Sunday, April 11, 2010

Recipe Round-up: Spring Tea Party


For my 30th birthday a few years ago, my sister gave me a Mad Hatter vegan-friendly tea party. She really should have gone into party planning, because she is awesome at it. The photos in this post are from that party, more decorations than food.

I've been wanting to have another tea party ever since. I'm actually not a fan of tea, and I don't like hot beverages. Tea, well, it all pretty much tastes the same to me, unless I dump a truckload of sugar into it...and that's just not the best idea. I prefer lemonade or limeade. BUT! But, I totally love all the things that accompany a tea party: cucumber sandwiches and other little sammies, scones and jam, green salads, and desserts like Carrot Cake and Strawberry Shortcake.


CUCUMBER SAMMIES
Vegan Yum Yum's fancy-looking Cucumber Tea Sandwiches.

The Lunchbox Bunch's Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches.

Vegan Yum Yum's Pressed Avocado, Hummus, and Cucumber Sandwiches.

mooflyfood has these Dainty Cucumber Sandwiches.

Vegetarian Resource Group of Tucson Arizona posted this Vegetarian Tomato & Cucumber Sandwich.


EGGLESS SALAD SAMMIES
Vegan Wolf's Egg Salad Sandwich Spread.

FabulousFoods.com has a Vegan World Eggless Egg Salad.

The Blooming Platter's Vegan Egg Salad.

Lee Busch via the Post Punk Kitchen shared this Tofu "Egg" Salad.

I Married An Omnivore's Vegan Egg Salad Sandwiches has a little bit of vegan cheddar cheese which I've not seen before.


Chez Bettay's Mocking Egg Salad.

[Short-cut: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's both sell pre-made vegan eggless salad in the deli sections.]


OTHER SAMMIES
Chez Bettay's Banana Mayo Suprise Tea Sandwich. I think the surprise is chili peppers...which certainly surprised me when I read it!

The Blooming Platter has some interesting recipes! I really like the idea of this Strawberry Chutney on Grilled Baguette Slices!


SCONES AND CREAM
Eating Well2's version of Clotted Non-Cream.

Sweet Sassafras' Vegan Cream Scones with Pear and Cardamom.

Peace by Pastries has an interesting Lemon Ginger Scones recipe.

Vegan YumYum's Lemon Maple Scones with Vegan Clotted Cream.

i Heart wellness has a Pumpkin Vegan Scone that looks good for more than just the fall.

Everybody Likes Sandwiches has this delicious sounding Pear & Ginger Vegan Scone.

Veganicious' Orange Chocolate Chip Scones. YUM! These sound particularly good to me right now.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz via The Daily Green offers us a savory scone recipe, Vegan Tomato Rosemary Scones.


KALE SALAD
Vegan Yum Yum's uber-delicious-looking Kale Salad with Orange-Blackberry Vinaigrette....OOOH!

The Discerning Brute shared a Raw Kale Salad w/Avocado & Tomato recipe.

Go Dairy Free- Kale Salad w/Orange Ginger Dressing

Kristen's Raw features this Fennel Orange Kale Salad

I'm drooling over Vegan Yum Yum's BLT Salad....I've got to try this one for sure, and I'm not waiting for a tea party to do it!
Vegan Dietician's Massaged Kale Salad

Food & Wine has this easily-veganized Greek Kale Salad. The only non-vegan ingredient listed is the feta cheese. And believe it or not, there is a vegan feta cheese available out there called Soy Feta. In fact it is sitting in my refrigerator. I still have not tried it, but you can get it at Whole Foods. You can also try making your own, just google "vegan feta cheese" and you'll find some recipes.

Manifest Vegan's Fruity Kale Salad with Coconut Lime Dressing looks divine.

[Short-cut: Whole Foods usually has one or two tasty vegan Kale Salads in their deli.]


MISC GOODIES
The Blooming Platter has a unique Vegan "Cheese" Ball with Smoked Almonds, Scallions, and Olives.

The Blooming Platter's Vegan Cucumber-Dill Spread, Dip, or Sauce

The Blooming Platter's Vegan Carrot-Cucumber-Cashew Soup. This is a warm soup, but still sounds perfect for a tea party.


TEA PARTY MENUS
Steph's Cup of Tea has a tea party menu containing Mushrooms on Toast, Cucumber-Rosemary Sandwiches, Maple Blueberry Scones, Vegan Clotted Cream, and Choc-Dipped Apricots.

Mia F of Associated Content had some ideas for a Vegan Mother's Day Tea Party that can be used just about whenever. On the menu: Cucumber Sandwiches, Tomato Avocado Sandwiches, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread, Vegan Cranberry Orange Scones, Vegan Banana Nut Muffins, and Vegan Fruit and Nut Cookies.


BOOK RESOURCES
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau at Compassionate Cooks has a little Afternoon Tea ebook for sale featuring this menu: Mexican Wedding Cookies, Classic Currant Scones, Eggless Egg Salad Sandwich, Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich, and Roasted Red Pepper, Artichoke and Pesto Sandwich.

Isa Chandra's Vegan Brunch cookbook has a good bunch of recipes perfect for tea parties: Carmelized Vidalia Onion Quiche, Tofu Benny (eggless benedict), Potato Spinach Squares, Coleslaw Potato Salad with Cumin Seeds, Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs, Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes, Apple Rosemary Scones, and Garden Herb Spread, just to name a few.




2 comments:

Xhanthi said...

Your tea party birthday looks so cute! Also this Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese sounds interesting.

Kenike said...

Thanks. You know, that stuff is awesome. As a non-vegan I never ate cream cheese because I didn't really like it plain. Unless, it was mixed into something, like cream cheese frosting on carrot cake. So I don't have a great memory of how it tasted alone.

BUT, the Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese has been a perfect replacement for everything I've used it for. The cream cheese frosting for carrot cake tastes virtually identical to what I remember. I've heard the same thing from other people. My dad, the ultimate omnivore, gobbles down the vegan version of the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting because it tastes so much like what he knows. I've used it in other recipes as well to great success.

Some vegans will eat it plain on bagels and such. I just don't because I never liked eating bagels that way. But I took bagles to work once and brought the Tofutti cream cheese and my coworkers seemed to like it and not really notice a difference. Tofutti also has flavored vegan Better Than Cream Cheese; French Onion, Herbs & Chives, Garlic & Herb, and Garden Veggie, in addition to two plain versions.

I almost always have tub of it in my fridge for baking. :)