I come from a long line of strong women. My grandmothers Maria and Catherine were both strong, determined women who faced hardship in their lives. They both modeled for me how to persevere and overcome obstacles with grace and dignity. My mother was also a strong woman. She was married in the 1950s at a time when most women did not work outside the home. She was a stay at home mother to my two brothers and I and fully embraced her role as our caregiver. Our house was always spotless and our life was pretty much stress free. Mom found her true love when she was quite young and that has lasted over 60 years, in sickness and health. She loved my dad more than anything and put him and us kids first every day of her life.
My brothers and I grew up loved and cared for even though we didn’t always have a lot. We did always have dinner on our table and clothes on our backs. We also always had unconditional love, as my mother put us first always. Becoming a grandmother was the happiest time in my mother’s life. I believe that is because my mother was a born nurturer. She had endless patience with my children, probably more than she had with my brothers and I. As long as they were able, my mom and dad made the trip out to my house every Sunday without fail to spend time with us and eat Sunday dinner.
Unfortunately, those days are gone now. My mom suffers from Alzheimers and doesn’t know her own family anymore. That is so hard for most people to even imagine or understand. Many tell me that deep down she knows who I am. I tell them she does not. They tell me a mother’s heart could never forget. I tell them it can. At this point, she does not even know my dad, her husband of over 60 years, who sits with her every single day without fail. I can’t think of a worse fate for my mother, who so loved her family, to suffer than this. So, on this Mother’s Day I look back on the many wonderful memories of Mother’s Days gone by. I can still see my mother and aunt cooking Roast Pork and potato balls in the kitchen, their tables perfectly set with china and crystal and the house filled with kids and laughter. These are the memories I hold tightly to these days.
These days it’s just my family coming over for this holiday. I know I’m supposed to celebrate and enjoy the day, but it is a hard day for me so we keep it simple and relaxing. Today’s rainy weather was just perfect for this kind of low key day. My daughter made it home first showing up before 8:00 this morning. We went to an early yoga class together to prepare for our day. Following that we came home and had a nice breakfast. As we began to prepare for our Sunday sauce, my son arrived. My other son was not able to come home this weekend and we missed him a lot. We spoke with him on the phone and I’ll be going down by his house in a few weeks. With the sauce simmering on the stove we all settled in to play some board games. Today’s game choice was Scrabble since the rain kept us inside the house.
Today, we decided to have our traditional Sunday sauce (recipe can be found here Sunday Gravy). Since I’m doing mostly plant based recipes these days, I decided to forgo the spaghetti for my plate. I had two beautiful zucchinis that I purchased yesterday and pulled out my spiralizer and made some zoodles. My daughter made a pot of spaghetti for anyone who wanted, but many ate the zoodles too. They were delicious and worked perfectly with the sauce and meatballs. I ate the zoodles raw, but you can certainly boil for a quick minute if you want them warmed. I found the sauce warmed them up just enough for me. Topped with parmesan, this was the perfect Mother’s Day meal. Happy Mother’s Day!
Zoodles & Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 2 large green zucchini (washed, not peeled)
- salt
Directions:
- Cut ends off washed zucchini
- Place into the spiralizer and spiralize
- Catch zoodles in salad basket and place over sink to drain
- Sprinkle zoodles with salt and let sit for approximately 20 minutes.
- Store zoodles in the refrigerator in a covered container lined with paper towels. The zoodles will release additional moisture as they sit in the container in your fridge. The paper towel will absorb the moisture.
- Let zoodles come to room temperature before serving, or boil for one minute.
This is the spiralizer I use – Paderno World Cuisine. (Click photo to view)
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