A LOVELY FALL DAY for Tea In The Garden

 

Today I was able to set up a "Tea In The

Garden" which is always fun.  I recently realized something I have been doing wrong in my garden. You would probably not make this mistake.

 Each spring I have been cutting off the dead looking hydrangea stems that are brown.   Yes, I have done this each year and each year I have few of the blue ones bloom.  They do make lots of leaves but not many blooms. 

 I was reading in a gardening Facebook group for Missouri and someone asked about this very thing.  I learned that this was indeed my error as someone said the blooms form on the old wood.  Now, who would have guessed that?

These blue blooms came just recently after our really hot weather cooled down.

  So next spring I am leaving things alone

 and I am hoping to get a bumper crop for

a change.  

EASY AND DELICIOUS BUTTER TART SHELLS for Tea In The Garden

We have had a lot of very hot weather and during August and rain was scarce so our lawn went from green to brown. I am working my way around the garden hoeing and digging out the weeds that seem to love the drought!  I did want to dash out and do a "Tea In The Garden" photo shoot.

If you have every purchased the prebaked

tart shells you know how convenient they are to use and fill with any pie filling to make a lovely finger sized dessert.

  We sold so many of the boxed shells "back in the day" at Bernideen's.

You can certainly save a lot of money by baking your own so today for "TEA IN THE GARDEN" we are doing just that!

I love this red transferware 

for tea time.  Are you

ready to make some simple tart

shells and by the way - freeze a bunch

for another day!  This recipe made 100 shells.

If you have butter, flour and confectioners sugar in your kitchen now you are ready to bake this wonderful and simple tart shells.

I just filled these with cherry pie filling and put whip cream on top:

Ingredients:    3 sticks which is 1 ½ cups soft butter, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 3 cups regular flour – mix all

 Roll a large marble sized piece of dough in the palm of your hand and press it into the tin….try not to go to the very top of the round opening. After baking and cooling,  remove them with a thin sharp knife 325 degrees for 13-15 minutes in a regular oven or 10 min convection oven.  USING the teflon coated mini muffins tins,  this made 100 tart shells so I am freezing quite a few of mine:

I broke a few learning to use

 a thin, narrow knife

to get them out.

ZINNIAS HANDLE THE HEAT for "Tea In The Garden"

 I was hoping by now to have set up many more little "Tea In The Garden" photo shoots but August has been really hot.  I did

go out earlier and set a tea cart up

in front of some zinnias.

Last year I got some seeds from

a landscaped area in a subdivision

nearby.  At the end of the summer they

were looking pretty ugly and I knew

the company they hired would be

replacing them with chrysanthemums

like they usually do.

We are in need of some soaking rain.

Early this summer my husband moved this

arbor to the side fence so now the

 bittersweet is growing up it nicely.

As you can see, our yard is not flat but

has hills every direction.

This yellow plant is a Missouri

native wildflower called Rudbeckia

 and is in the Coneflower family.

OLD ORIGINAL BOOKBINDER'S APPLE WALNUT PIE for "Tea In The Garden"

 We have had some apples on our kitchen counter for far too many days.  Today I thought I better do something with them.  I have been trying some recipes from an old Victoria cookbook that was published in 1997 called "Sweet Baking".

This pie is different than the usual apple

pie because it has a lot of sour cream in it.

I set a little tea table up out on the deck

off the kitchen:

Here is the cookbook I used from the

days when Victoria was owned by

Hearst Publishing:

I think I would add raisins to this recipe

and a little less sour cream.

The original restaurant from the 1800's 

is gone but Bookbinder's now produces

other products.

And oh my - we need some rain:

LITTLE WOMEN RECIPE BOOK for "Tea In The Garden"

Welcome to a "Little Women

Tea In The Garden":

A darling cookbook I ordered recently came in the mail. It was published in 2019 and I was reminded why I love this type of cookbook.  I adore cookbooks that are historical and those that feature recipes to do with classic books and movies.

Have you seen any of the Little Women movies?  I have at least three.  I prefer the one with Winona Ryder in it but enjoy them all. I feel I need to actually read the book because

I can see from the cookbook that there is of course much more to enjoy about the March family than what is presented on the screen.

So The Little Women Cookbook by Wini Moranville is really sweet. Many of you will remember when Amy March said that Pickled Limes were all the rage at school and her sister Meg felt sorry for her. She gave Amy the rag money so that she could buy some to trade or give away with friends.

 

"Amy's Pickled Lime Sugar Cookies"

suggests you purchase a market sugar

cookie mix and add the icing.  I took my own sugar cookie recipe and reduced the quantity.

 So here is the recipe I made for todays "Tea in the Garden".

Sugar Cookie Base 

if you want homemade:

makes 2 Dz medium cookies

1 stick butter - 1/2 cup , 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 med eggs, 1 3/4 cup sifted flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt

I prefer to roll this out and cut it with a medium size scone cutter or round cutter

Bake 375 degrees for about 8 minutes

in a regular oven or 7 1/2 convection

Cool completely and then ice

Icing here:

1 1/2 Tb butter unsalted/soft, 1 1/2 Cup confectioners sugar, 4 1/2 tsp lime juice. 1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, little milk if need to thin, green food coloring, 8 small jellied line green candies sliced into 4 pieces each

I could not find the lime slices but found something else that worked....be flexible right?

I hope this has been fun and I would suggest it for a tea time with little girls or teens

and especially with a "Little Women" tea themed party.

Late note: Now I am in therapy twice a week

and will be doing exercises three times a day.

As you may be surprised to see this post and

me out setting it up - I am not one to sit but

I am moving slow and easy!

TEA IN THE GARDEN TIME

  This morning I looked out and noticed it was

an overcast day. 

 What a perfect day for taking photos. 

The Meadow Phlox (the tall lilac color flower in the back )is pretty right now

and is a Missouri wildflower. 

 Coneflowers

are so prolific here.

I set a little tea table up in my

front yard.  I had some Lemon

Pound Cake (click for recipe)

for us to enjoy that

I had baked Tuesday night.

I hope your summer is going well.

 For those of you that blog you will understand what I am about to say.  

Blogger has really messed with the

headers and I have not succeeded at

getting mine back up.  I like to change

my header according to the seasons but

it isn't so easy to change the header anymore.

These cups and saucers are English 

Royal Patrician.  They are some I use

down in my tearoom.

This is a late note from me:  I just told my husband I feel like a genius - everyone who know me knows that is an absolute joke!  I was able to finally follow the instructions on the link below and "somewhat" fix my header".  No, it isn't perfect but it is definitely bigger so I will leave this one alone for now!

This blogger link is what I am referring too!

scroll down and read the "HERE IS HOW I RESOLVED THE PROBLEM"by Cleo Coyle - she is the genius for sure!