Who doesn’t love the results from the potting shed? It’s where hands-on with the earth’s soil embraces the planting of seeds and small plants to blossom and grow. Garden it up with a Potting Shed Party! Begin with fresh mint tea or Mint Julips with freshly grown mint for arrival. Invite your guests to tour your backyard garden…and serve hors d’oeuvres of crostini topped with goat cheese and sprinkled with chopped fresh herbs. For lunch serve a fresh garden salad from a large floral iced salad bowl. This is done by pouring water into a large bowl and sprinkling the water with fresh edible flowers. Insert a smaller bowl onto that and tape it down securely. Freeze the two bowls pressed together and unmold the ice to reveal a floral filled ice bowl. It is extraordinary! For your Potting Shed lunch entrée take a bit of a short cut with pre-roasted chickens. Cut the cooked chicken breasts from the bone and place the cooked breasts in a skillet with a dash of olive oil, outside breast down. Sear and flip the breasts. Cover with raspberry vinaigrette and loosely chopped sage. Steam in the skillet when ready to serve the chicken with summer vegetables. Your guests will be thrilled and you will be energized with the ease of this dish. Ah, dessert, it can only be the flower pot surprise! Prepurchase small plastic pots, per person, and wash each well. Fill the pots with alternating layers of chocolate wafers and whipped cream. Refrigerate the pots overnight, which turns the wafers into cake. Finish the pots with a live edible stemmed flower inserted into each pot and sprinkle some crushed chocolate wafers on top of the pots to complete the look of a flower pot growing a flower. (The edible fresh flower can be substituted with a silk flower.) While lunch is being served, have a demonstration of potting seeds and small plants. Provide the results from the demonstrated potting showcase as party favors to your good friends! © Kelly McBride Loft