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Now How Many Are Planning Their Christmas Menu!

8 years ago

Yes, I have started mine. Will ask for some suggestions from my kids, some things will change and some will stay the same. From there we go on to plan New Year's Eve. That will be entirely different. How are your plans coming along :)

Sue

Featured Answer

fawnridge (Ricky)

8 years ago

Lasagna, meatballs, garlic bread, salad, several bottles of Chianti. Done.

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Comments (7)

angelaid_gw
8 years ago
Just another day for us. Just the two of us. Thinking about crab legs for me and a steak for hubby. Baked potatoes and a Caesar Salad.
Marilyn Sue thanked angelaid_gw
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
8 years ago
We're planning to leave New England for places south for the first time ever, so we are working our way through our freezers and will have whatever is still there. No festivity for us at Christmas but I plan to eat a lot of Gulf shrimp when we're away!
Marilyn Sue thanked seagrass_gw Cape Cod
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This link is to a Niman Ranch website in which they reproduce a recipe from Molly Stevens' great cookbook, All About Braising. It's for a fancy pot roast called Estouffade de Noel, or Christmas Estouffade. Naturally they call for Niman Ranch products, and I'm sure they're excellent, but I have made this Estouffade before with ordinary supermarket meats and it has come out absolutely delicious. One advantage to it is that it can be for the most part cooked a day or two in advance, so your last minute task is simply to reheat it and cook up some sort of noodle to soak up the scrumptious juices. It's fabulous. Very rich and elegant but not at all stuffy or fussy. The pig's foot does make the dish rich, but you needn't bother picking off the meat and chopping it up at the end if you don't want to. (My dog did appreciate the pig foot, though.) Here is a link that might be useful: Estouffade de Noel
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Thanks all! Yes, BIL is sort of sad, an eating disorder hiding behind various undiagnosed GI issues, he has gradually eliminated every potential trigger from his diet (dairy, wheat, gluten, salt, sugar, fat, etc.) I think he boils the lettuce thinking it will be easier to digest. It's been an issue since his teens and he has been to so many specialists around the country who find nothing wrong. Not my monkey, not my circus. Invariably, MIL will make some broth or something for him and sneak some forbidden ingredient into it. Hard to blame her as he is rail thin and quite unhealthy looking. But that always causes a big blow up. Glad to hear that the ham is good, sas! I was thinking, maybe Funkyart can correct me if I'm wrong, that one would butterfly the raw shrimp, arrange in the dish, and put the buttered crumbs on top, then hold it. Then at the last minute just bake it to cook the shrimp and crisp the crumbs. Nini - I love shrimp and grits and would love the recipe if you've got it! (I'm a New England girl, but my dad's from Alabama, so I guess that's where I get my love of southern food :) )
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There will be 18 attendees.. but we're working around some diet limitations mostly covered above but also add in a few who do not eat shrimp and some other "i'll eat this but not thats" (I can't eat beef yet.. mom doesn't eat chicken, etc) While the list of food is long-- the "mtn bar" model for serving will allow us to prepare "just enough" of various fillings. I must have traditional ground beef tacos for mom-- and fajita filling for nephew with stage 4 kidney disease. I could cut pork without an issue. Some of the others are preferences of the cooks or cooks' children ;) I thought the overall variety/qty was good because.. We are back to an afternoon AND evening event-- with some guests traveling from OOT Cocktails will be flowing so *I* feel it is important to have food available all day Taco meats can be made ahead-- Fajita meats will be grilled together. No extra work. A few sides I could see removing.. some more reluctantly than others.. Sopes are somewhat duplicative-- but such nice little bites for someone who didn't grab lunch. I am 75% likely to outsource these. Tamales are not required-- but they a fav of mine and I'm outsourcing them I could swap out charro beans for Mtn's bean salad which i think is fresher/prettier Mexican street corn salad-- but there are two attendees who won't eat vegetables if there is no corn-- plus it's prime corn season. Mexican shrimp cocktail is overkill, i guess-- but it is celebratory and so easy What would you suggest is overkill and an option to cut (keeping in mind the menu was a group effort so lil sis has veto power)?
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User
8 years ago
Dh wasn't home for Thanksgiving and won't be for Christmas either, so we're having a holiday celebration the second week of December.

Seagrass, if you get a chance to try Royal Red shrimp ... do! They're like mini lobsters. Peak season is September, but they're flash frozen when caught, so some restaurants may still offer them.

http://eatalabamaseafood.com/articles/royal-red-shrimp-alabamas-gulf-coast/
Marilyn Sue thanked User
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
8 years ago
Thanks for the info, CindyMac. We have all kinds of fish and shellfish in New England, but shrimp aren't one of them.
Marilyn Sue thanked seagrass_gw Cape Cod
PRO
Anglophilia
8 years ago
We have the same thing every single year and have done so for decades. If I varied it, there would be bloodshed!

We'll be having lobster stew. I will go down to the lobster pound (yes, there IS one in KY - we have a UPS hub here!), and buy the frozen claws and leg meat - SO much easier than boiling up multiple lobster.

I already have the Stonewall Kitchen Popover mix - used to make my own but discovered they were very sensitive to the atmosphere and not reliable - these are reliable.

I've already bought the miniature cream puffs - in basement freezer. I'll buy the raspberry sorbet next week - they always sell out.

I always make the lobster stew at least 3 days before Christmas Eve - it gets better as it "ages".

I'll order the fresh grapefruit to be sectioned a week before Christmas and pick it up on Sat before. I'll buy the red currants at Whole Foods that week if they have them.

Champagne was bought at Whole Foods weeks ago when thy had a 30% off sale! Oysters will be ordered about 10 days before Christmas Eve and picked up at 4:30 that day, already opened, but still on their shell.

It's really a very easy meal with so much done ahead. Haven't figured out what I'm doing for a centerpiece this year - used cut amaryllis in pine/magnolia greenery last year,, but not sure if I can count on the cut amaryllis, even if I order it. I always use white flowers with greenery on my table.

Table will be set on Fri before Christmas, as soon as my cleaner leaves. I enjoy admiring it for a few days! Got a note from the laundry in WI that it will be shipped to me in time for Christmas - they had to concentrate on the "before Thanksgiving" orders first.
Marilyn Sue thanked Anglophilia
dedtired
8 years ago
After this weekend , I plan on never eating again.
Marilyn Sue thanked dedtired

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