Bon Vivant 12

Our Second Gourmet Dinner!

"Queen for an evening" By Heather & Aimee

It was so delightful! We were invited to be a queen for a night at "Sweet Lizzies" -- Darling candy store in Tooele, (owned by one of our fabulous hostesses for the evening!) We arrived and were led to the upstairs loft by the DARLING decor! Place settings and tablescapes had us feeling like we were sitting at a sweet little french cafe'!

We started out with a delicious cream of asparagus soup, cranberry fetta salad followed by tasty gourmet BLT+++! Scrumptious chicken salad croissant & pasta salad. We were then invited to sample from the GORGEOUS dessert buffet, filled with marshmallow lollies, coconut cream cake, baklava, too cute to eat cupcakes... raspberry lemon cheesecake bars--- my mouth is just watering like a fountain here! SOOO yummy! We had such a blast that evening... once again-- can't wait for our next night together!

Salad

Greens

Cranberries

Feta Cheese

Sunflower Seeds

Creamy Italian Dressing (alright, we cheated, and used our favorite Kraft Creamy Italian with Oregano



Cream of Asparagus Soup

1 lb. Fresh Asparagus

4 cups water

2 Tbsp. of Knorr Granulated chicken boullion

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper



1. Trim off and discard ends of asparagus. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Combine asparagus and 1 cup water in medium saucepan. Add chicken boullion.



2. Cook 12-15 minutes or until tender. Puree in blender.



3. Melt butter in separate pan and add flour to create roux. Add water to create creamy soup base.



4. Combine asparagus, roux, cream, salt and pepper to taste.



Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes



Cake

Lemon Cake Mix

Add Extra Egg

Add Vanilla Pudding Mix



Lemon Buttercream Frosting





1/2 c. of butter, room temperature

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

3 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

1/4 c. milk

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

In a mixer bowl, cream the butter, lemon rind, vanilla and salt until light and about 2 minutes. Add confectioners' sugar alternately with milk until the mixture is creamy and smooth, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon juice.



Top with blackberry for garnish.



Marshmallow Lollies



Sucker Sticks

Marshmallows

Strawberry Melting Wafers

Red Sixlets

Silver Dragees



Stick marshmallow on stick. Using a double boiler, melt the strawberry wafers. Coat top half of marshmallow, decorate with dragees and sixlets.