Mother's Day: Southern Style

Being  a single and divorced mom of four means Mother's Day is usually spent with me doing all the cooking. Of course, I don't mind at all since cooking is something I love to do. I like to feed my family, plan something for them and the smiles on their faces knowing I made just a little extra effort is all the Mother's Day gift I need. That and of course the handmade cards from my kids...priceless.

Each Mother's Day at my place is spent with my mom. I am so thankful to her and even though I may not be able to send her on a trip around the world, what I can do is show her that I love her. I decided today to take everything back. My mom is a traditional Southern cook. She is old school. She is the master at fried chicken, comfort foods and even has mastered cooking pigtails and makes the best cornbread dressing this side of the Mississippi (no lie...her dressing is the BOMB!) When my best fried surprised me with a set of country dishes I thought, hmmmm, let me make my mama proud and cook a Southern meal. 

I did just that. Got up in the wee hours of the morning (8am, yep) and started peeling potatoes, snapping beans and making biscuits from scratch. Heck, if you are going to try and make your traditional Southern mama proud you have to go back to basics. So here is what was on the menu...

Fresh cut green beans

Sour Cream mashed potatoes

Fresh cheesey yellow squash

Cabbage

Fried chicken

Biscuits

Sun tea

Cake

I made everything from scratch...except for the cake...I have yet to master baking so I used a box cake mix...dousing each layer after baking with a lemon simple syrup, topping with blackberry jam, cream cheese frosting and topping with berries and flowers.

My mom loved it and she was so impressed. That made me happy and satisfied. Everyone enjoyed it all and the cake was demolished in minutes. Even though the cake had mishaps (top layer started cracking when I was placing it....the jam ran into the icing) it all worked. I thought my mom would be a bit upset because I snagged a few flowers from her Mother's Day bouquet but she raved about the cake.

I am one happy camper. I love making a little extra effort for those I love. I may not have it all but I have my love. Today. was. a. good. day.