Tea Time

My favorite teacup, Lady Carlyle!

Oh, I've been so bad lately! I only pop onto Blogger sporadically to catch up with you all, and haven't posted anything for months! Truth is, I've been hanging out a lot more on Facebook and Pinterest lately. I try to keep my "real" identity private, but my Pinterest boards can be accessed through the link on my sidebar (if you want to see all my Victorian pins!).

Every year, we have an annual tea at Eastlake Victorian! This year, we had it later than most. Our goal is to invite our tea-loving friends over for some lively conversation, delicious teas and scrumptious desserts.

This year, I started baking a week early, and either baked or prepared something almost every evening leading up to the event.

Just before the guests arrived, I set the plates and napkins out on the sideboard.

I set out the cookies on the center table.

I opened up the old 1908 White treadle sewing machine, and used it as a serving table for the cakes!

I made two varieties of cakes this year. One was a cake I've made many times before, a Tomato Cake. It's quite like a fruit cake, and freezes well for leftovers.

The other cake I tried was from a new recipe I found on Pinterest, a Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake. It was the best lemon cake recipe I've ever made! I'll definitely be making that recipe again!

I also make 2 different cookie recipes found on Pinterest. The first was a Strawberry Cream Cookie which turned out really well.

The second were Viennese Fingers, which were a pressed butter cookie dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. Yum!

I also tried these miniature Fruit Tarts from a Pinterest recipe.

I altered them a bit by filling with a custard I like to make for eclairs, and leaving out the almond meal from the crusts. I wanted the sweets I baked to be nut-free, since a few people who were coming have nut allergies.

I supplemented the homemade sweets with store-bought orange chocolate Piroulines, which I placed upright in a goblet, some chocolate raspberry candies, and some ginger snaps.

And what's a tea without scones? As usual, I made some scones using the Sticky Fingers brand mixes, and served them with blackberry jam, lemon curd and homemade Devonshire cream. I don't shape them into triangles, but plop them onto the baking sheet like drop biscuits. I always prepare these just before the people begin arriving, so they're very fresh and still a bit warm!

We had a variety of teas, including decaf and herbal varieties, for everyone to try.

And as usual, we let everyone chose their cup and saucer!

We set up our 42-cup Westbend pot, which made self-serve extremely easy.

Our tea was an open house, from noon till 5PM. People came and went, and it seemed everyone had a good time!

In all, we had 23 friends stop by to enjoy our tea.

If you'd like to try any of these recipes, here are the links to them on Pinterest:

Mini Fruit Tarts

Strawberry Cream Cookies

Viennese Finger Cookies

Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake

Before the Tea

I took a few pictures before the guests arrived for our Winter Tea this past Sunday. We set out all the teacups and the teas on the kitchen table.

The tea serving station was on the counter. Guests could add cream, sugar, stevia, lemon or honey! I used our antique sugar bowl as a spooner, which worked out quite well. I use butter pats to hold used tea bags.

I placed a variety of cookies on our 3-tiered tray. Included are shortbread, ginger snaps, Meyer lemon and some buttery bakery cookies dipped in chocolate.

The bride's basket contained the scones, served with blackberry jam, lemon curd and devonshire cream.

Two cakes were served, including a store bought lemon pound cake and a homemade tomato pumpkin cake! I've included the recipe for Tomato Pumpkin Cake below. It's very moist and delicious, and a great way to use up green tomatoes at the end of summer.

I used my large serving tray to serve chocolate-covered strawberries!

Once our guests began arriving, I got caught up in the conversations and completely forgot about taking more pictures! But you get the gist. Just imagine most of the desserts gone and several teacups and saucers to wash.

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Tomato Pumpkin Cake

2-1/4 cups sugar

1 can pumpkin

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup pecan pieces (or walnuts)

1 cup raisins

2-1/2 cups diced green tomatoes (red works fine, too)

Preheat oven to 350º.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, canned pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

In another mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Gradually stir into pumpkin mixture.

Add the tomatoes, nuts and raisins. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. If serving with tea, slice into small squares.

Winter Tea

Every January for several years now, my husband and I have hosted our annual Winter Tea. It's a way to extend the celebrations after the holidays, and to bring our friends together for genteel conversation and warmth during the bleakest season.

The furniture needs to be rearranged for more convivial conversation, so we gather our chairs around a table where we place all the sweets! We usually hold our tea as an open house between noon and 5:00 so our guests can come and go to suit their schedules. Soft, classical and light music plays in the background as the guests arrive.

Their first stop is the kitchen, where the kettle is always on and the selection of teas is plentiful. Each guest selects his/her cup and saucer, and we encourage them to try as many teas as they wish throughout their visit! Some guests like to gather in the kitchen, and others congregate around the sweet table in the other room.

In the past we have prepared finger sandwiches for the guests who arrive first. But this year we just served sweets. Sometimes I do some baking of cookies or sweet breads and cakes, but this year we purchased mostly store bought. I'm particularly fond of the scone mix I use. It is from a company called Sticky Fingers, and all you need to add is water, and you have fresh-baked scones in 15 minutes! I also make my own Devonshire cream, which is 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream and 2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar whipped together. That and blueberry jam is heavenly on the scones!

We had a great turnout this year, and everybody seemed to really enjoy themselves. Hosting a tea is a great way to catch up with your friends. It's an old fashioned, elegant event with modern and casual hospitality. I'm in favor of bringing back the Victorian Tea as a standard form of entertainment. Why don't you host a tea sometime soon?

My mom and husband enjoying the tea!

Healthy Stew Recipe

A lot of people have made New Year's resolutions to eat healthier. I know I used to do that years ago. But little by little, over the years, my husband and I have managed to compile a yummy supply of healthy recipes that we love to eat on a regular basis. Then we don't feel so bad when we do eat the not-so-good-for-you stuff!

We both became vegetarians about 9 years ago. I am a strict vegetarian, but he eats salmon for the health benefits. Heart disease runs in his family, so I'm always on the lookout for healthy and delicious recipes that we both enjoy. And I have autoimmune diseases that flare up now and then, so I figure if I can at least do everything within my power to stay healthy, darn tootin' I will!

Here's a recipe that's a bit exotic, but so rich and satisfying you'd never know how healthy it was. I just made this tonight, and didn't think of blogging it till I was putting the leftovers in this bowl!

West African Peanut Stew

Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1-1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 cup water

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

2 plum tomatoes, or 1 large tomato, diced

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 can low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn

5 oz. fresh spinach, roughly chopped

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In a large pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and jalapeño for about 3 minutes. Add the cumin, ginger and cinnamon and cook 1 minute more.

Add the vegetable broth, water, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the peanut butter, black beans and corn. Stir well. The add as much spinach as you can fit in the pot, and when that has settled, add more! You can't get too much spinach! Simmer 10 minutes more.

If you like a bit more kick, leave the seeds in the jalapeños. Crunchy or creamy peanut butter... it doesn't matter as long as the only ingredient is peanuts! Sometimes I add some brown rice if I need to stretch it. If you're a meat eater, by all means use low sodium chicken stock if you want. This is a great winter recipe. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Baking season has arrived! Today I made some delicious Pumpkin Cupcakes from Martha Stewart's recipe. Mmmmm! Tastes just like autumn. I like cupcakes because they are already portion-controlled, not like a cake where you can cut yourself a big piece, by accident of course... and then you HAVE to eat it because it would be rude to put it back!