I am not cooking this year! Going to my daughter's in Chicago for Christmas, and then to my son's the weekend after! All I have to make is a potato gratin to go with the ham he plans to make! YAY

I think my son-in law is making a ham for Christmas Day, too.

It just ocurred to me that my son and my son-in-law are the cooks in their families, daughter and daughter-in-law don't care to cook much at all....weird.

Your menu sounds good, Sharon. Hope they don't tar and feather you! LOL

Linda

Sharon, I did a real green bean casserole this year for Thanksgiving and expected to get chewed out for not having the usual things in it - but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really REALLY good! I actually used fresh green beans and made more of the topping (and carmelized the onions) and baked it for a bit longer.

this is one of those recipes that I found in 2003 before I knew I should be giving credit...so sorry if I inadvertenly stole it but it was from the internet!

Green Bean Casserole Servings 12

16 ounces frozen cut green beans
1 medium onion -- chopped
1 clove garlic -- minced
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms -- chopped
1 can evaporated milk -- (12 ounces) (NOT the sweet kind)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Topping
2 cups sliced onions
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs

Place beans in a microwave-safe dish. cover and cook on high for 7-9 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a nonstick skillet, cook onion and garlic in butter over medium heat until tender, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms. Cook until softened. Reduce heat to medium-low. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. combine flour and milk until smooth. Stir into mushroom mixture. Add soy sauce, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper. Bring to boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in beans. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 375: for 15 minutes.

For topping: In a large nonstick skillet, cook onions in butter over medium-low heat until golden brown. Add the bread crumbs. Cook until dry and golden brown. sprinkle over casserole. Bake 7-10 minutes longer or until heated through and topping is browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

and what about your green beans w/ carmelized onions? You could have it all ready ahead of time and assemble at the last minute?

Oh Oh Oh!!! What about this one? sorry, you always help me out so much, I feel obligated to give you all I've got = LOL!!!!

GREEN BEAN, PECAN, AND FETA SALAD Â Cindy Mac
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1 small purple onion, thinly sliced
2-3 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
CUT green beans into thirds, and arrange in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 10 minutes or until crisp-tender. Immediately plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process; drain and pat dry.
TOSS together green beans, onion, cheese, and pecans in a large bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour.
WHISK together olive oil and next 5 ingredients; cover and chill 1 hour.
POUR vinaigrette over green bean mixture, and chill 1 hour; toss just before serving.

LOL, Stacy, that does sound good.

What are we having? The same old stuff:

Turkey with Stuffing
Ham
Scalloped Potatoes
Homemade Rolls
Whatever vegetable my sister makes
Whatever pies my mother makes
Pumpkin Roll
Cookies

And afterward, I'm having a big ole' mug of hot buttered rum. Well, not really, because I don't like rum, but my boss made me a "mix" that I use to make hot buttered Butterscotch Nips, LOL. The mix has butter, brown sugar, lots of cinnamon. Two big spoonsful in a cup with a shot of butterscotch schnapps and fill with boiling water. Very sweet, hot, and spicy.

Annie

We also have Thanksgiving for Christmas....but simplified...no oysters, no pies and no sweet potatoes...
Just turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Cranberries, Jezabel and just plain strained, something green and cookies.
But it's the lunch that does it...lots of cheeses, bitty dogs in BBQ sauce, shrimp, cheese ball, herring in cream sauce, meatballs if I get my rear in gear, side of salmon....veggies, some sort of dip to be made with cheese beans and Rotel...grand son does that....and breads and crackers.
Oh and martinis...lots of martinis!!!
Linda C

Stacy, thanks for the recipes the GBC looks like a contender! I was thinking of the Green Beans with Caramelized onions but thought that might be onion overkill with the Sweet Potatoes and the Onion Casserole! LOL

Oh... no cooking for me this Christmas! Hubby is doing Christmas dinner and his kids (my stepchildren) are going to be here and they have been invited to make a couple of meals. I will be just eating. Yippee! Al

nope, no cooking for me. Just our traditional breakfast of empanadas, gouda grits and fresh fruit.

But, man o man your dinner sounds good.

We are having something I haven't made in a while....

Braised short ribs w/red wine
horseradish/cheddar polenta
broccolini with butter and lemon
sauted mushrooms
and this GREAT salad I made for Thanksgiving, it was so refreshing with all the other heavy food:

Insalata Invernale-

thinly sliced fennel
cabbage (Napa)
radicchio
endive
walnuts
orange sections
toss all in dijon vinaigrette
shaved asiagio cheese on top

and...apple crisp with Bluebell ice cream. Yum! :)

Christine

It will be just us and the kid, and maybe one of our neighbors. Appetizers will be whatever Liana and I throw together. Ham and a potato/onion/sour cream/cheesy casserole are the givens. The rest always depends on our mood, but I am leaning towards:

Sweet potato patties (with corn and sundried tomatoes)or just mashed sweets with a little chipotle if I feel lazy.
Three layer cornbread or oatmeal honey rolls.
Something simple and green....maybe just steamed broccoli.
Fruit salad...I have half a box of Fuji apples so I'm thinking a waldorf.
Some sort of relish tray. We'll open some of the pickled vegies we canned last fall...Liana's pickled beans, and my carrots, and an experiment - pickled rattail radishes.
Not sure about dessert. I have some green tomato mincemeat I want to try, but if I do that, I'll have to make an alternative (eeeuuuwwwww....mincemeatttttt!)...maybe a cheesecake.

Sharon, I hope you like the sweet potato caramelized onion casserole!

After making my first Thanksgiving supper this year with essentially all the trimmings plus pies and food for family the day before and after we are completely loafing on Christmas. Christmas Eve we are going to church and on the 25th we are having pizza! Will be a first for both of us. I am making cookies also on Christmas Eve but otherwise we are looking forward to shameless laziness.

Kate

We get together Christmas Eve. There will be 10 at our table.

Joey's Killer Lasagna
Gilroy's Garlic Bread
Mixed green salad w/Italian dressing
Apple Crisp & Ice Cream

Wow, chase, you're going all out!

Last year it seemed there were quite a few people doing prime rib here, so I made it for the first time, then. We LOVED it!! It's our new Christmas tradition now. So, we will have:

Prime Rib
Creamed Parmesan Spinach (as a garnish/sauce for the prime rib)
Home made potato rolls
Broccoli with cheese sauce
or
Roasted Asparagus

Thinking of doing a winter fruit compote with almond custard cream for dessert. That sounds good after all the sweets we've been encountering everywhere.

Ours will be pretty traditional -
Prime Rib, with horseradish, mashed potatoes, gravy, spinach salad, corn, rolls, chocolate pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie.

Breakfast will hopefully be cinnamon rolls, if I get the rest of the baking and wrapping done. I am way behind this year.
Donna

It's a tradition in our family not to have a Christmas dinner. Instead, we'll be having a drop-in brunch from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. Much of the food will be made ahead of time and packaged in small batches so I can just pop them in the oven (my stove has a double oven) whenever a new bunch of guests arrive.

Here's the menu for this year:

Chambord fruit cup
Mini cranberry pecan muffins
Mini lemon-coconut muffins
Mini rye bagels with chive or plain cream cheese

Sausage breakfast casserole
Spinach-mushroom quiche
Baked crab and brie in phyllo shells
Baked ham
Cranberry applesauce
Roasted marjoram potatoes
Moroccan carrot salad
Asparagus salad with mustard-dill dressing

Assorted cookies and biscotti
Tiny cherry cheesecakes
Apricot-orange tartlets
Brownie bites

Blood orange mimosas
Hollywood martinis
Eggnog
Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, iced tea

No cooking here either. We are heading to freinds both Christmas Eve and Day. I now one is ham, hot german potato salad, a cuke salad and appys. Not very Christmasy with eh cukes and potato salad but the company is good.

I think I will do a tenderloin or rib roast for us on the weekend.

Sharon, I think I'll just come to your house for Christmas dinner, the menu sounds wonderful.

I'm planning on prime rib unless the tenderloin looks more appealing when I go to the meat market. My surprise for Kim will be a special salad, instead of Crab Louie Salad (which she loves) I am going to make a Lobster Louie Salad, because she loves lobster even more.

Nancy

We always have a real big breakfast on Christmas. When they see me setting the table for dinner they all usually grown because they have to eat again. I guess we all over do it for the holidays. My Mom requested Sunday gravy for dinner. So we will be having pasta, an assortment of meat, salad and garlic bread for dinner.

I still don't know what I am doing for Christmas Eve. I have to work a half day and assemble all the breakfast casseroles so I want to go out to eat. My brother wants me to get a ham and turkey so I don't have to cook, I think I am doing that next Sunday though. I think William wants a homemade pizza party. I think the pizza party would be the most fun and the cheapest option. Maybe I can find a recipe for a dessert pizza.

I haven't even made a shopping list yet.

We will be going to my S and BIL's for Christmas Eve. Most of the brothers and sisters meet on Christmas Eve because it is the only day his sister can due to work. We change up between our house and their house because the others have small apartments.
She is not the best cook in the world so my other SIL and I usually make a lot of side dishes so that everybody gets full. Her idea of a large soup (we are around 15-20 when we all get together) is a small pot. LOL
I will be taking a cheese plate and a veggie tray with dip. I will also be taking a large platter of my Christmas cookies. SIl will be making bacon/cheese twists and a large noodle salad. Oh, I also have to make 5 cup fruit salad or I am not allowed to come. LOL Everybody here just loves it.
Lisa

Last year Christmas happened to coincide with Hanukkah so I invited a few Jewish friends over and made latkes. Everyone was thrilled to have something fun and social to do on Christmas day - you know, there's not a WHOLE lot going on that day if you don't celebrate Christmas. :)

So, this year, although Hanukkah is over, I decided to do another Christmas "Jewbilee". I'm going to make a turkey the day before so I can serve sliced turkey, along with Sol's honey rolls.

In addition, I'm having:
French bread slices with two TJs bruschetta toppings (picked up by Nathan in New York for me!)
Walnut topped with Bleu Cheese and Grape (I posted the recipe on the walnut thread)
Raw Veggies with Sun-Dried Tomato Dip plucked off of the Basil thread, posted by cabogirl
Cheese blocks - I set out hunks o' cheese and people slice pieces off. This is wildly popular.
My old standard, hot/sweet Jelly over cream cheese

For dessert I'm making Martha Stewart's English Toffee Pecan Pie, and a friend is bringing a Hershey Bar Pie.

I'm expecting 20 people. A couple of them will probably bring more munchies but I don't have any definite promises of specific things.

I'm wondering if this is enough, I might make some meatballs in a ketchup/beer sauce as well.

Merry Christmas to you all!

For the first time in many,many years, I have decided to do something different for my Christmas Menu. I plan on serving the following

A Creamy Chicken Pasta
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
Very Simple Broccoli Salad
Garlic Bread with Gargonzola Crumbles
Baked Coconut Pie

We are really looking forward to the change of pace.

We switched to prime rib from turkey and ham about 10 years ago. It's our new tradition now.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Ceasar Salad
Prime Rib
Potatoes
Roasted Butternut Squash
Green Bean Bundles
Yorkshire Pudding

Some years we have made a special dessert others we just rely on all of the cookies, bars, and candy.

David

Well, I was planning on my folks favorite, duck, wild rice pilaf, baked sweet potatoes, salad and some green veggie, sourdough bread I pick up an Panera on the OH turnpike on the way home, and cheesecake for dessert. But now I don't know when I'm going home and if I'll be up to cooking a big dinner. I am just plain worn out, emotionally and physically. I'll make something, but it will be pared down. Probably not the cheesecake, and maybe not the duck. One year we had salmon and roasted vegetables, I liked that but we had that because my brother requested it and he won't be there. Maybe I can talk the folks into that.

Christine that Insalata sounds very yummy. I might try it this year, if not for Christmas then some time while I'm home. I can't afford fennel, endive and radicchio but my folks can.

I think that sounds about right Lowspark. People tend to fill up on the cheese and crackers and eat a lighter meal. If anyone asks what can they bring? Tell them cookies. A Jewbilee requires lots of cookies :->

ruthanna, your brunch sounds devine! We always have Christmas Day brunch too, so I make several breakfast casseroles the night before. This year our meal will have to be later in the afternoon, so I plan to put out muffins, bagels and cream cheese with various jams, mimosas and hot cocoa earlier while we are opening presents, Then we will have:

Smithfield ham & dinner rolls
Overnight French Toast served with strawberries & whipped cream
Cheesy Hashbrown casserole
Bacon-Cheese Pull-Aparts (Pillsbury Bake-off recipe)
Country Breakfast Casserole from the Knollwood House B&B
Breakfast Apples (similar to apple crisp)