ONA -- The hands of a mother.
She's worthy of breakfast in bed, family gatherings, gifts, roses, floral arrangements, dining out, cards and crayon scribbled "I love you." In other words, Sunday, May 11, is pay back time for that special mom, mama, mother or someone who has been there when mother wasn't.
Mother's Day, celebrated on various days of the year in different countries, is celebrated the second Sunday in May in the United States. It all began May 10, 1908, when Anna Jarvis founded the memorial day for women in Grafton, W.Va. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, and since then, it has become the most popular day of the year to dine out at U.S. restaurants.
When I was a child, my mother worried about her three daughters waiting for the school bus. After school, she would help us with homework, whether it be memorizing, doing math or reading while serving hot made-from-scratch muffins.
Although my family didn't have indoor plumbing or many of the modern conveniences even of those days, mother never allowed us to leave the house in soiled or wrinkled clothes. And she made sure we were bathed and our hair clean and combed. I've heard her tell me, my sisters and even my nieces and nephew many times that because the clothes aren't new and we don't have much money, you can still be clean and feel blessed that we have one another.
The hands of mother have had blisters from toiling the fields to raise vegetables to cook and preserve for her family. Today, the hands are calloused, arthritic, wrinkled and dry, showing signs of hard work and age, but they are as beautiful as she is.
Those hands that washed the dishes are the same used to swat the bottom half of my body for telling a "little white lie" or arguing with a sister. They are the same hands used to comfort our hurts, heal the bruises, cover each scar and fix the broken nails. They are the same hands folded in prayer asking for the family's protection while away from home and to have a safe return home. They are the same hands that I am blessed to see each day reminding me of the big heart and unconditional, undying and unwavering love she has for the family.
These recipes are from "Cooking with Smitty's Mom" cookbook:
CHICKEN SHAKE AND BAKE
1 cup flour
1 cup cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons salt
Paprika
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 fryer or chicken pieces
Place first eight ingredients in plastic bag; mix well. Dip chicken in milk; then in crumbs. Bake or fry until brown.
BROCCOLI DELIGHT SALAD
1 large bunch broccoli, cut into small pieces (4-5 cups)
10 strips bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 cup seedless grapes, red or white
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 cup sunflower seeds or toasted pecans
DRESSING
3-4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
Place washed, well-drained broccoli in large glass bowl. Add raisins, onion, bacon, sunflower seeds or pecans, and grapes. Mix together dressing ingredients. Pour over salad.
In celebration of Mother's Day, this recipe from "Recipes and Recollections 1807-2007: 200th Anniversary of Mud River Baptist Church" is dedicated to every person who has shared her hands in the upbringing of boys and girls everywhere.
RED VELVET CAKE
11/2 cups cooking oil
2 eggs
11/2 cups sugar
21/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bottle red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
TOPPING
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 cup chopped nuts
1 box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream oil, eggs and sugar; add flour, soda and salt. Add vanilla, food coloring and buttermilk. Bake in square pan and a round pan. Cut round cake in half and fit the two sides of square cake to form a heart shape. Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes.
For topping: Combine ingredients; mix well. Put on cake.
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