…and yummy treats!

EATS: Afternoon Tea Sandwiches
Makes 4 serving

Ingredients:

• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
  
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
  
• 1 1/2Tbs fresh flat-leaf parsley
  
• 1 1/2 Tbs fresh dill
  
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
  
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  
• 1 loaf of whole grain bread, about 12 slices
• 2-4 sliced smoked salmon, less seasoned variety preferred; so something like Norwegian smoked salmon
• 1 English cucumber

Steps:

• Spoon the mascarpone cheese into a mixing bowl
  
• Mix in the garlic, dill, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper

• I suppose you can use a food prosessor to cream everything together.  I just used the table knife that I was going to use to spread the mascarpone, and mixed everything together.  Without the use of a food processor, it decreased the amount of dishes I had to clean up afterwards.  I did this not just out of laziness (though mostly), but to CONSERVE WATER, since I did not have to rinse off a food processor full of creamed cheese.  Instead,  I just had to wipe off the table knife with a napkin after I was done and put it in the dishwasher, not a single drop of extra water needed!
  

• Cover all 12 bread slices with the herbed mascarpone cheese
• For the cucumber tea sandwiches, you can cut the cucumber either length-wise or in discs (see below as I experimented with both techniques).  After my taste test, I prefer length-wise in order to provide a homogenous bite.  Also, if you cut the cucumber length-wise, you can prevent having the seeds in the sandwiches, which, based on my research, would make the bread soggy if you prep the sandwiches the night before.  Make three whole cucumber sandwiches (six slices of bread)
  

• Side Note: since this is a tea party, don’t forget to decorate with pretty things!  I cut some fresh, blooming hydrangeas from our yard and placed them in little tea cups.  For some reason, the hydrangeas at my house are apparently drought resistant, since we only water them once a week!

• For the smoked salmon tea sandwiches, place approximately one slice of smoked salmon per sandwich, or enough to cover the entire surface of the bread in one layer
  
• You can cut the sandwiches into three rectangles per sandwich, or four triangles by making two diagonal cuts

• A note about the crust, I am a big believer in eating the entire sandwich whole, including the crust.  But when I was making the tea sandwiches, it just made it a lot easier to stand the sandwiches up on the side if I cut the crust off.  This made for a very happy chef (more munchies for me!) and a very spoiled puppy (some for Zee!)

• I added some leftover parlsey around the tea sandwich tray to keep the bread moist
  

And of course, any party would not be complete without some glitter tattoo!!

Add a bouncy house (aka big kid’s play pan) so that adults can sit and enjoy uninterrupted conversation.

And there you have it!  An afternoon tea party for adults and children!  Enjoy and happy summer!!