Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

[ibeebr]

Not sure if this is the best board to post this on but thought I would start here. I am looking for menu ideas (and recipes) for Christmas Eve and for a Christmas Brunch. I even considered an Italian Pasta Night for Christmas Eve-- anybody ever try that?? I know there is a whole traditional feast at Christmas Eve for many Italians-- just not sure what would work as a realistic menu for me. I need to fix both the Christmas Eve dinner as well as the brunch. All ideas will be greatly appreciated!!!

[jackibowen]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Our traditional Christmas day meal is Bootlegger's Beef on the epicurious web site with grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes. For Christmas eve we often make a Cheese Fondue and a chocolate fondue for dessert.

[luvs2eat]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

One year when the kids were little I finally got smart and cooked a turkey on Christmas eve rather than Christmas Day. Not only did I NOT spend all of Christmas day in the kitchen... I didn't really have to cook cause we had yummy leftovers!

Any of the breakfast casseroles on here are good... just search breakfast casseroles!

[lampladies]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Herb crusted standing rib roast in a red wine and shallot and roasted garlic sauce, with roasted asparagus and cardiac arrest mashed spuds

[olmphoto2]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Regarding possible salads...I'll repost my Grandma's recipe that I wrote on another thread. It's unusual and I love it. It's a creamy 'lemomy' yellow color and with red and green that comes from sliced stuffed olives. Also, does anyone remember a salad recipe that was called "24 Hour Salad"? I have the recipe written longhand somewhere. It's also really good. I especially remember the Queen Anne (pale) cherries in it. We went to using this recipe for a while as Mom is allergic to the pineapple that's a must in my Grandma's salad.

Holiday Salad, Grandma Adah’s

This is an old recipe that appeared in the Chicago Tribune in the 1950’s, sent in by a reader named Laura Eager. She called it “Molded Cheese Salad”. It’s very unusual, not particularly sweet---and my very favorite special salad.

Lemon gelatin, 2 packages or one large

Water, boiling, 3 cups

Cottage cheese, ½ pound (1 cup)

Pineapple, canned, crushed, about 9 ounces, with juice

Olives, green, pimento stuffed, sliced, 1 cup

Cream, whipping, 1 cup before whipping

Dissolve gelatin in water.
Place over ice water and chill until slightly thickened.
Fold in cheese, pineapple and olives.
Chill again until very thick.
Whip cream and fold into mixture.
Place in bowl or mold until firm.

The original recipe called for drained, sliced maraschino cherries (1 cup) but we never used these.

I crave this recipe at times and make myself a mini approximation of it. I combine cottage cheese, a lunch pack size can of pineapple tidbits, some fresh lemon juice, a few sliced olives and sometimes a small amount of sour cream.

It's so fun being able to share recipes that are unusual and so very good!

[olmphoto2]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Ibeebr, I tried searching for "Italian Pasta Night for Christmas Eve" and didn't readily find it. Could you post it? I'd love to see it.

Our family always made a fancied up version of tuna casserole. For non-Catholic raised: Christmas Eve was a meatless day back IN the day. However, in my family, this has continued as an ongoing tradition. In fact, it was the last full meal my Dad ate before he had his stroke Christmas morning 20 years ago and was the last meal that my FIL truly enjoyed before he passed away of cancer 8 years ago---he hadn't been eating well at all for weeks before that and left us on Christmas Day. Thank you for the bitter sweet memories---actually, I must say they are now sweet memories, Ibeebr. Thank you again.

[Kayce]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

I've made an Italian Past night when my grands were all little. We held the family gathering on Christmas Eve so the little ones could be home to open santa gifts.

For our dinner I would make lasagna, with a side dish of meatballs and sauce along with Italian bread for those who prefered a sandwich. Always a nice green salad and Plenty of desserts. Now if you want you can take the time to make cannoli's too

I've also done many brunches, using our favorite breakfast casserole, fruit, muffins,bisucits and gravy (lg Family so try to a lg.selection)

Here's my casserole recipe from a friend

Ellen's Best Hash Brown Casserole

1lb. hot pork sausage
1lb. mild pork sausage
1 can (10 oz) cream of chicken soup
8 oz. french onion dip
8 oz.sour cream
½ cup green pepper, chopped
½ cup red pepper, chopped **
1 cup chopped green onions
1- 30 oz frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste


Recipe
brown sausage, drain and set aside
combine the rest of the ingredients.
Put half of the mixture into a greased 13x9 pan.
sprinkle with the sausage
cover with remaining potato mixture.
Bake @ 350º for 45 minutes, or until golden.

**red pepper is expensive. I used a med jar of diced pimento

[Kaci]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Sweet Potato Pudding



1-2 large cans evaporated milk
4-5 cups freshly grated, peeled, raw sweet potatoes
4 large eggs
2 sticks butter or margarine, melted
1-2 whole nutmegs, freshly grated
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-2 cups granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon extract
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cups plain flour
.
As the potatoes are grated, stir them into the milk which has been poured
into a large mixing bowl. (This prevents darkening of the potatoes.) Mix in
by the cupfuls to make track-keeping easier. Sift in the flour and mix well.
Thoroughly whisk in the remaining ingredients and pour into greased,
shallow, pan or oven-proof dish.

Bake until edges are dark and center of pudding is set. Check for doneness
by digging in slightly with a spoon. If not done, smooth over and continue
cooking and checking occasionally.

Serve hot, warm or cold.

Comments: Smells good enough to eat even before it is put in the oven and it
makes the kitchen smell heavenly as it bakes! Well worth ignoring calories
for this rich, unforgettable, down-home treat you will never forget!

[BJinTexas]

Re: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day menus/recipes

Christmas Eve ... we either do a fondue menu where we all bring our fondur pots <meat , seafood, cheese, chocolate> or we do mexican. We're doing mexican this year. We've never done Italian, but it does sound like a good idea.

[mew]

Re: Christmas Eve &amp; Christmas Day menus/recipes

[QUOTE=ibeebr;293710]Not sure if this is the best board to post this on but thought I would start here. I am looking for menu ideas (and recipes) for Christmas Eve and for a Christmas Brunch. I even considered an Italian Pasta Night for Christmas Eve-- anybody ever try that?? I know there is a whole traditional feast at Christmas Eve for many Italians-- just not sure what would work as a realistic menu for me. I need to fix both the Christmas Eve dinner as well as the brunch. All ideas will be greatly appreciated!!![/QUOTE]

My best friend in HS was Italian, and their Christmas Eve dinner was "the feast of the seven fishes". I lost track of her years and years ago and so cannot ask her about the menu. I do recall mention of her parents always going to the wholesale fish market in downtown Baltimore early on Christmas Eve morning for the seafood for that night's dinner. I believe I've seen mention of this traditional Christmas Eve dinner on foodtv at one point or another.

I did find this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_seven_fishes

[Gess]

Re: Christmas Eve &amp; Christmas Day menus/recipes

It's a tradition at my in-laws every Christmas Eve:

Chicken Cordon bleu
Steamed Rice
Veggies
Salad
Assorted desserts......

Easy, good, and pretty (sortta) healthy!

[ibeebr]

Re: Christmas Eve &amp; Christmas Day menus/recipes

Sorry for taking so long to reply . Thanks everyone for your responses!!! olmphoto2 Thanks for sharing that special memory! I will try to find that site agian. I had stumbled upon it and unfortunately I did not save that site!
Here is a link to good posting by Mario Batali: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/christmas/batalisevenfishes

I still haven't decided on the menu for Christmas Eve!! So many good ideas posted here! I will need to decide soon-- Thanks again!!