Living Well

Sometimes it’s easier to serve a variety of appetizers and drinks instead of a dinner to your guests; unless you can’t get invited over to someone else’s party first.

But it doesn’t take too long for your friends to notice that you’ve been to their house three time and they’ve not been to yours once.

I find it best to invite people over between the usual mealtimes – it keeps their expectations low. And that’s more than a good enough thing.

Mornings are out for obvious reasons – who wants to get up and face food before 11 am? Worse, any time from 9 am to 1 pm is prime brunch.

So, afternoon gatherings between 2 pm and 4 pm or later evening get together from 8pm onwards – a movie and some munchies!

There certainly are a lot of lovely already made appies and canapes in the frozen food aisle – and as easy as it is to just toss them in the oven, more often than not, they taste only marginally better than the box you bought them in.

Before the recipes, there’s one fabulous trick to know: Parchment Paper is your best friend. Just lay a parchment paper on the cookie sheet  and you never need to grease again! Also, those silpats work really well to ensure even heating.

So here’s some easy canapes and happy appies:

Cocktail Cookies

1/2 cup flour

2 tbsp butter

1 pound of a flavoured cheese spread. (not the kind that comes in a spray can)

Mix everything together and then form into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed or parchment paper (or cling wrap) and put it in the fridge until it’s firm.

Remove it, slice just like those tubes of cookie mix – 1/4 inch thick – and bake at 400F for 10 mins.

As a bonus, you don’t have to grease the cookie sheet for this one!

Cheese Sticks

Filo Puff or Pastry Dough

Parmesan cheese

Roll the dough out as far as it will go. Sprinkle a lot pf Parmesan cheese all over it – and if you want to be fancy, herbs, garlic, onion, crumbled bacon – whatever you like with cheese.

Fold the dough in half and roll it out again then sprinkle with more Parmesan (or alternate between the cheese and other ingredients).

Repeat the fold, roll and sprinkle 6 times.

Roll the dough out one last time and then cut it into strips. If you’re really adventurous you can use cookie cutters or cut into strips and then give them twists!

You can optionally sprinkle with Parmesan or chipotle powder,then back at 400F for 10 mins or until golden.

Classic Onion Dip

Give the classic a modern twist.

Mix a 500 ml sour cream with a package of dry onion soup mix.

By added a teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice, you give it a fusion update that everyone will love and few will be able to guess!

Gold Nuggets

1 pound cheddar cheese (old and sharp is best for this)

1/2 cup butter

1 and 1/4 cups of flour

Toss everything into the blender, mix master or food processor.

note: you should ensure the cheese is at room temperature – I once made a 5 cheese dip with cold hard cheeses and burnt out 2 sunbeam mix masters. Yes, I mean smoke, flame and literally burned out.

Use a tablespoon to drop half-dollar size bits (or loonie if you’re Canadian) on cookie sheet.

You can be fancy here and put a half walnut or pecan or other favorite nut on each cheesey drop of goodness.

Bake at 400F for 6 mins – well before it bubbles.

Enjoy these good enough things!

Nancy S.