Christmas for us is all about the grandkids. They made out like bandits ... My son's house looks like a toy store! DH & I don't exchange gifts any more and I wish the kids wouldn't get us stuff either. Since we've downsized I don't have room for anything else! But I did get a nice Pioneer Woman casserole dish, warm socks which are always welcome, a potholder handle cover for my cast iron skillet (maybe I'll quit burning myself on it?!) and a silk caftan.

For the family dinner, in addition to the Bu^che de Noel, I made a container full of BLT bites and they were a big hit; I used "cocktail tomatoes" cut in half.

I like the rosemary-infused olive oil idea, I'll have to remember that!

My actual Christmas meal is not until sunday. I'll be cooking a little of it every morning when I get off work. I may finish it off saturday night while at work. As long as everyone stays outta my way, it should go as planned. I should have every single dish made ahead of time and ready to simply reheat and serve. Or put in a crock pot to warm up. I am making ham, meatballs, cocktail weenies(a favorite of the little ones), 4 kinds of dip, mac and cheese, the obligatory olive bread and an eggnog pie. I think my mom is making rolls and some sort of rainbow jello thing for the grandkids and of course,she will be getting a !*@,$*ing raw veggie tray. Now she does that just to annoy me,I am convinced of that.

ediej1209,the BLT bite recipe I posted?!??!! If so I am honored!

Edie, the rosemary olive oil was very subtle, and that's with rosemary fresh from the garden. Just a bit of a scent of it. Perfect for the beef tenderloin. Maybe too subtle for a different cut. Just something to keep in mind. I have one of those herb handles and remembered to use it, but got tired of it and just stuck my hands in. :)

Amylou, do tell! What kind of bread is your obligatory olive? (Not that I'd make any such thing, disliking olives, but I'm intrigued to know what it is.) Also what's eggnog pie? Custard? I think my main objection to eggnog is it's so underbaked! I like custard, but not so much drinking it. Or the pie something else that tastes like eggnog, like a cream cheese? And is it soaked in brandy?

The olive bread is slices of baguette or something similar,topped with a mixture made of chopped green and black olives,mozzarella cheese,mayo, dried oregano and tons of fresh garlic that has been left to meld overnight,then baked until bubbly. All members of my family but my father love it. He hates garlic,strange man. Even the little ones love it. I think it reminds them of pizza a little....

The eggnog pie is embarrassingly processed,BUT my nieces and nephews love it,therefore I make it. No shame here. The filling is eggnog (storebought) vanilla pudding mix and cool whip,poured into a crust to set. I do make a cookie crust for it. Last year I used Biscoff cookies,this year will be Nilla wafers.

Everything went perfectly! Except I browned the garlic bread a little too much and it was declared European.

Christmas Eve we almost always have a traditional Italian lasagna meal although every once in awhile we shake it up for something new, however, this year the lasagna was particularly good and I made notes on my recipe again.

It's The Taste of Home traditional lasagna and it's very tall, a good 4-5 inches or more and cuts beautifully and holds its shape very well, all which are important to me but the taste is fabulous mainly because of high quality cheese's- fresh mozzarella, the best ricotta I can find, good parm, etc.

The lasagna is served with more sauce over the top as the lasagna itself is not saucy.

A great salad, bacon wrapped dates as an appetizer and homemade fudge and caramel sauces, ice creams and hot pudding cake for dessert.

The main thing I've learned is not to make the caramel sauce 3 days ahead because I barely had enough! It's the Lyle's golden syrup recipe which I think is much better than any of the quick brown sugar caramel sauces. But just as easy

My dinner turned out well, my biggest frustration being timing. I went with Serious Eats’ super low and slow method for prime rib, and I’d probably still be waiting for it if I hadn’t bumped up the heat. The recipe calls for a preferred 150° oven, estimating it to take 5.5-6.5 hours to come to target temp. Then some wiggle room is built in with between .5-1.5 hours rest before final sear.

I wasn’t super comfortable with 150°, and as it turns out my oven can’t be set below 170° anyway. Fine. With a target of eating between 2 and 3, I put the roast in at 7am. I was actually expecting to run early but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t keep a log, but around 11am I was getting concerned. By noon I had bumped the oven up to 200°. An hour later that hadn’t sped things up much so I went to 225°. Another hour and I bumped it up to 250° but the oven shot up over 300° so I backed down to 230° which I found was the highest low temperature I could hold.

It was around 3:15 when the alarm finally went off. Close to two hours more than the recipe’s high estimate, with oven temperature at all times higher than what the recipe called for. What gives? If someone had just casually told me “put it in the oven for about six hours” and it took eight, I wouldn’t think too much of it. But this is Serious Eats. Science geeks, supposedly. I should mention that my ovens are unstable and unpredictable so I was using a Thermoworks Smoke thermometer the whole time, one probe measuring oven temp, the other stuck in the roast. My 170° oscillated between about 160-180° which is about what I’d expect. Oven door stayed shut the whole time except towards the end, when I verified the roast’s temp with my Thermapen. Matched within a fraction of a degree. Starting temp is of course a variable and I keep my fridge cool; it started at 34°. SE may have started a few degrees higher, but I doubt that’s enough to account for the huge discrepancy.

Sorry plllog, that’s probably way more detail than you were looking for when you asked, “How’d it go?” In the end it was a successful meal. Definitely the best prime rib I’ve cooked, in my limited experience. All the sides came out well. My only regret was that I didn’t make Yorkshire pudding. No drippings to speak of, and by that time I wasn’t in the mood for last minute anything.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/12/perfect-prime-rib-beef-recipe.html

FOAS, on the contrary, it was a fascinating story. I've had a random oven that did its own thing. Ten degrees up or down from your set temperature is as spot on as a regular oven goes. Maybe some of those new ovens that are set up for sous vide can really hold a closer temperature, and some of the best of German engineering can manage 4-5 degrees either way, but I don't think your problem was the temperature. I didn't read the whole article, but it seems that they're using the low and slow with the same theory of sous vide. Hold at a lower temperature until the middle gets cooked because the middle of prime rib is often a bloody mess since it's so hick.

I understand Physics when it's spoken to me, but I don't speak it myself. It may be that there's some kind of thermal barrier in the meat. I've heard of this though don't know if it's true, where the border between two temperatures becomes a neutral zone and sort of balances like a coin on its edge, instead of letting both sides affect each other and even out the temperatures in the normal way.

The important thing is that you were well equipped with thermometers and compensated and it came out well. Kudos!

We have our traditions -- stollen and Kringle for "breakfast" with coffee and presents; a traditional turkey dinner -- turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries and green beans with homemade hot rolls for lunch and then grilled turkey sandwiches for dinner.

Everyone's meals sound delicious. Plllog , I want an invitation to next year. Everything sounds amazing!!! I hate the cooking and shlepping. so I admire you for doing it in the rain.

We had Chanukah dinner on Christmas Eve at the Rabbi's house so it was ( of course) Chinese buffet with 4 different kinds of latkes and doughnuts. Yesterday morning, Trader Joes, my Tovala and I went all out with an assortment of Brie puff pastry bites, egg something or other, cheese blintzes, and an assortment of other mini savory bites. Lunch was Trader Joe's almond croissants done in the Tovala. (I haven't been around TJ's for 6 months so I'm enjoying having it available) and dips and crackers. For dinner, I sous vided and then seared rib eye, (one seared in a cast iron pan on the cooktop and one seared in my new Brava oven for comparison, sides from Whole Foods, baked potatoes done in the embers of a beautiful roaring fireplace with truffle dip from TJ's. But the absolute best part of the meal and over the top, positively delicious was the bread I baked according to Jenny can cook's video. It's done in a Le Creuset pot in a 450 oven. I did roasted garlic at the same time in a separate crock dish and made garlic butter. I am pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head when i ate that.

Amylou, yes it was your BLT Bites recipe I used! I knew as soon as I read it that my whole family would love it and they did. Even my 1-1/2 year old grandson ate a bit of the filling and smacked his lips. Thank you ever so much for sharing the recipe; it is in my file and has already been requested that I make them again next year!

Ours was a bit of an odd combo because I made a huge lasagna for Christmas Eve and put in the oven set to bake it while I was @ church singing with our choir, but when we got back, it hadn't baked! We wound up having a frozen pizza and I then baked the lasagna for Christmas Day, along w/ the planned oven roasted salmon, roasted beets w/ lime juice, sauteed green beans w/ tarragon and browned butter, cucumbers in sour cream w/ dill, and garlic bread to go with the lasagna. I had been planning to make wings along w/ the salmon, but put those away for another day. I have about 5 1/2# of frozen wings now.

I was afraid I would wind up w/ too much leftover, because my cousin and her family cancelled due to illness, but the lasagna disappeared and so did most of the salmon, so that made me very happy. We had about 12 people.

Dessert was an array of cookies, both home made and purchased.

And I figured out what happened with my oven - it was operator malfunction = J

P.S. Almost forgot to mention I used oven ready organic lasagna pasta from Target for the first time. Made preparation super easy and it came out perfect.

Love reading these threads! My dinner came out well.

I made a small meal on Christmas Eve, as there were only 7 of us. I didn't make near as many dishes as I normally would. I actually asked my loved ones to decide from things I make, and these were the requests:

Ham .... I cut it into thick slices and place them on a cookie sheet. I’d say each piece is about the size of a playing card or bigger. I spread just a bit of brown mustard on each slice, then sprinkle with brown sugar, then add a half a pineapple slice. Bake until done. My family loves ham this way and insists on it.

My baked macaroni and cheese with buttery crumb topping (from an old cookbook, been making it 25+ yrs, always get asked to bring it to potlucks).

Cream cheese corn with chopped green chilis.

Bacon simmered green beans, the wide Allen’s brand. It’s the ONLY time I use canned green beans.

That’s it! I usually would add cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, various salads, sweet potato casserole, etc. It was such an easy meal! I made my breakfast casserole for Christmas morning (make night before, pop it in oven next morning), and then we snacked on leftovers the rest of the day. This was definitely the most relaxed and laid-back holiday we’ve ever had, it was really nice. :)

I roasted the Prime Rib on the grill... to save oven space, and did it low and slow. It was perfect after 3 hours and had that grilled-flavor that my family likes. The Meringue Wreath for dessert was a success since everyone could eat it despite the many allergies. Second oldest grandson helped cook just about everything since he wants to learn to cook.

@amylou321 and ediej1209, would you please the recipe for the BLT Bites; they sound like something my family would love also.

Our dinner went very well. The prime rib was perfection, a modified version of Aunt Audrey's Green Bean Bundles was so good, the onion casserole was glorious, as were the au jus and creamy horseradish sauce, and mashed potatoes were great. Hot rolls were a big hit. Everything went so well together. Had two non-family members attend Christmas Dinner at my house for the first time. They just kept making comments about the delicious onion casserole and the superb green beans and just about everything, and they absolute devoured their prime rib and went back for seconds of everything. I was very happy with the outcome.

No one had dessert, which was homemade Brown Butter Ice Cream and Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies. Just too sated to eat another morsel of anything.

WalnutCreek, it was in the recent appetizer thread.

amylou321

BLT Bites

Basically stuffed tomatoes. I use either large cherry tomatoes or small romas. If using the cherry ones, cut the top off and remove the innards. If romas, cut them in half and remover the innards. I prefer the small romas. They are less fiddly. Then fill them.

The filling is cooked crumbled bacon, mayo, finely minced green onions and Parmesan cheese,salt and pepper to taste. Sorry I don't have exact measurements. Serve chilled or room temp. I would make them the morning of for sure.

These are always popular when I make them.

ETA--here's an actual recipe from a discussion 10 years ago: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2518965/blt-bites#n=5

Thank you for posting that link, pillog.

Thanks for digging up the recipe, plllog! I did have to make one minor adjustment since I can't eat onions and I wanted to have some too. So I used dill instead. Still came out so good!

FOAS, I read the SE recipe and one thing I noted is that they do not have you bring the roast to room temp before placing in the oven. If the meat starts at 34 from a night in the fridge, is would take forever to come up in the oven. A start at say 68 to 72 would have helped.

Ok, I’m officially tired of leftovers right now. I do not want to see another green bean, piece of ham, or kernel of corn for a while. I desperately need some make-me-sweaty, eye-watering spice. Tonight is going to be Mexican or Thai.

Peppi- I searched the recipe several times looking for exactly that. Not finding it, I went straight from the fridge. Being already leery of the low oven temp, I wasn’t about to risk a long sit on the counter. And long it would have been: It took close to four hours to reach 70° in the oven, so room temperature would have been significantly slower.

For all their acclaim, I’ve not found Serious Eats to be a source I trust implicitly. I should have gone with my gut and skipped over this particular recipe. As adverse as I am to sous viding beef, that would probably have been my better option for really low and slow.

Exhausting, lol. We had our dinner last night- lasagna and stewed sausages with some veggie sides and pickled goodies. But my goodness we were up hours past our usual bedtimes before I finally had to send our guests home.

Very good time... except for our one picky eater that only ate 2 bites of sausage claiming to be starting a diet (and they refuse to eat any veggies)... then ate handfuls of candy while we were opening presents after dinner. But we love him anyway, the silly guy.

Started prepping this morning. I made the mac and cheese,2 dips and the olive bread topping. Tommorow I will make the meatballs and sauce, the other dip,some fresh salsa and the eggnog pie. Then Sunday all I'll have to do is schlep it to my parents house,reheat everything and lay it out.

FOAS, do you think it would work to sous vide to maybe 125 degrees and the finish it in the oven? Would that take long enough to make it roasty?

@foodonastump: The low and slow method is always what I use for prime rib. I put together information from different sites and have found the method I've outlined below works very well for me.

PRIME RIB MY WAY

Basic rule is 1 bone per two guests

* Dry-Age for 7 Days in refrigerator
* Season 48 hours in advance

* Pull out of refrigerator at least 4 hours in advance (overnight in a cool place is even better)
* Preheat oven to 450*
* Brown/Sear the roast for 15 - 20 minutes @ 450* You can use some oil or fat to brush the roast before the sear. The oil will aid in sizzling the beef surface for a little better crust.

* Drop the oven setting to 200*
* Target temperature around 120* - 122 - 125 – 130 for Medium-Rare With the low and slow approach, you will not get much carryover heating....usually about 5-7 degrees at most. I normally pull @ 122-125°...with the carryover, it gets to about 130ish. Typically, the range for Medium-Rare is 125-135...or 130-140°, depending on which chart you subscribe to. The median is 130ish using both charts. I suspect you prefer the high end of the scale for Medium-Rare or possibly, the low range for Medium doneness.......therefore, I would suggest you simply bring the roast to 128-132* degrees. Then you can begin the holding period either inside or outside the oven.....my preference is to hold the oven on the lowest warm setting of 140°
* Hold the roast inside the oven @ 140* for at least two hours OR wrap in foil, put bowl over it, and then wrap towel around bowl for at least 1 hour –2 hours is better.

* Ready to slice and serve - no other resting period required

All these meals sound fantastic. I am cheating a bit because I had very little to do with these meals.

Christmas Eve I go to my step-sister’s. She is a chef and caterer. She does an amazing Italian 7 fishes soup, pasta and salad. Also a big fish centered spread of hors d’oeurves. On Christmas my family gathered at my sister’s. It was a more casual meal. They roasted a turkey - people brought what they wished. My sister and niece made cookies and pecan pie. We had sandwiches and deserts.

I made Pain L’ancienne focaccia for both events. The first with calamata olives, garlic and Asiago. No olives at the second. They went over really well. I need to figure out a better way to prevent sticking when shaping before refrigeration.

I also made several kinds of cookies. My failure was millionaires shortbread. It wasn’t exactly a failure but it was a bit too much. Too sticky too sweet and a bit too thick. I would like to try a thin version someday but I am not a huge caramel fan.

Re dough sticking, parchment paper is genius. Most have a thin coat of silicone. The all plant have latex instead. Icing the work surface before you put down the dough helps. So does oiling your hands, tools, surface. The parchment's advantage is that the dough doesn't soak it up, like it eventually does to the oil.

My Christmas dinner went off with out a hitch except I forgot to add the parsley to the stuffed squash! I made Acorn squash stuffed with wild rice and a pork roast with

Thankfully I knew I wasn't doing anything for Christmas. I had decided early on that I was staying home by myself.

And a good thing, as I came down with Bronchitis last Monday. Yesterday was the first time I was up and around. I've been laying on the couch, as I've not been having good sleep at night because of the coughing.

I did go to the walk-in clinic on Monday and I got some meds. I'm finally feeling better, but weak, and far from energetic.

I am so disappointed. I've got time off from work, and I wanted to accomplish so much with my free time, and nada was done.

Being ill over the holidays is bad enough, but being ill while on vacation time is like kicking you when you're down. Hope you're full of pep soon, jasdip!

I had to drive, so my cooking/baking was limited to cheese cookies (excellent when made with manchego cheese!) and a hot artichoke dip. Both were huge hits! I've finally realized that this crowd is crazy about all things cheese and anything that's creamy. :O)

We are just off a five day marathon of two birthdays, Christmas eve and day, and yesterday just for fun with most of the kids and gkids. Our two youngest daughters and their families were unable to fly in, but we are still a houseful with 16.

12/23: my birthday. kids arrived in afternoon for Poor Man's lobster, rib eyes, scalloped potatoes, salad and birthday cake that I made myself but kids decorated. That was fun!

12/24: at son's house for prime rib, shrimp alio y olio, tomato salad, garlic bread, cookies and pies, and the chaos of gift openings. Delightful! We left everyone there for the overnight.

12/25: For the first time in 52 years, hub and I were on our own for Xmas day! We ate baked salmon by candlelight with Caesar salad and leftover pie. It was quite lovely.

12/26: granddaughter's 11th birthday with great fanfare! She requested, as she always does, lasagne and meatballs, so that's what I made Christmas day. (And I did not and never do boil the noodles.)

12/27: we all took a long, lovely hike through our favorite park. Kids could goof off, adults could walk and talk for almost two miles on a beautiful afternoon. We came back to the house and ate roasted bone-in pork and potatoes, garlic green beans, broiled tomatoes and all the leftover desserts.

Phew!!!

Sheesh, sounds like lots of fun and good memories building. And lots of tiredness; I got tired just reading of all your activities.

Get well, soon, Jasdip!

Haha - sheesh, your post made me think of something an animal loving friend shared this recently:

P.S. So sorry about your illness, Jasdip. Being sick for holidays is extra depressing! Hope you continue to heal.

Hah! I'm afraid that is so true, Carol!

I hope you're better today, jasdip. Get well.

Happy Christmas and Chanukah!

It was a truly great holiday. Mom has been declining in health rapidly. Incredibly fast. We were able to get her to my house and had all her china, silver, serving dishes, and food she has typically prepared from our childhood to our current age. She ate all of it. Even when she said she was done, I poured her a very small glass of boiled custard (her mother and she had this every year), she drank it. We had a birthday cake for my sister. When she saw that she said "Is that chocolate inside AND out?" We said "YES!". I sliced a piece of that and gave it to her, and she ate it too. I'm pretty sure she got her fill of non-nursing home food. She seemed incredibly happy. And was funny. She seemed to understand everything we're saying. She even waved a royal wave (so funny!) as my sister took her away. This was all my sister wanted for her birthday. I was happy to comply. My oldest brother seems to think that it is my mom's last Christmas, and if it is, I'll be happy to end on this note. He's incredibly stoic and hugged me. I'm not sure I disagree it's her last.

Son and I became "blood chefs". Undoubtedly, you have heard of blood brothers? We both sliced our fingers on the mandolin! Okay maybe we didn't mix our blood, but we did both bleed on the same implement.

I rank it my second favorite Christmas ever. The only thing that beats it out is my sister's birth

Rob, it sounds perfect! Mother is here with me and that went well too, for which I am thankful. If it is her last year, at least it was a great one. If she's still with you next year, well, you set the bar high!

Jasdip, I hope you're feeling better soon and can still recuperate enough to at least enjoy some of your time off!

We just had our dinner yesterday, there were 11 of us with Mother there. I high-heat roasted a tenderloin, using Barbara Kafka's method ala AnnT and served it with horseradish sauce. We also had a ham glazed with pineapple and brown sugar, twice baked potatoes, sweet potatoes stuffed with Italian sausage and gruyere, Sol's honey rolls, creamed corn. macaroni and cheese at the request of The Princess, cranberry/raspberry relish, broccoli with cheese sauce because it's Mother's favorite. Dessert was cookies and fudge, cherry crunch pie, apple pie and cheesecake. We had "appetizers" too, a cheese ball with crackers, deviled eggs, a relish tray with pickles and olives, a tray of cheese and Elery's homemade venison sausage. After that we opened gifts. Maci refused to eat anything other than fudge, Ashley came with her two German Shepherds and Amanda brought her Golden Retriever. Bud flew his drone around the house causing the dogs to bark and chase each other. Ashley played pranks on Grandma (my Mother) which resulted in her getting spanked by an 84 year old, which was extremely entertaining (for me!) Kevin had worked all day and tried to not fall asleep on the couch. You know, the usual.

A pile of tenderloin, right off the slicer:

Cookies and fudge:

Apple pie:

Next up, brunch with Elery's family on January 2, which also happens to be Elery's birthday, so that should be fun. They are coming here, and I'm cooking that 2nd tenderloin and "brunch stuff", still to be determined. We'll be eating at about 10 am and there will be 5 children, 14 and under, 12 of us if Mother is still here at my house then.

Annie

Jasdip, sure hope you are feeling better.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Jasdip, I hope the medications help you feel much better really fast. It's such a bummer to be sick over a holiday.

rob333, I am so glad to read that your mother, you and her whole family had such a wonderful meal and day. If it is your mother's last then it will be the best, with good memories for all of you.