For the last 50 plus years I've made lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner. Last night was no exception.

We've never experienced the feast of seven fishes. I think that might be a special dinner. We've occasionally eaten Mexican or Chinese take-out, but this year we had roast turkey which we will eat again today. I made cinnamon rolls for this morning.

Trying to get the refrigerator cleared of food, so last night had a leftover meal I had made the night before, but could only eat half of it. It was a large flour tortilla air fryed, then covered with leftover pinto beans, lots of shredded cheese, and chopped onion. Last night to the other half I added 2 fried eggs and sour cream on the side along with nacho cheese chips and beer. A very satisfying meal. But most important, refrigerator is clear.

That looks so good!

I cut ham slices thick, rubbed mustard and brown sugar (and pineapple slice) over each piece and baked ... my old recipe two cheese baked macaroni and cheese with buttery bread crumb topping, and bacon, onion, garlic simmered Italian green beans.

Beautiful bowl of food, Artemis. I made a Portuguese seafood stew served on rice with peas - leftovers tonight. We went yesterday morning to buy the fish and shellfish. Got there when they opened, and the line out of the fishmarket was long. We joked that hopefully there weren't any Italians ahead of us buying for the feast of seven fishes!

Merry Christmas from Cape Cod.

seagrass

Just to be different with just the two of us, I made Eggs Benedict. Had forgotten how may steps there are to get everything together. The hollandaise was the easy part - blender whiz. Hadn't made poached eggs in years - were perfectly done. Oven fried prosciutto instead of bacon - yum. And from the freezer English muffins were a little hard but still had the right flavor. A side of sliced oranges and fresh pineapple chunks with a dollop of yogurt. DH pronounced it a fine celebratory meal.

He doesn't know that he will be getting Lion's Head Pork Meatballs on savoy cabbage in broth for Christmas dinner tonight - not anything we "usually" have. And, I've never made them before so it will be fun for me!

Merry Christmas from the central coast of California!

Your bowl looks great - so many types of seafood.

Holidays are just the three of us, but I still like to do something special. Last night we had a French themed meal --French onion soup, duck a la orange, and crème brule. Today we had a leisurely morning and then brunch. Brunch was freshly baked bread, prosciutto, cheese plate, olive oil, tangerines and fresh squeezed OJ.

I fixed an easy shrimp linguini dinner for us.

I would have loved what you made, artemis. We had a carb heavy ravioli, meat sauce, fab wedge salad, garlic bread, multple desserts, eggnog, wine meal and it was all really delicious/top notch but today is all about Swiss chard, homemade chicken soup and kombucha.

I was solo, and I posted on another thread that I am lucky to have a good friend who owns a mussel farm...part of my gift was a bag of freshly harvested mussels, which I steamed with white wine, herbs and fresh garlic. Served with a wilted spinach salad, garlic sauteed in olive oil, poured hot over the spinach, chopped nuts and then finished and tossed with balsamic vinegar. Oh, and some locally baked French bread to soak up the broth. I shelled the rest of the cooked mussels that I didn't eat and saved them in the broth; tomorrow I'll cook some pasta and toss them all together with ?? not sure yet. They are so sweet and tender; even reheating them doesn't affect that.

I did a little scallops and mussels paella. Pulled a trio of shrimps and crab dips out of the freezer. Nice loaf of french bread.

We had crab cakes with remoulade on Christmas Eve. For brunch today, I made Eggs Benedict. I usually make blender Hollandaise but with it being just the two of us, I didn’t want to assemble, disassemble, and clean the blender. Instead I used my grad school roomie’s favorite recipe. It made up quickly and easily. The quality of my Canadian bacon could have been better. I had to take a store brand substitute when I ordered my groceries. Never again.

We were going to have filets for dinner tonight, but brunch was about 1 and we just weren’t hungry for steaks this evening. Instead, we had homemade vegetable soup. Tomorrow, we’ll have steaks.

In case anyone wants to try the Easy Hollandaise recipe, here it is

It was just the two of us so I made a cornish game hen, salad and we shared a yam. Dessert for DH was some Nancy's Fancy Ice Cream in the Praline swirl and some of the cookies a neighbor dropped off as a treat. I ate the homemade peppermint bark, YUM! Breakfast today was scrambled eggs, REAL bacon (treat for DH) and he had my homemade persimmon bread. Later he had left over cauliflower cheese soup. Dinner tonight was a small boneless leg of lamb that had been hiding in the freezer, roasted Brussels sprouts and crashed potatoes. No dessert.

I had a bit of leftover Chinese - broccoli and beef - while she had Mac and cheese with some TJ wine.

It was just me and my crabby Dad, so I made something easy and basic, pork loin roast. It turned out great. I used a packet of ham glaze that came with a ham hubs bought weeks ago, too salty for us to use it with the ham, but it was perfect for the roast, with addition of rosemary and garlic. Rest of the meal was simple--wild rice pilaf, baked squash, corn pudding, cranberry relish. All things Dad likes and things I had at home without having to shop special. Cider to drink. Dad bought a key lime pie he had purchased earlier, it was great for dessert with some Constant Comment tea.

We had salmon two weeks ago for a special Haunnukah dinner so that was our seafood splurge for quite a while . . . it was delish. Hubs and I had a special Christmas meal earlier in the week before he left for PA to spend two weeks with his son and grandchild. He quarantines before and then after, with a test before he rejoins our "bubble." The meal was a stuffed baked small pumpkin squash. Delish. Served with braised kale and a three bean jazzed up salad, and cranberry upside down cake for dessert, which I had on hand . . .

Traditionally in our family we have mushroom stew followed by fish (usually haddock) and pierogies. Considering its a weird year, I decided to keep the main elements but change it up a bit. So we had sauted scallops and mushrooms with a butter and sage sauce over ravioli style pierogies. It was a big hit! For dessert I had a nut & caramel pie. That's a keeper recipe!

Booberry?? Wow it’s been years! Glad to see you here!

We had or traditional prime rib with red wine au jus, Yorkshire pudding and Caesar salad.

We had hoped for crab (we're 1/2 hr from Bodega Bay), but no! Went to see the new grandbabies. Had Chinese xmas eve, then I made 2 kinds of enchiladas for xmas day. Pork and chicken. Mexican rice and salad. Good!

Enchiladas sound good! How are the babies doing?

Late to this. as usual...

(Editing because I misread the post title. This was our Christmas day menu. )

Roast duck with cranberry/orange sauce, red cabbage with apples and onions, sauteed Brussels sprouts, and little yellow potatoes roasted in the pan with the duck. Christmas cookies and pound cake for dessert.

No sitting together around a table either. There are 4 of us in our bubble, and I served buffet style, then we spread out around the living & dining room to eat.

I love roast duck, but what a mess it made in my oven! I cleaned it yesterday. Thank goodness the recipe advised lining the bottom of the oven with foil, or it would've been worse, I think.

For several years now, we have done a finger food buffet; wings, charcuterie, veggies and dip, chips and salsa and queso, jalapeno poppers... All set out late afternoon and nibbled on throughout the evening. Chocolates that we've received and cookies that we've made for those who need something sweet.

I had to work a half day so I figured I'd sous vide some tenderloin and bake a couple of potatoes, but we wound up going to a neighbor's birthday dinner. It was a 'surprise potluck -- bring two things.' I thought she was doing a ham so I took chipotle smashed sweet potatoes and grabbed a jar of pickled beets. She did a lovely meat tray instead of ham, but we had spicy sweets and brown sugary, pecan topped sweets, and a potato casserole (I think I wasn't the only one who thought there was ham, lol.) . And a tableful of random food. It was all good.

Tamales!

Compumom, the babies are thriving! They'll be 3 months tomorrow and have almost doubled in size! Starting to smile and coo! Right about on considering they were 3 weeks early.

The moms were happy to have me cook!

Our Christmas Eve dinner is the family get together on DH's side. We had it at his brother's house.

I took a whole ham, studded with cloves and glazed (I get my hams from my butcher who wins prizes for his hams and they are soooo good). I also made the desserts- brownies for the chocolate fiend nephew, a coffee cheesecake, and meringue nests with lemon curd, whipped cream and raspberries. MIL brought her trifle, which I love because I love trifle and DH doesn't- this way I get trifle without having to make a whole one just for myself, and MIL likes to be able to contribute something.

Hostess made nibblies to start. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of any as her cooking has increasingly become "healthy". She subs healthier ingredients and leaves out what she considers unhealthy, and the results are usually not great. (For other SIL's birthday on Boxing Day, she made a tiramisu with ricotta instead of mascarpone and no sugar, claiming that there was sweetness in the liqueur. There were no takers for the large amount of leftovers.)

BIL's gf brought half peaches stuffed with ricotta and basil and wrapped in pancetta, broiled in the oven- these were great.

Main course was turkey roasted by another SIL, with jus (DH commented afterwards that there was no gravy and I said, there was jus in a jar there- he thought it was ham jus), and the ham. Usually we have bread sauce with turkey but I guess SIL didn't feel like making it. We also usually have carrots, brussels sprouts and roasted potatoes but this year the hostess made her strange but OK Czech potato salad (no discernible dressing and includes chunks of carrots, peas and I think pickles), a nice grilled corn, avocado and tomato salad and a green salad. Nephew of the SIL who brought the turkey and his wife brought a large container of cooked jumbo shrimp.

The company was convivial and a good time was had by all. Other SIL and I both brought a bunch of plastic takeaway boxes so we could divvy up the leftovers and everyone went home with their favourites.

I tried for something different from our normal and thought back to his family and their seven fishes Italian meal. No seven fishes to be had here and I settled for some shrimp and scallops from Wegmans. It was only just all right.

It reminded me why I dont' buy seafood or fish. It is not fresh. It had a smell that indicated how unfresh it was. But, fresh seafood would be hours away from where I live, so it had to do. I will go back to NOT buying seafood ever again unless it is from a real fish market that gets it off the boats. That is rare for most folks.

Besides, there are all manner of reasons for not eating seafood.

So many ideas about what makes a festive meal are changing as to my taste.

Last Feb I made hubs a birthday meal that included Jersey style "red gravy", lasagna, meat balls and sausage. Afterwards I realized that I have evolved my own preferences for lighter and more delicate foods. That thick sauce and all that meat and cheese makes me realize how my taste has changed and how I have established my own standards. He is Italian/American from Jersey and that is what his family made. I am grandma now and I have established my own credentials.

colleen, your hostess with her less than exciting nibblers maybe needs to realize that it makes a difference if you leave out the good stuff. When the crowd is expecting the usual rich and sweet things, best to deliver and let those other options be your own.

I have a taste for lighter things nowadays, too. But, there are some things that it is best not to prepare if you dont use the good stuff in them. It is my considered opinion that a better approach is to make something that is not dependent on that richness in the first place.

I mentioned my hubs birthday dinner with the heavy sauce, meat, etc. But, I could have put together a lighter meal that would have delivered just as much, or more, wonderfulness. One example is that I can my own tomatoes that are wonderfully different from the canned variety. So, I have evolved ways to use them that let that more delicate nature shine and stand alone in all their glory.

But, for goodness sakes, if it needs sugar---it needs sugar! If the essence of it is butter, use butter. Better to have a small bit of the real thing rather than try to convince someone that the cake does not need sugar. Yes, it does!

I have an old friend who was adamant that her kids would not eat sugar. She used to bake them birthday cakes with no sugar! They were horrid! If that were the situation, I would skip the cake and do something else, even if that meant not having the party as a traditional kids party.

If the recipe calls for cream cheese, dont use fat free "cream" cheese. That can apply to many of the "healthy" subs that people think is acceptable. "Fat free" and "cream" should never apply to one another.

I'm laughing at the healthier options of Collenoz's hostess and Wednesday Morning's reply. I have one relative who started cooking healthy versions of things back in the 1980's after her husband was diagnosed with heart disease. She still cooks that way even though her husband has been dead for many years. Any time she offers food to family, her adult children are likely to ask if she made the item or if it was brought by someone else. They won't eat her cooking and neither will anybody else (more than once).

Wednesday morning, That boat would never float- we're all too polite to tell SIL her cooking leaves something to be desired, and she likes it. She's never been very fond of sweet things or creamy things so she thinks her cooking is just fine.

I married a man with a Swedish mother....so at first Christmas eve was fruit soup, meatballs, noodles and a reading of the Christmas story and then opening presents......and then we had kids! Who were so excited for the gifts they couldn't sit still for dinner and a story, so we transitioned a meal of finger foods chosen to be kid friendly and provide a complete meal. Always included cheese fondue and shrimp...often kebobs and salad for the grownups.
Well then the kids grew up and had kids and had to accommodate inlaws, but one married a Jew so that problem was solved and we transitioned the snacky meal to Christmas noonish; and had steaks or prime rib for Christmas Eve, while one family was with the inlaws.
This year I was the only one in my bubble, so I pigged out on a lovely cheese and some shrimp.

half peaches stuffed with ricotta and basil and wrapped in pancetta, broiled in the oven- these were great.

In my world I have never been served anything remotely like this and if I served them, I have one friend who would eat them joyfully. They sound amazing!