I used to have a luncheon for my mother and mother-in-law for Mothers’ Day. It was fun trying to plan a menu that was “girly” enough to be special for the “Moms” and yet hearty enough to appeal to the “Dads” who were invited as well.
One time I prepared a multi-course meal, keeping the total calorie count for all dishes, including dessert, under 500 calories. We had salad, skinless chicken breasts with a red bell pepper sauce, fresh green beans, and a raspberry dessert. It all tasted rich and delicious, belying the low calorie dishes.
If you want to pamper your mom(s), start looking through your recipes, or mine, and come up with some recipes for pretty dishes, a few special touches, good china and silver, and needless to say, flowers on the table. Any mother would feel honored to be feted in such a way.
Most moms, and dads, too for that matter, enjoy a tasty chicken salad. Easy to prepare ahead, in fact improving with a day’s rest, it makes a great luncheon centerpiece. With a bed of leaf lettuces, some fresh vegetables or fruit to garnish the plate, and a mound of chicken salad, you will serve a feast for the eyes as well as for the palate. Top it off with some quick bread, like banana or nut bread, and fruit and cheese for dessert.
Mimosas or Bellinis would be grand for those moms who would enjoy a special bit of alcohol in the middle of the day. Otherwise, iced or hot tea, punch or coffee would do.
I usually make a more or less traditional chicken salad, mayonnaise based, with chopped celery, a little bit of onion, and usually meat from the chicken breast only. There are a few additions I use occasionally. After I mix the chicken, celery and onion, I sometimes add coarsely chopped pecans, and grapes. (The grapes are cut in half and added just before serving to keep the salad from becoming too watery. If your grapes are small, by all means, don’t halve them, and you can add them right at the start with the other ingredients.)
To the mayonnaise, I add a healthy amount of curry powder. You can be the judge of what “healthy amount” means. I usually add a tablespoon or so. But it all depends on the amount of chicken, et al., the kind of curry powder being used, and how much you and your guests like the curry flavor. Along with the curry powder, I add several tablespoons of mango chutney. A few teaspoons of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste will finish it. As with most salads, you have to adjust the amounts or omit some ingredients to suit yourself.
I would probably fix a nut bread and serve butter or cream cheese with it. A few perfectly julienned carrot sticks around the plate of chicken salad, and presto! You have a lovely luncheon entree. The fact that you prepared it the day ahead makes it so much easier for you to set a beautiful table in relaxed manner.
Raspberry sherbet, strewn with a few fresh raspberries, and a simple cookie would be irresistible for me. If you have the time, soften the sherbet a bit and dish out perfectly formed sherbet balls earlier in the day, stored in the freezer, of course. Remember to cover them with plastic wrap to prevent strange freezer odors from permeating the dessert. Lemon, lime or orange sherbet would be equally fine.
If you are lucky enough to have some family serving pieces or china, now’s the time to bring them out and use them. You have nearly a month to get ready. No excuses, now. It’s the least you can do. If you have no longer have a mother, or she is unable to come for a meal, prepare a special luncheon in her honor of in her memory. You will be doing yourself a favor too.
(Image credits: Chicken Salad -www.handsoffcooking.com/salad.jpg
Sherbet – wikipedia)
