Today's feast is for St. Francis of Assisi, who is most know as the saint who loved animals and the best saint to put a statue of in your garden. Poor guy, he renounced his wealth, cared for the lepers, founded a religious order, was the first recored person to receive the stigmata, traveled to far away lands to try to mediate during the crusades, invented the nativity scene.... and all most people know him as is the guy who liked birds. So in honor of him today... we made cookies for birds. I also wanted to go visit the dog park, but Kevin refuses to let our kids fall into the common misunderstanding that St. Francis was just kind to animals. Don't worry, after we made the bird cookies we made sure the kids knew everything else amazing about St. Francis by reading Clare and Francis by Guido Visconti. Instructions for the bird cookies are below.
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| Mix 2/3 c. flour, 1/4 c. water, 2 T. corn syrup and 2 c. bird seed |
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| Yummy |
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| Press into cookie cutters |
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| Punch a hole near the top with a toothpick |
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| Let dry, for 6-8 hours turning every hour. After about 2 hours you can gently remove them from their cutters to help speed up the drying process. Tie a string through the hole, hang them in a tree and hope a squirrel doesn't steal them. |