Mother’s Day is May 13th and it’s not too soon to start planning what you may want to do for your Mother! Since I’m out of town, instead of telling you to make breakfast in bed and all kinds of other special treats for your Mom, it would be simpler to just give you a couple of new recipes. Both appeared recently on facebook and they are both delicious. The pie is very creamy and has lots of lemon flavor, and the Lemon Buddies are similar to Puppy Chow, except they’re made with lemon instead of chocolate, easy peasy!
May is a month with more holidays/celebrations than many of our other months. First, we have May Day on May 1. It is not celebrated in our country as much as it is in other countries. In many places, it is celebrated with a show of military arms. In others, it is celebrated with parties, May poles and May baskets. In my grade school days, we made a May basket out of woven strips of construction paper for our mothers. When I was working at the nursing home, one of the aides made each of us a May basket filled with tiny flowers and hung them on our doorknobs.
The next celebration in May is Cinco de Mayo, another day of celebration in much of the world. In San Antonio, there are sure to be some parties celebrating this day of victory for a small, ill-equipped militia, under the direction of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin in 1862. His small group of about 3500 defeated a much better equipped and trained French troop of over 4500 in the battle of Puebla. This “Batalla de Puebla” came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism.
Next in line is Mother’s Day, celebrated on the second Sunday of May each year. It is rather early this year since the month began on a Sunday.
Mother’s Day had its beginnings in Grafton, W. VA., and in the churches in Philadelphia on May 10, 1908.
The day set aside for our Mothers, was started in response to a suggestion by Miss Anna Jarvis. By 1911, there was not a state in the nation that did not observe Mother’s Day. Leaflets were printed in ten different languages for use in various countries.
In 1913, by a unanimous vote, The House of Representatives passed a resolution commending the observance of Mother’s Day and calling upon the President, his Cabinet, the Senators and Representatives and all officials of the Federal Government to wear a white carnation on the second Sunday of the month to observe Mother’s Day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, issued a proclamation officially designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day, and also directed that the U. S. Flag should be displayed on all public buildings on that day.
Since that time, it has become a custom to wear white flowers (usually carnations) if your mother is deceased and red flowers if she is still living.
Here are a couple of simple and easy recipes that you might want to make for your Mother on her day. The first one is truly easy; it was on a facebook post last week and I decided to try it. So far, the three or four folks who tried it gave it a big thumbs up!
Cream Cheese Lemon Pie
For the Pie
1 5 oz can Evaporated milk
1 small (3.4oz) box of instant lemon pudding mix
2 packages (8-oz each) of cream cheese
¾ cup frozen lemonade concentrate
In a small mixing bowl, combined evaporated milk and pudding mix. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes (mixture will be thick).
In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in lemonade concentrate. Gradually beat in pudding mixture.
Pour mixture into cooled graham cracker crust, or into a pre-made graham cracker piecrust. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
For the Pie Crust
2½ cups graham cracker crumbs
⅓ cup sugar
⅔ cup butter, melted
(Or you can use 1 graham cracker crust, 9 inch)*
Preheat oven to 350°
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk together until well combined. Press graham cracker crumbs into deep-dish pie dish and make sure to go up the sides.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
Pour mixture into cooled graham cracker crust, or into a pre-made graham cracker pie crust. *I used a pre-made crust and it worked very well.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Also, if you want a little more lemon flavor, use about 1 teaspoon of lemon extract while you are whipping it up.
Lemon Buddies
9 cups Rice Chex® cereal
1 1/4 cups white vanilla baking chips*
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 teaspoons grated lemon peel**
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar
Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon zip-top food-storage plastic bag.
Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; gently shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container. *My chips had been in the freezer, but were thawed before I tried to use them and it took longer before they could be stirred smooth. **It takes 3 fairly large lemons to get this amount of zest. Zest (grate) first then cut in half and squeeze the juice out.