Mother's Day picnicking with salads galore, apple cider cake, jaffa brownies, and sunshine

Having Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May is a tradition that Australia shares with America but not with Britain. As my mother's mother lives in England but has children in Australia, England, Canada and the US (Hawaii), I have often wondered whether she gets multiple mother's days or misses out altogether.

These cross-country musings aside, we celebrated Mother's Day with a picnic that included myself and Mr Bite, my parents and two siblings, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law and her husband and three children, plus one Labrador dog.

King's Park, Perth, Western Australia

I probably give the impression that Perth is always sunny and hot, and for many months of the year that description holds true. However, autumn has arrived and last week we had 60mm of rainfall over two days. It was lovely to finally pull out scarves and warm jackets, but it was also a bit of a relief to have sunshine for our outing yesterday.

I played things safe with my food contributions, following recipes closely and/or making dishes I'd made before. It's not an exciting way to cook, but it does feel safer when you're preparing lots of food for lots of people.

One recipe I was pleased to follow was the apple cider cake Johanna posted on Green Gourmet Giraffe last month, which she adapted from Le Delicieux. Johanna described difficulties with her cake rising too high in the pan and I decided to halve the recipe and use a wide cake tin to avoid similar difficulties. As it was, I probably should have done one or the other but not both - my cake was almost flan-like in height! It was delicious though, and an advantage of the flatter cake was an excellent ratio of apple topping to cake beneath.

My version was probably a cross between Johanna's and the original, and isn't different enough to re-post a recipe for. I veganised the cake by using commercial egg replacer instead of eggs, Nuttelex instead of butter, and vanilla soy yoghurt instead of Greek yoghurt. After a brief period of confusion over what non-alcoholic apple cider actually is (thanks for your input Johanna!), I used plain apple juice with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. I think America simply uses apple cider to refer to non-alcoholic pressed apple juice, whereas Australia tends to apply the term to an alcoholic drink.

Apple cider cake, jaffa brownies, and cranberry and dark chocolate biscuits.

The cake was truly wonderful, and the other dessert items were also well received. I made Shaheen's orange jaffa brownies from Allotment 2 Kitchen (sorry, Hannah...), which I made vegan by using egg replacer instead of eggs and non-dairy spread instead of butter. I also made a batch of my Christmas cranberry and dark chocolate biscuits. I can recommend all items as safe options for pleasing a crowd.

For the savoury part of the meal, three salads emerged from my kitchen: a green salad, an Asian coleslaw salad, and a pasta salad with sundried tomatoes and bocconcini. The pasta salad is similar to one I made last Christmas from Taste.com.au, and was largely made for people other than me. The Asian salad recipe is below, and was made with my taste buds in mind. It is a very long way from traditionally creamy coleslaw mixes, and I loved this version as much as I hate the traditional type.

Green salad, Asian coleslaw salad, and pasta salad.

We also had rolls, dips and crackers, cheese, chicken, vegetarian sausages, hard boiled eggs, and fruit. It was a great picnic on a great day, with great company. Realising that this may be our last or second last Mother's Day in Perth, at least for a while, made it even sweeter. I'm sure that kind of experience will occur more and more often as we count down our last 12 months before leaving Australia for England (at least, our last 12 months if things go according to plan).

I hope those of you with children and/or mothers near by enjoyed your own Mother's Day yesterday. It might be a non-official, country-specific holiday, but I think it is a worthwhile one all the same.

Asian-style coleslaw

A coleslaw I can get enthusiastic about - light, fresh, slightly spicy and slightly sweet.

Makes one large salad, enough for 8 as a side.

Vegan and high raw.

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 large white cabbage, shredded (or 1 small cabbage)

1 large carrot, grated or thinly sliced

1/2 cup shelled and cooked edamame beans (for a raw option, sub in raw nuts)

Decent handful (about 1/2 cup) watercress sprouts

1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 bunch coriander (cilantro), chopped

Method

Rinse the shredded cabbage under boiling water to soften slightly. Place in a large bowl with the carrot, edamame beans, watercress sprouts and spring onions.

In a small bowl, combine the ginger, soy sauce, lime juice and sweet chilli sauce. 

Add the sauces and chopped coriander to the cabbage and other vegetables, and stir or toss to mix through. 

Transfer to a serving bowl, and serve. This can be prepared ahead of time and kept in the fridge until needed.

Submitted to Ricki's Wellness Weekend 16th to 20th May 2013, 
and Raw Foods Thursdays 16th May 2013.

Did you celebrate Mother's Day yesterday?

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