Chicken Veggie Ranch Cups

This makes an easy and delightful appetizer or canape -- excellent when paired with tea or something stronger!

Chicken Veggie Ranch Cups

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup red bell pepper

¼ cup chopped carrot

¼ cup chopped olives

¼ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped green onion

¼ cup chopped green pepper

¼ cup chopped yellow pepper

1 6- ounce to 8-ounce can white-meat chicken, drained and flaked

Ranch dressing

Shredded Swiss cheese

Sauté veggies till tender. Add chicken and enough dressing to moisten; heat through. Line pastry cups with pie crust or cream cheese pastry. Top each with sprinkle of Swiss cheese. Bake 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 16 to 20 servings.

This recipe, and others posted on the blog, will be included in a forthcoming ebook called SIMPLY GOOD: Recipes for the Busy Cook.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Tea, scones, and cucumber sandwiches makes a wonderful afternoon treat.

Peel a medium sized cucumber and slice very thin. Soak slices for one hour in salt water to make them crisp, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine mayonnaise (or ranch dressing) and cream cheese in equal proportions until smooth. Cut rounds from white bread with a cookie cutter. Spread each slice with mayonnaise-cream cheese mixture. Top with a thin cucumber slice and sprinkle generously with dried dill weed.

Cucumber slices are also excellent on deli cocktail rye bread. When I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I bake my own bread in miniature pans, so each sandwich is a full slice of bread, two inches or less square. Don't be afraid to try exotic varieties and unusual combinations. Imagination is the key.

Scones -- A Taste of England

Now that you know how to make a perfect cup of tea (and if you don't, scroll on down the page to find out), you need something to go with it -- and the perfect "something" is a scone.

 

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup raisins, sultanas or dates (optional)

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 pint whipping cream
Strawberry or raspberry jam

Sift flour and add baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in margarine with a pastry cutter or two knives. Add raisins or sultanas or dates if desired, and stir to coat them with flour. Mix milk with beaten egg and stir mixture into dry ingredients. Gather dough into a ball. Knead lightly and roll to 1/2 inch thickness on floured board. Cut into circles or other shapes as desired and place on a lightly greased baking sheet so they do not touch. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or till golden.

While scones are baking, pour whipping cream into chilled bowl and whip with chilled beaters till the cream is very stiff and almost buttery.
Serve scones immediately after baking; they lose much of their flavor within half an hour. Let your guests split each scone horizontally and top with whipped cream and jam.
Makes 12 scones.

There's a rumor that the only reason scones were invented was to transport the weight of jam and English clotted cream (a very rich whipped cream) from one's tea plate to one's mouth. In fact, the combination of sweet biscuit, cream, and jam is so delicious that your guests will think you slaved over the scones for hours, but in fact they're as sinfully easy as they are good. I must admit, however, that sometimes I say modestly, "You wouldn't believe how much effort it takes to make these."

The Perfect Cup of Tea

Though the custom of afternoon tea didn't come into full flower until after the Regency period had ended, there's no more perfect combination than curling up with a cup of really good tea and a historical romance. (Unless you add something chocolate, of course.)

The average American makes tea by zapping a mug full of water in the microwave for a minute or two, then dunking a bag in the water till it turns color. Microwave ovens heat quickly but often unevenly, which means part of the water may be overboiled while another portion is hot but not yet boiling. The result is usually a muddy cup of tea.

Instant hot-water faucets, if set at the proper temperature, should produce water that’s hot enough to make an acceptable single cup of tea, but they usually don’t produce near-boiling water quickly enough to make a full pot of tasty tea.

A true cup of tea takes very little longer and very little extra work, yet it returns enormous rewards in taste and satisfaction.

To make perfect tea, start with a kettle of cold water. Let the water run for a bit before filling the kettle, so the water will be fresh and fully aerated. While a kettle is best, water which has been brought to a full boil in a covered pan will also make good tea. Set the burner at the highest temperature, to bring the water to a boil as quickly as possible.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil, fill the tea pot – preferably a china one, which holds the heat better – at least halfway with hot water from the tap. Let the warming water stand in the pot until the kettle boils, so the tea pot will be thoroughly warmed. (This keeps the boiling water from cooling off too quickly as you pour it into the tea pot, and it also keeps the tea pot from cracking because of the sudden temperature change.)

Fill a mesh tea ball with one teaspoon of loose tea for each cup of water the teapot holds. Don’t fill the tea ball more than half full; tea leaves need room for expansion. Or use one high-quality tea bag per cup of water.

The instant the kettle begins to boil, empty the warming water from the pot, put in the tea ball or bags, and pour still-boiling water over the tea. Let the brew steep for three minutes. Remove the tea ball or tea bags. Serve with lemon or whole milk (not cream) and sugar to taste -- and enjoy!