Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Salad - in winter I really like blood orange, thinly shaved fennel and arugula dressed in a sharp vinaigrette. Can add some shavings of pecorino.
Dessert - a trifle is festive, easy to put together and needs to be made ahead anyway.
Pavlova is another nice option.

A pavlova isn't really season appropriate. That is a spring dish, much better suited to Easter.

Agreed plus OP is looking for something easy. Pavlova requires a bit of technique if you have not made one before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like a green salad? At holidays we have always had a salad of lettuce, red onion, citrus sections (grapefruit, orange or both), and pomegranate seeds with a homemade viniagrette.

An easy desert would be gingerbread, that you make ahead, with whipped cream.

This salad sounds great. What is your recipe for the viniagrette?

My vinaigrette is easy -- whisk together 1/3 c white wine vinegar, 1/3 c neutral oil like canola, a grated shallot, a big squeeze of dijon mustard, and salt, pepper. You can adjust the recipe according to taste. For example most people nowadays are accustomed to store bought dressing that has a lot of sugar, so they won't love dressing without sweetener. If this is you, add honey. Squeeze some in, taste it, and keep adding until you like it. You can also add lemon juice for a citrus kick -- lots of folks don't think a vinaigrette is proper without a bit of lemon juice. You can change up the vinegar and oils to taste as well, red wine vinegar and a good olive oil are awesome. If you love balsamic, use that. Just whatever you do don't forget the salt and pepper -- that's key (to just about anything you want to eat, really, but I digress).

But when I think of the salad I posted about above, with the grapefruit and pomegranate, I think of the salad dressing my grandparents put on it which is the dressing they put on everything. They had a cruet in the cabinet and it had a ratio of 1/3 regular old white vinegar to 2/3 vegetable oil with a pinch of pretty much each herb and spice on the spice rack thrown in there, lol. It was yummy and tasted the same through the years even if what was on the spice rack was not exactly the same.

Anonymous wrote:Salad - in winter I really like blood orange, thinly shaved fennel and arugula dressed in a sharp vinaigrette. Can add some shavings of pecorino.
Dessert - a trifle is festive, easy to put together and needs to be made ahead anyway.
Pavlova is another nice option.

A pavlova isn't really season appropriate. That is a spring dish, much better suited to Easter.

Here’s my fancy Christmas salad — roast Bosc pears (maybe with some brown sugar) baby spinach: pecans; cheddar or manchego or Gouda or blue cheese; dried cranberries. Top with vinegrette made with olive oil (or avocado oil), Dijon mustard, white balsamic vinegar (or Prosecco vinegar or rice wine vinegar), and honey.
Roasting the pears seems fancy and also means they won’t brown like cut apples will.

Anonymous wrote:Like a green salad? At holidays we have always had a salad of lettuce, red onion, citrus sections (grapefruit, orange or both), and pomegranate seeds with a homemade viniagrette.

An easy desert would be gingerbread, that you make ahead, with whipped cream.

This salad sounds great. What is your recipe for the viniagrette?

Everyone always loves this salad:
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/wprm_print/47607


For dessert I like to do a Buche de Noël—it’s not really that difficult but people are always impressed.

Don’t be boring. Make a croquembouche for dessert. There are easy recipes and also hard ones for this. You can even make it with small donut holes. It’s a showstopper!

Or make a super easy Puerto Rican cheese flan. So simple and another show stopper in itself when you flip the flan over onto a plate and the caramel drizzles all over the custard. Put a dollop of whipped cream on top. Your guests will swoon.

Watergate salad

Salad - in winter I really like blood orange, thinly shaved fennel and arugula dressed in a sharp vinaigrette. Can add some shavings of pecorino.
Dessert - a trifle is festive, easy to put together and needs to be made ahead anyway.
Pavlova is another nice option.

Salad - mixed greens, dried cranberries, feta and pecan pieces, serve with balsamic vinaigrette (red green and white I'd very holiday, looks pretty and tastes grear)

Dessert is tough only because there are so many choices - chocolate group? Brownies, Boston cream pie, flour less chocolate cake, chocolate mousse; fruit group? lemon bars, apple pie, poached pears; others? Cheesecake, varied kinds of fudge - maple, peanut butter, etc, decorated sugar cookies

Simple salad with dried cranberries and crumbled feta (the red and white look festive) and candied walnuts.

I second the salad with citrus.
For desert -Paula Deen's Banana Pudding. It looks festive with the holiday chessman cookies and its delicious. Make it a day before serving, much better when the cookies get a little soft.
https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/not-yo-mamas-banana-pudding/

Not sure how impressive but these are simple and delicious

Tuscan Kale salad
NYT Peppermint brownies

Like a green salad? At holidays we have always had a salad of lettuce, red onion, citrus sections (grapefruit, orange or both), and pomegranate seeds with a homemade viniagrette.

An easy desert would be gingerbread, that you make ahead, with whipped cream.

I've been tasked with bringing a salad and dessert for Christmas dinner. Give me your best, no fail, impressive but not super difficult recipes!