Virtual Christmas Cooking

[neadods]

I had wanted to throw a virtual cookie (recipe) swap in this LJ but life got in the way.

So instead I will fantasize about the cooking that I have done/hope to someday do for the family Christmas.
:
THE BIG DINNER
I've been surprisingly successful in convincing the family to move the big dinner to Christmas Eve, on the basis that Christmas day is a heck of a lot more fun if you don't have to jump up all the time to baste the turkey and then clean up for hours on end. The traditional menu - turkey, bread-and-sausage stuffing, peas, cranberry relish is unchanged. I do keep trying to get more veggies into there, but the orange-whipped sweet potatoes and the roasted asparagus were both greeted with great skepticism the years I tried them.

The remains of the big dinner are microwaved for dinner the next day. Just as delicious, much less fuss. My plan when I get home with the leftover turkey is to turn meal #3 into Turkey Korma just for a change.


Doing the big dinner early also means that there's more room for spreading one's culinary wings on Christmas day.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST:
Fritatta & stollen - totally posh, totally easy. This was a huge hit last year. I'll be skipping the poached pear side dish, but we're thinking possible mimosas. If I was doing this for anyone else, I'd add broiled grapefruit (slice grapefruit in half still in rind. Spread with brown sugar. Broil until sugar melts. Eat hot.) if I wasn't the only one in the family who eats it.


CHRISTMAS LUNCH:
This is the plan that I have not yet been able to implement, but next year, there's always next year.... We traditionally eat a box of chocolates while we open presents. I want to expand that to proper food - tea sandwiches and little hors d'oeuvres, anything that can be snapped up in a single bite. (The Dickens Tea had miniature one-bite shepards pies, which I thought was just a fabulous idea.)

So - what do you do? What are your Holiday traditions (not everyone celebrating Christmas on the F-list) and what recipes are Must Dos?

Comments

[lagilman]

Assuming you mean December holidays (as opposed to, say, the High Holy Days or Thanksgiving, which could take an entire page each, in my family)?

Right now, other than Latke Night, I don't have any foodie traditions in December.

I used to do a full sit-down midnight dinner for twelve on New Year's Eve that allowed me to play with all my new favorite fancy recipes (although eventually I wised up and reduced it to presentation lasagna [which could be made ahead of time] and a lot of special side dishes and fancy desserts [chocolate dipped fruits, gingerbread cookies, etc). I loved doing that, but eventually a lack-of-reciprocity the rest of the year destroyed a lot of the joy.

Then for a few years NYE turned into an impromptu mutual cooking lesson -- take two strong-willed and accomplished cooks, put them in a small kitchen, add red wine, and step back. Tea-smoked wild duck and garlicy parsnips with a vinagrette-based slaw was one of my favorites, I think. My only regret is that we didn't videotape any of those kitchen sessions, because it was pretty damn entertaining (and some damn good food, too).

This year we're doing something totally different for NYE, but I'm starting to feel the itch to reinstitute the sit-down dinner. Hrm....

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The occasional sit-down dinner can be a wonderful thing.

[zinelady.livejournal.com]

One thing we all have is skillet cookies. Take a stick of butter, melt it in a big skillet. Add one package of chopped dates and 1 cup of brown sugar and cook over low heat until well mixed. Remove from heat. Add 1 egg and stir until well mixed. Put back on heat and cook 5 mins, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 1 tsp vanilla, then 3 cups of Rice Krispeys and 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans) Drop by teaspoon in coconut, make into small balls. Eat. If you don't like coconut, you can use powered sugar instead.

The other tradition we had is Norweigen Holiday Bread for breakfast...as well as sweet rolls shaped like Christmas trees, decorated with red and green marashino cherries and white powered sugar icing dripped like tinsel. Both are very high in fat, but you can cheat and make the dough in the bread maker, cutting out all but a small amount of butter. It's not quite the same, but it's better for you.

I used to make the crescent rolls by scratch, but I get them from the grocery store in the cans. Much easier and they taste mostly the same.

As far as the meat goes, we don't really have a tradition. (unlike Thanksgiving when it is always turkey) Most often it's ham or turkey One year we had several types of roast beef (one was made with pepsi in a crock pot). One year when there was just the 4 of us, we had lobster. One year we had homemade pizza.

We usually have sparkling grape juice to drink.

[patsyrant.livejournal.com]

See now, I think you've hit on an interesting point. I happen to know several people (of, shall we say, Teutonic extraction) who do the big feast on Christamas Eve, in the actual evening, including the presents. I've always thought there were a couple of major flaws to this plan.

A)It all sounds to me a bit like "Here's your lovely toy, now go to bed." With a big dose of "What shall we do tomorrow?"

B) What shall we eat tomorrow?

Why turn it into TWO big meals?

In our family, now that the kids are a tad older (which counts for a great deal) gifts between parents and children are exchanged in the morning, which guarantees that the annoying child will be kept occupied until lunch is served with his misanthropic video game, then lunch is served at three or fourish, after which extended family gifts are exchanged. Then we all have a cup of tea and go the hell home to watch Doctor Who.

I'm a big believer in postponing the gifts until after the holiday meal, largely because after the holiday meal, you either sit around farting and sleeping, or you open gifts and then leave. And if you're hosting, believe you me you'll want them to leave. After all, once you've got your gifts, Christmas is in effect over, and you'll be facing leftover turkey for the next fortnight anyway.
So stretch it out. Serve the canapes on the Eve, and maybe let the kids open one small gift, then open the gifts after lunch on the day, and then order carriages for 6pm at the latest. This will keep the kids perky through lunch, and in fact will keep everyone in enough of a pleasant state of anticipation gift-wise, that it won't matter if you've burnt the bird to an absolute cinder.

SIDEBAR: Much though you may wish it so, Christmas is no time to spread your culinary wings. Though your side dishes sound gorgeous to me, I am not one of your family, and therefore am not emotionally restricted by their seasonal expectations. People, as a rule, do not like surprises at Christmas, unless they come in the form of "Julian and Agnes, for your holiday gift we've just paid off the mortgage on your condo." As a rule, people want what they expect at this time of year, and any deviance from that only seems to add to their already difficult seasonal stress.

Your culinary time to fly is when you charm others in the lean dark months of February and March, when you can scan your books and larder for low-cal yet zingy treats to cheer friends up, secure in the knowledge that though eco-systems may be damned, a bit of fish with a mango salsa has got your guests believing that winter may yet end.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Why turn it into TWO big meals?

Because there's always a good occasion for another big meal... and there's certainly enough food left from the first one!

After all, once you've got your gifts, Christmas is in effect over, and you'll be facing leftover turkey for the next fortnight anyway.

Yes, but that's why I like to give it it's own day, without turkey interruptions. Usually after the gifts are open, there's something you want to read/assemble/play with - why spend that time scrubbing a turkey pan?

people want what they expect at this time of year, and any deviance from that only seems to add to their already difficult seasonal stress.

Oh, I didn't take anything away - it's my tradition too! - but I was trying to add at least *something* that fit the vegetable category in.

I have a feeling that my bentos are going to be heavy into tea and finger-nibbles for a while - lunch AND education!

[delinda13.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid growing up in the South West we had Mexican food for Christmas. We would order 4 dozen hand made tamales from the local Mexican bakery in August so we would have our order first. Then mom would cook two roasts, one with green chilis and the other with red. There would be tacos and burritos and rice and several tempuretures of hot sauce. All made by mom. Then when ever some one stopped by, they got a plate of food handed to them.
This year there will be just my Son and me and Anneliese so we will be having Chicken Marbella, potatoes, home made rolls, pumkin pie, and carrots. Nothing too hard and easy to clean up.

Best of the Holidays to you and yours! Hugs!!

[webqatch.livejournal.com]

Roughly 134-14 years ago, Kathleen and I established the tradition that we still (mostly) follow today:
* kids are permitted to open stockings only after parents have become both vertical and caffeinated -- and even then only after it's reached a quasi-reasonable hour (8am was the normal time, it's slipped to 9am in recent years)
* breakfast (fresh made cinnamon rolls, bacon, eggs, bacon, oj, bacon, and coffee -- oh yeah, and bacon)
* prezzies
* a few hours of "downtime" (kids play with new toys, K cooks and randomly asks for (not much) help, this year we're planning on a DVD and/or gaming
* dinner/supper around 4:00