Christmas Dinner

cazscoob

i love big christmas dinner!!!! i would make a christmas dinner but instead of piling plates high i would have it so people could take what they want, that way she will still have her christmas dinner but then she can control how much/little she wants to eat!!!!

my christmas will yet again be mad this year we are having the inlaws over which will be great as i love cooking the dinner just hate the clearing up. so many hands make light work. also our new baby (no4) will be due 3 weeks after christmas so will be hopeing he doesnt make an unexpected arrival!!!!
as for dancing round the kitchen with music on and a glass of bubbly is that not what your meant to do??????????? (minus the bubbly this year of course):L:L:L:L:L:L

Floss

Can I make a suggestion - we've had a "serve yourself" type Christmas Dinner when my dad was ill and again when my mum had been ill. We cook everything as usual, set it out in the kitchen and have a pile of plates at the door. Then everyone can help themself to what they want to suit their appetite whilst leaving room on the table for crackers, candles, cranberry sauce etc.

sethsgran

jbbonce wrote: »

our first baby is due a week and a half before christmas, but i love christmas dinner so much that i can't do without it and i don't think anyone cooks it as well as dh and I do, so we've arranged for my mum and stepdad to come over after their dinner to coo over the baby while we get some sleep and have dinner. I have already made some of it, the red cabbage dish, homemade stuffing and pigs in blankets are frozen all ready to go and we will make the roasties and 'snips on christmas eve, so all that we will have to do on the day is cook the turkey and the veg, warm stuff up and open a jar of cranberry sauce.

Maybe you could do a scaled down version of christmas dinner, just a simple roast that won't be so much pressure for her?

So what did you say your address was I seem to have misplaced it. This is the first time in years that I have been well enough for a big christmas, I think about 14 of us. We always prepare desserts before eg cheesecake, truffles mince pies etc but never thought to prepare pigs in blankets and stuffing thanks for that tip. Can you post the recipe for red cabbage never thought of that. Also do you cook the pigs/blankets before freezing then just heat them through thoroughly or do you freeze them raw. Will post my recipe for pastry for mince pies on a seperate thread, have used it for about 25 years we save this recipe just for christmas. I'm not a pastry chef but this is always great. Freeze them raw then cook from frozen:j

learning_to_save

I get really confused with when to freeze things and cook things ie deforst then cook or cook from frozen. I have had to 'teach' myself to cook so most things i have picked up along the way but this is where I fall. As I don't know what to to do re freezing things that I have prepared in advance I end up doing most of it Christamas Eve or Christmas Day!! With a tiny kitchen it can be lonley whist everyone is in the living room having fun!!

How do you know what can be frozen in advance and if it needs defrosting first?? (This could probably be a whole new thread!).

Thanks lts

p.s not even decided what i am going to cook this year there will be at least 6 adults and 5 children to cater for!! I still love the dancing round to Christmas songs, not just Christmas day but the whole month!!

jbbonce

sethsgran wrote: »

Can you post the recipe for red cabbage never thought of that. Also do you cook the pigs/blankets before freezing then just heat them through thoroughly or do you freeze them raw.

With the pigs in blankets, i prepare them and then freeze them raw, i find they defrost pretty quickly really.

I am something of a freestyler in the kitchen so i don't have a recipe for the red cabbage as such, but what i do is:

1. finely shred 1 washed red cabbage and put in an empty saucepan.

2. peel and dice very finely some braeburn apples (however many i can spare, 2-4 usually)

3. peel and dice very finely a couple of red onions

4. add apple and onions to saucepan with a few teaspoons of sugar and some red wine vinegar, mixed spice and cinnamon.

5. add about a pint of either cider, red wine, fresh orange or cloudy apple juice to saucepan, depending on mood.

6. put saucepan on medium heat. check it every so often and when the cabbage looks fairly cooked and the liquid has reduced, transfer to a foil oven tray and squeeze it into the oven wherever it will go to keep warm until everything else is ready.

NB. this is a very easy dish to make whilst drunk or arguing with relatives, so it is perfect for christmas.

jbbonce

learning_to_save wrote: »

How do you know what can be frozen in advance and if it needs defrosting first??

I have always used the trial and error method, and i take everything out to defrost on christmas eve afternoon.

kethry

its just us for christmas day (by us i mean me and OH) although we've had friends round in recent years, this is the first year we'll be totally alone. I do do a proper christmas dinner - roast lamb or duck - with all the trimmings then. Then on the 27th my mom and dad and gran come here for the day and we do christmas day all over again, but with turkey and all the trimmings instead. Mom and Dad know they're getting turkey on 27th so they deliberately go for something else on christmas day, and on boxing day they used to visit Dad's sister (who sadly died of cancer last february). This year they're meeting his family in a restaurant instead.

Anyway, msflowerfairy - Dad's sister (the one who died) would do a big buffet on the boxing day every year. Everyone would get a little bit of cold turkey from the previous day's HUGE bird, cold stuffing from inside the bird, and fresh stuffing balls (hot) she'd made in the oven. Then there would be the usual fight between my dad and my uncle over my aunt's home made pickled onions, and most of the rest of the food was things like vol-au-vonts, salads, sausage rolls.. you get the idea. People could help themselves to how much they wanted. Christmas pudding for pudding. I think she never got stressed out about people eating up the food because she would do a party for the village either the day after boxing day or the day after that, and any leftovers would get put out then. In addition, her husband and son both work hard physical jobs and she'd often have the opposite problem - not enough food! So i'd throw my vote in with the buffet - its a great way to do it.

The other way is to do a dish up as normal but ask your MIL to come into the kitchen to choose how much she wants. My mom does that for my gran, who is now nearly 90 and doesn't eat anywhere near the amount she used to, so we give her a little plate and mom dishes up for her, as she has a better idea of how much she wants to eat. Mom likes coming here: the food i do is very tasty and gran eats more than she does on other days, and mom doesn't have to cook (she doesn't enjoy cooking, whereas i do).

HTH

keth
xx

mumofjusttwo

have to say if she fancies a roast dinner you could always serve it up in casserole dishes so she could help herself to what she wants.

Or as you have suggested do the buffet.

TBH I would say that she will probably just be glad to b having Christmas with you.


Best wishes for your MIL

Sola

I do a big dinner, like a typical roast with knobs on:

- Roast meat (always used to be turkey but in recent years it's been lamb, beef or pork with crackling)
- Roast potatoes (parboiled then shaken around in pan and roasted in very hot beef dripping instead of oil for once); sometimes mashed potatoes too
- Roast parsnips (lots of them because Mum and I adore them)
- Mashed swede with butter and nutmeg
- Cauliflower cheese with a hint of mustard
- Broccoli
- Peas
- Carrots
- Yorkshire puddings (homemade)
- Stuffing of some kind, usually out of a packet and coooked separately to the meat
- Pigs in blankets
- Cranberry sauce, mint sauce, apple sauce etc depending on meat
- Gravy (I cheat and use Bisto Best)

I tend not to do Brussel sprouts because no-one seems to like them. I'm also more likely to do a homemade trifle than a Christmas pud (strawberry jelly, tinned fruit, bananas, Swiss roll, sherry, custard and cream). Everyone else insists on pulling Christmas crackers but I think they're a waste of money.

05_cheeky_monkeys

Sola wrote: »

I do a big dinner, like a typical roast with knobs on:

- Roast meat (always used to be turkey but in recent years it's been lamb, beef or pork with crackling)
- Roast potatoes (parboiled then shaken around in pan and roasted in very hot beef dripping instead of oil for once); sometimes mashed potatoes too
- Roast parsnips (lots of them because Mum and I adore them)
- Mashed swede with butter and nutmeg
- Cauliflower cheese with a hint of mustard
- Broccoli
- Peas
- Carrots
- Yorkshire puddings (homemade)
- Stuffing of some kind, usually out of a packet and coooked separately to the meat
- Pigs in blankets
- Cranberry sauce, mint sauce, apple sauce etc depending on meat
- Gravy (I cheat and use Bisto Best)

I tend not to do Brussel sprouts because no-one seems to like them. I'm also more likely to do a homemade trifle than a Christmas pud (strawberry jelly, tinned fruit, bananas, Swiss roll, sherry, custard and cream). Everyone else insists on pulling Christmas crackers but I think they're a waste of money.

Same as i do. Yummy! Its worth dieting all year for! :rotfl:

Can u recommend how to make a good trifle and how to and what i need to put it together as oh loves trifle but i have never made one! :rolleyes: