Holiday cooking

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Don’t bother to make a vegetable tray as an appetizer. It won’t get eaten, although it is a head start on turkey vegetable soup with the leftovers

Oh a veggie tray is a staple at the Holidays for my family. Usually carrots, celery, tomatoes, black olives and ranch dip; sometimes broccoli and/or cauliflower as well. My aunt makes another kind of dip and that's usually eaten with tortilla chips. There's also a cheese ball and triscuits and crackers.

(Edited ingredients)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We brought this last year to Thanksgiving with my in-laws and they liked it enough to ask us to bring it again:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/292382200801613304/

We've also had this dip before (in October several years ago for our house warming party) and it's good as well (IMO):

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/charleston-cheese-dip-recipe-3381707

 

[QueenIsabella]

I have this one, it doesn’t work very well. It chews up the apple more than peels it

You might have a cheap one--obviously, they're not supposed to chew up the apple. I also find they work better on firmer (cooking) apples--Macintosh tend to get mushy, we don't allow them in our house (total apple snobs--we used to live in upstate NY).

 

[barkley]

Does anyone do a special breakfast dish on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning? I saw on pinterest a thing for a crock pot cinnamon French toast thing. It looked good!

one of the reasons we get a honey baked ham for christmas dinner is b/c our tradition is to have eggs benedict christmas morning.

 

[luvsJack]

I have been hosting Thanksging and/or Christmas for years. Even when I don't "host", I do a lot of the cooking. I am off the whole week so its easy enough.

We are adding stuff almost every year but we have some basics that always stay.

Dh does the turkey for Thanksgiving, actually two. He fries them in a oiless fryer. This year he wants to do a third turkey but it will be boiled in crawfish boil. Got the recipe from a friend from south Louisiana. We will see how it turns out. (the reason we are doing three is we KNOW the fried will be eaten, we don't know for sure about the boiled one lol)


I make all or most of these:

cornbread dressing, sometimes I add sausage and apples but usually not.

crawfish dressing (made with cornbread too, but it has a bit of a heat to it so that'w why we have both)

Sweet potato casserole with praline topping

Brocolli casserole (that old stand by with cheese, rice and broccoli)

7 Layer Salad

Roasted Brussel Sprouts (I do a lot but only me and older ds eat them)

Roasted squash acorn with a brown sugar and rum glaze

Whole berry cranberry sauce

Dumplings (just chicken and dumplings without the actual chicken)

Turkey gravy

Yeast dinner rolls

Pecan pie (this year will change to pecan pie cobbler with rum sauce), sweet potato pie, chocolate pie, coconut cream pie


All of these except the roasted veggies can be made ahead of time. I put the praline topping on the sweet potatoes as they are going into the oven. Everything else is pretty much heating up that day or doing the last bit of baking. Salad I do the day before as the dressing needs time to soak down into the salad.

The rolls I make all week and freeze after baking. Just put on a big pan and heat them up that day.

Honestly, I just make one or two menu times each day during the days before Thanksgiving with any thing left being done on Wednesday.

So Thanksgiving day is really just figuring out what all can bake together and timing everything. Rolls go in after the turkey comes out of the fryer so last thing.


Our new tradition with Christmas is to do more of a finger foods/dessert buffet.

We will have a ham and then just a lot of favorite things to go with it. Meatballs, cocktail sausages, hot dips and cold dips, fruit with dip, veggies with a dip, whatever recipe someone wants to try.

Desserts is everyone's favorites (and everyone seems to have a different favorite) Since pies are for Thanksgiving, we do more cakes for Christmas.

I am already thinking this year's cakes will be a Butterfinger Poke Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Italian Cream Cake, German Chocolate Cake

The only thing I will cook Christmas day is the ham and it will be in a crock pot.



Someone asked about a Christmas morning breakfast:

We used to do a sausage breakfast casserole, home made cinnamon rolls, gingerbread with whipped topping, fruit salad, and ham and a sort of punch made with orange juice, ginger ale and grenadine. This was when my kids were home.



Now its just me and dh that morning so we will have those lucious cinnamon rolls and the punch will have rum added.

 

[moniqueand2]

I'm pretty sure I found this recipe thanks to the DIS in years past:

Cranberry jalapeno cream cheese dip

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/cranberry-jalapeno-cream-cheese-dip-sugar-rush-reinvented-7/

a new favorite in my house!

 

[MeggyScumEsquire]

I love hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner! We are in Canada though so luckily we have a bit more of a break in between! We always cook turkey with mashed potatoes/carrots/dressing, but my favorite is turnip casserole (I'm not a turnip fan but this is so good!).

 

[LovesTimone]

One thing that I make is Veggie Pot Pie... which is a big hit with everyone, and it looks really pretty... Taste of home has the recipe. I blanche my veggies in chicken stock, to give added flavor, and I prefer cream of asparagus soup or cream of celery, just my preference. I also have used, different "crust" everything from pastry sheets, to crackers to cover the top.. I just use what I had on hand.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, I have a new green bean casserole this year...I make it a day ahead and it's a "me-original" that I consider my semi-homemade version...

I large dice and roast for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees an 8 oz pack of mushrooms (any kind - button and portbello work well, but I've done any H-mart on sale one) and a large onion (any kind, although if your guests don't like weird colors, avoid red) in a little olive oil/s&p for every can of green beans and can of cream of mushroom soup. Roast the veg, add the beans and soup jar, splash in some soy and add lots of pepper (and a little salt if you went light on the mushrooms and onions or you are using salt-free beans...none if you were heavy and have salted beans). Follow the soup can cooking directions for the casserole and add your fried onions ONLY TO THE TOP in the last 5-10 minutes. It's SO MUCH BETTER to have crisp fried onions and carmelized soft ones, and not soggy fried onions throughout...and amping the mushroom flavor is also delicious and makes this dish of "cheap" feel so decadent. I used to use fresh green beans, but my fam didn't love the final texture, so canned it is.

You can make this the day before and just cover and bake the next day (leave it out 15-20 minutes to bring to room temp)...SO EASY and good!

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, I only cook for my immediate family and an occasional friend or two (since we are having a huge dessert/mystery party on the Saturday, we passed on extra invites for Thursday)...my family has traditions that I'm not allowed to skip, so we keep pretty closely to the same food each year, with a few small adjustments...here's the all day menu...

Breakfast/Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade
- From-a-can, fresh-baked Cinnamon Rolls, Orange Juice (kids), Coffee (adults)

Lunch/Football Munchies (We keep this very light)
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip (Made the day before)
- Sliced Apples/Pears (and sometime Pineapple) for the dip
- A Protein and Cracker - Probably will be Cheese and Ham or Pepperoni

Dinner
- The Turkey - I prep the day before as much as possible
- Giblet Gravy (made the day before)
- Mashed Potatoes (potatoes peeled during the parade while I watch)
- Stove Top Stuffing (it's 5 minutes)
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce (made the day before - leaning to cran/pear/walnut this year) - my son also asked for a can of jellied, so I'll pop that open at dinner
- My posted green bean/mushroom/onion casserole (prepped the day before)
- (New this year) - We are deciding between fruit muffins or rolls - my boys want banana choco chip muffins, so I'll probably make then Wednesday night

Dessert
- Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Pie with Dulce de Leche and Whipped Cream (made the day before - 2)

And that's it...one veg and one fruit are it for dinner, b/c any more won't get eaten...it's why we go heavy fruit at lunch (tons of apples, pears, and pumpkin dip get demolished...and for leftovers, I can make a "new" side like fried apples that makes the meal seem "new"...

Thanksgiving night, I toss the carcass in with onions/carrots/celery and let it die for a few hours...and I'm done...

 

[Searc]

I hosted Thanksgiving for my family this past weekend and made one new dish. I peeled and cut carrots and parsnips into sticks and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes. You can use any temp, but I just used whatever temp I already had the oven set on for other dishes (350).

After 20 minutes, I put them in a large dutch oven with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and sautéed them until they were to my desired softness (I prefer them with a little bit of bite left, not mush). I melted a couple tablespoons of butter in the pan, drizzled a couple tablespoons of honey over them and added salt and pepper to taste and tossed until coated. I sautéed for a few more minutes until they got some nice color and added a tablespoon of fresh thyme.

They were a hit.

 

[J'aime Paris]

This is always a conversation dish on my table:

https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/holiday-bread-cornucopia

I make smaller, individual versions and serve everyone's roast veggies in them.

We make this every year! It's a tradition with the neighbors. We make several cornucopia's, chop veggies, and make an assortment of dips to accompany. And it looks beautiful on the table!

 

[MomToOne]

I bet if you put real butter and a touch of cream in them, they'd really taste amazing (for very little work). I think I'll go this route--save me the peeling, cutting, boiling...

Here's one hint for those who still want homemade mashed potatoes with a bit less work: use red potatoes. No need to peel, just cut into quarters (or a bit smaller if they are really big), boil and then mash with the skins on. They are healthier that way, but honestly we started doing this because we just liked them better. I also find the red potatoes cook a lot faster, which means I don't have to babysit them as long.

But that said, DD18 and I are going out to eat for Thanksgiving LOL

 

[sunflowerfields]

Our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are pretty traditional. Two things we can't do without is layered lettuce and for me and just one other person, the cranberry sauce with oranges and nuts in it. I love the cranberry sauce on a turkey sandwich for our evening meal of leftovers. It's something I look forward too!

 

[QueenIsabella]

Here's one hint for those who still want homemade mashed potatoes with a bit less work: use red potatoes. No need to peel, just cut into quarters (or a bit smaller if they are really big), boil and then mash with the skins on. They are healthier that way, but honestly we started doing this because we just liked them better. I also find the red potatoes cook a lot faster, which means I don't have to babysit them as long.

But that said, DD18 and I are going out to eat for Thanksgiving LOL

I love red potatoes, for just the reasons you mention. However, I have a weird family--they don't like most potatoes. They'll eat chips, and fried variations (tater tots, etc.), but won't eat baked, boiled, hash browns, twice-baked--you get the idea. While a few will eat mashed, but not with skins still in them. I have no idea how I would up with these weirdos. OTOH, it means more potatoes for me, so there's that.