Thursday, February 28, 2013

A Tea for Valentine's Day

A little late, but...

I decided at the beginning of the year that I would have at least one themed tea each month. Last month it was in honor of Twelfth Night and this month it is, of course, Valentine's Day.

Despite the fact that I have an entire room devoted to Valentine's Day, filled with lots of pinks and reds and hearts, I don't have much in the way of decorations to put on my table. I do, however, have a lovely heart decorated tea pot.



I bought a red tablecloth to set the mood, and got to work on my special tea sandwiches. I pulled out my Valentine themed cookie cutters and got to work.



For the sweets category, I went with a cherry and a strawberry sandwich spread.

Cherry Tea Sandwiches

One package vegan cream cheese
One jar of maraschino cherries
Slivered almonds

After the cream cheese has softened, add the cherries with just a little bit of the juice for color and the almonds. Mix well.

Strawberry Tea Sandwiches

One package vegan cream cheese
One box of strawberries, hulled and chopped
Chopped pecans

After the cream cheese has softened, add the strawberries and the pecans. Mix well.

For the savory category, I went with a classic cucumber with a twist.

Benedictine Cucumber Tea Sandwich

One package vegan cream cheese
One cucumber, peeled
One small onion

Chop the cucumber and onion. When the cream cheese has softened, mix in the cucumber and onion and mix well.

I slathered on the spreads to a couple of different loaves of bread. I used heart and lips shaped cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches out of the bread. I packed up the unused trimmed sandwich bits to nibble on at a later time.

For the tea, I decided upon a hawthorn tea. Good for the heart, you know!

I was gifted with a dozen beautiful roses from my equally beautiful daughter, and they graced the table.


Because it fell on a work night, the hubby and I decided to wait until the weekend to go out for a romantic dinner. I could not, however, let the day pass without something special.