everything until you get right consistency.
Add food coloring drop by drop.
Extra can be stored in refrigerator and whisked at room temperature.
To frost cookies:
After they cool, I like to dip the cookies face down in the icing. Carefully wiggle it around a bit so the whole top gets coated. Extra can be scraped off edges if necessary. Place on rack to dry.
Or you can drizzle the icing on with a fork or whisk. It’s pretty that way too and allows some of the cookie to show on top.
Let cookies sit until icing hardens completely before storing or stacking.
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Sr. Allison Regina Gliot, author of The Light they Left
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