Tea Party Recipes

Garden Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 oz) multi-colored spiral Pasta
• ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/8 tsp crushed Garlic
• 1 tsp Basil
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)
• 1 Red Pepper (sliced thinly)
• Parmesan/Romano Cheese (for garnishing)
• Parsley (for garnishing)

Instructions

• Cook pasta as per instructions stated on the package.
• Discard hot water and rinse pasta in cold water.
• Drain and transfer into a large bowl. Keep aside.
• Take a small bowl and combine together oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
• Pour the mixture over pasta.
• Add red pepper and toss the pasta to coat evenly.
• Sprinkle parmesan cheese and parsley.
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Russian Tea Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter (softened)
• ½ cup Confectioners' Sugar
• ¼ tsp Walnut Extract
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2¼ cup Flour
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ½ cup Walnuts (toasted and chopped)
• Confectioners’ Sugar (for dusting)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
• Mix butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat until the mix gets fluffy and light.
• Add in vanilla and walnut extracts. Stir well.
• Sift flour and salt together in a separate bowl.
• Add it to the butter mixture and stir until just mixed.
• Stir in toasted walnuts.
• Divide the mixture into 1-inch balls.
• Roll the balls and place them on greased baking sheets.
• Bake the balls for 11-14 minutes till they are lightly browned.
• Remove from oven and roll them in confectioners’ sugar.
• Cool and serve.

Egg Salad Tea Sandwich

Ingredients

• 6 Eggs
• 3 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1/8 tsp Pepper
• A dash of Salt
• Bread Slices

Instructions

• Place eggs in a saucepan and pour in water to cover them.
• Bring the water to a boil and simmer on medium flame for 10 minutes.
• Remove the eggs and place them into ice water.
• Peel the egg shells and slice/chop the eggs.
• Take a medium mixing bowl and combine together eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.
• Spoon out the mixture onto a bread slice and spread it neatly. Place another one on top. Cut the sandwich into triangles.
• Repeat with the remaining mixture and bread slices.

Dry Fruit Scones

Ingredients

• ½ cup cold Butter
• 2½ cups Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Orange Zest
• ½ cup Currants (or raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries)
• 1/3 cup Honey
• ½ cup Sour Cream
• 1 Egg (beaten)
• 1 Egg White (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 °F.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest together.
• Cut in butter and mix until your mixture forms small pea-sized clumps. Do not use a mixer; else you’ll get tough scones.
• Mix in currants.
• Combine honey, sour cream, and beaten egg in a separate bowl.
• Stir this mixture into the flour mix. Fold and stir till you get soft dough.
• Flour a board and knead the dough about 10 times.
• Roll out the dough, large enough to form an 8” square.
• Cut the dough into 4 squares and each square into 2 triangles.
• Brush your triangles with egg white using a pastry brush.
• Bake the scones for 10-20 minutes till they turn golden brown.

Backpacking Recipes

It’s dark, deep and desolate and you are lost in the woods! Your backpack is loaded with non-edible things and has never really seemed heavier. From head to toe, you are drenched in sweat and you are finding it impossible to drag your feet any further. Unfortunately, it’s not just the adrenalin that has been kicking in; the dreaded pangs of hunger have been getting on to you too. Now, wouldn’t you consider yourself extremely fortunate if your bag had some food in it? Well, in order to prevent the occurrences of such situations, it is essential to carry some food when out for camping, hitchhiking or other adventurous expedition. Carrying your own backpack meals isn’t just a great option when you are camping out but is also one of the good ways to ensure that you don’t go starved when out having fun. If you are looking for recipes that you can easily carry in your backpack, your search ends here. Read on to gain access to two simple yet delicious backpacking recipes.

Easy Backpacking Recipes

Corn, Tomato and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

• A can of Black Beans
• A cup of Corn (frozen)
• A clove of Garlic
• A large Tomato
• ½ tsp Chilli Powder
• ¼ tsp Cayenne Powder
• 1 tsp Parsley

Instructions

• This is a recipe that you will have to put together in the confines of your home and then go on to transport into your back pack.
• You can begin by chopping the tomato and the parsley. Once you are done doing this, go ahead and rinse the beans.
• With this done, find yourself a large ziplock bag. Add the beans, corn, garlic, the tomato and the clove of garlic to the ziplock bag.
• Add ½ teaspoon of chili, ¼ teaspoon of cayenne powder and a teaspoon of chopped parsley to it. Shake the bag for a few seconds. The purpose of shaking the bag is to make sure that all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
• Place the ziplock bag into your back pack; you now have food you can easily move around with. At the site of consumption, you can serve the salad with sliced pepper jack cheese or crackers.

Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich

Ingredients

• 2 slices of Bread
• Peanut Butter
• Jelly or Jam

Ingredients

• When it comes to moving around, hardly anything comes close to competing with peanut butter jelly sandwich. It’s really an instant classic.
• You can start putting your sandwich together by getting your hands on two fresh slices of bread. Place these two slices of bread on a large plate.
• Once the slices of bread are placed on a plate, get out the jam or jelly. Peanut butter goes best with raspberry jam or mixed fruit jam. However, you can use any jam or jelly of your choice like mixed fruit, strawberry, pineapple, grape, almost anything will do. Apply a generous layer of jelly or jam on the bread. The jam or jelly should coat every visible inch of the bread. Most people only focus on the center of the slice. For best results, make it a point to spread a thick layer of jam all over the bread.
• Now that you are done with the jam, apply a generous portion of peanut butter on the other slice of the bread. Depending on your tastes and preferences, the peanut butter can be crunchy or creamy. Like the jelly, apply the peanut butter all over the chosen slice of bread. You are almost done.
• Place one slice of the bread on top of the other slice and wrap your sandwich in a foil paper. Alternately, you can just place your sandwich in a ziplock back and put the same into your backpack. Don’t forget to enjoy your out-of-the-world sandwich when hunger kicks in.

There you have two very easy-to-put-together recipes that can only be best described as instant classics. Here’s wishing you a lifetime of adventure and thrills, with almost no room for boredom and hunger.