Christmas Eve recipes for a tough crowd

[Anonymous]

Oh -- do Paleo people eat potatoes? I don't know what starches they eat. Oh well, they could just eat the meat and root vegetables, right?

[Anonymous]

Actualluy, it isn't that complicated. Gluten free could be considered a subset of Paleo.

Will the Paleo people eat fish? Christmas eve is supposed to be a light meal, no meat....

So how about salmon, rice and grilled asparagus? With something else for the vegan person.

Here's a nice pecan crusted salmon recipe.

PECAN-AND-DILL CRUSTED SALMON

This salmon dish is really delicious. I did a trial run to see how it would go and found it so easy and wonderful. A few simple side dishes of perhaps potatoes and green beans or broccoli would be just perfect with this dish. A simple dessert would be fine also.

This makes 10-12 servings but I bought a wild caught salmon and only used a pound. It was good for two meals. It may be expensive, but it does go a long way. Shorten the cooking time for just one pound.

1 ½ cups pecan halves

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ tsp. dried dill weed

1 (3-3 ½ lb.) boneless, skinless side of salmon

1 ¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pulse first four ingredients in a food processor five or six times or until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper; place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Spread pecan mixture over salmon. Bake 18-20 minutes or just until salmon flakes with a fork. And there you have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taco bar.

Vegan chilli, meat chilli. Cheese, sour cream, vegan guacamole. Salsa, shredded lettuce.

I was going to suggest this as well. Add some beans, corn tortillas, flour tortillas, and you're in business, everyone's happy.

[Anonymous]

I think the taco bar idea is genius.

This is really good, and sort of wintery, vegan chili recipe: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/09/gold-rush-chili.html. The squash (I use butternut, which you can often find prepeeled and cubed) makes it a little heartier and different. It also looks very pretty. What's nice about chili is that it actually seems to taste better after a day or two in the fridge, so it's easy to make ahead. (Also, the Annie's chili in a can is actually pretty tasty in tacos/wraps/nachos-type dishes, so if you get into a pinch with time, you could always go that route.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actualluy, it isn't that complicated. Gluten free could be considered a subset of Paleo.

Will the Paleo people eat fish? Christmas eve is supposed to be a light meal, no meat....

So how about salmon, rice and grilled asparagus? With something else for the vegan person.

Here's a nice pecan crusted salmon recipe.

PECAN-AND-DILL CRUSTED SALMON

This salmon dish is really delicious. I did a trial run to see how it would go and found it so easy and wonderful. A few simple side dishes of perhaps potatoes and green beans or broccoli would be just perfect with this dish. A simple dessert would be fine also.

This makes 10-12 servings but I bought a wild caught salmon and only used a pound. It was good for two meals. It may be expensive, but it does go a long way. Shorten the cooking time for just one pound.

1 ½ cups pecan halves

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ tsp. dried dill weed

1 (3-3 ½ lb.) boneless, skinless side of salmon

1 ¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pulse first four ingredients in a food processor five or six times or until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper; place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Spread pecan mixture over salmon. Bake 18-20 minutes or just until salmon flakes with a fork. And there you have it.

the vegan person could do this with tofu?

[Anonymous]

Most importantly, what cocktail are you going to serve? You are going to need one or seven with that crowd.

[Anonymous]

Vegan gluten free tofu chocolate dream cake? Google it?

[Anonymous]

8 Big Macs to go

[Anonymous]

Are you seriously just now thinking about this?

[Anonymous]

What a nightmare. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, OP, why are you putting yourself through this? They're your guests and they are being that demanding?
Oh, please, all they should expect is whatever kind of meal you choose to fix for your holiday. Rather than complaints or demands, all they should do say two words: "Thank you!"

[Anonymous]

In this case, I think I would make the meal a potluck and tell everyone to bring a dish they can eat. At least this way everyone has something to eat!!

[Anonymous]

God bless you for even trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hosting Christmas Eve for my family and my sisters family. There will be 8 of us total - 4 parents, 4 year old twins, and 2 college students. 3 of us eat gluten free, one college student is vegan and gluten free, 2 eat Paleo, and may or may not eat meat. My DH eats meat but isn't into vegetables. I'm easy as long as its gluten free.

I'm having a really hard time coming up with a collection of dishes that will make most of the group happy without having to spend all day cooking too many dishes. This doesn't have to be a formal or traditional meal, I'm just trying to make everyone happy.

So far I've got roasted Brussels sprouts and I'll make a Gluten free vegetable crock pot curry made with coconut milk which I normally make with chicken but will be leaving the chicken out to make it vegan.

Does anyone have any dish suggestions that could cover all these different requirements? I'm almost tempted to just make the vegetable dishes and rice and order pizza that suits everyone else's tastes. Or make 2 versions of the curry ahead of time - one with chicken and one without. I just need to find out if the rest of the group likes curry. And of course there are my twins who won't eat any of this - except the pizza.....

This gluten free nonsense is getting ridiculous. If you have celiac, fine, don't eat gluten. If you are self-diagnosed "gluten sensitive," just suck it up for the holidays, and don't worry about the sprinkling of flour to make the sauce thicker.

And if you're paleo and don't eat meat, what the fuck do you actually eat? Raw veggies?

[Anonymous]

Potluck.