What do you cook for your Christmas/Holiday dinner?

Thanksgiving is over and now I'm thinking about what to serve for our Christmas day.
Our family Christmas for this year is going to take place Jan.2 because one of our sons will not be home from a military deployment until then but we'll still be celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25th.

With all the talk about rib roast on another thread and the fact that our small local grocery is having a sale on it in their butcher department this week, I'm thinking to serve that as our main course.
Can't decide what to serve with it other than the usual mashed potatoes.

What are you having?

We don't do Christmas dinner. We do a brunch and everyone brings something. I'm bringing strata and a fruit platter. Mom usually does breakfast meats and waffles. Sisters bring other stuff, but I don't know what they are planning this year.

I have thought about making a small Christmas dinner for just my niece and I (the only two in my personal household). We'll see. If my grocery had rib roasts on sale, I'd probably do that! :)

You can do au gratin potatoes- sliced cooked potatoes, some cooked onions and or mushrooms if you family likes them, add some shredded cheese whatever type you find at the store and then some cream or milk and put in the oven at 375 for 33 minutes. It will yummy and a bit different. You can also do "twice baked potatoes or stuffed potatoes. "- whole cooked potatoes- remove the inside of the potatoes, add some shredded cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper, bits of bacon and put the stuffing in all your potatoes skins again.
Another easy recipe is roast small baby potatoes in your oven on a cooking sheet with kosher salt, pepper and olive oil. you can even slice them in halves. Just make sure to make a good amount if you have a lot of people and roast them flat side down after slicing them.

I like trying different veggies each time. You can dip slices of zucchini in olive oil, then a parmesan/breadcrumb mixture. Put them all on a baking sheet and roast until crispy. Or cube some root veggies like parsnips, rutabega, onion, potato, carrot. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and roast. Healthy and delicious. Going off davil's suggestion: you can make just about any veggie "au gratin". Potatoes are delish, but I have also made brussels sprouts (halved) or spinach or broccoli. Our fave is Cauliflower au Gratin. My husband prefers a mix of breadcrumbs and cheese to make the top crunchy. Bake it covered @ 375 degrees until bubbly, then take the cover off and brown the top. Mmm...

All of that sounds so good.
I do au gratin this and that all year but I'm thinking that the root veggies in the olive oil would be just about perfect maybe a couple of diced baby red potatoes to the mix. Not too heavy or oily to go with a meat that's heavy in fat (and oh, so tender).
Our family really wants and enjoys some kind of salad with every meal - and I said "with" because when I try to serve it before they save it until the main course is served.
Because I mentioned it in another thread and that made me think of how much I enjoyed it, I'm going to serve little portions of consomme sprinkled with chives before the meal.

Still haven't decided about dessert.

I used to do the whole big Christmas dinner thing - after a big Christmas breakfast, but realized that truth be told everyone (including me!) really would rather spend the day playing with the new loot. Now I do a big Christmas brunch and serve my special lasagne that I make just once or twice a year later in the day. I put the lasagne together a day or two before Christmas so that all I have to do is put the pan in the oven. That lasagne used to be a huge project in itself - and then I discovered no boil lasagne noodles! What a life & time saver!

Yorkshire Pudding
Brussel sprouts (if you like them you can get good recipes on Food Network's website).
Green beans cooked in chicken broth with onion slices garlic and black pepper
Yeast rolls
Mixed veggies
Mac and cheese

Always, always cinnamon buns, the kind in the can in the dairy case, for breakfast. My son insists. Ever since he was a baby that has been our Christmas tradition (over 30 years now!)

going to be tricky this year, balancing my low carb diet with my dad's low protein diet, my sister's milk allergy, and my mother's diabetes...

But we'll think of something, as always.

Celery?

J.T,
Please let us know when you decide what meal will accommodate all those food issues.
It would be interesting to know.
A big green salad?

Swedish Meatballs with Kluski Egg Noodles, Red Cabbage and Apples, Cucumbers in Vinegar with Fresh Dill, Dense Rye or Whole Wheat Bread, Havarti Cheese, and Home-baked Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce. If anybody wants recipes, I have them. For the drinkers, a nice German Rhine wine, and the non-drinkers, sparkling Apple Cider.

we've already decided on braised quails as a starter. We traditionally serve them stuffed with pate, presented on toast and salad.
Works for everyone, though it'll cover most of the protein budget for my dad.
Main course therefore may well end up being fish, at least for him, or we have to juggle the portions when going with venison or hare (we usually have game for Christmas, one of the few times of the year to indulge in expensive but good tasting food. Hare or venison can cost up to 40 Euro per kilo here, twice the price of beef and up to 6 times that of pork or chicken).

Careful ingredient selection (basically all fresh, no cans) and using cooking oil instead of butter takes care of my sister.

Carbs also aren't that big a problem, I just have to pass on things like toast, potatoes, carrots, and be careful not to eat too much other veggies.

The main problem is of course desert. Icecream or pudding are out for all of us, my sister and dad can't have cheese, leaving precious little. We may just skip it completely.

I would love recipes janny van winkle! It all sounds luscious!

J. T. Wenting, might a Pavlova work for you?

You kiddin'?
It's always a big Chinese blowout at Casa Wiggles for Christmas Day brunch.

For Christmas Eve we do the Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pud, Baked Potatoes, Creamed Corn, something Green, Mushrooms, Baked Onions w/Garlic & oh yeah....Pizza.

It wouldn't be Christmas without Grandma Carmela's homemade pizza.

Dessert varies... but usually Trifle, Cheesecake, Tiramisu, or whatever else someone wants to make.

Sounds so good I can hardly wait.

We do crab legs, sourdough bread and a salad on Christmas Eve, all on a newspaper "tablecloth" that I roll up and toss when the feasting is over. Of course a good California white wine accompanies all of this. On Christmas Day I serve Gravalax (drop dead easy to prepare several days in advance) with various crackers, cheeses, condiments and veges. Folks can feast on this as they wish between lunch and dinner times. I've served my time with the preparation of turkeys and roasts and found that our family likes something lighter (and I like something easier to prepare and serve). This allows our family to mingle and play with their new toys, and keeps me (mostly) out of the kitchen on Christmas.

Our tradition was to go out for chinese ( part of my family is asian). We now do it sometimes, and then some years make turkey and maple glazed ham. And then we go out for desert some 1am in the morning.

janny van' - I'm not going to bother cooking .......I'm coming to your house for dinner!!! :)

Who said Yorkshire Pudding? I love that so much and haven't made it in eons. Now to remember which recipe book it's in...

L. Anderson,

Oh, I would love your recipe for Gravalax, mine never seems to come out just right. My recipe is from a Norwegian friend who sort of wings it and I need something a bit more specific. If you drop in and have some time would you post yours!

We traditionally have Christmas Eve dinner which is seafood and fish. Normally something similar to Bouillabaisse and then a stuffed Hake, Turr�n and Polvorones for dessert. And lots of Cava!

Christmas Day, we usually have seafood salad, using the left overs from the night before, an antipasto of sorts, stuffed artichokes and roast beef or Beef Wellington. For dessert I usually make a souffl� with custard, pears in caramelized wine sauce and marzapan.

Christmas day is usually a small turkey and a lasagna or a spiral ham plus the requisite sides. This year there will only be three of us so I won't be making mass amounts of whatever I make. Hubbys job normally provides each with a 12 pound turkey so I cook it instead of having it take up room in the freezer.

The recipe which I use for Gravlax come from Elizabeth Bjornskov's book "The Complete Book of American Fish and Shellfish Cookery", Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1984, p 170 (My go-to book for seafood cooking. It's no longer in print, but is available used through Amazon). The recipe is as follows:

2-2.5 Lb center cut Salmon fillet, with skin on
1 Tbs minced fresh dill
3 Tbs salt
4tsp brown sugar
0.25 tsp grnd pepper
0.25 tsp grnd allspice
4 Tbs white vinegar
1 clove garlic, sliced thin

The fish should be very fresh. Sprinkle 1/2 dill in a glass baking dish large enough for the fish fillet to lay flat. Mix together dry ingredients and smear on both sides of fillet. Lay fillet on dill (skin side down), pour vinegar on top, and scatter garlic and remaining dill on flesh side of fillet. Cover in plastic wrap and place something heavy on top (eg a couple of bricks) Pop in the fridge for 16-24hrs (I've done up to 48..LA), taking out occasionally to sppon the sauce over the fillet. When ready to serve remove bricks and plastic (I also remove garlic and most dill..LA) and slice on the diagonal (the skin will probably just fall off).Yum!

I've scaled this recipe up and down and it works fine. The important thing is to have a single layer of fish and to periodically spoon the vinegary juices over the fish.

L. Anderson,

Thanks so much for the recipe...it is quite different from mine, I am going to give it a try before Christmas!

I have heard many people say they serve turkey and lasagna for holidays. I wonder how that unlikely pairing got started?