What's on your Christmas menu?
My family doesn’t usually go all out. First, because we don’t have that many people to cook for (8-10, absolute max, and in recent years it hasn’t even been that). Second, I guess it’s just temperament. We stick with stuff we know, and stuff we can’t mess up, and leave it there.
Usually, on our menu in some shape or form, is the following:
- Roast turkey with gravy and a very yummy stuffing composed of bread cubes, pine nuts, mushrooms, and celery (and other stuff, but that’s the core)
- Yorkshire pudding. The one day a year that we indulge in a total grease-fest. One year I decided to make corn muffins instead of Yorkshire pudding (I was in a corn muffin phase), and they went over well. But it’s not the same. At all, at all.
- Corn. From frozen. (Yeah, we’re not picky.)
- My aunt’s fruit salad. Which is gooooood.
- A hot vegetable, usually stir-fried bok choi or green beans.
Then multiple portions thereof.
And of course, leftovers – glorious, glorious leftovers – for the next week. I’m not being sarcastic; I think I like Christmas/Thanksgiving leftovers even more than the Christmas feast itself, because I get all the deliciousness and none of the cooking/cleanup.
What’s on your menu on Sunday?
– Jean AAR
In our family we always have turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli and brussel sprouts. We occasionally add other vegetables like squash or green beans but all of us (including my 3 year old) love broccoli most so it is an absolute necessity. Brussel sprouts kind of are too as my mom loves them and the rest of us feel compelled to have a few or we don’t feel like it is Christmas dinner.
Tee, that is very similar recipe. . .The one we use has a little lemon, cream cheese, and Eagle Brand milk in a graham cracker crust and then the cherries (well is is cherry filling) one top.
Jean, LOL you could have a whole new eating experience here in the South.
8 med. sweet potatoes
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. hot milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg
1/4 tsp. paprika
1 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 lb. marshmallows
Cook sweet potatoes until tender. Remove skins and mash. When smooth, beat in butter, milk, salt, spices. Beat well. Fold in walnuts and turn into buttered baking dish.
Top with marshmallows and bake at 350°F until marshmallows puff and become golden brown.
(my mother never did the walnuts. Many people use pecans. And you can use canned candied yams)
And I agree Tee – your dinner sounds good.
No leftovers for me this year – bummer.
I saw an ad the other day for backing yams/sweet potatoes with marshmallows (and how not to get it to burn) and I honestly thought they were joking. (Kind of like my reaction when I first heard of Fluff). Then I read your post, Leigh – is marshmellow-topped baked sweet potatoes a common holiday dish in the States?
The stuffed celery sounds good. Tee, your Polish Christmas feast sounds delicious!
Oh, that’s the dessert I’m making, except that it’s with cream cheese and Cool Whip over a graham cracker crust, then cherries on top. Sometimes we use lemon pudding instead of the cherries, and that tastes great, too.
In my family on Christmas Eve we always had steaks and potatoes, until I decided I wasn’t eating red meat so chicken was added. So meat potatoes, salad, home made rolls. Then Christmas dinner usually is Turkey with cornbread dressing, home made rolls, green beans (not for me) squash, broccoli salad, jello salad, cranberry & orange relish, mash potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes,(sometimes marshmallows on top, sometimes plain) stuffed celery. Of course pumpkin pie, sometimes cream cheese & eagle brand milk pie with cherries on top (can’t think of the name).
I’m having ten people over, also, but I still worry I won’t have enough stuff. I’ve decided to put on the table the things that people actually eat and not prepare the dishes I end up throwing away (like salad). So in our Polish tradition, I’m having meatballs, city chicken, smoked and fresh kielbasa, cheesy potatoes, bean salad and tabouleh. We tend to get a bit heavy on the meat here. LOL. Only having one home-made dessert, store-bought Christmas cookies and plenty of snacks.
Turkey sounds delicious, but I don’t recall ever having it for Christmas dinner at my parents’ house. We seemed to have kept that just for Thanksgiving.