Tea Time Luncheon

 

 

Now that the kitchen is so much better, I can get back to doing what I love!
Some pretty cucumber sandwiches sprinkled with fresh herbs and our Herbal Salt, tomato sandwiches and wild plum jelly sandwiches brightened up a grey, rainy day.
Served with a cuppa Ginger Peach Tea to warm our tummies and our hearts.




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Joining up with Rose Chintz Cottage.
And the sweet Bernideen's Tea Link Up.

It Was a Hit!

As were these.  :) 
There were two left which the boys are enjoying as I type.
 
There were about 10 of us that came.  We decided we'll meet every other week for projects and can use the off weeks just to socialize if we want.
The next time we'll work on knitting dishcloths and after that I'll teach everyone how to make an easy skin scrub that works great.  We have a serious gardener, a photographer, a few of us calligraphers, bakers, knitters, and more!  There are oodles of  more new things to learn from one another.

I did cucumber sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, orange cranberry spice scones, plain and lavender shortbread, chocolate chip mini muffins, and these little chocolate mousses (Joanne's recipe)  with whipped cream, blackberries & lemon balm.  They were yummy!

Peppermint Mocha Shortbread

This is the Starbucks treat in a cookie. Yum.

Peppermint Mocha Shortbread

Mix:

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

Cut in:

1 stick of butter

Blend it all together well and press it into a greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes.

Meanwhile...

Melt and Mix:

1/2 package of chocolate chips

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

2 tsp instant espresso powder

Spread the chocolate mixture onto the shortbread after it's baked. Then top with about a 1/2 cup of smashed candy canes. Let cool and slice into pieces.

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I made this recipe up for one of my Christmas Teas. I won't be having a big Christmas Tea this year, but these still must be made! :)

Warning: These should not be eaten in the evening--unless you need to stay up late sewing, or wrapping presents! That caffeine will get you!

Tea Time in No Time At All!

A few weeks ago when I had so many wonderful friends and family in town I made scones four times. Some were plain and used for strawberry shortcakes, some were sprinkled with Vanilla Sugar and some had chocolate chips. All were yummy. Too yummy!

I did a quick tea time with my darling niece to enjoy one afternoon after we made lipbalm and while we watched "Anne of Green Gables". She thought the lipbalm smelled like tea as we were blending it. Too cute! It had peppermint, lavender, and clove oils so it did smell like tea.

I asked if she'd like some tea like it. She agreed so I blended plain black tea with lavender and mint from the garden and added a few whole cloves. It turned out great! I whipped up a batch of scones and we watched our movie together.

The second batch was made a few days later when a dear, sweet friend from high school came over for a visit while she was in town. I made us a salad with grilled chicken. I had mixed up the scones and just asked if she wanted currants or chocolate chips. Chocolate chips it was! We sat with our scones and a pot of Earl Grey and visited while the boys napped.

The third batch were turned into strawberry shortcakes for all the family gathered together for dinner at my Mom's. Whipped cream and strawberries and scones are wonderful.

The fourth batch came the next day when I had a last minute teatime with a friend who I used to teach with that was just in town for the summer. The picture above is one I snapped before they arrived. (She brought a former student of mine as well.)

How does this all relate to the post title? Several ways! By having basic tea things on hand, I am able to just spend a few minutes assembling things and serving others. Using tried and true recipes helps, too. The scone recipe is one I've used for years with excellent results. I know I've posted it before, but just wanted to share it again. It's from If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie
Barnes, one of my favorite tea books.

Not letting perfectionism ruin things is another way I can put a tea time together in a hurry, but not feel rushed. Believe me, I wrecked too many times for myself worrying and fretting about every little detail. Besides, fresh flowers and herbs make anything look and taste better!

When I left the house on Sunday morning, I didn't know what to expect with my friend for that afternoon. I made sure the house was picked up and brewed some iced tea to have on hand. I also cut some fresh herbs from the garden and defrosted a loaf of squash bread. We then spent the morning at my Mom's and with my sister's family before they had to leave town. While I was there, I got the message finalizing the details with my friend.

When we got home, I put the boys down for their naps and went into the kitchen. I put the scones together first. While they were baking, I took out a beautiful tray and sliced the squash bread onto it. I assembled two kinds of sandwiches from things I had on hand--tomato and chicken with herb cream cheese and topped with fresh herbs. I arranged everything on the tray and tucked in sprigs of herbs and edible flowers.

I then filled the kettle with water and the teapot with tea leaves. I got out plates and napkins and even had a few minutes to spare before they arrived. All told, I had everything ready to go in about thirty minutes. It was so nice to just then sit and visit.

How I wish I could have each one of you over for tea! Until then, I will just write to encourage you to let tea and hospitality enrich your life. Just use what you have, served with love it'll be better than you can imagine and will bless you and your friends.


Scones-

Mix together:
2 cups Flour (I usually use whole wheat bc we buy wheat in bulk & mill it ourselves. All-purpose works great, too.)
1 TBL Baking Powder 2 TBL Sugar 1/2 tsp Salt
Add:
6 TBL Butter, cut into small pieces.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like coarse cornmeal.
Add any other things you want. I've done these plain, with fresh berries, with dried fruit, and my favorite--chocolate chips. I usually add about 1/4 cup of whatever. Sometimes I add herbs and spices to taste. Gentle mix everything together.
Add:
1/2 milk or buttermilk
Stir the milk in gently and form the dough together. The less you mess with the dough the better. Gather the dough into a round shape about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut the scones into wedges or with cookie cutters. I like hearts.
You can brush the tops with beaten egg and even sprinkle them with a little sugar, if desired. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden.

Afternoon Tea Cake

I made this earlier with a jar of wild plum jam I canned this summer.
Oh my.
Hope there's some left by the time Sweetheart comes home! :)
Here's the recipe. It's simple and tastes sublime with a cup of Earl Grey.

What I've Been Whipping Up This Week in the Kitchen

Truffles:

This is a recipe from "Bon Appetit" Magazine/January 1987. Um, yes, I start receiving a subscription to "Bon Appetit" when I was in 8th or 9th grade. No, I've not kept them all. I have a book that has all my random recipes cut out and glued into it. It's just a binder stuffed with recipes in plastic pages, but it's a big binder!

Anyhow...

"Rich Dark Truffles"
Makes 8
(I double it when I make them. If I'm going to the trouble, I want it to be worth it!)
1/4 c whipping cream
2 TBL butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I just use chocolate chips.)
1/4 tsp vanilla
sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

Bring the butter and cream to simmer in a small pan over medium heat. Then add the chocolate, melt and whisk on low heat until the mix is smooth. Pour into a small bowl and whisk in the vanilla. (You can add other extracts like orange or mint instead of the vanilla for flavored truffles. I thought about adding instant espresso powder for Mocha Truffles, but didn't.) Put the bowl in the freezer until it can hold its shape, but NOT frozen solid. The recipe says 20 minutes, but mine took more like 35 minutes and was still really soft in the center of the bowl. Just set a timer and keep checking on it.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and dust it with the cocoa powder. Spoon 8 mounds onto the prepared sheet, using about 2 tablespoons chocolate mixture for each. (I used my mini scooper and it was sooo easy! It must be less than 2 tablespoons as I ended up with more mounds, but it was easy and a lot less messy.) Freeze until centers are almost firm, about 8 minutes.

(Ok, I didn't set the timer here and got distracted making lunch. When I took mine out, they were too firm to roll. So now they're just sitting on the counter hopefully softening up.)

Roll each mound in the cocoa powder on the sheet, then roll between palms of hands into smooth round. Set on another waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze until ready to dip, up to one month. (**Be sure to put them back in the freezer. I left mine out after rolling them because I was typing. I moved onto dipping, but had to stop as they were too warm and just melting in the dipping chocolate.)

Melt 1 pound of chocolate in the double boiler. Remove from heat. Let chocolate stand until melted, stirring occasionally, and candy thermometer registers between 115 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, remove truffles from the freezer, rerolling them to remove excess cocoa. (By the way-you could roll them in instant espresso powder if you like.)

For a simple assembly line, set the tray of truffles to your left. Set the dipping chocolate in front of you. Place the empty waxed paper-lined baking sheet immediately to your right.

Submerge one truffle in melted chocolate, tilting pan. Lifting truffle up with index finger and thumb, remove from chocolate. Move had side to side, shaking excess chocolate back into pan. Turn hand over and drop truffle onto prepared sheet. Dip index finger into chocolate to dab truffle where not completely coated. Truffles may also be dipped with a fork or toothpick.

Repeat with remaining truffles. Check the melted chocolate's temperature half way through dipping. If it has fallen below 115 degrees, reheat it by setting it back over the hot water of the double boiler. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, 30 minutes to an hour.

After the truffles are set, peel from waxed paper using gloves or plastic wrap if you like to prevent fingerprints. You may place them in paper candy cups (little muffin papers) if you want. Arrange cups in an airtight container and transfer to the refrigerator. They are best eaten within four days, but remain fresh up to two weeks. You may freeze them for up to one month. Let truffles stand at room temperature for one hour before serving.

I rolled some in cocoa, some in powdered sugar, and dipped some in chocolate. Pumpkin suggested I dip the heart cookies in chocolate and so I did. This is a chocolate box Joanne brought with her last weekend to the little Cupid's Tea I did. We all had our tea and then made valentines, if we wished. Six bloggers, and no one managed to get pictures, including me! This was one of the boxes she brought in case anyone wanted to decorate one. I did. Sweetheart did the gold foiling on the ribbon. Isn't he the best?!

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Butter

Kate--- I'll do a post on butter-making this weekend. The whipping cream needs to sit out for 24 hours before I churn it. It's on the counter now.

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As Sweetheart and I are using more natural products and foods, we are discovering all sorts of things you can make yourself. On the list to start making, hopefully Sunday after the boys go to bed, is soap. Sweetheart is more into the chemistry of everything than I am. (Understatement!!)

While we've been gathering up the various ingredients and waiting for everything to be ready, I've started making a few cosmetic type things myself that are simple and ready to go the same day. (Homemade soaps need weeks to set up, so it will be awhile before I have any posts on that.)

On Tuesday I made Lip Balm. Using this recipe, I made a lovely Burt's Bees-type lip balm. I added a bit more beeswax as it suggested to make it firmer and I added three drops of lavender oil in with the peppermint oil. I love the Burt's Bees stuff, but three dollars a tube is ridiculous!

Sweetheart bought a bag of 50 (!) empty tubes and this recipe filled six regular Chapstick sized tubes. I love it! I used a plastic syringe (no needle) to fill the tubes. The only change I'll make is to add even more beeswax, probably another whole teaspoon, because I like it to be firm. I'll also need to work faster filling the tubes, or wait for a warmer day, as the solution began setting up while still in the syringe, making the final product not quite as smooth all over in the tube as I would have liked. It totally usable and probably fine for gifts, but I'd like to keep improving it in the hopes that I might be able to sell some later with the soaps and other things I'm making.

On Wednesday, I made Lavender Body Butter with this recipe. On Thursday, I used the same recipe creating a Peppermint Body Butter using peppermint oil instead of the lavender, as I had used up all the lavender oil I had! This stuff is soooo wonderful! It goes on so smooth and lasts a lot longer than regular lotion. Like most of you, I'm washing my hands all day long. I put the Peppermint Body Butter on this morning. It's midafternoon now, and my hands still feel soft. In our dry Colorado climate and with how much I wash my hands, it's amazing that my skin still feels smooth. (The boys love it, too!)

I think I'll be using the Lavender at night and the Pepermint in the day. Lavender is so relaxing while the Peppermint is energizing to me. Both smell so clean, even Sweetheart is using them, and we don't have to worry about him going to work smelling like a girl. ;) I also like this recipe because it is neither sticky, or greasy.

Since these were my first attempts, I was concentrating hard on just doing it all right, so I didn't take any pictures of the processes. Is anyone interested that I should do a step-by-step blog on lipbalm or body butters, or are the links enough?

Living Life

I feel like we've been so busy living life that blogging about it has been set aside.
We've been to Berry Patch Farms more times than I can count. It's closer than any grocery store so it is easy to run up the road for eggs and fresh produce as needed. (We live on the far east side of Denver.)
Since I only head to the regular grocery store once a month to stock up on bulk foods and meat it's so great to have something close for the fresh things. Don't know what I'll do when they close for winter! They'll be open until Thanksgiving, but then closed until late spring/early summer.
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We'll try to head to the zoo a few more times before it gets too cold. The Denver Zoo really is nice. We fed the Lorikeets on our last trip there. My Mom played hooky from work and went with us. It was a great day.

They are giving each other kisses in the picture above. Something they do all the time that just melts this Mommy's heart.

Pumpkin loves to see all the animals and Dumpling likes to be pushed along in the stroller eating snacks. I'm not sure he much cares about the animals yet, but he sure likes going along for the ride. When he finishes what's on his tray he starts finishing up whatever Pumpkin has left behind.



We went up to Estes Park two weekends ago just to enjoy an Autumn drive. I wasn't able to get any really good pictures of the color in the mountains, but we had a lovely day. The barn picture at the top of the page was from that drive.

We stopped along the way at the Miller Farms where Pumpkin was able to see a few of his friends. They had painted a bunch of old cars and a truck to look like the characters from "Cars". (In case you hadn't noticed the reoccurring toy in almost every picture of Pumpkin--this boy loves Lightning Mc Queen. He goes everywhere with us from Target to picking up wheat at Nadine's today. If he's not in Pumpkin's hands, he close by!)

They've also got a bunch of old tractors and even a small plane out on display and for the kids to climb all over. Apparently, they have a bunch of other rides and things for the kids, but we didn't actually go inside. We were quite entertained for free just in their parking lot!

When we got to Estes we walked along by the river and found a place to have our picnic lunch. Pumpkin and Sweetheart threw tons of rocks in the river, a favorite pastime of theirs.

After lunch, we headed back down the road until we found some National Forest access signs and drove along the back roads.

Sweet Dreams, Little One.

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Our garden has been actually growing things (besides weeds) this year. Here are some pictures of what we'll be harvesting soon. We're trying to let everything go as long as possible, but it is likely that we'll have a hard frost this weekend.

We've got quite a few Hubbard Squashes which I'm planning to substitute for pumpkin in a bunch of recipes. I think I'll need to do up some Spice "Pumpkin" Butter and more "Pumpkin" Bread and maybe some pies. These things are huge! We've also got more Birdhouse Gourds than there are birds around here.

A few things, I can't even identify. That thing that looks kind of like a peach pumpkin is another type of Hubbard Squash, I think, and I have no idea where the striped thing came from. I only planted the seeds from a squash I bought a few years ago for Pumpkin's baby food. Who knows what happened? I was hoping for pumpkins, but only ended up with one dark green one. Maybe next year's garden will go better!

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I've been reading along quite a few things. I'm doing the Northanger Abbey read-a-long and finished up Pride & Prejudice. I read Persuasion just before that and must say I like it more and more with each reading. It may soon be my favorite Austen book.

I also checked out a bunch of books the other day from the library. I printed out everyone's suggestions and got as many as I could find. If I couldn't find the specific book someone suggested, but found another book by the same other I checked it out. I'm now in the middle of three or four of them. It's good. I'll also take the time to track down some of the titles from other libraries and try to read as many as I can. I really appreciate your ideas and suggestions! Maybe I can get my act together and do some reviews on them. Maybe.

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I made Janna's Curry Chicken recipe yesterday. Oh, yum!! It was a cloudy, cool day here in Denver, just perfect to have something cooking in the crockpot. Do try it yourself! It is soooo good. I meant to set aside one piece of chicken for lunch today with a friend, but forgot to take it out yesterday and it ended up in the Curry Chicken as well. I felt odd serving a guest leftovers, but she didn't seem to mind. Good thing, as it was really all I had! We fed the two older boys noodles and cheese, which made them happy. Dumpling plowed through another good serving of the Curry Chicken. He has good taste!

I had planned to make the Curry Chicken yesterday so that we could enjoy the leftovers tonight before I was to go to the Homecoming football game with Janna and CL. Now, I'm not sure Janna is going and it is awfully cold out. Plus, Sweetheart is likely to be working late so I don't think it will all work out. Besides it is Friday and in our house Friday night is Movie Night and I'd hate to miss that. Last week I asked Pumpkin what, besides "Cars", he'd like to watch. He very matter of factly replied, Cranford." Of course! What two year old isn't fond of Elizabeth Gaskell and BBC movies? We watched "Cranford" and both boys watched with great attention and enjoyment.

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This post was even longer as I had added a bunch of pictures of Sweetheart and I as we finally got to go away for our tenth anniversary celebration last weekend. However, I messed up on the html for the pictures and gave up. Our anniversary itself was the week I miscarried in July. Not a good time to celebrate. We had already planned time away in August, but had to reschedule after my Mom fell. Everything came together though, finally, and we had a delightful time away. Maybe another post will work, besides, I think this one has enough pictures!

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I hope you are having a delightful day, wherever you happen to be. I'm off to make a pot of tea and wash up the dishes from lunch before the boys get up from their naps. I'm going to leave the page to The Button Willow Chronicles open to enjoy her music as I head off to putter around the kitchen. If you've never stopped by TBWC, you're in for a real treat. It's full of wondrous stories and quotes and pictures of all my favorite things. Go on, take a look, just be sure to come back here again to visit soon!

Scones! Scones! Scones!

I love scones, don't you? They are so quick and easy to make with this lovely recipe from Emilie Barnes' If Teacups Could Talk which just happens to be my all-time favorite tea book. This is her Basic Scone Recipe. It is wonderful just as it is. It is also wonderful when you use it as a base and add your favorite things. I've added everything from dried cranberries and orange peel, to chocolate chips, to fresh strawberries, to candied ginger. I had posted another scone recipe awhile back, but realized that I had mixed two recipes up and this is the one I usually use.

I love this recipe because I can have hot, fresh scones in 20 minutes with ingredients I always have on hand. I've seen some other recipes that seem to always call for one thing I don't have like a special flour, or whipping cream. While I love whipping cream it is expensive and so not good for you!

Here it is:

2 cups flour

1 Tbl baking powder

2 Tbl sugar

1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbl butter

1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

lightly beaten egg

Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. (Add any additions at this time.) Make a well in the center and pour in the milk. Mix until dough clings together and is a bit sticky, but do not overmix. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and shape into a 6-8 inch round about 1 1/2 inches think. Quickly cut into pie wedges or use a large biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out circles or shapes. The secret of tender scones is a minimum of handling. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, being sure the sides of the scones don't touch one another. Brush with beaten egg for a shiny, beautiful scone. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-20 minutes, or until light brown.

Yum!! I think I'm going to whip some up as soon as I post this. We've got some fresh strawberries to serve along side with lemon curd. We all love lemon curd, even Pumpkin who asks for it on his toast in the mornings. Cute! He also thinks scones are pretty wonderful, too!

I think I'll sweep off the porch while they bake so we can enjoy an impromptu porch tea after naptime. Of course, Pumpkin will have milk instead of tea and probably eat with a scone in one hand and a tractor in the other.

Lemon Honey Pecan Tart Recipe

Due to popular demand (my sister requested it) here is the recipe. You'll notice that in my picture you can see the pecans on the top of the tart under the powdered sugar. You, too, can have this effect, if you are talking on the phone while baking and forget to put the pecans in the tart when the recipe says, and only remember them when the tart is about halfway done baking. Then you just pour the pecans on the filling and try to press them into the half-cooked filling. Whichever way you chose, this is delicious!

This recipe is from Bon Appetit Magazine March 1991. I had one of the few subscriptions to Bon Appetit at my college, I'm sure. Even fewer of us had it in high school, and I was probably their only subscriber that was in junior high when my Dad started ordering it for me. Anyway, go preheat your oven!

Oh, side note: this was originally Lemon, Honey Wand Walnut Tart, but Sweetheart is allergic to walnuts so I use pecans. Either work.

Lemon, Honey and Pecan/Walnut Tart Crust

1 stick butter, room temperature (Hey! It's just like Pioneer Woman Cooks!)

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves (The recipe says 1/8, but more is better!)

1 1/3 cups flour

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey (Carey--You can try the Agave Nectar! I haven't, but you are welcome to it.)

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 eggs

1 1/2 Tbl grated lemon peel

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp (or more) ground cloves

pinch of salt

1 cup chopped walnuts/pecans

powdered sugar

strawberries

For Crust:

Mix the first 6 ingredients with an electric mixer until well blended. Add flour and mix just until combined. Gather dough into ball; flatten to disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Let dough soften slightly before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. (NOTE: a springform/cheesecake pan should work, a pie pan might work.) Roll dough out between sheets of waxed paper. Remove top sheet of paper. Transfer dough to prepared pan discarding the second sheet of paper. Trim and finish the edges. Refrigerate 15 minutes.

Line dough with foil. (Recipe says to fill with dried beans or pie weights, but I never have.) Bake 15 minutes. Remove beans and foil and continue baking until crust is golden brown, about 15 more minutes. (Can be prepared a day ahead. Let stand at room temperature. The recipe says to let the shell cool completely before the next step, but I don't know why, so I don't bother.)

For Filling:

Preheat oven, if needed, to 350 degrees. Mix first 8 ingredients in bowl until smooth. Spread nuts in crust. Gently pour lemon mixture over. Bake until filling is just set in center, about 35 minutes.

Cool tart on rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Arrange strawberry halves with points to the center, around outer edges of the tart and serve. (I skipped the strawberries this time, but they are wonderful on it.)

Enjoy!

Toffee Recipe

I love this recipe. It's so easy to put together and tastes so good! It's a perfect tea time treat. I like to have just a bit of chocolate with the other sweets at a tea. Plus, since this can be made ahead, it's a nice treat to make the day before the tea. (Just be sure to hide it, so there's still some left!) I think I've also frozen it after cutting it into squares.

This is a recipe I've passed out before for large teas where each person is bringing in some of the food. It's something that would be hard to mess up.

I made a half-batch of this today in a 9"x9" glass baking pan. I cooked it the full 20 minutes. I probably should have baked it a few extra minutes, as it was pretty thick. No matter, it was still delicious! Apparently Sweetheart would agree as a number of pieces were missing when I got up from my nap...

Toffee Recipe:

2 sticks butter (1/2 lb)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 large package chocolate chips (12 oz.)
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9 inch baking pan. Toast and chop the pecans and set aside.

2. Cream together butter and sugars on low speed. Add the egg yolk and vanilla. Beat well. Stir in the flour.

3. Spread this mixture into the baking pan. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven.

4. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips. Return pan to the oven for 3 minutes. Using a knife, spread the melted chocolate evenly across the surface of the pan. Sprinkle with the pecans. Cool completely and cut into squares. (Try not to eat the entire pan in one sitting.)

This recipe is from a wonderful book called Tea Time by Roni and Nancy Akmon. It's one of my favorite cookbooks for tea. The picture at the top of the post is the cover of the book. The cover illustration by Harrison Fisher is one of my absolute favorites!

Tea Sandwich Recipes

Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches

(This recipe makes 24 sandwiches.)

1 ½ cups of cooked chicken, finely chopped

½ cup cashews, finely chopped

6 tablespoons mayonnaise

salt and pepper to taste

12 slices of white sandwich bread

½ stick melted butter

Mix together the chicken, cashews, and mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread melted butter on each slice of bread. (A pastry bush or new paint brush works well for this.) Divide the salad onto 6 of the slices. Top with the remaining slices, pressing down gently. Finally, cut off the crusts and cut each sandwich into four sections.

*

Tomato Provencal Sandwiches

(This recipe makes about 24 sandwiches.)

24 slices of white sandwich bread

4 or 5 Roma/Italian Tomatoes sliced into 6 slices each

1 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbs Dried Herbs (Herbs de Provence work, as do any assortment you may have. Or just mix some dried basil, thyme, oregano, & whatever else you have together.)

fresh dill for garnish, if available

Mix the herbs with the mayonnaise. Using a round cookie cutter cut a circle out of the center of each slice of bread. Try to use a cutter about the same size or larger than the tomato slices. Spread the mayonnaise of each slice of bread. Top with one tomato slice. Add fresh dill for garnish. (These are open-faced sandwiches.)

*

Cucumber Sandwiches

(This recipe should make about 30 sandwiches.)

1 loaf of white sandwich bread

1 large cucumber

1 small bunch of radishes

1 block of cream cheese, softened

salt and pepper to taste

½ stick melted butter

Cut the cucumber and radishes into about 30 thin slices. Brush the melted butter onto all the slices of bread. Spread some cream cheese on each slice of bread. Stack half the slices with four pieces of cucumber and four pieces of radish each. Top those with the other slices of bread. Press down gently. Trim off the crusts and cut each sandwich into four pieces.

Tea Sandwich Recipes

I often just make up the recipes for my tea sandwiches based on what I have in the refrigerator! I also make a lot of vegetarian combinations. They are often healthier and less expensive.
Egg salad works well as I almost always have eggs on hand. I like to add mayo, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, celery and seasonings to my egg salad. I don't measure, so I can't give amounts. It mostly is by look and texture and how many people are joining me. (I add a dash of the red wine vinegar to give it a bit of a tang, like deviled eggs.) I'll put it on whatever bread I have. If I have regular white bread I'll make it like a regular sandwich and then cut the crusts off and quarter it. If I have homemade bread, I make make them open-faced and just put the salad on a single slice of bread, otherwise it's too much bread.
Cucumber sandwiches are simple. I butter the bread and place very thin slices of cucumbers on top. I may leave them open as well, again it depends on the bread I'm using. Sometimes I'll cut the slices in half and fan them out on the bread. If I have them, I'll add thin slices of radishes as well. The flavors work well together and the red of the radish adds a dash of color. I like to sprinkle fresh or dried dill on top as well.
I love tomato sandwiches for tea. I usually use baguettes for bread, or cut circles out of sandwich bread. I blend a mix of dried herbs: savory, basil, thyme, etc. into some mayonnaise and refrigerate the mayo so the flavors can meld. I then spread the mayo on one bread circle and top it with a slice of tomato. Roma tomatoes work well for this. I then sprinkle fresh basil, if I have it and little bachelor button/cornflower petals on top. They are completely edible and the blue simply pops out on top of the red of the tomato. (I grow them in the garden, dry them in bunches, then put them in jars to use throughout winter.)
Chicken salad is also wonderful for tea sandwiches. I make mine with chicken, cashews, a little onion, celery, mayo, mustard, and spices. I just make sure to chop everything up fine so that it is easier to eat.
Cream cheese can also be a wonderful sandwich base. You can put it on the cucumber sandwiches in place of, or in addition to, the butter. It's also nice mixed with a little blue cheese and spread with bits of pear and pecans or walnuts.
I've also used just regular lunch meats like turkey or sliced chicken for sandwiches as well. I just make sure they are bite-sized and as pretty as possible. Cookie cutters can be used to make fun shapes. Also, you can cut the sandwiches into quarters via triangles, and rectangles, not just squares. Have fun with it! I'm sure you can come up with something wonderful out of whatever you may have on hand. Feel free to post your ideas in the Comments section.