Of course you don’t want Mom to have to worry about dinner on Mother’s Day, and of course the kids want to help make a meal, but what if you’re not much of a cook, or what if Mom’s trying to drop a few pounds? Here’s a great idea for a Mother’s Day meal everyone, and especially Mom, will appreciate: A super salad bar!
What you will want to do for a nice effect is set it up like a real salad bar in a restaurant. If you have a long table, set up down the middle of it. A counter will do if you only have a small table.
Set a big bowl of greens at the beginning, and then have a row of all kinds of vegetables and other things that can go on a salad in bowls so everyone can make a salad to their own taste. Some ideas are: black olives, garbanzo beans, shredded cheese, chopped hard-cooked eggs, baby carrots, broccoli, red cabbage, those little baby corns….you get the idea.
End with croutons, sunflower seeds and dressings. Be sure to include a low-fat dressing or two. Check out my blog on homemade salad dressings here if you want to make some yourself.
Kids can help chop vegetables (with parental supervision), put things in bowls and set everything out. Add some rolls, breadsticks, muffins or other starch and you have a meal.
If you think Mom would appreciate more than just salad, bake some potatoes and add sour cream and bacon bits to the spread. Or heat up some of her favorite soups to go along with the salad.
Set up on a nice tablecloth and stack dishes by the salad bowl. Put forks and knives in plastic containers and have napkins handy. Add a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mom to finish off your table.