Is it too early to talk Christmas menus? What are you having?

[RedAngie]

Looks amazing, but I'd probably go with these for dessert. They're just, you know, a little bit klassier !

I tried that last year. Here is the sad result.

 

[ronandannette]

I tried that last year. Here is the sad result.

Try again Red, I know you'll do better next time!

 

[sweetTexasgirl]

I decided last year we weren't going to do the meat and side dishes meal for Christmas anymore, besides I only need to feed three people so a huge meal is pretty pointless.

Christmas Meal: Lasagna, Salad and French Bread, we'll have a dessert but I don't know what it is yet.

New Years Day: Chinese Food and some kind of dessert.

I don't know what we're having Christmas Eve or NYE probably pizza or breakfast food or something easy.

 

[karen1987]

Also a vegan Christmas in our house!

Christmas Day will be a homemade nut loaf, roast potatoes, stuffing, tons of veggies and gravy! For dessert, Christmas Pudding and mince pies, both of which, I'm yet to make! We'll have these with with dairy free custard or coconut milk ice cream.

In the evening, probably just some finger pick bits, like a miniature buffet for two!

 

[Cinnabunny]

My curiosity was piqued by the suggestions of French Toast Casserole, but that looks similar to a Bread and butter pudding to me. Bread pudding is always a bit too "squidgy" for my liking. I only ever liked one version - Nigella's Bourbon and Caramel Croissant Pudding, which seems just a bit much for a breakfast, even for Christmas.

As for "breakfast casserole" that does look interesting. Anyone got an awesome recipe they'd recommend?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I am not in charge of Christmas this year. I hear that it will involve ham and similar sides as thanksgiving though. It works for me

 

[LovesTimone]

Christmas Eve - I think that we are heading to Epcot or DHS for dinner and fireworks, just the 2 of us, If not filet and baked potatoes...

Christmas Day - Brunch - Ham, Chicken Apple Sausage on the grill, Cinnamon Roll French Toast casserole, Hashbrown casserole or Potatoes, onions and bacon foil package on the grill, messy eggs with cheese and herbs, assorted muffins and bread that I am baking, I will make a assortment on my 3 tiered stand, then the rest will be in these cute holiday boxes I found for everyone to take home.. fruit most likely berries and grapes, Pineapple juice and Champagne or Wine cocktails, regular juices

Christmas afternoon, Ham from breakfast, potato salad, If I feel up to it and I can get the tomatoes a orzo and tomato salad... this is so good and a looks festive, cheese & cracker, dips & chips, Shrimp platter, maybe some deviled eggs, mini croissants or those sandwich size king Hawaiians rolls.

New Years eve... No idea as of yet...

 

[ronandannette]

My curiosity was piqued by the suggestions of French Toast Casserole, but that looks similar to a Bread and butter pudding to me. Bread pudding is always a bit too "squidgy" for my liking. I only ever liked one version - Nigella's Bourbon and Caramel Croissant Pudding, which seems just a bit much for a breakfast, even for Christmas.

As for "breakfast casserole" that does look interesting. Anyone got an awesome recipe they'd recommend?

Not a recipe per se, but I saw a really neat presentation idea. Use a loaf of French bread as the base, having hollowed it out in the shape of a "boat". Cube the bread from inside and use that in your recipe (with the eggs, milk, cheese and whatnot). Put it all back in the "boat" to bake instead of a regular casserole dish. The picture looked so impressive - I'm definitely trying it!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Christmas Eve we usually have some type of homemade soup or stew and cornbread before we go to Christmas Eve service.

For Christmas dinner, our big splurge is a Honeybaked Ham. We serve that with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, peas, salad and yeast rolls. DW bakes her grandmother's fresh apple cake for dessert.

 

[JBeaty0507]

Well, my husband and I have the privilege of doing 7 Christmases......that's right 7. Food for everyone one of them is different, and yet only 1 is a traditional "Christmas Dinner". Buckle up folks, here we go!

Christmas 1: My mom's family the weekend before Christmas - Traditional Southern Christmas Breakfast with all the fixin's (for about 30 people)

Christmas 2: My mom and dad's house with our immediate family and spouses on Christmas Eve Morning - Traditional Southern Breakfast again (yum)

Christmas 3: My husband's dad's mom's house for Christmas Eve Lunch - Usually something more casual like pizza, BBQ, sandwiches, etc

Christmas 4: My dad's family on Christmas Eve night - Usually finger foods, and casual snacks

Christmas 5: My husband's mom and dad's house with his immediate family and Spouses on Christmas Morning - Usually a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc

Christmas 6: My husband's mom's family for Christmas Day Lunch - traditional Christmas Dinner food -

Christmas 7: My husband's dad's dad's house for Christmas Day - Generally just some sweets to snack on

After all of this, we are usually looking for anything open on Christmas day to just get some junk food. We generally settle for a late night Krystal run

 

[smiths02]

Well, DH's work schedule keeps changing, so I'm not sure where we will be, but I have this planned. Keep in my mind, I'm on Weight Watchers (I will "cheat" on the holidays, but I don't want to go overboard) and my mom is a vegan (as of a few months ago). So we'll only have 6 people and will be leaving the 25th or 26th to go out of town, so I didn't want to do the normal giant ham and mac & cheese (too many leftovers)

Christmas Eve: a pomegranate cocktail (I ordered real grenadine-should be good!), Chicken Parmesan (will get veggan "chicken" and cheese for my mom), spaghetti/vegetti (for me and mom), garlic bread, my favorite chianti, salad (I found a recipe that is a vegan version of Olive Garden, I might use that). Dessert will be assorted homemade cookies and brownies. I'll also make vegan fudge and make "Christmas crack" with vegan ingredients. Hot cocoa as well

Christmas breakfast: I have a leftover frozen orange poundcake that I will defrost and make into French toast with homemade raspberry syrup. Probably some bacon. My mom can have the syrup with Kashi waffles and maybe some imitation bacon

Christmas Lunch: I was planning to make veggie soup in my crockpot and then use the sandwich press to make sandwiches and then otherwise eat leftovers, but this may be changed if we end up traveling on Christmas Day.


New Year's Eve: Coming up blank. I'll have to keep an eye on this thread. A friend is coming over for dinner (so we'll have 6). I might just do grilled chicken and vegetables. I want to make a copycat Cheesecake Factory Godiva Cheesecake, but we'll see.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Well, my husband and I have the privilege of doing 7 Christmases......that's right 7. Food for everyone one of them is different, and yet only 1 is a traditional "Christmas Dinner". Buckle up folks, here we go!

Nope, I'm bailing out. I can't imagine doing 7--reading about 7 is hard! Hang in there.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Going to BILs on CE and not sure what we are having. Still waiting to find out what they want us to bring. We usually do a traditional dinner but not sure what they are doing this year.
CD is always the traditional turkey supper with one side of the family or the other.
Christmas morning is do a egg dish thingy in the oven. I prepare it the night before.

 

[MrsDuck]

Lasagna, salad, bread, dessert! It's just DH, my parents, and I.

 

[quandrea]

Update to my first post. No more filet of beef (insert sad face). Mil told me today that sil wants turkey this year. Not a fan of turkey but oh well.

Now I will do a filet of beef on New Year's Eve just for the five of us. Only have to wait six extra days before I get my fix!

 

[LilyWDW]

Christmas Eve: Lasagna, fettuccini alfredo, garlic bread, salad, some sort of dessert at my Aunt and Uncle's house
Christmas Morning: Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, and maybe some hashbrowns at my place (enjoy the quiet while I can)
Christmas Day: Not sure but we usually do a beef roast, turkey/ham, rolls, sides, and dessert at my Aunt and Uncle's house
New Years Eve: Chicken wings, chips and dip, other snackie things depending how I feel after work
New Years Day: Thinking a nice steak, shrimp of some sort, roasted asparagus, and potatoes of some sort with dessert (frozen pie or something)

 

[Hikergirl]

My curiosity was piqued by the suggestions of French Toast Casserole, but that looks similar to a Bread and butter pudding to me. Bread pudding is always a bit too "squidgy" for my liking. I only ever liked one version - Nigella's Bourbon and Caramel Croissant Pudding, which seems just a bit much for a breakfast, even for Christmas.

As for "breakfast casserole" that does look interesting. Anyone got an awesome recipe they'd recommend?

I don't know if this is awesome or not but I am going to try it this year. I usually do just the traditional one with bread.

http://lilluna.com/overnight-cinnamon-roll-french-toast-bake/

 

[YoYoAurora]

There will be 6 of us this year since we invited/coerced/adopted my cousin's husband and son to join us this year. She passed away in September and it's now just the two of them.

Christmas Eve is the traditional Feast of Seven Fishes. Barb and I will go to the local fishmonger and see what they have. Most of the time we get scallops, shrimp, mussels, stuffed clam shells, crab cakes, lobster claws and tails, and a fish. We don't usually have room for dessert after dinner. If we do, it's Christmas cookies and lebkuchen.
Christmas Day is still up for debate. I want to do a beef tenderloin. DH wants turkey. (He always wants turkey. Guess what his childhood nickname was?) Barb wants standing rib roast - hope she's paying! Stephen wants anything but BBQ. The cats will be happy with whatever we choose. Whatever we have, it will include broccoli salad, green bean casserole (can't get away from that one), rice and gravy, homemade biscuits, other fixings, and some kind of dessert.
New Year's Eve dinner is fondue with filet, chicken, lobster, shrimp, mushrooms, and champagne. Dessert is TBA.
New Year's Day is a seafood feast with crab legs, crab cakes, boiled shrimp, and steamed clams, steamed greens, and black eyed peas. I've already alerted the fishmonger so he'll have the crab legs in stock for us. He gets us the extra long spider crab legs. Dessert is TBA.

I'll be following this thread to get ideas for desserts and sides.

Breakfast is on your own, as are Christmas Eve lunch, Christmas day supper, NYE lunch and NYD supper.

 

[Farro]

Ooh I love these types of threads!

Christmas Eve - at my parents - Italian sausage/potatoes/peppers, Italian bread soup, some kind of pasta, antipasto tray, frittata(s), and fried chicken for some reason! Also, shrimp, crab cakes and something else appetizer wise.
Wine!
Desserts - I'm helping with cookies this year:
Chewy Ginger/(red) peppercorn cookies
Orange/molasses cookies
Eggnog chocolate chip cookies
Gingerbread blondies

Christmas Day - just me, Micky and the cats!
Breakfast - smoked sausage (just the Ekrich kind), breakfast potatoes (potatoes, peppers, onions) cinnamon rolls, mimosas!
Lunch - just grazing on assorted cheese cubes and we will have dips/chips/breads.
Dinner - Slow roasted pulled pork - just pork butt, two jars (one drained, one not) of giardiniera poured over and roasted in oven at 260 for 6-8 hours, until it falls off bone.
Salt/Vinegar fingerling potato fries.
Wine!
Leftover cookies

 

[Kitty 34]

Our Christmas bonfire....lots of chilis and snacks and beverages
Christmas Eve.......sandwiches and lots of snacks and beverages
Christmas dinner (at my sister's)......ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans, rolls and beverages
New Year's Eve......not sure yet but I'm sure beverages will be a big part of it.
New Year's Day.....ham sandwiches, lots of snacks and beverages.