Solemnity of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Happy Feast Day!

Here are some links of interest for the day:

Domestic Church's page on Our Lady of Guadalupe

Website on Our Lady of Guadalupe (be sure to read the part about her eyes)

Catholic Encyclopedia Entry on the Shrine of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe from EWTN (very informative!)

"A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe"

Ideas for Celebration from O Night Divine

It's so nice to be able to say Saint Juan Diego now, isn't it? (Even though he's been canonized for several years, it still seems new to me). I love how we commemorate the spectacular events of 1531 over the course of several days - between his feast on December 9th and her Solemnity today. UPDATE: By the way, sorry for the multiple updates. I was doubting my information in calling this a Solemnity, but my sister found the above link on EWTN which seems to confirm it. If anyone has further information, I'd love to hear about it.

Today we're planning to go to Mass, attempt to sing a song we learned at a Spanish Mass a few weeks back (with a little procession), read one of our favorite books, bake a dessert out of Josefina's cookbook and eat Mexican food in honor of the day.

Here's one of our all-time favorite dishes (no guarantee of authenticity). I'm afraid I don't tend to measure anything out - this recipe is a little different every time - it also depends on what I can find fresh at the grocery store.

Taco Salad:

Ground Beef
Canned Black Beans
Taco Seasonings (I use a seasoning packet)
Chile Peppers (here's a helpful "heat" index - see note following list)
sweet or red onions
fresh garlic
sliced mushrooms (I like baby bellas)
sliced black olives
avocado
fresh diced tomatoes
Lettuce (we like red leaf)
sour cream
grated cheddar cheese
salsa (recipes can be found here)
tortilla chips and/or tortillas

Note about peppers: I'm pretty new to cooking with chile peppers. I think I was a little nervous about it - since I'm not big on HOT peppers (at least for a Californian) - but I shouldn't have been. I found the poblano peppers delicious in the meat mixture, but too mild (even for me) in the salsa.

Brown ground beef with garlic, onion, peppers and taco seasonings to taste. Drain fat, add beans and cook until thoroughly heated.

I sometimes make two batches of meat - regular and "grande" (particularly useful for a large family gathering where not everyone will appreciate the fancier version). Regular - shown above. Grande - set aside part of the meat mixture and add mushrooms and olives to cook along with the beans.

This is best served buffet style (be sure to keep the meat hot, however, as all the other items are cold). Some assembly required: Prepare a bed of lettuce. Top with meat and bean mix, cheese, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream and salsa. Sprinkle crushed tortilla chips on top. Also works quite well wrapped in a tortilla.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, patroness of the unborn, pray for us!