Cooked With Love Recipes My Mother Taught Me

Let's face it; Mum's cooking comes second to none. There's nothing better than Mum's Sunday roast or home baked cakes. Our childhood memories are steeped in memories of joyous occasions featuring our mother's cooking. "Cooked With Love - Recipes My Mother Taught Me", is a new cookbook celebrating our mother's culinary skills. Bringing together 100 very special contributors to share their mother's secret recipes and the wonderful stories and memories behind them, this cookbook is the ideal gift this Mother's Day.

The cookbook is the brainchild of Jessica Brown, CEO of Life Changing Experiences Foundation and all proceeds will go directly to the SISTER2sister Program, an initiative of the Foundation. The SISTER2sister Program is a 12 month mentoring program aiding teenage girls to overcome circumstances beyond their control such as parental loss, domestic violence, sexual abuse, depression and self harm. Each girl is matched with a mentor who is a successful role model that is there to guide and support them to make positive changes in their lives.

Jessica says: "Recipes are handed down from our mothers with love and each has its own special story. This cookbook is a fabulous way to celebrate our mum's cooking and thank them. Some of us may have mastered the recipes and some may have merely attempted to!"

Several of the country's top female celebrities have submitted recipes handed down to them by their mothers for the book including: Kathryn Eisman, Bessie Bardot, Jacinta Tynan, Cindy Pan, Amanda Cole, Bianca Dye, and Melinda Hutchings.

"NIVEA sponsor the SISTER2sister Program and are kindly arranging for all proceeds of the book to go directly towards the program. We need to raise vital funds to ensure that we can continue to help at risk young girls facing destitution and isolation," says Jessica.

The organisation aims to raise much needed funds for 2011 to ensure that the program continues and that many more 'at risk' young women can look forward to a bright future ahead.

"Cooked With Love - Recipes My Mother Taught Me" is available to purchase at www.lifechangingexperiences.org and costs $25. All proceeds from the book will go directly to the SISTER2sister program.
For further information on the SISTER2sister Program please visit: www.lifechangingexperiences.org

Cooked With Love Recipes My Mother Taught Me
Price: $25.00

Interview with Jessica Brown

Question: What recipes did your mother teach you?

Jessica Brown: I was the luckiest out of all of us children when it came to mums cooking. Being the oldest of four, I had a Mum who stayed home to look after us the longest, before my youngest brother Edan started school and returned back to the workforce.

Having Mum at home meant afternoon treats most days as we arrived home from school. I can still remember being greeted with an amazing aroma as I walked in the door. Mum was an awesome baker and I had many favourites, but one that definitely stood out was Mum's Vanilla Slice which I recollect her making when I was about nine years old. It was something about that gooey custard (which she made from scratch) and the sweet passion fruit icing that we used to lick off the top first before devouring the rest.

Now all grown up I still have Mums recipe written on a (now) scrappy piece of paper in her handwriting. I have to admit that the slice is a big hit when I cook it, but for me….it just never tastes as good as when mum makes it!


Question: Do you have a favourite recipe contribution in Cooked With Love Recipes My Mother Taught Me?

Jessica Brown: My friend Bronwyn's recipe:
Bronwyn: What this recipe means to me:
I was so fortunate to be given the opportunity to be part of a family that had an amazing mother who sacrificed so much to give her four adopted children the very best opportunities in life and who was also an exceptional cook. Many afternoons after school I would race home from the school bus through the lane way to be greeted with the aroma's of my mother's cooking. From vanilla slices and exotics cakes to the most infamous Italian dishes.

Without my mother's talents in the kitchen, our sporting life would have gone un-noticed. Our family was brought up with sport as a core element that bound us together and taught us important life skills - how to be part of a team, commitment, responsibility, reliability and self esteem. We would be taken from swimming lessons from as young as a few months old, to football and hockey training, ironman training and competitions against Grant Kenny to aerobic tournaments. There was only one way we were all so successful in our chosen sports even to the point that my brother was called "the spaghetti man" by the media and that was due to our mother's cooking bubbling away on the stove as she drove us from home to training fields. We would return home from heavy training schedules parched and exhausted to the most energy iron and protein packed dish her infamous spaghetti bolognaise!

My mother was a beautiful lady till the day she died when I was 23, but now all grown up; I have mums recipes memorised in my mind. I remember the pot dishes she would use, the timing of all the ingredients and her favourite spices rack for all the final touches. The only problem is that I'm now vegetarian and have had to substitute mince for a vegetarian version …. So, for me….it will never taste as good as when my beautiful mum cooked it. I love you mum. Thank you.

Jessica Brown: I love this quote which she included "Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone. But still, miraculously, my own!
And never forget for a minute, You weren't born under my heart, but from within it."
Hung above our kitchen table - for adopted children


Question: Can you talk about the idea behind Cooked With Love Recipes My Mother Taught Me?

Jessica Brown: Producing this book has been a wonderful journey for many reasons.

Marnee May and I wanted to create an initiative around Mothers Day to celebrate the relationships we have with our mothers as well as raise much needed funds to support disadvantaged teenage girls through The SISTER2sister Program. We wanted to create something that would remind our mums how special they are, capture cherished moments and share the valuable lessons passed down to us.

With a passion for nurturing and cooking, it seemed a natural progression to approach the people dear to us to contribute recipes that their mothers taught them.

This book is filled with wonderful recipes cooked with love, speaking louder than the actual food they present. Although the title states "recipes my mother taught me", the word "mother" has a broader scope and includes our grandmothers, step mothers, second mums, mother in laws, foster mums and the significant women in our lives.

We're over the moon that this small fundraising idea has gracefully unfolded into publishing our very first book.


Question: What is the SISTER2sister program?

Jessica Brown: The SISTER2sister Program is a unique 12 month mentoring and personal success program empowering 'at risk' teenage girls to turn their lives around from a life of destitution and/or abuse, to life success. It provides inspiration, support and opportunity to girls who have suffered or are suffering due to circumstances out of their control.

Each girl is assigned a 'Big Sister Mentor, a successful women from the community. Big Sisters are volunteers who give up their time to help these young girls reach their full potential.

The program starts with an intense 4 day 'Butterfly Boot camp', involving a number of risk management workshops, motivational seminars and team/confidence building activities. Each month after this, Little Sister outings are held where Little Sisters and Big Sisters get together for risk management workshops, motivational and team building outings as well as "Life Changing Experiences".

Little Sisters and Big Sisters also have the opportunity to meet up on a one on basis should they choose to do so.


Interview by Brooke Hunter