What do you serve for dinner on Christmas EVE?

[HGraceMom]

Christmas day is easy - it's at my mom's house... filet & shrimp (for the veggie auntie) but I'm at a complete loss for what to serve at our house Christmas Eve. Last year we did king crab legs, couscous and a huge green salad, but we're adding several people this year, and I just can't imagine the logistics of boiling crab legs for so many.

DH insists it's something fancy, not the homemade gourmet pizzas we always had growing up... but with steak & shrimp at my mom's Christmas day, I'm having a tough time coming up with a menu.

HELP!

Thanks in advance - Renee

[amp]

It's always something different. Sometimes it's steak, sometimes chicken, sometimes pasta.

When I was growing up, my dad would pick up a par-baked pizza at our absolute favorite place in MI (Buddy's, for those who might be familiar) on Christmas Eve for us to finish cooking on Christmas Day. Sure wish we had them here...I'd start the same tradition. But in my family growing up, the EVE dinner was always something different.

[Marisa6826]

What about cornish hens - 1 per person? You can stuff them with wild rice (boxed) toss on some orange marmalade and throw them in the oven.

Make some carrots, a green veggie and you're golden!

You can also get a spiral cut ham at Costco. It's already cooked - you just heat it up. Just as tasty as The Honey Baked Ham Co. and half the price.

-m

[Bethann31]

I don't know why, but we always do lasagna (sometimes frozen, often made from scratch), marinated artichoke salad (Rich and Charlie's for those of you from St. Louis), garlic bread and something sweet.

We started this several years ago when my mom came to spend Christmas with us in Kentucky and it has stuck. Now with mom gone, I can't imagine any other Christmas Eve meal.


Beth
mom to:

Josh 3/90
Mollie 4/92
Jeffrey 12/94
Katherine 6/03

[rottiemom]

Heh. My Christmas Eve is the traditional Italian ocean full of fish (I swear that's why my husband married me) and I'm sure you don't want to go that route but we do serve a veggie lasagna (Stouffers, actually, and it's delicious)along with the fried shrimp, baccala, etc. We don't eat meat on Christmas Eve but the ham sounds like a good idea, less work for you. Maybe a baked brie to start?

Good luck!

Nina

[KrisM]

In our family, we decided years ago that the person cooking missed too much of the fun. So, we don't do dinner. We do fancy appetizers and desserts and eat all night long. We've found that it's easier to visit with people when no one is spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

[Tondi G]

Our family has our special meal on Xmas eve..... MIL does a buffet thing on xmas day! Our dinner is Leg of Lamb (we season and then coat with fresh rosemary and dijon mustard), roasted potatoes and carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy, grilled/sauted onions and zuchinni, green beans, brussel sprouts, cucumber salad.

desserts are
danish rice pudding
chocolate chunk bread pudding
asst cookies and or pie

Other thoughts would be...

Ham
Cornish Game Hens
A nice Salmon of some sort?
Italian meal... pasta with shrimp (or sausage maybe?) or lasagne,or chicken parm?

Good Luck
~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01
and lil man #2 edd 5/5/05

[steph2003]

Kris -
this is what we do too! Everyone knows that appetizers & desserts are the best part of the meal anyway, right? :) Plus we go to church on Christmas Eve so there really isn't time for someone to be in the kitchen making a big meal.

I love finger foods!!!

[KrisM]

Yeah, we also found we ate waaaay too much when we included a meal! We really like it a lot.

[August Mom]

How about pork tenderloin (or pork loin)? You can make it look fancy, but it's not hard to prepare and not too expensive.

[mharling]

OMG, I'm salivating at the thought of Buddy's!! I worked in Detroit for a month and made sure I had Buddy's every week. :9

Mary
Lane - April 2003
Little Miss - Due March 2!!

[mharling]

My grandmother's tradition was oyster stew. The kiddos were offered chicken noodle soup instead. ;)

Mary
Lane - April 2003
Little Miss - Due March 2!!

[KrisM]

I think DH and I are the only ones who can't stand Buddy's pizza. We've tried it twice. So, tell me, what do you love about it? Maybe we're not getting the right thing? I've heard so many good things about it.

[kristenk]

I was just introduced to Buddy's over our last MI visit in November. We were there for 4 nights (maybe 5) and managed to have Buddy's & Pizza Papalis. I don't know how we did it...

It is such a good thing that DH and I don't live in Detroit. I think we'd have to have Buddy's or Pizza Papalis every week. Who knows how much we'd weigh?!

[HGraceMom]

DH actually suggested we do the "Feast of the 7 Fishes" for Christmas Eve - this from the most polish guy you have ever met...

I thought about a veggie lasagna, but would like to make it from scratch, and have never made one that's been super great...


As for the Buddy's pizza, we're just outside of Detroit & I don't like it... good thing or I wouldn't be skinny... Pizzapapolis, on the other hand, is definitely the best - only at original Cottage Inn (the downtown Ann ARbor location) as a close second.

I don't understand why DH isn't interested in pizza for dinner - we make everything from scratch - the dough, sauce & all... it's so much work, but such a fun, relaxed meal before the big day - no one gets stuck in the kitchen because everyone pitches in, aack!

So where would I score a dozen cornish game hens 4 days before Christmas?


Thanks, you guys are the best!

[drsweetie]

My own relatives don't do anything special, but my MIL is of Norwegian heritage, so on Christmas Eve she breaks out the lutefisk. It's indescribably horrifying.

Ellen

[steph2003]

Ellen - yikes!!!

Due to our Norwegian heritage we celebrate with a yummy treat called leftse :) Kinda like a tortilla only made with potato/flour & then spread w/jams, sugar or just about anything. And the Danes among us make Ebelskivers (sp?) which my DH calls pancake balls because they do look like pancake batter formed into balls due to the special pan.

[amp]

OMGosh! I have never heard anyone say they don't like it. I can't even believe what limbs I might give for a taste of Buddy's right now! I love, love, love their crust and everything else about the pizza. The only thing that comes close to imitating it, and it's not exactly the same, is Jet's carry out pizza. Would pretty much consider selling off prized possesions to get those here in KS!

[calebsmama03]

For the hens, Sams club sually carries them frozen in 4 packs, I think?

Our Christmas eve was always different. My mom's a nurse so usually had to work one of the two days, so our "big dinner" was whatever day she was off. This year, my IL's are coming and Christmas will be our big dinner. FOr eve, I'm taking someone here's suggestion and doing fondue, but ours is just a small group of 4, maybe 6 is friends join us!
Lynne
Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif[/img][/url]
Oh my!! #2 5/05

[barbarhow]

Oh yeah. We swedes "love" lutefisk. My grandmother used to serve it. Always make sure to have a very large glass of milk to wash down every bite. I wouldn't touch it now-don't know how we ever did it as kids. I mean what is tastier than white fish soaked in lye for 3 months????
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03, a Red Sox fan
expecting #2, a Yankee fan, around 5/9/05!

[jenmcadams]

When I'm with extended family on either side (both my DH and I have some strong norwegian heritage), we do lutefisk and lefse -- definitely prefer the leftse :)

[kristenk]

We'll be having tamales for Christmas Eve. My MIL always makes lasagne for dinner that day. I love her lasagne, but I'm thrilled to be having tamales! Maybe next year DH and I will actually try to make them ourselves - doubtful, but you never know!

[papal]

I am obsessing over this thing. How about a hearty beef stew (the Joy of Cooking recipe is extremely good!) with some sourdough bread. Yummmmmmy!

[MelissaTC]

The FLYlady has a Christmas Menu that is pretty good although it is a beef roast. Not sure if you want to eat beef 2 night in a row. But the menu suggestion is roast beef with creamed horseradish, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, roasted butternut squash, rolls and then a trifle for dessert. Sounds good to me! We are probably going to be eating ham (going to DH's Grandparents home). If we were here, we would probably do seafood (DH is Italian and we usually do an Italian sea fest on Christmas Eve unless we are with my family and then we do surf and turf- lobster tails and steak!).

[mama2galpals]

hi just thought i would add my two cents. one side of my family is italian so we also do the fish thing but i agree with the PP who suggested pork loin. just last night i made it for company. i got two of those hormel pork loins that are long. i take saucy susan (duck sauce type of thing) and cover it i add pepper and salt and garlic powder and cover with brown sugar. then you bake it and slice it on a platter. everyone really liked it. on the side i made roasted brussel sprouts (got this from the barefoot contessa show). just take brussel sprouts cover with salt pepper garlic powder and olive oil (on a cookie sheet) and bake and then at the end broil. make sure to turn them a couple of times. i did these two things with baked sweet potatoes and it was very easy. just a suggestion...you had some other really great ones already!


rita
mommy to
olivia 2/7/97
stella 9/24/00
emma 1/23/03

[amazz]

This thread is cracking me up b/c I feel like such a slacker family--we usually order Pizza Hut! :P

(hopefully they will all decide NOT to do that this year since I am dying for pizza and on a no dairy diet for Kami!)

Angela
Mama to Kami Allyse (10/10/04)
A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

[SeekerMage]

What about quiche? I have a really simple and yummy recipie that you can easily adapt and change (spinach and feta or brocoli and cheese etc etc) You can even make little individual ones to be fancier.

Or what about breaskfast? Thats what we tend to have and there are sooo many different things you can do to make it fancier. Not just eggs and bagels, bacon and sausage like we do. But gourmet cinnamon rolls, baked pancakes with homemade carmel syrup, baked french toast, or fancy omelets. (I think it was the barefoot contessa on food tv that did a baked omelet with salmon and spinach or something, really easy and delish looking!)

I also think that idea of the appetizers sounds good. Make it more gourmet casual. You can do things like mini quiche, shrimp coctail, cheese and sausage, fondue (meat and cheese and chocolate), spinach dip, mini gourmet pizzas etc. You can even set a fancy table, or make it buffet style and have lots of yummy desserts as well so everyone can just graze and relax.

Basically, do whatever will be easiest on you! you need to enjoy to. If anything...tell DH if he wants fancy, he has to do the planning and cooking!