Christmas Eve dinner

[Anonymous]

Cheese fondue! I inherited this tradition from DH’s family but have come to embrace it because it’s perfect for having to fit in church. Have the cheese grated beforehand (use a Cuisenart if you have one) and the bread cut. Once you get back, throw the cheese in a pot with kirsch and garlic and nutmeg (look up a recipe) and you are good to go in 15 mins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If lasagne doesn’t seem quite fancy enough, maybe manicotti or stuffed shells? With a nice antipasto and good garlic bread.

How is either of those fancier than lasagna?

NP. I wouldn’t call them fancier, but more special. I’ll make lasagna several times per year, but I will only put the effort into stuffed shells or manicotti once per year, and that’s at Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Takeout - probably Chinese or Vietnamese - after Mass.

Christmas day we have a fancy brunch, then dinner is garlic rosemary pork tenderloin plus a repeat of the side dishes we had at Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd love ideas too! We have a lot going on smack in the middle of dinnertime - I'm hoping to take kids to the children's church service at 5:30, while my husband drives an hour to pick up a visiting relative at 7. There's no way we'll be able to have a sit down dinner together, I need to figure out something we can keep hot or reheat quickly for the adults around 8, but is still nice enough to seem festive or special for our visitor.

Lasagna was one I thought of, but I don't know if it counts as a nice holiday meal to most people?

NP. We save our “nice holiday meal” for Christmas Day, in the evening. Christmas Eve is about getting to and from church, which is usually a 6 p.m. service or so. So you eat chili beforehand and have Christmas cookies after. There’s also setting up for Santa to deal with. I save our holiday meal for the day we have to fully relax, stay home and take our time.

PP you're responding to - I would do this if we were hosting both, but it looks like we'll all be going to a sibling's for Christmas dinner. The relative staying with us is visiting our place for the first time and making a short trip, so I'd like to make it nice for them, but am not sure of their favorites (spouse and I both asked and were told "whatever you have will be fine").

*we will do a big Christmas breakfast though.

This is OP- what do you do for Christmas breakfast?

Nothing too fancy (or healthy!). Huge batch of buttery scrambled eggs, bacon and maybe sausage, bagels with lox, sweet rolls, fruit salad or grapefruit and oranges. Considering adding another more adult dish this year but it is a lot of food already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You do 7 different dishes!

We put shrimp, calamari, clams, mussels and scallops in our pasta.

That’s 5

Crab dip and smoked salmon as app.

No, we don't do 7 dishes. One main dish similar to yours, and then apps too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fondue for us! 3 courses, cheese (apples, pear, bread), meat (shrimp, chicken and beef in broth), and of course chocolate (brownies, pretzels, the kids like marshmallows, and some fruit)

It's a decadent meal that takes a long time, which is fine. We have good company, 3 tweens plus grandparents. We are in no rush as we are attending midnight mass

Same! Fondue + raclette. If you want to eat after church, just chop all of the fruit, etc & grate the cheese beforehand. The cheese melts quickly.

[Anonymous]

My family has always made potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce, plus chicken soup with acini di pepe.

https://schmidtchristmasmarket.com/blogs/news/recipe-potato-pancake-kartoffelpuffer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do appetizers and more appetizers

Us too.

Cocktail weenies

Pimento cheese sandwiches

Deviled Eggs

Fudge

Sausage balls

Cakes and pies

Are our usual go-tos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do appetizers and more appetizers

Us too.

Cocktail weenies

Pimento cheese sandwiches

Deviled Eggs

Fudge

Sausage balls

Cakes and pies

Are our usual go-tos.

Southern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do appetizers and more appetizers

We’ve done this and the kids loved it. Just include some that aren’t too fancy and are finger foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us, Christmas Eve is always Feast of the Seven Fishes, a popular Italian American tradition for xmas eve.

We will usually have 1 main "cooked" dish, like cioppino or linguine with clam sauce, which can be made in advance. Everything else is from the market, including cracked crab, chilled shrimp, smoked salmon, crab cakes, caviar.

It feels very festive.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/12/07/where-to-find-feasts-of-the-seven-fishes-around-dc-for-christmas-eve/

OMG. I’m on my way over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you cooking for Christmas Eve? I’ve dabbled in a few different things over the years and am wondering if others have ideas. Church is at 4; i have youngish kids, would like minimal cooking when we get back from church. I’ve tried slow cooker recipes and they are meh…. Am thinking now another option is freezing something and heating it up when I get back? I did bolognaise last year. It was okay. Ideas?

Homemade spaghetti noodles and sauce. I'll prob. do ravioli this year too. Some sort of a meat dish for the carnivores. Salad, veggies, garlic bread.

Dessert: bread pudding, caramel tart, cookies, and maybe one other option. I like sticky toffee pudding but seem to be the only one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do appetizers and more appetizers

We’ve done this and the kids loved it. Just include some that aren’t too fancy and are finger foods.

This is what we do Christmas Day when it's just us. Unfortunately, now that COVID has passed, we have to re-engage in regular Xmas day parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If lasagne doesn’t seem quite fancy enough, maybe manicotti or stuffed shells? With a nice antipasto and good garlic bread.

How is either of those fancier than lasagna?

NP. I wouldn’t call them fancier, but more special. I’ll make lasagna several times per year, but I will only put the effort into stuffed shells or manicotti once per year, and that’s at Christmas.

Really? I find lasagna more difficult than shells or manicotti. We do home-made ravioli.

[Anonymous]

I think we will do about 5 fishes: crudo, oysters, clams casino, crab arancini, and lobster spaghetti. End with Tiramisu.

Breakfast: fresh squeezed juice (for mimosas), homemade cinnamon buns (new this year, I am sick of wasting calories on mediocre canned ones), and some sort of egg bake dish with bacon, cheese, maybe some chunks of bread and whatever herbs are kicking around.