Mother Angelica + 2 Ice Creams + Do You Love God Enough to Break Hearts

Welcome to Cooking with Catholic History where in each posting we talk about Catholic people and or events and a related topic as well as look one of my personal takes on recipes.

This time we’re talking about Mother Angelica, Do You Love God Enough to Break Hearts?, and my wife is actually letting me share two of her hit home made ice cream recipes today.

Mother Angelica

Mother Angelica, one of our sister’s in faith to who I, like many, feel very close had much in her life to talk about so I wont discuss it all here in post one. A genuinely beautiful woman who let her love for God show in her love for others. Truly one Sister in Christ to whom I am very close. One could probably write a whole book examining just her youth and several examining the rest of her life. Forgive me for I won’t be able to talk about all of the spiritually important topics or moments here, even in the given segment of life.

Born Rita Rizzo, her early life was difficult. 1920’s Canton Ohio was not a pleasant place to be born. It was a place and time of mob rule. Adding to that tumultuous family dynamics in immediate and extended family. It was a hard start for the future Mother Angelica.

In her adolescent years young Rizzo found herself with a health problem. The treatment was essentially rest here and there and wear a tight, uncomfortable medical belt. At the advice of a maid her mother Mae brought her ailing daughter to a mystic not too far away who was blessed with the Stigmata, Rhoda Wise. Yes her actual name was Rhoda Wise and when the two showed up she talked with them, she didn’t give definitive answers, but instead a direction to pray a novena to Saint Therese of the Little Flower, make some sort of sacrifice [to God], and promise to spread devotion to the Little Flower if she was cured. God answered the prayers through Rita, her mother and grandmother joining the novena, and Rita began spending time after that sitting & helping with Rhoda.

Family life struggles persisted, school wasn’t easy when she’d been pushing herself to be the best. Eventually you can’t hold everything up on your own and by graduation she wasn’t the honors student she’d once been. A call inside her led her to talking with a priest in secret about vocations. Eventually deciding on a course of action she ran away to become a postulant in the Poor Clares.

Want to learn more about Mother Angelica from me with recipes, stick around I’ll share more, but you’ll have to pay attention because I don’t post a schedule of posts.

Home Made Ice Cream

These two recipes are actually my wife’s, she’s been super nice to let me share them with you all. I’m thankful to God that she’s doing so. They’re delicious and huge hits with everyone who has had them.

I picked ice cream this time because from what I’ve read it was Mother Angelica’s favorite food. Why now during the winter? Well, in my family ice cream is a year round dessert.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Fridge Time: 1 hour + (for mix)
Base in Freezer: 24 hours (not the mix – see recipe)
Cooking Time: approx 15 minutes (varies based on machine)
Servings: around 5 per recipe

Materials & Equipment

Equipment

1 Medium or large bowl that will fit in your fridge (you can also use other suitably sized storage containers)
Ice Cream Machine
whisk (preferably a balloon whisk)

Choco-Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Whole Milk
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¾ Cup Dutch Process Chocolate Baking Powder

Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Whole Milk
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
¼ Cup Favorite Caramel Sauce

Prep (the process is almost the same for both recipes except where noted)

Note: Some ice cream makers require their bowls to be frozen in the freezer for at least 24 hours before churning to reliably create ice cream check the instructions for your specific model before prep

Add sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to bowl and whisk together
Add remaining ingredients (except caramel if doing Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream)
Whisk to combine (if doing Choco-Peanut Butter Ice Cream, there should still be bits, blobs, chunks, etc of peanut butter but everything else should be combined)
Refrigerate mix for 1-2 hours (or even overnight, I’ve heard it helps texture of ice cream but I’ve not practiced the patience to find out)

Cooking (the process is almost the same for both recipes except where noted)

Add mixture to your ice cream machine, per manufacturers instructions
Run until fully churned (for us about 15 minutes)
Put in freezer safe containers
If doing Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream Add caramel sauce and stir twice
Place in freezer for 1 hour before enjoying

Do You Love God Enough to Break Hearts?

Some Clarification here at the start.

This is NOT about denying dignity or mercy to others.
It is NOT about getting what we want at cost to others, especially at cost to their faith or soul.
It is NOT about insulting or demeaning others over their sin, that would be hypocrisy.
It IS about caring about the souls of others and your own
It IS about caring and accounting for the healing and mercy now and in the future for the other
It IS about genuine love as is defined in 1 Corinthians 13
It IS about genuine consideration and surrender to the vocation God is calling you to, like Mother Angelica.

Example one:

A theoretical person. We’ll call them my friend Bob. Nice and generic enough.

Bob felt like something was missing from his life. He would wake up, go to work, go out on dates, hang out with friends, take part in his hobbies, but there was a feeling of absence. A tugging on his heart and mind to go looking for the missing piece in himself at least that’s what it felt like at the time.

One day Bob walked into the sanctuary of a Catholic church and sat down. He never said why. But one day he just sat down in a back pew in the sanctuary. Something about sitting there made questions bubble up.

After that Bob’s inquiries more and more looked into the Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith. As he began to realize where the answers he was looking for were a problem began to arise. Bob’s family and a number of his friends were decidedly anti-Catholic.

Bob sat in his apartment and made a choice. If he was pursuing truth and eternity and to be the best person he could through that he had to follow it. He trusted God in his decision.

Example Two:

Mother Angelica, our dear sister in Heaven. When she was on Earth and still Rita Rizzo in name under spiritual advising realized that she was called to religious life.
This wouldn’t be an easy course of action to take. Young Rita Rizzo knew that if she pursued the vocation to which God called her mother would do everything in her power to stop her AND it would break her mother’s heart.

Yes! To all of the above.

So, with the help of a friend, Rita slipped away and joined the Poor Clares. Her trust in God was well founded. Her mother did hurt, yet she healed, and more.

Applications:

Stories about real people and theoretical people are great, they can help, but how do we apply it ourselves? What are some direct applications?

It could be similar to Mother Angelica, pursuing your vocation under guidance from a vocational, spiritual advisor, even if it is a vocation your family doesn’t see as part of their picture for the family.