COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into a lot of plans & special days, and it’s looking like Mothers Day 2020 (Sunday, May 10th) is going to be one of them. With most stores closed, and most of us unable to be in the same room with our loved ones, celebrating anything right now means getting creative…at a distance! If you live near your mom, we thought we would give you an idea starter for doing something special together, at a distance.

The general idea is to create your mamma a special Mothers Day care package she can use to make dinner, and then have dinner “together” during a Mothers Day video call! If you have siblings, you can easily all work on this together, and you can all join the video call together.

Ideas for Items to include in your care package:

  • dinner items
  • flowers for the table
  • table cloth
  • bottle of wine (or other nice drink)
  • dessert
  • printed copy of recipe &/or directions for finishing dinner
  • thoughtful gift (see below for some ideas)

Dinner Ideas:

Getting groceries right now can be risky for some people, but I am so grateful to be able to still get groceries! Most grocery stores are finding ways to make it more safe for shoppers, and shoppers seem to be adhering to social distancing suggestions. That said, its best to keep it as simple as possible, use as few ingredients as you can, get what you need quickly, and go home.

Here are a few recipe ideas:

Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls

Author: Cooking with Curls

The reason I love this recipe is because it will be super easy for you to make, and even easier for your mom to re-heat and put together. Its really delicious, and always a crowd pleaser for Instant Pot owners. This recipe will easily feed 5 adults, depending on how many toppings you use. The toppings are what make this recipe sooo delish, and fun.

Cottonwood Shopping List:

1 box chicken broth (2 cups total) (London Drugs)
2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (Fraser Valley Meats)
2 onions (Kins Market)
2 packets taco seasoning (feel free to follow the recipe and make your own. You will need chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and cayenne) (London Drugs)
2 X 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained (London Drugs)
2 cups corn kernels (approx. 2 cans) (London Drugs)
32oz salsa (London Drugs)
2 1/2 cups long grain white rice , rinsed and drained (London Drugs)

Topping Ideas:

Pre-shredded cheese (Fraser Valley Meats?)
fresh cilantro (Kins Market)
avocado (Kins Market)
green onion, chopped (Kins Market)
sour cream (Fraser Valley Meats)
2 bags of tortilla chips (London Drugs)

You can get a printable version of the recipe on the author’s site. Don’t forget to print mamma a copy! Go to Dollarama, and grab approx. 5 X 1 cup lidded disposable containers for all of the toppings, and a larger microwave safe container to hold the chicken & rice mixture.

The shopping list above will make two full recipes of the Chicken Taco Bowls. You CAN NOT DO THEM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME!! You will have to do two separate runs through the recipe. Even if you have the larger 8qt Instant Pot, you CAN NOT DO THEM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME!! I tried. No beuno. After they cool down, package moms in the large microwave safe container you purchased at the dollar store. Next, chop/slice/shred toppings, split them in half, and put moms half of each different topping in one of the 5 topping containers. Leave the tortilla chips in the bag for transporting.

One Pan Spatchcock Chicken Dinner

Author: Natasha’s Kitchen

I love this recipe because you can do ALL of the prep for mamma, and all she will have to do is pop the pan into the oven, set a timer and enjoy a glass from her new bottle of wine! You can make things even easier by grabbing your chicken from Fraser Valley Meats, and asking them to spatchcock it for you.

Cottonwood Shopping List

2 X 4 1/4 lb whole (spatchcock) chicken (Fraser Valley Meats)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter softened (1/2 cup) (Fraser Valley Meats)
1 bunch fresh parsley (Kins Market)
1 head of garlic (Kins Market)
1 lemon (Kins Market)
4 lbs medium red potatoes scrubbed and quartered (Kins Market)
4 medium carrots peeled and quartered (Kins Market)
16 oz Brussels sprouts trimmed and halved (Kins Market)

To prep this delivery, I would get the entire pan to the point that it is ready to put straight in the oven. Rub the chicken down with the flavoured butter, and put it on the pan. For the pan, you can either get one at London Drugs so that your mom doesn’t have to return the pan to you, or you can just use one of your own. Either way, cover the pan in tinfoil (no pan scrubbing for mom!!) place the chicken on the pan, arrange the vegetables and potatoes on the pan, add the fresh lemons, herbs and spices. Chop the fresh parsley, and put it in a small ziploc or other container. Cover the whole pan in tinfoil, and this is ready to go.

Short on time and/or cooking skills? We got you!!

You could order from Earls, and have 1 delivery sent to her house, and one delivery sent to your house!! Menu Here! They have customized their menu specifically for COVID times, pretty awesome! They are offering “Chef Kits” for some of their menu items. They give you all of the groceries and instructions to make them at home! Pizza Part kit??

(also worth noting, Earls is delivering GROCERIES!!!! Yep, you saw that correctly. 20% off when you pick up.)

Orrrrrrr…….

You can choose one of the many prepared meals from M & M Food Market. Purchase one for mom, and one for you. done, and DONE!!! They also have a section on their website called “Inspired Meals” where they provide recipes and advice on how to use their food items to create meals for every taste or occasion.

Dessert

COBS Bakery Strawberry Shortcake!

This recipe is super easy, and super cute! Depending on how many people you are serving, put enough small (125ml) Mason jars in the care package. If you don’t have them at home already, you can normally get them at London Drugs or even Dollarama sometimes. Include a container of sliced strawberries, 1 COBS Passion Fruit Scone per person, and a container or can of whipped cream or cool whip. Done, and done! This recipe would also work well with the Afternoon Tea idea below!

Fun Extras

Photo Gift:

We are all missing our loved ones right now, and this couldn’t be more true for our mom’s. A great gift is giving her personalized items with pictures of her family that she is missing so much right now. London Drugs has a ton of awesome gifts that can be personalized with your images, and picked up at Cottonwood. See all of the items available here.

Sangria Gift:

The thing I like about this gift is that is is super pretty, and something a little different and fun. Cut up all of the fruit required for the recipe you choose so mom doesn’t have to, and put it in a container. Put the bottle(s) of alcohol, mix/juice, fruit, a couple of glasses & a pitcher all in a pretty basket. Boom!

Here are a bunch of recipe ideas :0)

 

Give her the gift of all the feels

Do you know someone who is good with video editing? Ask your family, your Mom’s friends, or anyone you can think of to create a little video message wishing her a happy Mothers Day, then stitch them together, and put them on a USB key! OR, what about gathering as many special images of her as you can find, and create her a digital photo presentation set to her favorite music of her journey as a mom?? Try Smilebox, Animoto (requires subscription), or Adobe Spark.

OR, what about having a “famous” person create her a Mother’s Day message from you??? Check Out Cameo. I mean, who wouldn’t want Tommy Chong, ICE T or John Lovitz to wish them a happy Mothers Day?? If you are looking for a little last minute gift for me, I will take a Cameo from Dog The Bounty Hunter please. Cool? Cool.

Other theme ideas:

Afternoon Tea

  • Include a special tea cup (I am not aware of a local business (that is open) to get them from at the moment, but Facebook Marketplace has a TON of beautiful cups & saucers for sale locally), a variety of special teas (While Davids Tea is currently closed at Cottonwood, you can order online at Davids Tea and have your items shipped in time for Mothers Day!) and a variety of scones or other delicious bakery items from COBS Bakery (they are open daily at Cottonwood). Dickens Sweets is closed to walk in traffic, but is taking orders, so you could include some other great “afternoon Tea” goodies and sweets!

The Video Call

Okay, you have figured out dinner, & nailed down a thoughtful gift. Now you just need to set up the video call! I have found the easiest way to have a multi person video call is through Facebook Messenger. Most people already have Facebook, so it won’t require anyone to download anything extra. Here is a tutorial on how to create a multi person video call. Don’t forget to check out the cute filters & effects. There is also the old standby Skype (no fun stuff, but stable, and most people have it), and a newer version called House Party where you can play online games together while chatting. All have iPhone & Android apps available.

Hopefully we have given you some ideas & ways to create a special day for your mom in these hug challenged times.

We are wishing you and your family a wonderful Mother’s Day!