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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: Dec 18 2009 at 9:55am | IP Logged
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Just wondering what you all have planned! We have traditionally done our "big dinner" at home on Christmas Day, but this year, we're moving it to Epiphany and just having appetizers and dessert on Christmas. Christmas Eve will be dinner at my parents' and the day after Christmas will be dinner at my in-laws'.
Anyone have any good recipes for appetizers and the like? I'll be making some of the usuals (artichoke dip, spinach dip, trays of cookies, probably a salad, maybe a brunch casserole), but I'm open to yummy suggestions!
Anyone else planning dinners?
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CrunchyMom
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We are going to another friend who doesn't have family in the area for a Cuban Christmas! We will take the appetizers and dessert (which will not be Cuban). I think I'm going to make this Bavarian gingerbread cake with chocolat-ginger glaze that was in Victoria magazine last month!
I'll also try to do a cookie tray with some favorites as well as appetizers to include sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, and bruschetta.
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JodieLyn
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I believe the dinner at my sister's on Christmas Eve is Turkey..
We're having prime rib on Christmas Day if I can swing it.. otherwise it'll be the tri-tip from the freezer.
One of our favorite appetiser dishes is a cheese ball with crackers.
And I got a free package of lil smokies that I need to figure out something that sounds good to do with them.
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SusanJ
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I love planning meals this time of year. We used to do fish chowder on Christmas Eve but couldn't get the fish last year so made fondue spur of the moment. We all loved it and I think that's our new tradition.
Christmas dinner is always steak and salad. I have some tenderloin and then we usually slightly wilt some bitter greens with hot bacon for the salad. This year we're adding a lot of cranberry goat cheese as well.
The bigger meal will be when we host my whole family on Sunday the 27th. I'm making a coffee cake for breakfast and putting out cheese, crackers, salami, nuts, tapenade, crostini, and olives plus a sweets platter during the day. For dinner we'll have honey glazed curry chicken with roasted squash, whatever green veggie we have, and hot rolls from our baker around the corner.
Can't wait! I'm headed to the grocery store (alone--yea for final exams!) to shop in a few minutes.
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folklaur
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Christmas Day is pic-n-nosh. so - yep - appetizers and desserts. we just set it out and nibble whenever we get hungry.
olives
sweet pickles
falafel
hummus
flat bread/biscuits
carrot & celery sticks
salsa, guac, & chips
ham & turkey cold cuts
smokies in sauce
cheese cubes
hot potato salad
tomato bread salad
jello fluff and normal jello
cookies, and more cookies
birthday cake
yule log
blueberry tart
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LLMom
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| Posted: Dec 18 2009 at 1:26pm | IP Logged
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Turkey
mashed potatoes
white homemade rolls
cranberry crunch
green bean casserole
lotsa desserts
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LucyP
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We're having a chicken as good turkeys are very pricey, and also some pork shoulder. Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots and sweet potatoes. Probably broccoli with honey. Stuffing, cranberry sauce, sausage. Christmas pudding.
The next time we will be at my middle sisters for my feasting!
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teachingmyown
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We always have a ham and finger foods, salads, etc. I like to have a fun breakfast though, cinnamon rolls, bacon, coffee cake,etc. Just what they need before they did into the candy in their stockings! 
As for appetizers, we do this on New Year's Eve and most of what we eat we get from Costco. I love their various frozen appetizers: egg rolls, quiches, taquitos, mini-tacos, etc. Last year, we had meat and cheese platters that dh made up with his new meat slicer.
I really envy all of you who love to plan and cook. I feel like it is all I can do to get the house decent and the tree still standing! (It has already gone over once, the morning after it went up.)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Dec 18 2009 at 2:43pm | IP Logged
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Oh I almost forgot!! we'll have home canned spiced apple rings as a relish side for our prime rib.
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stefoodie
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Nothing. Honestly 
My parents are over and between their dietary restrictions and mine and the allergy sufferers', I don't know what to prepare yet. Sweet potatoes and broccoli are safe, so is salmon. So maybe we'll have those. I might go and get a ham just so we have something more Christmasy. Maybe a fruit salad. Then maybe I'll just round things off with Costco heat-and-serve-stuff for the hungry uncles (my brothers). Oh yeah, and a quinoa pilaf which I tried a few days ago that's really really good. I'll have the fruitcake really boozy by then and will have a few stashed up baked goodies to spare so we should be all set.
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anitamarie
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Christmas Eve is at my in-laws. We usually have ham and appetizers and cookies. Simple and easy.
On Christmas Day, it's just us  , so I usually make a Christmas dinner of ham, sweet potato biscuits, broccoli or spinach casserole, mashed potatoes, and salad, with Christmas cookies for dessert.
However, last year, out of the kindness of my heart for my dd who doesn't like most meat, I made some personal size pizzas for the kiddos. Well, they were a big hit and nothing else got touched. Sooo, it may be pizza this year for everyone. I'm having a hard time giving up making a traditional Christmas dinner, though. Wish me luck.
Anita
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guitarnan
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Christmas Eve is our between-the-Masses music group potluck. Each family brings the same item each year - ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, desserts - and it's fun. We exchange small homemade gifts.
Christmas day is more ham, two veggies, smashed potatoes and whatever else I have time to fix, plus a rum cake and cookies for dessert.
I do have an easy appetizer to share. Wrap figs in slices of prosciutto and broil for just a few minutes, until the prosciutto is crisp. Awesome and so easy.
If you aren't fig people (although if you tried this, you would be!), you can take Italian breadsticks (grissini) and wrap thin slices of prosciutto around one end of each stick, kind of in a descending spiral. Very Italian.
Hummus is getting more and more popular, either with veggies (like a veggie tray) and/or with pita bread triangles. Store-bought hummus can be jazzed up by putting it into another bowl, drizzling a little olive oil on top and sprinkling paprika (not too much) over all. Garnish with a sprig of parsley.
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melanie
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I'm loving this thread, because it looks like we do something similar to many of you. We have the church Christmas pagaent/mass on Christmas Eve, of course the craziness of Christmas morning, and then a visit to my parents...we'll have lunch there...dinner at home. The whole deal is very appetizer/desserty. We don't do a lot of actual cooking. My parents will have deli stuff as well.
So far for Christmas Eve, we will have the chili cheese dip I throw in my little crockpot every year before we go to mass, and some other appetizer/finger foods that I will not be making from scratch this year,  , as well as birthday cake for Baby Jesus. Breakfast we will have this new breakfast casserole recipe and some sour cream coffee cake (SO GOOD). Our dinner at home will probably be more appetizer foods and a cookie platter. I will make some homemade fudge to take to my parents and have some at home too. Usually I make a ton of homemade fudge to give away as gifts, but I am unmotivated this year and will just make a batch for Christmas day.
I make an actual ham dinner for New Year's Day, complete with Hoppin' John of course...
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Becky Parker
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Now that I have my roast goose recipe...
We'll be having roast goose for Christmas dinner. We'll have some sort of wild rice and cooked apples to go with it. A green vegetable as well, I'm thinking green beans.
Christmas morning we'll have an egg strata and cinnamon rolls with our coffee while we open presents. We do it a bit differently than many people. We don't go to the Christmas Eve Mass, because it's standing room only. We get up early and go in the morning instead. It was hard for the kids the first time we did it that way. They saw all the presents and couldn't open them. But the morning Mass is so peaceful (and our children behave much better!) So egg strata and cinnamon rolls, and maybe some sort of fruit tray for Christmas morning, after Mass.
For us, Christmas Eve has always been just "snacky" because we're usually decorating our tree and wrapping presents. (Yes, we waited that long to put up our tree!) This year we put it up last Sunday. It was kind of a neat tradition to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve, it made Advent even more like a time of waiting. We might go back to that next year. ..It was a bit stressful though.
So I guess I'm not really sure what to have for Christmas Eve. I have a rib roast in the freezer, which I bought before we decided to have goose. Maybe that would be good ... with twice baked potatoes, broccoli, and spinach salad.
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MaryMary
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| Posted: Dec 19 2009 at 10:18am | IP Logged
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guitarnan wrote:
I do have an easy appetizer to share. Wrap figs in slices of prosciutto and broil for just a few minutes, until the prosciutto is crisp. Awesome and so easy.
If you aren't fig people (although if you tried this, you would be!), you can take Italian breadsticks (grissini) and wrap thin slices of prosciutto around one end of each stick, kind of in a descending spiral. Very Italian.
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I love this Nancy! Prosciutto and figs are among my love languages ! Never thought to put them together, though. I have wrapped fresh asparagus tightly with prosciutto and popped in the oven until its crisp....ahhhh, tis lovely!
My parents were born and raised in Italy so we always have some sort of pasta (usually lasagna) and lamb for Christmas dinner. But over the years they have adapted to the North American lifestyle so they also make turkey with all the trimmings, too. They never take away any traditional food...they just keep adding!Christmas eve dinner is strictly seafood...antipasto di mare, fettucine alfredo with garlic shrimp, all kinds of fried calamari, scallops etc. and bacala (salted cod) which is...ummmm...NOT one of my love languages !
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Dec 19 2009 at 10:34am | IP Logged
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Hey I worked on my menu last night
Prime Rib
spiced apples
apple sauce (for those that don't like spiced apples)
baked potatoes
rice pilaf
green salad
peas
bread (just freshly made regular loaf bread)
And we'll have all the fudge and cookies and such to set out so I don't know that I'll make a dessert.
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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stellamaris
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We always do a combination of traditional (that is, things we have every year) and new items (just to keep it from being too boring). So here's the scoop:
Christmas Eve (around 3 to accommodate Mass):
Soy-Ginger Baked Salmon (very easy)
Roasted Potatoes
Salad
Christmas Morning (always exactly the same, my kids would shot me if I tried to change this):
Grapefruit-Orange Fruit Bowl
Cinnamon Rolls (make the night before and let rise in frig, just bake Christmas a.m.)
Cheese-Sausage Strata (also make the day before)
Christmas Dinner:
Cheese Ball with Crackers
Deviled Shrimp (Shrimp marinated in EVOO,lemon, red onions,olives,herbs...a big hit!)
Rib Roast with Gravy
Crescent Rolls
Roasted Broccoli and Carrots
Fresh Herb Roasted Spaetzle (made ahead, this is new for this year)
Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate-Cheesecake
maybe Coconut-Pecan-Bourbon Pound Cake (from Southern Living, last year)
Now I'm hungry! 
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Caroline
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MarilynW
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I am hosting this year. We are having
- ham - honey baked
- slow cooker cranberry roast beef
- rosemary garlic roast potatoes
- sweet potato croissants
- green beans with garlic sauce
- big green salad with craisins, croutons, olives, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, gouda and balsamic vinaigrette
- sparking pomegranate juice for children, TJs wine for grown ups
- for dessert a selection of all my Christmas cookies, stollen and gingerbread lattes/tea
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donnalynn
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We're doing lasagna for Christmas dinner - I'm making a veggie one with white sauce and dh is making a more traditional meat one.
We usually do a goose but not happening this year. I grew up with roast something (beef, pork roast, goose, etc...) for Christmas. Having lasagna always seems a little strange to me but we have done it once in the past. And somebody must be making lasagna out there - two brands of lasagna noodles were sold out when I went shopping yesterday! I was getting nervous but I found some!
My favorite Christmas time meal (either breakfast Christmas day or the day after Christmas) is fresh bagels, cream cheese, lox, with a potato patty stuffed in there too - my favorite!
And I get my birthday cake! It's a refrigerator cake - so good - using Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers and whip cream. This will make 41 years with the same exact cake!
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4 lads mom
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I am roasting a leg of lamb.....thanks to all who helped with that one!!
We’ll have some kind of potato, green beans, asparagus....someone mentioned asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, wow, that sounds good!!!! We’ll have salad, and end with our Baby Jesus cake.......that usually varies year to year......I might make a two layer cake, white icing, with some decoration on top. It is just my husband, myself and the kids.....sort of low key this year with Lily just having had surgery, but that’s okay.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: What's on your Christmas menu?
