So, what are you eating this holiday season?
(No, no…don’t start feeling guilty. This is not your conscience speaking.)
Really, though, are you cooking for Christmas? Or is someone else cooking for you?
Do you have a traditional meal you eat? Or a tradition someone makes for you but you hate? A friend recently told me about a “ham loaf” that her mother-in-law makes ev.er.y. year but most of the family hates. Just the name “ham loaf” makes me squeamish. bleaaahhh. Maybe it’s one of those things you have to try? (I think I’m okay without ham loaf in my life.)
We are staying home for Christmas this year and having some friends over for a Christmas Eve dinner. Well, actually it will be lunch. But it will be a big meal so…technically…dinner. We’re going to a church service on Christmas Eve night and then one on Christmas Day too. We aren’t the kind of family that likes to rush home, cook up a big meal, and wait for an hour until the food is ready to eat. Basically, we are ready to eat as soon as church is over. So that’s why I usually do crock-pot meals on Sundays.
Anyway, enough explanation about why we aren’t having a “Christmas meal” on Christmas day. Here are some options I’m thinking of making for our Christmas meal:
(Oh, one more thing – there are 4 kids eating this meal. Just keep that in mind towards the end of the list of foods and everything will make more sense.)
As soon as I saw this dip on pinterest, I knew I wanted to make it. For something. I was going to make it for Thanksgiving, but that was the same weekend I went overboard making rolls, so I decided to skip it and go to bed instead. Good choice. However, I have waited long enough. This dip must be made so I can try it and see if it’s as tasty as I imagine.
Orange Baked Ham – this is Ina Garten’s recipe. I made it last year and we all loved it. It has orange marmalade in it but there’s also quite a bit of garlic so it’s not overly sweet. Perfect for us.
Crockpot Macaroni & Cheese
I’ve made this stuff before and combine a little bit of Crockpot365’s recipe + Paula Deen + my own tastebuds and what I have available in my kitchen. The result is a crockpot full of cheesy goodness. (and calories, but that goes without saying) It also results in a recipe that can never be duplicated because I never write it down. Phooey on me. Hopefully I can duplicate it pretty well this time…especially since we’re having friends over for dinner. er…lunch. whatever.
I’m also planning to make carrots and corn. As in, 2 separate dishes, not a carrots+corn casserole or something. Because I like good vegetables that aren’t drenched in sauce. Just a bit of butter and special seasoning. Perfect.
Rolls – I don’t know if I’ll make these rolls I made at Thanksgiving
or another recipe (Sweet Potato Crescent Rolls). Or maybe I’ll cave and get some from Harris Teeter. I can always throw them in the oven and warm them up. Maybe even burn them a little so people think I made them from scratch.
One other thing I’m considering is this Lime Slush
If you’re thinking Lime Slush doesn’t belong in a Christmas Dinner line-up…well, you might be right. But that doesn’t deter me from making it. (well, maybe it does a little bit, but not enough to stop me at this point). My hubby loves special drinks like this. And he really likes limes in his water. Which makes me think he would like this. So that’s enough reason for me to try it out.
Dessert – who knows. I have this fabulous cheesecake recipe but I don’t think the kids would go crazy for cheesecake and I really don’t want to be left with half a cheesecake. Or else I’ll eat it all. Cookies seem a little too boring. Pie is a little too stiff. Cake … hmmm, now there’s an idea. I do have a recipe for Coca-cola cake that is out.of.this.world. good. We’ll see.
And I don’t know what I’m going to do for potatoes. I’ve pretty much decided that mashed potatoes are best when used as a vehicle for gravy. And since I don’t plan on making gravy with my ham, I’m skipping the mashed potatoes. Never been a fan of scalloped potatoes. Baked potatoes don’t seem to fit with a ham dinner. So…any other ideas on a potato dish to do? I might skip them (gahhh!!! lime slush & skipping potatoes?!?!? what kind of a Christmas meal is this?) 😉 since I’m already planning to do mac&cheese. Any other ideas for a potato dish?
So, what are you doing for your Christmas meal? If any of you have a dish you abhor but someone always fixes it anyway, I’d love to hear about it. I get some strange pleasure out of thinking about things like that. Please share. 🙂
Comments
10 responses to “Christmas Food”
I have an awesome recipe for crockpot potato casserole. It’s what we have EVERY Christmas! It’s perfect with ham! I can send you the recipe if you’re interested 🙂
Cheesy hashbrowns maybe? Or does that make it too cheesy of a meal with the Mac & Cheese? Hmmm. It sounded good with the ham idea though. 🙂 Or maybe a sweet potato souffle? I have an amazing recipe for that! It is my favorite dish at Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is why we had it both meals. 🙂
Love the lime slush idea! We always did a punch of some kind to go with our meal and to sip on though out the day. Very yummy!
How fun! We are going to stay in Tagaytay over Christmas, hopefully climbing an inactive volcano. “Hope” both that we can climb and that it’s actually dormant, haha! So we’ll be completely untraditional for meals.
Though I won’t make it for Christmas, I’m adding more recipes to the pile. Garlic with orange sounds like a great compliment to ham! I’ve always loooved cloves and orange, but this might tempt me away.
My food hang-up was that green-red-white jello cream salad. And not a big fan of popcorn balls. But I love those peanut butter blossoms. And orange-clovey ham is out of this world.
I know those rolls would be time-consuming to make. But they would make phenomenal little sandwiches with some of that leftover ham. I can taste it. Mmmm!
Oh, we had corn and carrots combined here for a Filipino dinner. No heavy sauces, though. Just corn and small shredded carrot together. Unexpected and delicious!
sweet potato souffle!! the kids will love it cause it is all sugary and goodness on top 🙂
We are doing a big Christmas dinner on Sunday right after church even though we are like you and want the food ready as soon as we walk in the door 😉 Do you have a self-timer on your oven? I will put my ham in the oven before we leave and set the timer so it will all ready when we get home!
Then I am doing a version of mashed potatoes (with sour cream/cream cheese, etc.) in the crockpot as well as macaroni and cheese in the crockpot. Will pop some rolls in the oven (store bought 🙂 I am making from-scratch cinnamon rolls for breakfast that morning so think I deserve a break on the rolls 😉 Aldi has some new super yummy dark whole wheat honey rolls that are delicious!)
and not sure about dessert yet.
Other people are bringing corn, baked beans, jello salad, etc.
oh and love the lime slush punch idea! 🙂 We had punch at our Sunday school Christmas party last weekend and the kids loved it – Hawaiian punch, frozen pineapplee juice and Sprite 🙂
Hmmmmm… might have to find a punch for Christmas 😉
Christa,
I am curious about your Coca Cola Cake. I heard it from someone before and she said that she used to baked this cake on her children’s birthdays and when they were grown, they still asked for it. mmm.. i am going to be in a look out for this post :).
We will be going to my inlaws (as usual) to celebrate Christmas. But this time, we are going to have a filipino theme, purely filipino food for the first time in the family and I am so excited! Well, we might throw some other food in there aside our dishes 🙂 but majority will be our native food. We will be having homemade eggrolls (lumpia), noodles (pansit), beef steak, adobo, palabok mmm just making me so hungry now. I should sing christmas song with the kids with our native song also and I can see their faces now going huh? haha. Anyways, enjoy your Christmas with your dear family and friends.
Lime slush sounds awesome and what could be more Christmasy than a GREEN drink, right?? I’m a bit late chiming in, lol, but sweet potato casserole would be oh so perfect with ham! Practically dessert if you make it the way my mil does!! 🙂
[…] talked about making this dip in my Christmas Menu post. I made it. And it was super good – like cranberry salsa over a nice thick layer of […]
I’m definitely interested… can I get the recipe?? 🙂 I’m always in charge of potatoes for holidays!