The Mother's Day Brunch Ideas and recipes below cover every skill level, including the "zero" kind😉! I've made each of these Mother's Day recipes so you can be sure they work! There are dishes the kids can help make, recipes you can prep a few days ahead, and some the night before, plus a full Italian brunch spread that looks impressive but's easy to pull off!
If timing really isn't your thing, I've included a customizable Mother's Day Brunch Schedule so you can pull off a successful, heartfelt meal she'll never forget!
My Mom is the reason I love to cook. She's the one who handed me a wooden spoon before I could reach the counter, who let me plant cucumber seeds in her flower beds, and make a complete mess "helping" her make homemade bread and cinnamon rolls from the time I was 3 or 4 years old. Like so many great moms I know, she had an exponential, endless amount of love and patience.
So, for all the Moms out there who keep all the plates spinning in the air, here are some of our favorite recipes for you to show her how much you care!
And if your Mom happens to be working on Mother's Day (because that's often the reality), bookmark this page, pick her next day off, and make it count then. A Mother's Day brunch or a Mother's Day dinner on a random Tuesday still feels 100% special when someone who loves her celebrates her.
All of these brunch ideas are restaurant quality, without restaurant prices. And in a world where your grocery bill keeps climbing, and a mimosa at brunch costs upwards of $15, making her something at home isn't the budget option. It's the better option. This year, make her feel every bit of the love and appreciation she's earned 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (even when she's sick).
Jump to:
- How to Plan Your Mother's Day Brunch Menu
- Brunch Cocktails and Drinks for Mother's Day
- Italian Brunch Recipes (Brunch NE Italy-Style)
- Easy Brunch Recipes to Start Mother's Day Morning
- Savory Brunch Recipes - Seafood for the Mom Who Deserves Something Special
- Sweet Brunch Recipes - Strawberry Season Is Mother's Day Season
- Italian Desserts and Southern Sweets for Mother's Day
- More Mother's Day Recipe Ideas
- FAQ
- Food Safety
How to Plan Your Mother's Day Brunch Menu
A good brunch menu balances one savory anchor, something sweet, something to sip, and at least one thing that can be fully prepped ahead. You don't need six dishes. Two or four well-chosen recipes that you can actually pull off without losing your mind is the goal. Pick one thing from each section below, and you've got a complete brunch spread.
Mother's Day Brunch Timeline (If Brunch Is at 11am)
2 days before: If you're making a special lasagna, assemble it. Make any dessert that requires a little more prep, or that needs to chill overnight, like the tiramisu. Make the panna cotta, crostata, cheesecake, strawberry scones, strawberry butter, or strawberry jam.
The night before: Make the crêpe batter. Squeeze or press any fresh juices. Set the table or get your breakfast-in-bed tray ready - include a cloth or nicely folded paper napkin, cutlery, coffee/tea mug plus a spoon, a small water/juice glass, a champagne flute (or wine or cocktail glass), two small containers for cream and sugar (for coffee or tea), a small vase with water added to it, and your Mother's Day Card. Prep your frittata vegetables and measure out any dry ingredients for pancakes or muffins.
Bonus: If your kids are old enough, have them make Mom a fun paper Mother's Day Crown or sash that she can wear all day ❤️ and snap photos in. If they're too young, help them out or make it yourself. A little creative effort goes a long way!
8:00am: Start the coffee (for you 😉). Pull anything refrigerated out to come to room temperature (frittata vegetables, buttermilk, milk, eggs, strawberry-honey butter, crêpe batter, etc.). Wash and cut any fresh fruit you're using.
9:50am: Start any pasta dish (or bake lasagna if making). The frittata can be made now and rested at room temperature until serving (it tastes better slightly warm than scorching hot).
10:15am: Bake scones (if making).
10:30am: Pour and garnish the cocktails, except don't add the champagne or bubbly yet (save that part for last). Make Mom's coffee and keep it warm. Make your pancakes or crêpes and keep them warm, stacked in a preheated oven (covered inside an aluminum foil pouch).
10:45am: Cook proteins (shrimp, scallops, lobster tails). These all take under 5 minutes - do them last.
10:50am: Make toast if serving. Finish cooking any pasta if making.
11:00am: Plate the food, pour in the bubbly or sparkling water/juice, add the flower to the vase, and let her sleep until the food is on the table or you bring it to her for brunch-in-bed! Enjoy brunch with her, then ask her if she wants you to take the kids to the park or if she wants to spend the day together as a family🤗. Her day, her choice, no judgements❤️!
Brunch Cocktails and Drinks for Mother's Day
Start here. Every great brunch has something worth raising a glass to, and these four are all make-ahead friendly. Mix the bases the night before and pour when she walks in. The limoncello is made from scratch with organic lemons. It's the most Italian (and boozy) thing you can put on a Mother's Day brunch table, and it costs a fraction of what you'd pay for a single cocktail at a restaurant.
Use these recipes (except the limoncello) to make non-alcoholic Mother's Day Mocktails by simple non-alcoholic substitutions like sparkling juice or water.
1. Homemade Italian Limoncello
Authentic Italian limoncello, taught to me by my Italian family (one from Abruzzo and another from Bassano del Grappa), is made with organic Amalfi lemon zest, pure grain alcohol, a simple syrup you can adjust to taste, and time. Drink it chilled straight up, over ice, or as the base of a limoncello spritz with prosecco or other brunch cocktail. If it's too late to start a batch, make this a Mother's Day project you do with your wife or your Mom. Then enjoy it by July 4th!
*You have to plan ahead for this one, though! It only gets smoother and more delicious as it cures over time.
2. Fruit Punch Rainbow Bellini
A show-stopper for a brunch party, these layered fresh-pressed fruit juices create a gradient effect in the glass or can be mixed together for ease. The fruit juices can be prepped and refrigerated the night before. Kids love helping with the juicing, and they're really pretty to look at.
Tip: For the maximum beauty effect, carefully pour each layer of the juices into the glass so they stay separated, then pour the prosecco "to order" in front of Mom so she can see the tie-dyed magic of it all and what juices are in it.
3. Renato Rum Cocktail
This is the cocktail for the mom who prefers her drinks spirit-forward, orangy, and fruity. Batch it the night before and add champagne or prosecco just before serving for a little extra Mama-sparkle! Make it frozen by zipping it in a blender with some ice!
4. Mimosa Variations (Blood Orange photographed below)
No recipe link for this one because it's literally just any freshly squeezed fruit juice or purée + champagne. Which = the easiest brunch drink in the world! Fresh-press or squeeze blood orange, white peach, pineapple, or grapefruit juice the night before and keep it cold.
Rim the glass with homemade blood orange sugar, lemon sugar, or strawberry sugar and add Champagne, Metodo Classico (Italy's equivalent of Champagne), Trentino Doc, or less expensive prosecco or Spanish Cava at the last second. Stir, garnish, and serve!
Convenience Tip: Use high-quality fresh-squeezed fruit juice or frozen fruit purées (like mango or passionfruit) from the grocery store to make this even easier.
*Non-alcoholic version works beautifully with sparkling water, grape juice, or apple juice
Italian Brunch Recipes (Brunch NE Italy-Style)
These are the dishes we actually make for brunch in Italy: Golden, green frittatas with a serious amount of grated cheese, prosciutto draped over cold melon, and pasta made from scratch. None of this requires culinary school. All of it will make her feel like she's somewhere special. Most of these can be partially or fully prepped ahead of time, so you can actually enjoy them with her!
5. Asparagus and Zucchini Frittata
A proper, spring green Italian frittata with a golden top. Spring asparagus and zucchini make this a seasonal standout. Make it up to an hour ahead because it tastes just as good at room temperature as it does coming out of the pan.
6. Italian Prosciutto Wrapped Melon (Prosciutto e Melone)
Two ingredients. Zero cooking. One of the best things you can put on a brunch table! The saltiness of the prosciutto against cold, sweet, firm melon is the kind of recipe Italians are known for: simple, high-quality ingredients, and exquisitely delicious!
Prep the day of for the best version, or prep the melon slices (or balls) the night before and keep refrigerated.
7. Mozzarella Parmesan Butter (Spreadable Italian Cheese Butter)
Whipped together with real Italian Parmigiano and fresh mozzarella, this spreads like butter and tastes like the best cheesy bread you've ever had. Make it two days ahead and keep refrigerated. Serve with good bread and watch it disappear in minutes.
Flavor Tip: Rub the bread with fresh garlic halves before smearing on the mozzarella butter for the best cheesy garlic bread of your life.
8. Spaghetti alle Vongole (Authentic Italian Clam Pasta)
Fresh clams, EVOO, white wine, garlic, and spaghetti create one of the best, most beloved Italian seafood pastas you'll ever eat. This is the dish that turns Sunday brunch into a Mediterranean memory. Ready in 20 minutes once your clams are purged.
Convenience Tip: I have a clever way to meal-prep the sauce for a crowd the day before😉, making it really easy to pull off without having rubbery clams!
9. Pasta alle Zucchine (Pasta with Zucchini)
A Neapolitan summer classic that Luca requests at least once a week in zucchini season. The zucchini is fried in olive oil until golden, then tossed with pasta, basil, and Parmigiano. Deceptively simple - the technique is everything. Kid-friendly and easy to scale for a crowd.
10. Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli
Handmade ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta - the filling Anna has been making in the Veneto for decades. The pasta can be made the day before and refrigerated on a floured tray. A browned butter and sage sauce takes three minutes. This is the showstopper of the Italian section.
11. Pasta (Almost) alla Norcina
From Norcia in Umbria, this creamy, porky, deeply savory pasta takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. Italian sausage, white wine, cream, and Parmigiano. This is the one for the mom who wants something indulgent but won't keep you in the kitchen all day!
12. Creamy Mushroom Pasta Sauce (Wild Pioppini)
Built around fairytale-like Italian pioppini mushrooms, this is not your average mushroom pasta. A deeply savory, light cream-enriched sauce that works with just about any pasta shape. And it's the perfect pasta if the kids are planning a 'make Mom feel like a princess for the day' theme!
13. Amatriciana (Pasta Amatriciana with Guanciale or Pancetta)
THE Roman classic for a reason! Guanciale (use pancetta if you can't find it), San Marzano tomatoes, Pecorino Romano, and a kick of chili. This is the one with four ingredients and some margin for substitution. Substitute Grana Padano or Parmesan for the Pecorino for a less "wild" flavor. The sauce can be made two days ahead, which means all you need to do is cook the pasta fresh while she's enjoying her cocktail or mocktail!
14. Italian Ham and Mozzarella Lasagna
A favorite, classic of my Italian family, this delicious, meaty, cheesy, tomatoey lasagna can all be prepped the night before and baked off in the morning, or baked 1-2 days ahead of time and reheated and served with a little extra tomato sauce on the day. This is a perfect recipe that allows you to spend more time with Mom on Mother's Day!
Easy Brunch Recipes to Start Mother's Day Morning
These are the recipes the kids can definitely help with, and also the ones that make the whole house smell like something good is happening before she even opens her eyes. All five can have the dry ingredients measured the night before. The French toast needs to soak in custard for a few minutes before cooking.
15. Light and Fluffy Pancakes for Two (or a Crowd)
The recipe that scales from two to twenty without changing the technique. Dry ingredients measured the night before means this takes 10 minutes in the morning.
Kids can mix the batter and pour it on the griddle with help. Or let them slather on the butter, pour the syrup over the top, and add a squeeze of heart-shaped whipped cream. Serve with real maple syrup or quick homemade strawberry sauce and whatever fruit is in season.
16. Pumpkin Pancakes with Berries
These are not just for fall. These pumpkin pancakes are warmly spiced, naturally moist, and pair beautifully with spring berries and toasted chopped pecans or walnuts. These feel more special than a standard stack without requiring more effort. Dry ingredients measured ahead; batter comes together in one bowl.
17. Classic French Crepes
The batter actually gets better after resting overnight in the fridge, which makes this one of the most forgiving make-ahead brunch recipes in this list. Fill them with sweet homemade strawberry jam, sweetened vanilla bean whipped cream, fresh fruit, or Nutella. Or go the savory route with options like ham and Swiss or sautéed asparagus, or eggs, and bacon. Older kids can easily help fold, plate, and decorate.
18. Mother's Day French Toast (Vanilla Bean Custard-Soaked Italian Colomba Bread)
Any thick, dry bread makes extraordinary French toast when soaked in a vanilla bean egg custard! Use brioche, Texas toast, French bread, or the Italian Colomba (a dove-shaped Easter bread traditionally eaten in spring) if you can find it. This is the one that will make her ask what you did differently. Serve it with toasted nuts, her favorite fresh fruit and pistachio cream or Nutella drizzle.
19. Easy Wild Berry Muffins with Streusel
Tender, perfectly sweet muffins loaded with wild berries and topped with a crunchy brown sugar streusel. Measure out the dry ingredients the night before and add the wet ingredients in the morning, and bake. The house will smell AMAZING! Older kids can make these entirely independently, or have your little ones help by mixing up the streusel.
20. Classic Super Moist Banana Bread
The cross between a classic banana bread and a tender banana cake! It's a reader (and friend) favorite! Super moist and tender, and pairs well with salted caramel ice cream (in case Mom is a devoted ice cream lover). And it's the perfect excuse to rescue those overripe bananas before Mom has to throw them out.
Kids can mash the bananas, stir the batter, and customize the top with chocolate chips or toasted chopped nuts. Prep it the night before and slice it fresh in the morning.
Savory Brunch Recipes - Seafood for the Mom Who Deserves Something Special
This is the section that turns a brunch into a restaurant experience. Shrimp, scallops, crab, and lobster all cook in under 5 minutes - which makes them some of the most achievable and impressive dishes you can put on a table.
The risottos take a little more time but can be partially prepped ahead (start the base the day before and finish with the seafood in the morning). A seafood brunch costs a fraction of what a restaurant would charge for the same ingredients.
21. Four-Minute Pan-Seared Shrimp
Four minutes, one pan, restaurant-quality results. The technique is everything here. High heat, dry shrimp, and flipping once! Serve with the mozzarella butter from the Italian section or over pasta or for a hearty shrimp Caesar salad. This is the recipe to have in your back pocket for the rest of your life.
22. Shrimp au Gratin
Shrimp baked under a bubbling, golden cheese and breadcrumb crust and ready in 10 minutes! The prep (filling the dish and making the topping) can be done the night before and refrigerated. Just bake it right before you serve brunch. Looks elegant, tastes deeply satisfying, and scales easily for a larger crowd. Serve it with garlic Mozzarella parmesan bread to sop up all that delicious sauce!
23. Scallops au Gratin
Served right in their beautiful shells if you can get them, these are the brunch appetizer that makes Mom think you really know what you're doing (even if you really don't!). Sweet diver sea scallops under an herbed, cheesy gratin crust with olive oil and a pat of butter. Serve it with a baguette of crusty bread. These take minutes to prepare and cook, but taste like a million bucks!
*Quality matters here. These scallops on the half shell (even if previously frozen) taste nothing like the tasteless, treated scallops removed from their shells found in grocery stores everywhere. Try to seek them out at a proper fishmonger where you know the quality is upheld.
24. Asparagus Risotto with Pan-Seared Scallops
Spring asparagus risotto with golden-seared diver sea scallops on top is impressive looking and incredibly delicious! It's also super easy to make, and the base can be made 80% of the way the day before; finish it the morning of with a final ladleful of warm stock, and sear the scallops a couple of minutes per side.
*Use this homemade Italian chicken broth for the best flavor!
25. Easy Crab Risotto (Risotto al Granchio Blu Classico)
Blue crab risotto is the seafood risotto I've been making a lot since we started seeing granchio blu (invasive blue crab from America, here in Italy) in every fishmonger in the Veneto. Sweet crab meat stirred through a quick stock made from the shells.
You can make this as creamy as the asparagus risotto above or more tight. That part is up to Mom's preferences:) If using whole crabs, cook and pick them the day before, or just do yourself a favor and buy lump crab meat, and a high-quality seafood stock and use it instead. It is still excellent!
26. Delicious 4-Minute Lobster Tails
Four minutes. That's genuinely all it takes to cook a lobster tail perfectly. Serve it with clarified butter or store-bought, reheated ghee (prepared clarified butter). Serve it with a salad and baked potato, or use it to make a perfect Connecticut or Maine-style lobster roll (for a serious fraction of the cost of a restaurant) with a pickle and a bag of potato chips.
*This one is so easy your kids can make it, but you should be the one to remove the tails after they've cooked because they're hot!
Sweet Brunch Recipes - Strawberry Season Is Mother's Day Season
May is peak strawberry season in most of the US and across Northern Italy. There's something about strawberries on a Mother's Day table that just feels right. Everything from the color, the sweetness, the fact that they're at their best for about six weeks a year, and this happens to be one of them.
Every recipe in this section can be made partially or fully ahead, which means the morning itself stays calm.
27. Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Cheese Pie (No Oven Needed)
No oven, no baking, no stress. A creamy, tangy cream cheese filling in a press-in crust, topped with a quick (super easy) homemade strawberry rhubarb filling. Make it two days ahead because it only improves with time in the fridge. This is probably the easiest dessert in the roundup.
28. Best Strawberry Scones (All-Natural)
Tender, buttery, strawberry cream scones made with real fruit and no artificial anything. Make, cut, and sprinkle them the day before with strawberry sugar, freeze them unbaked on a parchment-lined tray, and bake the morning of straight from frozen. Or bake the night before, and reheat slightly in the oven the day of if you're short on time.
Serve them with clotted cream or sweetened whipped cream, strawberry butter, strawberry coulis, 30minute homemade strawberry jam, or 15-minute strawberry jam sauce. Kids can help shape a couple of the scones into hearts if they want.
29. Strawberry-Rhubarb Fried Pies (Hand Pies)
The Southern version of a strawberry-rhubarb tart or hand pie, fried to crispy golden goodness! Filled with a jammy strawberry-rhubarb pie filling that's sweet enough to satisfy and just tart enough to be interesting. Make them and freeze them the day before, and fry them in the morning. Everyone loves these little fried pies!
30. 30-Minute Homemade Strawberry Jam
Thirty minutes, no pectin, no canning equipment. A reader and Pinterest fan favorite, this is the jam you put on the scones, swirl into the crepes, and spread on the French toast. Make it up to one week before, and keep it in the fridge for up to three weeks. Once you've made your own, store-bought won't taste the same.
31. White Chocolate Crème Brûlée Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis
The most impressive thing in the strawberry section. A cheesecake with a white chocolate brûlée top and servied with a fresh homemade strawberry coulis. Make it two days ahead because the cheesecake needs to chill overnight in the fridge to set properly, and the texture and flavor just gets better with time!
32. Strawberry Cheesecake
The classic creamy all-natural strawberry cheesecake with strawberry topping. Fully make-ahead and better to bake it one to two days before. Delicious!!
33. All-Natural Strawberry Cake
Real strawberry flavor from actual strawberries, no artificial extract, no food coloring. Layer after layer of sweet strawberry flavor these cupcakes (or a regular cake) can be made ahead and frozen and frosted with whipped cream the morning of.
34. Strawberry Butter
Beautiful pink strawberry whipped compound butter with a touch of honey if you'd like. Spread it on scones, pancakes, French toast, and literally anything else on the table. Make it three days ahead and keep refrigerated, but be sure to temper it first thing in the morning so it's spreadable. This is a detail Mom will really appreciate! Plus, it's pretty and delicious too!
Italian Desserts and Southern Sweets for Mother's Day
This section covers both ends of my food life: the Italian dolci I've learned to make since moving to the Veneto, and the Southern desserts my mama made in Arkansas that are seared into my memory. All eight are make-ahead. The tiramisu, cannoli filling and shells, panna cotta, and crostata can all be made two days before.
35. Authentic Italian Tiramisu From Italy
The real thing with Luca's family's "ottimo" seal of approval from right here in the Veneto, where tiramisu was born. Mascarpone, espresso-soaked ladyfingers, and a dusting of good cocoa powder and chopped dark chocolate for extra texture.
I show you how to layer it several different ways based on how much time or effort you have (or don't have) to put into it! It tastes great, no matter if you layer it the traditional La Beccherie round cake way, or into a 9x13 casserole dish!
No runny cream, no raw eggs, no oversoaked ladyfingers. Make it two days ahead, because it only gets better as it sets. The flavors deepen overnight, and the ladyfingers become the best cakey version they were meant to be.
36. Authentic Homemade Italian Cannoli
Real Sicilian cannoli with perfectly fried shells, sweet and creamy ricotta filling, chopped pistachios, and chocolate garnishes! The shells fry in under two minutes and can be made two days ahead and stored at room temperature. Fill them right before serving, never ahead, or the shell softens. The most Italian thing you can put on a Mother's Day dessert plate besides the tiramisu, of course!
37. White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
Silky, perfectly-set, deeply vanilla, this is Italian dessert at its easiest! Make it two days ahead or at least four hours in advance to set. Serve with strawberry coulis or fresh berries.
38. Italian Jam Tart (Crostata di Marmellata)
The most common, but super delicious Italian home dessert found on every restaurant menu and in the home. Buttery pasta frolla crust filled with jam and decorated with a lattice top. Make it up to two days ahead. It keeps beautifully at room temperature and tastes great the day after. Use the homemade strawberry jam from this list for the full effect, or your favorite jam flavor.
39. Best Carrot Cake Ever
After all these years, this is still the best carrot cake I've ever had. Super tender, perfectly spiced, completely from scratch, and no mixer required. Same batter, two stunning versions: purple carrots with toasted walnuts and a classic vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, or toasted pecans with a spring-green matcha mascarpone cream cheese frosting you can make as subtle or as matcha-forward as you like. Bake two days ahead and frost the morning of.
40. Mom's Cinnamon Rolls
My Mom's locally famous cinnamon roll recipe. Shape them the night before, let them do their second rise in the refrigerator overnight, pull them out an hour before baking, and the whole house smells like a bakery by the time she's up. Or bake them the day before and make Mom promise to stay out of them 😉. Gently reheat before serving.
41. Triple Coconut Cream Pie with Mile-High Meringue
Three layers of delicous all natural coconut with plenty of delicious meringue in every bite! The filling and crust can be made the day before and refrigerated. Make the meringue, top it, and torch it before serving it the morning of. Or go the even easier route and top it with sweetened whipped cream instead! This is for the Mom who takes her coconut seriously.
42. Southern Fried Cherry Pies (Cherry Hand Pies)
Crispy, flaky fried pastry dough filled with whatever you like - peach, apple, cherry pie filling (our favorite), or the strawberry rhubarb from this roundup. These are an Arkansas institution and the most nostalgic thing on this list. Make them and freeze them the day before, and fry them straight from frozen the morning of. The kids can shape and crimp them with supervision.
More Mother's Day Recipe Ideas
FAQ
Breakfast is typically served early in the morning and tends to be simpler: eggs, toast, jam, pancakes, coffee, and fruit. Brunch is a later meal (usually between 10am and 2pm) that combines breakfast and lunch dishes, often includes cocktails, and is more social and relaxed in format. Brunch gives you permission to serve pasta alongside pancakes, which is reason enough to love it.
A well-rounded brunch spread typically includes a savory main (frittata, pasta, eggs, or seafood), something sweet (pancakes, French toast, pastries, or cake), a drink (cocktails, mocktails, coffee, or juice), and something for grazing (charcuterie, spreads, or fruit). The best brunch menus have a mix of things that can be eaten at any point during the meal rather than a rigid course structure.
Most of it, yes! Which leaves you plenty of time to enjoy it all with your favorite mama! Desserts like panna cotta, cheesecake, crostata, and cream cheese pie are all fully make-ahead - two days in advance is ideal. Frittata can be made the morning of and served at room temperature. Crepe batter improves overnight in the fridge. Cinnamon rolls can be baked the day before and gently reheated on the day, or shaped and refrigerated the night before for a same-morning bake. The only things to cook fresh are risotto, or seafood (shrimp, scallops, lobster tails) and pasta, but those take under 5 minutes each.
Bring something that travels well and doesn't need reheating. The cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, strawberry scones, wild berry muffins, and Italian crostata all travel beautifully and hold at room temperature. For savory, the mozzarella-parmesan butter with good bread or the prosciutto e melone, and the caprese salad are all stunning, zero-cook options.
If you're baking one thing, make the easy but super delicious Italian crostata, the cinnamon rolls, or the carrot cake - all are universally loved, fully make-ahead, and feel genuinely celebratory. For something Italian, the crostata di marmellata made with homemade your favorite jam is the most elegant low-effort bake on this list. For fruit desserts, the strawberry cupcakes or, strawberry-rhubarb cream cheese pie are both stunning.
Keep it simple and make-ahead where possible. The best breakfast-in-bed options don't require last-minute plating: a strawberry scone with clotted cream (or strawberry honey butter and sweetened whipped cream), a slice of carrot cake, a wedge of frittata, or a cinnamon roll on a small plate, a mimosa or bellini in a proper glass, a cup of hot coffee or tea, and fresh fruit. Prep everything the night before so the morning is just assembly. Add a vase with a single flower and a handmade Mother's Day Card for the finish! The gesture and presentation matter more than the complexity of the food.
Food Safety
- Seafood (shrimp, scallops, lobster, crab) should reach an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C). Shrimp and scallops are done when opaque throughout - a thermometer isn't always necessary but is the most reliable method.
- Eggs in frittatas and custards should be fully cooked with no runny whites. Internal temperature for baked egg dishes should reach 160°F (71°C).
- Cream-based desserts (panna cotta, cheesecake, cream cheese pie) should be refrigerated and not left at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Raw doughs containing eggs (pasta dough, crepe batter, pie dough) should not be tasted unbaked. Refrigerate promptly and use within 48 hours.
- Homemade jam stored in a non-canned jar (refrigerator method) keeps for up to 3 weeks refrigerated. Do not store at room temperature.
- Reheat leftover fried pies and baked pastries to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) if storing overnight.
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