It seems like I alternate every year either making a big Christmas dinner or feeding my kids cereal all day. This year we’ll be celebrating with my family, and even though they love cereal I’ve decided we need a real Christmas dinner.
I don’t get real fancy for Christmas dinner because I would rather spend time with my family than time in the kitchen. Most of the items on the menu can be prepared ahead of time and only need reheated on Christmas day.
Something that has saved my Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners for a few years now is this roaster oven with buffet server
You can cook your meat and warm your vegetables at the same time. It also frees up the oven for other baked goods. Best $40 I’ve spent!
Christmas Dinner Menu
- Crock Pot Roast
- Spiral Ham (cooked in the roaster)
- Mashed potatoes (made ahead and warmed in the crock pot)
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Salad
- Vegetables
- Whole Wheat French Bread Rolls
- Dessert
What are you serving for Christmas dinner?
Sprial Ham
“Revolutionary” Mac and Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Vegetable Tain
Cranberry Orange Relish
Apple pie
Gingerbread and pumpkin triffel
Sticking with a traditional Bolognese menu (from the region in Italy where we live)
Primo: Tagliatelle with ragù sauce
Secondo: Capone (Rooster) with purè (really creamy mashed potatoes)
Secondo: Cotechino (a pigs leg stuffed with sausage) with lentils
Fresh fruit
and for dessert
Pandoro with an espresso coffee
Ham slow cooked in Coke
Green Beans
Crossiants
sweet potato something (not yet decided)
duchess potatoes
fried apples
cranberries (fresh and jellied for the different preferences)
and for dessert a birthday cake for Jesus
Mulled apple cider and chai latte’s available all day to drink
Monkey bread and breakfast casserole for, well, breakfast.
Better get started on that huh?
Oh and for an appitizer I am going to put prosciutto, caramalized balsamic onions, and brie in phyllo cups. One of my all time favs!
That roaster oven looks awesome! On Christmas Eve we are meeting my dad at a buffet halfway between our houses. Christmas Day lunch will be at my in-laws and Christmas Day dinner will be at my mom’s. Fortunately all I have to prepare is a veggie tray but the posted menus so far are making me VERY hungry!
Turkey
Duck
Stuffing
Gravy/mashed potatoes
Salad
Green Beans
Rolls and custard pie,I tried buying ham and we just don’t like it that much
Italian Sausage – Goat Cheese Lasagna (an Ina Garten recipe)
Caesar Salad
Breads from a local bakery
Keeping it simple this year! My MIL is in charge of dessert.
On a strict budget (I am currently looking for a job), so with that being said, I had to get a little cretive! We celebrate Christmas with my father-in-law on Christmas Eve and we’re having Spiral Honey Ham (Sam’s Club – purchased with a gift card), Cheesy Potatoes (Thinly sliced potatoes, s&p, shredded cheddar cheese, a little chicken boullion, and heavy cream – Yum!), Fresh Broccoli (on sale this week for $.39/bunch!) and homemade rolls. We should have enough left over for lunch on Christmas Day! At least to make sandwiches! Plus probably enough for a couple of dinners (soup and twice baked potatoes or something). Christmas morning we are having a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Cresent Braid (found the recipe on Pintrest.com – made it last weekend and they asked for it Christmas morning!). Christmas night we are lucky enough to have steak, au gratin potatoes, and probably more broccoli (thanks to my Aunt for sending Omaha Steaks!).A little untradtional, but as I said low on money and making due with what I have! It’s a skimpy Christmas, but I am thankful for what I have and will enjoy being just with my little (5 of us) family. My eldest leaves for bootcamp in March, so this is our last Christmas all together (at least for a while)! Merry Christmas to All!!!
Appetizer: Roasted Red Pepper Crostini and Candy Cane Cheese log w/crackers
Dinner: Savory Sage Pork Roast w/ Apple Pork Gravy, Roasted Harvest Veggies, Pear and Field Green Salad w/ Pomegranate Dressing, Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole
Cocktails: Adults- Candy Cane cocktails (vanilla rum-white chocolate liquor) Kiddos- Candy Cane Hot Chocolate and Mulled Apple Cider
Dessert: grand-daughter is bringing
Oh and breakfast: Cinnamon Sticky Buns and Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Casserole
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!
Breakfast will be at church – we are bringing sausage cheese balls
We are going to have Grilled Porterhouse Steaks with potatoes, rolls and some sort of veggie. Dessert will be optional. My mom is going to make a banana pudding but that may be eaten early.
We all live on the same family farm so we spend our holidays just enjoying family.
We are having :
Spiral Ham
Mac and Cheese
Make ahead Mashed Potatoes (soooo good)
Grean Beans
Buttered Carrots
Homemade Sweet Yeast Rolls
A Black Forest Cake ( or Uncake) from
The Swiss Pastry Shop in Fort Worth, Tx
(this is a Christmas tradition around here!)
My 6 year old is helping to make Fudge and Haystacks
and has already decorated cookies with her 2 year old sister
And for Breakfast
“Clone of a Cinnabon” cinnamon rolls ( I use the recipe from Allrecipes.com- these are
sooooooo good!)
Christmas Breakfast: Homemade biscuits, homemade hash browns, eggs, bacon, and sausage!
Christmas Supper:
Shrimp and Crab Gumbo
Homemade Bread
Ham
Rum Cake
Cookies
turkey
stuffing
knedlicky (Czech potato dumplings)
zelli (Czech cabbage)
baked sweet potatoes
canned cranberry sauce
corn or green beans
rolls
dessert (thanks mom!): yule log, pumpkin crisp
breakfast / brunch: smoked sausage, cheese and crackers, homemade biscuits w/ preserves, almonds, sliced fruit, cinnamon rolls
We are keeping it simple this year. Christmas eve my mother in law is hosting a catered dinner for us because we are also celebrating my husbands birthday and Nana does not want us to worry about all the work….I am ok with that for a change. Christmas day will again be real simple….going to my parents for dinner Mom making something with pork. and brownie sundays. I am doing the green bean casserole,garlic mashed potatos , corn….and pumpkin pie whihc i had in freezer from thanksgiving……simple this year we have had a hard year and need a break. Merry christmas to all of you
We are all gluten free/lactose free/soy free/corn free (and much happier and healthier now, thankfully) so our menus are sometimes “special”.
Breakfast (while opening presents with just our 3 boys…mango/banana/coconut milk/honey smoothies and pumpkin spice GFetc. muffins
My family comes over around noon, this year I am doing brunch…because it sounded yum. So….bacon (has to be Applegate or we all have issues), fresh fruit, homemade sausage in an egg/potato casserole, more gf etc. pumpkin muffins, deviled eggs (homemade mayo), juice and cider and maybe more smoothies just because they are awesome and my one year old niece will be here and she loves smoothies! Luckily my brother’s family is also gf etc., so we eat all the same quirky things.
In the evening we will go to the in-laws and my FIL is Pakistani…so dinner there is COMPLETELY off the Christmas grid. I am thinking there is, going to be some kind of goat curry, definitely some dhal, probably mashed potatoes (my MIL is Irish Catholic, lol), cheesecakes, biryani rice and probably some kind of tikka…most likely chicken. Roasted lamb is possible but I haven’t heard so I doubt it. When lamb is on the menu, everyone talks about it for weeks in advance. Since my kids can’t eat most of this due to gluten in the spice mixes and cheesecake being…well….cheesecake, we will take rice, peas, some kind of roast chicken or hamburgers, some salad, maybe and some GF etc. brownies plus some regular brownies to share with the cousins so all the kids are eating the “same” treat. More or less. Christmas Day is always an adventure for us!