Lumen News – April 23, 2020
Upcoming Important Dates:
- Wednesday April 29th – Virtual Principal/Parent Forum, 7p-8:30p (email invitation)
- Wednesday, May 6th – Baccalaureate Mass, 7p – Details forthcoming
- Thursday, May 7th – Graduation and Commencement for the Class of 2020 – Details forthcoming
Principal’s Update:
Greetings Lumen Families! A couple of quick updates for you.
Thanks to the support of C+L Creative, Father Tom and I have produced a short fundraising appeal video to share with our community the impact of COVID-19 on our parish and school. We hope you take the time to watch it, prayerfully discern whether you are able to assist, and perhaps share with your friends and family. You can find the video, as well as a new “virtual tour” video, on our website here: www.lumenchristiak.com. Thanks to those families and friends of Lumen who have already answered the call!
We have had some parents ask about parent Share Hours and student Faith in Action/community service hours. Obviously, it is more difficult to complete these requirements given our current situation. We do not really have any Share Hour opportunities for parents at this point, but any faith in actions your son or daughter does complete can and should be documented. For example, if you take time with your family to deliver canned food to Catholic Social Services, or your son or daughter writes a letter of support to a sick or ill loved one, or they do some spring cleaning around the house or–better yet–the neighborhood, these can all count towards their requirements. We certainly expect our students to work hard towards their Faith in Action hours, but there is no way we can enforce. Thanks for working with your child to explore opportunities to put faith into action!
I am soliciting a few more opinions on our dress code for next year, and will have a formal answer to our community in next week’s Update.
Finally, please check your email inboxes for an important letter from me regarding tuition amounts for next year.
May God continue to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
Campus Ministry:
During this time of uncertainty and social distancing, stay connected through Christ.
Our student leaders are having their second small group sessions today. They are off to a good start. We have two group leaders still looking for interested students so let your kids know!
You are all invited to our virtual school Masses everyThursday at 9a. Join via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stbenedictsak/
Prayer Spot
Please pray for
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Students, teachers and families who are working from home
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Medical professionals and first responders
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Those most vulnerable to illness
If you would like special intentions listed in Lumen News and Prayer Book of Intentions send them directly to Mrs. Loeffler. eloeffler@lumenchristiak.org
School Announcements:
Short & sweet this week!
Culinary Arts Lessons
Lessons #7 & #8 below will conclude our online Culinary Arts lessons for this semester. We can’t thank Alumni-mom Carol Sturguleski enough for going above and beyond to keep these lessons going! Hopefully your student (or you) have learned some new techniques and gained a bit of confidence in the kitchen. Thanks Mrs. Sturgulewski and Bon Appetit!
Next Week’s Schedule
Tomorrow is a Friday “B” schedule with periods 2, 4 & 6.
Next week, Friday, May 1st will be a Friday “A” schedule.
St. Benedict’s & Other Community Events:
St. Benedict’s Youth Group
The St. Ben’s Youth Group meets weekly on Wednesday nights at 7:00p. This week they played Martydom (the card version) via Zoom! Want to know what’s on the agenda for next Wednesday night? Reach out to Elise at emartinez@stbenedictsak.com for more info and to join in on the fun.
Remember that all Lumen students regardless of Parish affiliation are welcome to join the St. B’s Youth Group.
We’ve gone through some very basic cooking techniques in the past month: knife skills, cutting meat and vegetables, cooking with eggs, easy baking, and more. But where do we go from here?
If there’s a food you want to make, you can find a way to cook it. Just Google the name of the recipe. It’s even better if you specifically ask for a video–for example, Google “easy lasagna video,” and you’ll get all sorts of resources.
Another great solution is to take a look at what’s in your refrigerator, and go from there. For example, if I Google “easy chicken mustard carrots,” up pop a dozen recipes or more, using the exact ingredients I have on hand.
(Did you notice I used the word “easy” in both of those searches? That eliminates lots of complicated recipes!)
We do have some challenges currently. We aren’t going to the grocery store as often as we used to, and sometimes the ingredients we want can’t be found. Sam Sifton, the food editor of the New York Times, says, “There’s no following recipes strictly now. This is most excellent news for your cooking… Can’t make X because you don’t have Y? What might you use instead? How might you do it instead? Build the hack. Revel in your success.”
So don’t be afraid to be flexible. Take this recipe for a basic quiche. The recipe here calls for zucchini, but chopped broccoli is also great. You can use the cashews, or substitute almonds, or don’t use nuts at all. You can use a different cheese–Swiss, cheddar (not Parmesan or blue–the flavor is too strong), etc. I like to add a handful of smoked salmon. Chopped leftover smoked turkey or ham would be delicious, too. The egg/cheese ratio is important, because that holds everything together. But otherwise, play with this!
ZUCCHINI QUICHE
1 premade pie shell
1/3 c. chopped cashews
3 Tbsp. butter
2 small zucchini in 1/2-inch slices
1 c. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp. dill or thyme
1 c. Monterey jack cheese, grated
3 eggs
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Sprinkle the nuts in the bottom of the pie shell.
Melt the butter. Add the zucchini, onion and garlic and stir-fry until the pieces are soft. Add some salt and pepper to your taste. Put the vegetables in the pie shell. Sprinkle the dill on top.
Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the vegetables. With a whisk or fork, mix the eggs in a small bowl until you don’t see any streaks of egg white, and pour the beaten eggs over the cheese. Bake 45 minutes. Let set 5 minutes before cutting. Serves 4.
Finally, here’s a recipe that might come in handy in the next month or two, when rhubarb starts popping up all over town. This is my family’s traditional summertime dessert, and it’s always a little different, but always delicious! When we have blueberries or raspberries in season, we’ll add a handful of those. You can also make it using apples, but reduce the sugar in the fruit mixture to 1/3 cup, as apples are already sweet. And although the recipe says not to use instant oatmeal, there have been desperate times when I’ve ripped open a packet or two of flavored instant oatmeal, and it works! (Again, cut back on the sugar, as those packets are pretty sugary.)
Alaska Rhubarb Streusel Crisp
For fruit mixture:
4 cups rhubarb cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
For topping:
1 c. flour
1/2 cup oatmeal (not instant/microwave kind)
1 c. brown sugar
1 stick melted butter (1/2 c.)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8×8 or 9-inch baking pan or pie pan.
Combine the rhubarb (and berries or whatever fruit you want to toss in), flour, sugar and cinnamon, and put in pan.
Combine flour, oatmeal, brown sugar and butter and mix it well. Sprinkle it evenly over the rhubarb mixture.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Delicious with ice cream!