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Hey kids it’s Mothers Day soon!

Published: 05 May 2016

Hey kids it’s Mothers Day soon!

Hey kids it’s Mothers Day soon and you know what that means? Right? Breakfast in bed, a day of rest, reading, being waited on hand and foot followed by a delectable late lunch or earlier dinner surrounded by adoring family. Although it sounds indulgent it’s the least you could all do in recognition of the demanding, relentless job that is motherhood.

Breakfast in BedWAKEY WAKEY its time to kill that fantasy dead!!  The reality in our house is sport doesn’t stop for Mothers Day so the husband’s soccer will still be on, so my Mothers Day will involve me actually mothering my children. Not fair.

Celebratory meals are a Mothers Day tradition around the world. So in honour of that this is how I’d like my Mothers Day to roll.  If you live my fantasy Mothers Day more power to you, you can use these recipes too.

Ok so I have two breakfast choices…. If I’m in bed alone, with my snowy white linen, and artfully arranged pillows I’ll have the Bircher Muesli thanks.  This is perfect for breakfast in bed, no crumbs!  If it’s the adoring family surrounding me and worshiping my majestic, motherly wonder then I’ll have the pancakes.  This pancake recipe is the goods.  Café worthy, and simple, really.

And because I’ll have slept in and be so satisfied from breakfast I’ll probably have a late lunch/early dinner of delicious melty slow roasted pork shoulder, thanks Jamie Oliver.  This dish is seriously impressive, and once again pretty simple.  It’s a set and forget, so if, like me you’ll be making your own mothers day lunch/dinner then this is a great dish for allowing you to find a cosy corner for reading.

Bircher Muesli

(I don’t really have a recipe for this, its different every time.  However if I had to write it down it would look like this…..I Bircher Muesli
think)¼ cup oats

  • a teaspoon of chia
  • enough orange or apple juice to saturate the oats
  • a couple of tablespoons of full fat greek yoghurt or vanilla yoghurt
  • a couple of chopped dates or 1 tablespoon of craisins
  • a whole grated apple
  • sprinkle of cinnamon to taste
  • a tablespoon of cream
  • a tablespoon of slivered almonds
  • honey or maple syrup

Mix all ingredients, except almonds, together in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning check consistency, the muesli may need loosening with a little milk.  Spoon into a pretty bowl and top with slivered almonds and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

Best Breakfast Pancakes

Servings: 6-8 large pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • Vegetable oil, for cooking

Instructions

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well.

Beat the egg and milk together in a bowl. In a different bowl, add the milk mixture to the melted butter, stirring constantly with a whisk to blend.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten the flour mixture. It should look a little lumpy. (If you overwork the mixture, the pancakes will be tough.) This is a thick batter but if it seems too thick, add a bit more milk.

Heat a griddle or nonstick pan over medium heat and coat it with vegetable oil. Drop the batter from a large spoon (about 1/4 cup) and cook until the first side is golden brown, or until the top surface bubbles and is dotted with holes. Flip and cook until the other side is golden brown. This happens quickly so peek after 30 seconds and watch carefully! Adjust the heat setting if necessary. Wipe the griddle totally clean with a paper towel between batches. Serve immediately.

Jamie Oliver’s Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

Ingredients

  • 2 kg higher-welfare shoulder of pork , bone-in, skin on
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 red onions , halved
  • 2 carrots , peeled and halved lengthways
  • 2 sticks celery , halved
  • 1 bulb garlic , skin on, broken into cloves
  • 6-8 bay leaves
  • 600 ml water or organic vegetable stock

Method

This is a proper old-school Sunday roast with crackling. Leaving the bone in adds a bit of extra flavour and having a layer of fat helps to keep the meat nice and moist as it roasts. This isn’t the kind of joint you carve into neat slices. If you’ve cooked it right, it should pull apart into shreds with a couple of forks. If you’re worried about scoring the crackling yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you, that’s what he’s there for.

Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side up. Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that you cut into the meat. If the joint is tied, try not to cut through the string. Rub salt right into all the scores you’ve just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you need to.

Brush any excess salt off the surface then turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Place your pork, skin-side up, in a roasting tray and pop in the preheated oven. Roast for 30 minutes, until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling. At this point, turn the heat down to 170°C (150 fan forced), cover the pork snugly with a double layer of tinfoil, pop back in the oven and roast for a further 4 and a half hours.

Take out of the oven, take the foil off, and baste the meat with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board. Spoon all but a couple of tablespoons of fat out (save it for roast potatoes!).

Add all the veg, garlic and bay leaves to the tray and stir them into the fat. Place the pork back on top of everything and return to the stove without the foil to roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.

Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover again with tinfoil and leave to rest while you make your gravy. Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place the tray on the hob. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom of the tray. When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve. Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it.

Serve the pork and crackling with your jug of gravy and some lovely roast potatoes (As a treat, you can try roasting them in the fat you spooned out of your roasting tray. Some stewed red cabbage and a dollop of apple sauce will finish this off perfectly.)

Susan’s note – you might find that your super fabulous crackling goes a bit soggy under the foil.  I have cooked this dish without the foil wrap and it turned out just fine.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mums, you rock xx

Dietitian in Jordan Springs

 

 

 

 

 

Susan Williams  is our wonderful dietitian.  Susan believes that feeling good is fundamental to a healthy active life.  She works with her clients to help them achieve their goals.