Holiday Meals

[AwakeAtLast]

Post your Holiday meal plans here.

I'm still trying to decide. I will be having Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my house.

I think Christmas Eve will be roasted turkey breast with Au Gratin Potatoes and green beans of some kind.

Christmas Day will be either ham or beef tenderloin and macaroni and cheese and broccoli salad . I also have a really good Italian Beef recipe for the crockpot, but I'm not sure it's a Christmas Day choice.

Breakfasts will most likely be a breakfast casserole and monkey bread. Both are made the night before and baked that morning.

We will only have five people this year, so I don't have as much to plan for as others probably do.

Anybody else want to share?

[hippywife]

1. So far all I know is

that I'm going to order a duck from a meat market in town. I've never cooked a duck before so I thought I'd give it a whirl. We were having problems deciding because Bill didn't want more turkey and doesn't like ham. I could have gone with either, but this will be a nice change, too.

[AwakeAtLast]

3. Let us know how it turns out!

I have had duck exactly once, and it wasn't cooked particularly well, so I can't really say if I like it or not.

[hippywife]

4. I'm thinking this page

has a really good step by step instructions:
http://myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com/2006/11/17/look-away-daffy-asian-inspired-roasted-duck/

[Irishonly]

2. Christmas Eve

will be ham and other stuff. I am not sure what the other stuff is going to be yet. Christmas Day will be split pea soup and corn bread. I usually always make sticky buns on Christmas morning.

[tigereye]

5. what is monkey bread?

:hi:

[AwakeAtLast]

6. Also known as "Pull apart bread"

There are many versions, but this is the one I use:

QUICK MONKEY BREAD

1 package frozen (yeast) dinner rolls
1 package regular butterscotch pudding
1/4 cup chopped nuts
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

Grease bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom. Arrange rolls over nuts. Sprinkle dry pudding over rolls. Mix sugar and melted butter together and pour (drizzle) over rolls. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Cover with towel and let rise over night or at least 8 hours.

Bake 350°F for 45 min to 1 hour.

COOL NO LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES. Turn pan over on serving dish and enjoy.


***I let them sit in the oven overnight for the 8 hours***

[tigereye]

7. thanks! that sounds very good.

[tigereye]

8. well, we make veggie lasagna for Christmas Eve when we host the family

something my mom always did. My husband makes Greek salad, his trademark red pepper- curry- chicken saute, homemade French bread, steamed veggies and cranberry apple pie and homemade nut roll for desert. I don't do yeast, that's my husband's dept.


Then I usually make a turkey breast for Christmas Day, with leftovers, since it's just the menfolk and myself.

[AwakeAtLast]

9. Mmmmm.... Greek salad

There are a few places close by who make terrific Greek salads, considering I live in the middle of IN. Haven't had one for awhile. So good!

[tigereye]

19. now I don't know if it's technically the kind you might find in a really good

Greek restaurant.


Want I want to make soon is Greek lemon chicken soup with those wonderful little bits of pasta - can't remember what they are called. That was one of my favorite things to eat at the Greek restaurant we used to frequent before it closed. They also made the greatest salads.

[yellerpup]

33. I believe the pasta you want is orzo.

Shaped like Arborio rice. Our local Greek restaurant adds it to their chicken-lemon soup. Sublime!

[spindrifter]

36. You mean orzo? Avgolemono should

have rice, though, by my standards.

[hippywife]

17. I haven't had a decent Greek salad in forever.

My fault, I guess. LOL Sounds like a really wonderful meal. :hi:

[tigereye]

18. my husband has a nice recipe for it, I can drag it out, if you like

My husband is a very good cook. He makes curry chicken from The Curry Book, he makes Thai recipes, great stir fries, and he makes really good bread. He was so pleased when I bought home the All-Clad seconds haul. :D :hi:

[NMDemDist2]

10. I'll probably do a prime rib

with the great Pecos beef at the local butcher's shop it's become a New Mexico tradition for us

I bought a nice spiral sliced ham too, but that will probably wait til New Years since I'm going on furlough for a month starting 1/3 and will have time to deal with it :rofl:

[grasswire]

11. I think we will be alone this Christmas

Just two, my niece and me. That's hard to do, I think -- hard to be festive with just two. Everyone else is going other directions.

BUT...on the 14th we have a three-year-old's birthday to celebrate and an 18-year-old returning from working on a conservation project in remote SW, and so there will be nine of us for a sleepover in this smallish apartment. It's the only time we will be together until the end of January.

So for this auspicious occasion I'm thinking of corned beef if Trader Joe's has some nice organic cuts -- simmer it all afternoon. German potato salad, perhaps. I'd like to go to the Russian grocer for some special things -- we've had such fun opening all the unfamiliar goodies from that store. I might make some apple strudel for dessert, with birthday cake on the side. Or raspberry dumplings because I have lots of raspberries in the freezer.

Our traditional family Christmas breakfast is home-canned raspberries in my grandmother's depression glass berry dishes, link sausages, poached eggs with tarragon cream, English muffins, and apple strudel. Perhaps too ambitious for this tiny kitchen.

All subject to revision!

One thing for sure this season, I'm going to have some Dungeness crab. The harvest is excellent this year, with big meaty crab-critters coming in. Unfortunately, one crab fisherman was already lost at sea two days into the season, and another boat sank but crew recovered. I don't forget the danger the crabbers must face.

[hippywife]

15. Your gathering on the 14th

sounds like it's going to be full of lots of fun, warmth and love. :hug:

[Lugnut]

12. We'll be doing both dinners again this year.

The Christmas Eve crowd will be larger than the one on Christmas Day. We do our own version of the traditional Italian seven fishes (we do five) dinner on Christmas Eve. The menu consists of aglia olio (anchovies sauted in olive oil and garlic), smelts, calimari, baked haddock and potatoes in tomato sauce, shrimp scampi and a mixed greens and tomato salad. My daughter is making homemade pieroghi to maintain a small part of my Slovak heritage and impress her Russian boyfriend. We're expecting to have 11 or 12 people for dinner.

On Christmas Day we're having a standing rib roast, leek Yorkshire pudding, green beans and mashed potatoes. My daughter is preparing dinner for six of us. I'm making a hash brown, egg and sausage casserole for breakfast.

[AwakeAtLast]

22. Wow! What great eating!

Oh my goodness, I would love to be able to have the patience to make peiroghi. They are so good when homemade!

It all sounds delicious!

[Tesha]

13. Our holiday is still undecided

with the kids grown and other people claiming their time, it can be quite a dance to get everyone together.


Bur Mr. Tesha is his best deal hunting tradition came home with a standing rib roast with a sticker saying "$8.50 Off"!
So that's waiting in the freezer - maybe Gruyere, leak and potato casserole as the carb - something fresh and green as a side
- a nice anti-pasta to begin, and a soup ??? hmmm and the cheese course with a few old favorites with bread and grapes
followed by that wonderful Chocolate Roll we made for Thanksgiving I saw on Jacques and Julia - no flour - like a souffle...

that should take a few hours and give us time to relax and enjoy what ever day we get to share.

The next morning is the old standby Gingerbread with whipped cream - the little boys make from a box
Mr. Tesha's Baked Candy Bacon and a breakfast casserole of some kind. Fruit, eggnog, maybe some of those
breakfast sausages....

looks like we won't go hungry:9

[hippywife]

16. Mr. Tesha rocks! LOL

I was thinking of a standing rib roast but in the voting, the duck won out. :rofl:

That casserole sounds really fabulous! :9

[sazemisery]

14. Christmas is at my house on Christmas Eve, 17 confirmed diners.

Crown Roast of Berkshire Pork
Smoked Chicken
Cranberry Apple Stuffing
Spinach Mashed Potatoes
Tomato Bread Pudding
Butter Lettuce with Mangoes, Avacadoes, Goat Cheese & Lemon-Honey vinagrette.
Assorted breads

Desserts provided by guests.

This is just the menu in it's preliminary stages. There appears to be an overabundance of starch as I read over it so there will be vegetable dishes added as I get closer to Ground Zero. The above sides are ones that are requested every year and have become mainstays.

[AwakeAtLast]

23. Crown roast is popular at Christmas

My farm raised family must have their ham, so no roast pork for me.

I'll get over it eventually....

[Fire1]

20. Gotta have a Christmas ham! Plus I've got a $7.00 coupon, so

you know I'm going to use THAT!

Peppercorn Brisket w/ onions and gravy
Macaroni and cheese
Candied yams
Collard Greens
Corn bread
Cranberry sauce
Red Velvet cake
Sweet potatoe pie OR Chess pie
My famous homemade eggnog
A sparkling Italian wine with dinner

[AwakeAtLast]

24. I haven't thought about the booze yet

The Italian wine sounds interesting - is their a special brand you like?

[Fire1]

25. Yep. "Prosecco." Reasonably priced, too! The bottle I

got for Thanksgiving was $15.99.

[Fire1]

26. Also, to add. Trader Joe's has a wide variety of Prosecco

brands from which to choose.

[Fire1]

35. And fried oysters, ham w/red eye gravy and cheese grits for

breakfast Christmas morning! Yum.:9

[eleny]

21. Fish dinner on Xmas Eve and something Italian for Xmas Day

I'm not sure about the details but it'll have something to do with Italian sweet sausages and meatballs.

[AwakeAtLast]

27. Kick because it's almost time!

:kick:

[The empressof all]

28. I have agreed to satisfy everyones cravings

We're having:


Little hot dogs in puff pastry
Chopped Chicken Liver
Challah....(I'm not a baker but I'm gonna try...Can't find a loaf anywhere around here so It's up to me)
Ham
Mac and Cheese
Stir fried Broccoli with Garlic
Jimmy Dean Sausage in the roll (This must be cooked in little hunks on Christmas morning and eaten out of the pan in the kitchen)
Tiramisu (The original and a strawberry bastard)
Caramel Gelato

And assorted other cookies and candy during the day including my one request---Those dates stuffed with an almond and coated with coconut.

[Tesha]

29. Gosh... your menu sounds like mine

I got calls from both girls asking for their very special treats...


chopped chicken liver was on both lists!

[kfred]

31. Challah rolls

I made them yesterday for use Friday day and for Sunday (frozen right now - after baking). First time making them. I couldn't futz around with the braiding and stuff and found a recipe on line with recommended baking and rising times. First taste is impressive. I really wanted them for French toast on Saturday and to educate the Norwegian relative palate on Sunday. What's funny is their mother made a similar recipe. Just no honey or sesame seeds.

Standing rib roast is thawing in frig. Chicken breasts will be pounded out and stuffed tomorrow (Rachael Raye recipe) with gorgonzola, pecans and green onion. Tomorrow I'll bake the Plum cake and the baklava. Everything else is destined for Saturday preprep for a big Sunday do.

As long as daughtermine and family make it into MN tomorrow a.m. we'll be fine. Mother Nature has to hold off her force until afternoon. We'll eat like kings one way or the other. The 'Do' on Sunday is turkey, ham and salmon for 10.

[elleng]

30. Empress, hope you have someone to help you braid the challah!

[The empressof all]

32. Hopefully I'll get to that point

I've never had much luck with bread even following the recipe exactly. I'm cautiously optimistic and have the dough in the oven on proof for the first rise. I never am sure when I've kneaded enough. The dough seemed awfully "thick" to my touch but I know my yeast was good as I proofed it and it got foamy. I'll never forget when my non Jewish sister in law had the temerity to make a Challah for her first Passover with the in laws. I was impressed as it was far better than I could have hoped to do at the time. The poor thing had every crumb scrutinized, analyzed and critiqued. I was so happy that my husband always insisted we bring the wine.

[elleng]

34. Fortunately we have PLENTY of sources for Challah here (DC suburbs)

but prolly NOT where I've just moved! (Farther out, w. ONLY Rep. Rep in all of Maryland!)

S-i-L sounds very brave!!!

[spindrifter]

37. Pork tenderloin.

Sweet potatoes.
Some sort of green vegetable--probably broccoli.
Apple pie

[Retrograde]

38. I always do a traditional Christmas Eve dinner

In Catholic countries Christmas Eve is a day of fast and abstinence - but "fast" is interpreted rather loosely to allow one 7 or 9 course dinner and "abstinence" permits fish. I'm making:
nuts, fruits and cheeses
potato soup
cheese pierogi
braised cabbage
mushrooms in sour cream
trout
salad
and someone else is bringing dessert

Not exactly low cholesterol, but it's a once a year indulgence.

Christmas day I'm providing turkey and stuffing for a potluck - yes, I agreed to host two dinners in two days, but cleaning and cooking for both isn't any harder than for one. I started cooking on Monday.