Green Options

For Easter I made these delicate flower cakes from edible violas and pansies, and with Mother’s Day here, we’re at it again!

I used a simple organic cake mix and tried organic applesauce instead of oil and the results were delightful and fluffy. On other occasions I’ve used Ghee in the mix for a richer texture and taste. The frosting is organic powdered sugar with a dash of water for the right texture. The flowers easily stick to the icing once spread.

These scrumptious edible flowers are easy to find, grow yourself, and share. I prefer violas and pansies because of the rainbow of colorful blooms they provide.

I’m a bad daughter, as I haven’t gotten anything for my mother this year for Mother’s Day. The truth is I hate buying gifts, and I don’t have time to make anything. Of course, I have turned the responsibility over to my children to honor grandmother, but I did send her this video, which of course I had to watch first making myself Mother of the Year (on the same evening my daughter told me I was “extremely mean” for asking her to do her homework).

Mother’s Day originally began as a day of peace; it is not a Hallmark holiday.  MomsRising, an organization devoted “working to bring together millions of people who share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America”, has created personal videos for Mother’s Day.  According to MomsRising, Americans will spend $16 billion this year on Mother’s Day celebrations!  That’s a lot of money to show Mom we care, and even though I have sent my mom her special video, I will probably still buy her some Dr. Hauschka.

Editor’s note: The following post was originally published on Green and Clean Mom. “Green & Clean Mom can inspire you to try a little harder, be a catalyst for change and to offer you some new tips and news on how to be the green, sexy and sassy mom…I know you are!”

Mother’s Day is only a few days from now and if you’re anything like me – you don’t have a gift for that beloved mom or mother-law. No need to panic. There are some “kinda green” last minute gift ideas to save you from looking foolish.

1. Tech Savvy Moms and for big spenders you might want to pay extra for two day shipping or overnight shipping (not so green though) and get the new Amazon Kindle. Help mom save some trees if she reads a lot of papers or books. She’ll love this gift and maybe you can even borrow it? Keep in mind the pros and cons to this great gift last minute is the shipping and there is some debate on whether this device or others like it are all that green. Another option is a e-certificate for mom to pick out her own Kindle or maybe she likes Ebooks on her laptop or computer and would enjoy a e-certificate from Ecobrain.
2. Plant a Fruit Tree. If mom has everything she needs and doesn’t need more junk try giving her something that will help other people. In her honor, plant a fruit tree and support a non-profit organization that gives the gift of fresh fruit and sustainability. Mom is sure to appreciate this!

She goes by so many names:
Mother Nature.
Mother Earth.
Mother Goddess.
Gaia.

She takes so many forms:
The dance of the seasons.
The ripples of a river.
The textures of a mountain range emblazoned by the morning sun.
The crash of a wave on sand.

She is very old yet laughs with the voice of a babe.

She dies continually yet is continually reborn.

She is
mother and daughter,
womb and tomb,
cradle and grave,
virgin and lover,
begetter and betrayer.
She is all of these things.
She is what She is.

And so when I wake on this day, I sense Her there to greet me.

She
stirs me,
embraces me,
warms me,
feeds me,
supports me,
protects me,
entertains me,
teaches me,
guides me,
cleanses me,
rocks me,
and tucks me in to sleep.

And so on this day, I give thanks to Her in all of Her forms.
I kiss her as my Mother and my Lover.
I learn from Her as my Teacher and my Guide.
I bow to Her, in all of Her awesome splendor, with piety and devotion.

My day never begins with a leisurely breakfast in bed. Likely because my spouse is not a morning person, and the only other morning person around is under four, and she wakes me up daily before seven. However, the Kiddo makes some tasty scrambled eggs as long as I do the stove part and raw egg part. And, I have my hopes up for the years to come.

In the meantime, I will share a few favorite breakfast dishes that you moms could, say, print out, circle in great big red ink, and leave out on the counter just before hanging the “Do Not Disturb Until 9:30, or My Breakfast is Ready” sign on the bedroom door. I will live vicariously through you.

Best French Toast Ever, Shirred Eggs, and Breakfast Panini recipes after the jump.

Flipping through recipes looking for a Mother’s Day dinner dessert, I lingered on “Cherry Berry on a Cloud,” one of my mom’s classic recipes. Mom’s the matriarch of meringues, amassing a collection of dessert recipes that blend crisp yet fluffy meringues with flavorful fillings and toppings.

But today I wasn’t drawn to this recipe for my menu plan. With all things maternal on all our radars this week, I realized if my mom and I had a theme dish showcasing the heart of our relationship, it would have to be the meringue.

Let me first confess that my mom is still a dash dazed and confused over the fact that my livelihood today roots in food. I farm and grow organic food, write about food and sustainable agriculture, cook our B&B breakfasts, lust over cookbooks like romance novels. She’s perplexed not because of my love for food, but over the fact that I never showed one iota of interest in cooking growing up.

Mother’s Day began when social activist and poet Julia Ward Howe wrote the original Mother’s Day Proclamation after the Civil War in 1870.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

This day began as a call to action, and it is only fitting this Sunday on Mother’s Day families take action on climate change and let their voices be heard.  1Sky is asking mothers and their children to create images to send to Congress urging them to remember the implications of climate change on the next generation.  The images will be compiled and be taken to DC to be displayed and given to Congress.

Sunday is Father's Day, and just like Mother's Day, it was inspired by tragic death. The modern American celebration of Father's Day  began in 1908, when 361 men were killed in a mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia.