2023 Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Menus

[msmofet]

Tentative menu plans because anything can happen.

Christmas Eve Menu:

Clams Casino
Shrimp Cocktail and Cocktail Sauce
Linguine with White Clam Sauce
Niçoise Salade
Garlic Bread
Marinated Mushrooms - Store-bought

Beverage

Sparkling Apple Cranberry Cider
Honey Crisp Apple Cider
Soda
Wine

Christmas Day Menu:

Appy/Lunch

Clams Casino
Stuffed Mushrooms
Shrimp Cocktail (Jumbo) and Cocktail Sauce
Olive Poppers

Dinner

Eye round roast
Burgundy gravy
Steamed Baby spinach
Mashed Potatoes with sour cream & chives
(Mini) Yorkshire Pudding

Dessert

Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Fruit Cobbler
Whipped Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream

Beverage

Sparkling Apple Cranberry Cider
Honey Crisp Apple Cider
Soda
Wine

 

[dr morbius]

Alas, working both nights. Same as last year. But I expect a really nice bonus check.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Still trying to figure it out!

I’m doing my best to come up with a simple one and done approach that won’t fill the house with too many temptations.

Probably some sort of seafood or maybe a veggie pizza on Christmas Eve.

A ring of kielbasa and some cheese to pick at on Christmas Day and or maybe some sort of cheese stuffed pasta and a salad.

 

[Kathleen]

Plans are pretty tentative. What we know:

Christmas Eve - seafood. Perhaps red snapper with Langostino tails on rice. Not sure what we will have with it. Youngest niece is making the meal!

Christmas Breakfast:
Egg casserole - it's ready when people are ready to eat. Sausage, bread, cheese, eggs...

Christmas Lunch: Youngest niece is planning it. Likely nibbles.

Christmas Dinner:
Prime Rib Roast with Yorkshire pudding
Either mashed potatoes or scalloped potatoes
Roasted asparagus with sauces
Citrus salad with pecans or a green salad with dried cherries and chocolate nibs

Dessert: Niece is planning it.

 

[taxlady]

We celebrate the Winter Solstice as our Yule. The plan is for a Swedish style smörgåsbord, mostly cold stuff, on the 21st and a stuff pork tenderloin on the 22nd. Sides are still to be decided, but there will hopefully be rødkål (Danish sweet and sour red cabbage), pickled beets, and some sort of taters. I just don't have the spoons to get much fancier than that. The fancy will have to be the sparkling wine that arrived today.

 

[blissful]

Still trying to figure it out!

...Probably ...a veggie pizza on Christmas Eve.
...

We're still figuring it out here too.
We're making a chocolate pie (that we made at thanksgiving) which was so good. And for Christmas a veggie pizza with some veggie pepperoni and sausage on it. @Aunt Bea you're such a good influence on me.

 

[dragnlaw]

Entirely up to my DIL. Should she need help, I'm here.

Usually Eve are finger foods of some sort.... and just my cup of tea!

 

[rodentraiser]

I was going to have Chinese take out, but my fave restaurant closed. So then I was going to make Chinese food, oyster sauce beef, teriyaki chicken, BBQ beef fried rice, but that means I have to cook and that wasn't what I wanted to do in the first place.

So on Sunday morning, I'm going to go down to the Mexican restaurant and get a chicken tostada for Sunday and chicken nachos to heat up for Monday. Woo Hoo!

 

[Xocolatl]

We celebrate the Winter Solstice as our Yule. The plan is for a Swedish style smörgåsbord, mostly cold stuff, on the 21st and a stuff pork tenderloin on the 22nd. Sides are still to be decided, but there will hopefully be rødkål (Danish sweet and sour red cabbage), pickled beets, and some sort of taters. I just don't have the spoons to get much fancier than that. The fancy will have to be the sparkling wine that arrived today.

We celebrate Yule too. We will have dinner in a two star Michelin restaurant this year your dinner sounds nice!

Mine will entail the following on Christmas eve for dinner with relatives who aren't pagan:

Starter:
Coquilles with Hollandaise sauce, a light salad with beetroot.

Main:
Going for Homemade sushi this year.
Salmon nigiri, spicy tuna roll, avocado & mango roll. With gyoza on the side.

Dessert:
Fried banana & vanilla ice cream.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I have been a Buddhist for a long time, so I quit celebrating Christmas once my children, Hey Foo and Plague of Locusts, were grown and gone, but childhood traditions from my Sicilian upbringing dictates home made pizza on Christmas eve, with anchovies if you are going to accept communion at Midnight mass. Even my younger son, Plague of Locusts, carries on the tradition with his family.

 

[taxlady]

So our plan has updated a bit. Tomorrow night, there will be a store bought, pork tourtière, with rødkål (Danish, pickled red cabbage), and cumin potatoes. Friday will be stuffed pork tenderloin, oven roasted sunroots (Jerusalem artichokes), and pan cooked conehead cabbage. There will probably be some desserts and possibly some appetizers.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Friday will be stuffed pork tenderloin, oven roasted sunroots (Jerusalem artichokes), and pan cooked conehead cabbage.

Will you be having Israeli couscous with your Jerusalem artichokes?

 

[taxlady]

Will you be having Israeli couscous with your Jerusalem artichokes?

No, "Jerusalem artichoke" is a misnomer. They have nothing to do with Jerusalem or with artichokes. It's just the stupid name that most people know these tubers by.

 

[JustinJames]

Alas, working both nights. Same as last year. But I expect a really nice bonus check.

I also think same!....

 

[Andy M.]

You folks make my plans look sad. Big doings the night before then a Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'm cooking one meal for my SO, daughters and grandson. A couple of appetizers courtesy of my younger daughter, boneless ribeye roast with jus, my mom's version of lyonnaise potatoes and broccoli. Dessert will be my eldest's huge tray of Christmas cookies. Wine (and Coke) for a beverage.

 

[dragnlaw]

Asked my DIL if I could do anything for Christmas dinner. She asked if I'd like to cook the goose.
Luckily my neighbour heard the commotion and dug me out from the bottom of the freezer.
Hopefully it will defrost ni time.

 

[Kathleen]

Finalized plan

Christmas Eve - Red snapper with Langostino tails on rice.

Christmas Breakfast:
French toast casserole

Christmas Lunch: Charcuterie platter

Christmas Dinner:
Prime Rib Roast with Yorkshire pudding
Mashed potatoes
Roasted asparagus with sauces
Green salad with dried cherries and chocolate nibs

Dessert: Ice cream with Christmas cookies

 

[taxlady]

Asked my DIL if I could do anything for Christmas dinner. She asked if I'd like to cook the goose.
Luckily my neighbour heard the commotion and dug me out from the bottom of the freezer.
Hopefully it will defrost ni time.

Oh, come on. You've got this. Of course it will defrost in time. It's only the 21st today. Is the goose for the 24th, like Scandinavians do it or is it for the 25th? Do what you can to save the goose fat. I quit cooking goose when they got too lean and all the fat burned at the bottom of the pan. Too bad, so sad. Make sure there is enough liquid of some kind at the bottom of the pan, so all the rendered fat doesn't get scorched.

 

[dragnlaw]

I have a recipe that we did for Thanksgiving in '21. It was absolutely perfect and I'll do it this way again. Hope it wasn't just beginner's luck with that recipe. This is one of my geese from the farm. Have one more and then probably never again - to buy them is around 60 to 80 bucks, if you can find a supplier!
Cottage Goose and with Cottage Sausage Dressing

Brussels and Carrots are on the menu, other than that I don't know.

Word of warning to others making a dressing (or stuffing). If using a pre-seasoned bread packaging be extremely cautious of your salt. DIL bought some, told me but it went right over my head and I just followed my recipe. A recipe I've made several time (love it!). Ruined it 'cause I didn't register really what she had said.
But this is a fantastic reciipe should any wish to try it..Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding

 

[dragnlaw]

We are having Christmas dinner tonight as the shared kids go to their mother's about noon on Christmas day.

So yesterday afternoon I spent cleaning, prepping the stuffing. A lot of chopping involved. Have you ever tried to denude the branches of enough thyme to get 1/4 cup? My fingers, thumbs, wrists were aching. No matter what method one uses and don't even bother to tell me about pulling down the stems - that only works under certain circumstances, not with multiple woody branches. chopping the other herbs, onions, celery, mushrooms. Apples I'll do today while browning the meat. Cubing the sourdough bread (and not nibble).
Then on to the goose, cleaning, stuffing with even more chopped onion, apple, sage, and more thyme! It is sitting in the fridge, chilling out til oven time.