Anne McAlpine: December 19, 2019

Thanks so much to our readers for your support last week due to the loss of my father, Cam Thomson. I sincerely appreciate all the messages, calls, visits to the funeral home, and the cards.

I had a couple of requests for recipes this week. A reader wanted an easy cheese ball made with goat cheese and so I am sharing one that I made last year. It is very easy to make and may be made ahead of time. Just wrap it completely in plastic after rolling it in the nut and cranberry mixture and it will be fine for up to 3 days when refrigerated. I chose plain unflavoured crackers to serve with it as I wanted the cranberry nut flavour to be strongest.

I saw this recipe for pizza muffin poppers in a magazine recently and thought it would be a good one to share as it makes an easy lunch item. Just reheat and serve. When I tried it, I used vegetable oil instead of the   coconut oil. If you don’t like a lot of spice you can use half of a jalapeno pepper or even omit it totally.

The other request was for my chow mein noodle cookie recipe, which are very easy to make and delicious.

I have included another recipe from my friend Chris Hoover of Iderton, Ontario. It is shown below just as he sent it to me. I found it really interesting as I had never used bok choi before this and it created great flavour. I did add a few mushrooms.

My family and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year 2020.