After the shopping was done and the decorations made, the place settings were planned and the dishes laid out, it was time for cooking and baking…and cooking and baking….and cooking and baking and so on. I pretty much lived in the kitchen all day Saturday  and Sunday!  

                                       Decorating cupcakes with Caroline.
The menu:
Chicken Salad sandwiches
Cowgirl Quiche
Cucumber Sandwiches
Salad on a Stick
Cream Cheese Mints
Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
Animal Crackers
Maple Oat Nut Scones
Strawberry Lemonade
BlackBerry Tea
Assorted herbal, green and black teas with cream, sugar or lemon

Wow! That makes me tired just listing all of those items. No wonder I was still slapping together sandwiches and whipping together lemonade when my guests arrived.   I was so embarrassed!  I do have a tendency to over plan. I guess that’s my organizational brain kicking in again.

All of the these recipes can be found at pioneerwoman.com or the Food Network with the exception of the BlackBerry Tea, Cream Cheese Mints and the Chicken Salad Sandwiches, which I mentioned in  my last blog.  With that said, I’d like to share the recipes and some more photos of the MOST AMAZING TEA PARTY EVER.

                                                          Animal Crackers

                             Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese icing

   Left to right:  cucumber sandwiches, maple nut scones, salad on a stick

Look for the Mints recipe in the next blog. 
Here’s the recipe for the blackberry tea:

5 regular sized tea bags
4 cups boiling water
1/4 cup mint leaves crushed
1/2 cup sugar
2 lbs. of blackberries

Brew the tea and mint in boiling water. Strain. Stir in sugar. Puree the blackberries in a blender or food processor.  Strain through a fine sieve. Discard the pulp and seeds. Stir the blackberry puree into the tea.

Taste and adjust the sugar as desired. Chill. Serve over ice garnished with mint leaf and 2 or 3 blackberries.

I am not a big fan of mint, so I left this ingredient out. I also would put more sugar in my tea. This recipe was not my favorite. It was missing something, but one of my guests was in love with it. So there you have it. To each  her own.

                                                       Cowgirl Quiche

           “Stay tuned for the finale of the MOST AMAZING TEA PARTY EVER!”