Nashville Dominican Novena - day 3

Act of Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war. Protect us from all harm. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

(Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, 1959, for public consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006)

Nashville Dominican Novena - day 2

Act of Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war. Protect us from all harm. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

(Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, 1959, for public consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006)

Nashville Dominican Novena - day 1

We beg God for the preservation of our great and beautiful country, and of the freedom we have all enjoyed and been privileged to share with others.The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia invite you to join with us in a novena of prayer and fasting, asking Mary, Patroness of the United States of America, to implore God's loving mercy on us at this critical time. The novena will begin February 11 and end February 19, 2012. The sisters will be praying the following prayer each of the nine days.

Act of Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war. Protect us from all harm. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

(Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, 1959, for public consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006)

Praying with the Nashville Dominicans

Today on Father Powell's site:

Nashville Dominican Sisters Say NO to Anti-Catholic Mandate

We beg God for the preservation of our great and beautiful country, and of the freedom we have all enjoyed and been privileged to share with others. The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia invite you to join with us in a novena of prayer and fasting, asking Mary, Patroness of the United States of America, to implore God's loving mercy on us at this critical time. The novena will begin February 11 and end February 19, 2012. The sisters will be praying the following prayer each of the nine days.

Act of Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war. Protect us from all harm. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

(Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, 1959, for public consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006)

A Whiter Shade of Green

Recently, born out of a sense of thrift more than anything, I decided to make a major change in our kitchen and cut paper towels out of everyday usage. The most painless way to do this, especially since my husband does a lot of the kitchen clean up, was to replace them with something that resembled paper towels as closely as possible. There are a lot of cute designs for flannel or terry cloth kitchen towels, even some with waterproof backs, or snaps so they can reside on a roll holder, but I knew that anything that looked even vaguely "good" wouldn't get used for real messes. So, I chose to go the very simple route by tearing up a few floursack towels (a dozen for $12 at Sam's Club) into 12 squares each, and taking the opportunity to test out some of the various finishing stitches on my new sewing machine.

I picked up a tip towel basket at Target; it's the perfect size, though truth be told we usually just stuff them in there, rather than folding them as in the picture, so anything that fits on your counter would work (an old CD crate, perhaps?). Our laundry closet is right in our kitchen, so we just have a plastic bin that lives on the dryer for the dirty ones, but a little bag in a cute print could hang on the oven handle to catch the used ones.

We're a small family that does laundry frequently, so 2-3 dozen has us covered for now. We still keep a roll of paper towels under the sink for the greasiest tasks like draining bacon or seasoning cast iron, but it often goes quite some time between uses. The only trick has been remembering not to throw the cloth towels away, as they're so similar to using paper!

In Which our Loyalty is Validated

Lucy and I have been long-time fans of Method Lavender Surface Cleaner, so I was pleased to see that Cook's Illustrated picked it as their top choice (video available for a limited time). It was rated as having better cleaning power even than cleaners containing harsh chemicals, with no need to rinse (if you read the fine print, they actually do say to rinse food-contact surfaces with water).

(Fine print: No compensation, blah blah. I just really like this stuff and am a sucker for anything lavender-scented.)

You Smart Cookie!

I'm always so impressed with Grace's baked creations, and these little works of art for the Presentation and Candlemas are almost too beautiful to eat! Check under her"You Smart Cookie" tab for more inspiration.

Cold, but Cozy

My ice cream maker is sadly underused during these winter months (aside from a batch of sherbet when we were mending from the flu). I decided to change that, though, with fantastic results. I had originally planned on making cinnamon ice cream, only to find that I fell far short of the number of cinnamon sticks needed. On the other hand, I had a surplus of whole nutmegs. The result really could be called eggnog ice cream (especially with a boozy sauce). The bread pudding makes this a lovely dessert indeed for cozying up to the fireplace or a snuggle on the couch. Enjoy!

Nutmeg Ice Cream (adapted from Saveur)

• 2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream, divided
• 1 whole nutmeg, cracked*
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks

Toast grated nutmeg in a skillet over medium heat, 1–2 minutes; set aside. Heat milk, 1 cup cream and cracked nutmeg in a 4-qt. saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat; let steep for 10 minutes or more; strain out nutmeg. In a bowl, whisk together sugar and yolks. While whisking, slowly pour in milk mixture. Return mixture to pan; cook, stirring, until mixture thickens, 8–10 minutes. Whisk in toasted nutmeg and remaining cream; cover custard and chill. Freeze custard in an ice cream maker; transfer to an airtight container. Freeze until set before serving.

MAKES 1 QUART

*A nutcracker would work fine; lacking that, I wrapped it in a clean towel and used pliers.

Bread Pudding (adapted from The Silver Spoon)

• 3½ ounces day-old bread
• 1½ cups milk
• 1½ cups sugar
• ½ cup golden raisins
• flour, for dusting
• 1 T butter
• ¼ cup orange liqueur
• 1 egg, plus one egg yolk*

Tear the bread into pieces and place in a bowl. Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat, and stir in sugar until dissolved; pour over the bread and leave until cooled. Place the raisins in another bowl, cover with warm water, and let soak about 15 minutes. Drain thoroughly, then dust with flour, shaking off any excess.

Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease small baking casserole with butter and dust with sugar. Combine bread with raisins, liqueur, and eggs, mixing well. Spoon into prepared pan, dot the surface with butter and bake for 20 minutes, then increase the temperature to 350° and bake 10 minutes more.

*I used 3 egg whites, since I had them in spades. I wouldn't normally recommend this, but the ice cream more than made up what was lacking.

CL Tip of the Day: Prep Bowls and Shot Glasses

Whenever I'm making something that requires small amounts of several ingredients, such as a marinade or a spice-laden dessert, I grab a small bowl and carry it around the kitchen with me, rather than bringing all the ingredients to my workspace. It saves a lot of steps, since I don't have to make a separate trip to put everything away.

Related: When measuring liquids, use a shot glass instead of a tablespoon. That way, you can set your measure on the counter while you pour, and there's no risk of overflowing. If you search for "graduated shot glass", you can even find ones with teaspoons marked.

The Holy Father's Prayer Intentions for February, 2012

General Intention: Access to Water.

That all peoples may have access to water and other resources needed for daily life.

Missionary Intention: Health Workers.

That the Lord may sustain the efforts of health workers assisting the sick and elderly in the world's poorest regions.

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all our associates, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father for this month. Amen.