I Can’t Be The Only Mum Who Thinks Mother’s Day is Rubbish?!?
The concept of having just one day dedicated to a Mother didn’t seem strange to me until I had children of my own.
As a child, it was always something that my sisters and I were gently “led’ towards by Dad.
Dad giving us money to “…go out and buy Mum a present and card…” was a not-so-subtle reminder to try to make Mum feel special on that one day, and I think that’s what I find really uncomfortable about now.
As my children grew up and left the home, the idea that “mums” have just one day when they are to be appreciated has become a bit of a brain worm for me.
I love my children, a lot, and I know they love me, so to receive gifts and cards for the day is a lovely thing, but on principle I’d rather they didn’t.
What I’d prefer, is for my children to show affections the rest of the year on an add hock basis.
You know what I’m talking about right?
The occasional text message, the odd unexpected card, a visit for a cup of tea on those days that the whole world hasn’t reminded them to do it.
(Thinking about this, I feel the same way about this day as I do about valentine’s day.
Why the one day?)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 50 years, you must know by now that this day is so commercialised that it’s become a “pay day” for oh so many companies.
Now, I’m not adverse to companies making money, especially small companies, what I’m against, is the dishonesty of it as a concept especially knowing where the original idea was born.
Here’s the true story of Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day began in 1908 by Anna Jarvis who held a memorial for her own mother. Before that, 1905, Anna had begun to campaign to make Mother’s day a holiday in the USA.
A strong woman herself, a peace activist who cared for soldiers during the American Civil War as well as a suffragette, she had campaigned for a day dedicated to peace 40 years before it became an official day.
She believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world" and wanted to celebrate this idea as a day of peace.
Mother’s Day is here and here to stay, but even Anna resented the commercialisation of what the day grew into.
It didn’t take long for the big companies to get on the money bandwagon.
By the 1920s Hallmark (and other companies) had started selling cards.
Arguing that her idea had been “misinterpreted” ‘the original idea being about the sentiment not the profit, she organised a boycott of the day and threatened to take the companies involved to court.
Anna wanted others to celebrate Mothers through handwritten letters “expressing love and gratitude” instead of giving money away to companies who weren’t emotionally invested at all.
Anna was so enraged by the commercialisation and protested so much against it that she was arrested for her efforts.
Good for her.
Years later, and the sentiment behind the day is almost completely forgotten, leaving behind a day for companies to sell, sell, sell, and for us all to buy, buy, buy.
My Mum loving daffodils and my Dad being a keen gardener, he cultivated crops of beautiful yellow spring flowers in the front garden of houses we lived in, right up until he was unable to tend for the gardens himself.
Each year, during the few days leading up to Mother’s Day, the daffodils disappeared.
He was never angry to see them gone, the opposite.
Years later, when I asked about his reaction, he always said “That’s what they’re for”.
For me, this small act of ‘not acting” sums up what this day should be about and how big my Dads heart was….
Let’s talk about food and a few easy recipes I think my Mum would have liked and I think you’d like too.
Give them a go and Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Gluten Free, Pastry Free Mini Tinned Salmon and Red Onion Tarts
Treats of all kinds
What You Need
Non-Pastry Case
1 x Small Tin Pink or Red Salmon – Drained well and de-bone
1 x Egg White
1 x Tbsp Crème Fraiche – See Tip Box
1 x Red Pepper Pesto – See Tip Box
Oil for greasing
Mini tarts, ready for the oven
Filling
1 Tbsp vegetable Oil
1 x Small Red Onion – Very Finely Chopped
2 x large Eggs- Plus the Extra Egg Yolk left over from the Non-Pastry Case
1 x Handful of Fresh herbs – See Tip Box
½ Teaspoon Paprika
25g x Mature Cheese – finely grated
How It’s Done
Heat the oven to 180c
Place all of the ingredients for the non-pastry case into a bowl and mix together well.
Take a muffin tin, add a little oil to six of the holes and grease the inside well.
Split the mix between 6 of the holes.
Using a spoon or fingers, build the mix up and around the sides of the tin until you have a case for your filling.
Place in the fridge to set up a little until ready for the oven.
Place the vegetable oil into a small frying pan, add the finely chopped red onion and on a medium heat, cook the onion until its soft and slightly translucent.
Let the onion cool before placing it into a new bowl, along with the rest of the filling ingredients.
Mix all of the filling ingredients together well.
Split the filling mixture between the salmon cases and place the muffin tray into the hot onion for approximately 10-15 minutes until firm and cooked all the way through – See Tip Box
Once cooked, run a thin sharp knife or palette knife around the edge of the case to loosen it.
Remove the, tarts from the case – See Tip Box
Serve hot or cold
Tip Box
Creme Fraiche – If you’ve not got Crème Fraiche, don’t do out and buy any just for this small amount, use what you have. 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise or cream will work just as well.
Herbs – If you don’t have fresh herbs to hand, use a teaspoon of your favourite dried herbs.
Red Pepper Pesto- I like the taste of this in the mix, but if you’ve not got any of this, used what you have to add some more flavour – Other flavour pesto, mayonnaise, mustard etc.
Ovens / Cooking – All ovens are different so adjust cooking time accordingly.
Don’t overcook the mixture. Let it still have a little wobble in the middle, but not runny
Remove from tin – If the tart doesn’t come out very easily, let it cool a little more before trying again.
Lemon Biscuits with Crystallised Lemon
Ready for the oven
What You Need
250g x Plain Flour plus extra for rolling
140g x Butter – room temperature
185g x castor Sugar
1 x tsp Vanilla
2 x Large Eggs
2 x Lemons – Separate the rind from the rest of the lemon
A mini sweet mouthful for mum
How It’s Done
Heat oven to 180c
Grate the lemon zest and set it aside
Slice the lemon into slices as thin as you can, place into a heavy bottom sauce pan along with 100g of the castor sugar and ½ cup of water.
Let the sugar dissolve and come to the boil.
Once boiling, control the heat so that it is a very gentle simmer until the mixture turns into a thick syrup and the lemon slices are clear and candied.
Take the slices out of the sauce pan and lay onto sheets of non-stick parchment paper to cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Once pale and fluffy, add the eggs and beat into the mixture until they are really well combined.
Add the lemon zest, vanilla and the flour.
Mix all together until combined, remove the biscuit mix from the mixing bowl, wrap in clingfilm and put aside to rest for 20 minutes.
Cover baking trays with on-stick baking parchment
After the dough has rested, dust a work surface with flour and roll it out to the thickness of about a £1 coin
Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the dough to the shape and size you choose – See Tip Box
Place the cut dough onto the prepared baking tray spacing them out about ½ inch
Place the trays with the biscuits into the hot oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes until very pale when cooked – See Tip Box
Once cooked, remove from the oven, leave the biscuits on the tray to cool completely.
Once cooled, place one of the candied lemon slices onto each biscuit to decorate and serve
Sugary tartness
Tip Box
Cutting out – I wanted small cookies for my Mother’s Day dish, but I’ve used this recipe many times before cutting the biscuits out larger and different shapes.
Oven/Cooking – All ovens are different, so adjust cooking time accordingly . The smaller the size the less time needed to bake – make sure the biscuits don’t have colour but are still pale.
Vegan Double Chocolate Brownies
Brownies dusted with icing sugar
What You Need
170g Vegan Butter – Melted
100g x Soft Brown Sugar
100g x Castor Sugar
60g x Vegan Approved Cocoa Powder
1 x Teaspoon Baking Powder
170g x Vegan Chocolate Chips
How It’s Done
Heat oven to 180c – See Tip Box
Line a 9’x9’ square oven proof tin or dish with non-stick baking parchment.
Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl
Mix all the ingredients together until well mixed – Don’t over mix
Place the mixture in the oven and cook for 18-20 minutes – See Tip Box
Once cooked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool before removing from the tin, cutting and serving. – See Tip Box
Use a tea strainer to sprinkle icing sugar over the top
Serve warm or cold.
Tip Box
Oven – All ovens are different so adjust cooking time accordingly –
Cooking – Don’t overcook the brownie if you like the middle to be gooey.
Cutting – Before removing the brownie from the tin, let it cool otherwise the brownie ÷will crumble.
Lift out using the non-stick baking parchment to remove the brownie from the tin.
A little bit of everything
