Raising children, tending to their needs and cares, being there at all hours of the day and night, is no small task. Motherhood involves a myriad of responsibilities, small and large, significant and momentary, and lasts a lifetime. And honoring Mom or Moms in any way is a joy for mothers at every stage of parenthood or care-giving. But I would like to make the case for skipping the overcrowded, dining out brunch scene (unless the person who raised you is down with that) and, instead, treating the Mom in your life to a home-cooked meal.
Time is Precious. Cooking for Mom is Priceless.
My logic runs like this: time and the gift of time are extremely precious to every parent. Time with your children, especially children who are old enough to cook, is even more precious for its scarcity. Give a parent time with their kids, plus the bonus time saved by not cooking, and every mom I know will be thrilled. But to make a mom truly swoon, you need to put your back into it. Just a little. So plan a cooking party for Mothers’ Day. (Yes, I intentionally placed the apostrophe to the right of the “s” where it really belongs!) If cooking is not your mom’s favorite activity, may we suggest you prepare a few foods high in protein and fiber for her enjoyment? If your mom loves to cook, set up a cooking party.
To make it easy for you, the team at Perspective:Branding put together a few of the dishes they plan to prepare for their moms on Mothers’ Day. There is not a vegetable in sight so the salad part is up to you. The dishes are big on flavor and doused with more than a soupçon of happy memories.
If you do choose to go out, no one in the room will notice the misbehaving three year-old at the next table. Tuning out the noise is part of mothering, too. Just don’t forget the champagne.
RECIPES
Grandma Wells’s sour cream coffee cake
In memory of Sarah Wells’s late grandmother, who loved a good baking recipe.
Homemade sour cream coffee cake – recipe by Betty Wells
Cream ¼ cup butter or margarine
½ cup sugar
Beat 3 eggs and add 1 teaspoon vanilla to above creamed mixture
Sift together 3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Add dry ingredients to egg mixture alternating with ½ pint of sour cream (8 oz.)
TOPPING: mix together -1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup of nuts (walnuts)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
In a greased 10” angel cake pan put in ½ of batter then sprinkle with ½ of the topping. Add remaining batter and sprinkle remaining topping over it. Cut thru the layers with a knife all the way around – about every 2 inches.
Bake 350F for 50 to 60 minutes.
Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole
Erin Clarke is the whiz behind www.wellplated.com, a site dedicated to making healthy food taste incredible. One of our staffers fell in love with her Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole. Thick with eggs, ham, and cheddar cheese, it qualifies as one of the best-tasting, high protein foods around.
Slow Cooker Kalua Pig from Nom Nom Paleo
Michelle Tam’s all-things paleo blog, nom nom paleo, is – natch – loaded with foods high in protein. One of our staffers, who grew up in Hawaii, prepares Tam’s Slow Cooker Kalua Pig every Mothers’ Day as a tribute to this Hawaiian home.
