37 smothered recipes

This is just like the recipe my mother used to make, that I lost and have been searching for, for Christmas dinner.

Amish friendship bread starter ferments flour, sugar, and milk for five days to create the sweet, yeasty mother that fuels the famous chain-letter cinnamon quick bread.

Parkin is a variety of gingerbread, good warming stuff to eat out of doors in cold weather. When I was a child, it was always a firm favourite for the firework party on Bonfire Night each year. This is adapted from my mother's recipe.

A creamy dessert combining coconut, dragon fruit and cashew nuts. Dragon fruit is a rich source of antioxidants and fibre, cashews deliver heart-protective monosaturated fats, while the fat contained in coconut meat has been shown to exhibit anti-microbial, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Coconuts also contain lauric acid (found most abundantly in mothers’ milk) which is an important immune system booster. Despite its bad reputation, coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils available.

This smoothie packs a real superfood punch with a combination of wolfberries, hemp seeds, chia seeds, maca and spirulina. Wolfberries, hemp seeds, chia seeds and spirulina are all complete proteins. In addition, chia seeds and hemp seeds are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Maca is a great hormone regulator and has traditionally been used to enhance fertility. Spirulina is one of nature's wonder foods and its GLA content (gamma linolenic acid, an important fatty acid) is second only to mother's milk.