Menu planning

[jackal10]

Christmas is a Monday, so there is, with New Year there are maybe 10 days to cater for.

Christmas Day, for us is a given - turkey and the trimmings, but what do you plan for the rest

Current plans for me look like:

Sat 23 Hot Ham

Sun 24 Fish Pie

Mon 25 Turkey etc

Tues 26 Cold turkey, cold ham, pork pie etc

Wed 27 Thick Soup and crusty bread

Thurs 28 Sausage and mash

Friday 29th See whats left - Pasta or risotto perhaps

Sat 30th Lamb Hot Pot (or maybe curry)

Sun 31st Roast Beef

Mon 1st Cold Beef

What are you plans?

[suzilightning]

we head for the inlaws tonight then, when we get back on the 26th i have to work straight through the 30th. the 31st is when johnnybird and i celebrate our christmas and then on the 1st we have our annual birding spree when we range around the area looking for interesting birds or go chasing a special species. that said here are my plans

23 - sister in law is making burgers for us

24 - lasagna, pork roast, pear risotto

25 - roast capon, sausage dressing, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans with

garlic

26 - reservations at Mohawk House or Plaza Bistro

27 - chili from the freezer

28 - beef stew from the freezer

29 - soup from the freezer (clam chowdah, albondigas, white bean with kale)

30 - shrimp marinated in limoncello, basil, and olive oil then wrapped with

prosciutto and grilled, pilaf

31 - roast rack of venison. haven't figured out my sides yet. dessert will be

champagne and chocolate in some form

1 - sandwiches out in the field

[Waterzoy]

We are at home for the whole period which I am pleased about. My family will be here on Christmas Day and we'll be meeting my husband's family in Battersea Park on New Year's Day. This is what my week looks like foodwise.

23rd - pasta with vodka/tomato sauce & green salad

24th - individual beef & mushroom pies & vegetables

25th - turkey

26th - turkey leftovers, pâté, some kind of soup depending on what veg is left, crusty bread

27th - tartiflette, green salad

28th - risotto milanese, green salad

29th - curry, daal, chapattis etc

30th - lasagne, salad

31st - fillet steaks, gratin dauphinois, green salad

1st - eating out somewhere close to Battersea Park....not sure where yet

We don't eat puddings all that often but my husband has asked for a tarte tatin at some point during the holiday but I'm not sure at the moment which day I'll be making it.

I'm also looking forward to some relaxed breakfasts over the next few days that will include pancakes, mounas, scrambled eggs, various homemade breads and several jams and spreads that I have been busy making recently.

[racheld]

We have a three-days-in-a-row gatherings, with our usual bean supper on Christmas Eve. It's been going on for about thirty years now, wherever we've lived, beginning in our Southern years when there would be twenty or thirty at table, with a huge pot of pintos with a whole ham cooked in. The melty-pink ham was taken out, sort of mushed into bite-sized pieces and put back into the pot, then served in bowls over rice or crumbled cornbread.

Big pans of crusty cornbread, a huge cut-glass bowl of blue slaw with shredded green peppers, carrot and celery seeds in a sweetish Deep-South dressing; a dish of confetti corn salad, with minced onion, pimiento, slightly-sweet vinaigrette with mustard seeds; beet pickles; homemade saltwater dills, and a bowl of chilled sweet onion wedges, passed with a little plate and sharp knife for those who prefer their crisp onion atop the beans.

Last year we had one guest who found her place before we were seated, and I noticed that she stood and chopped a large quantity of onion onto her plate so she could dive right in once the beans were in the bowls.

Christmas Dinner will be just us three, I think, as we share DS#2 and DDIL with her parents on all holidays. We all live within forty miles, and there's really no reason to alternate. They go there for a noon dinner, then to us for the candlelight, after-six meal. This year, they are also visiting her Grandmother, so I don't know if they will be joining us for the usual turkey and dressing, gravy, sauteed Brussels sprouts, smothered squash and onions, cranberry spooned straight from the can into a bowl, hearts of palm/avocado/grape tomato salad, Watergate salad, and ambrosia.

Day-after-Christmas Granddaughter #1 will be here for a little family celebration before we drive her home to Georgia. We'll set the table with the bright red cloth embroidered in white cross-stitch Christmas ornaments, and the heavy poinsettia plates with matching goblets. We'll have some of her favorites: Chris' grill-baked ham, sliced rosy and shining; homemade mac and cheese, made with the cute little orecchiette ears, with a mixture of colby, jack, and queso. A plain asparagus casserole for the adults, with the bechamel made with old- fashioned hoop cheese and the liquor from the tall cans of Green Giant spears, with skillet-sizzled buttery cracker crumbs atop; just-baked rolls, and a hearts of romaine, thin red onion, and mandarins salad, with a tart Dijon vinaigrette---Our Girl has had a sour-tooth all her life, and loves anything mustardy or vinegary; she also has a particular fondness for the sharpest Altoids and the little Listerine sheets-in-a-box---black or green olives have been her passion since she was a baby; her usual portion was ten of each, which she ate daintily off each fingertip.

We have bags made up this year---our salute to the usual gold-and-silver crackers on the plate---little race-cars, yo-yos, magic tricks, crayons and jokes and puzzles, with silly hats the order of the day. After-Christmas-dinner is the most fun of all, I think, with all the hard work past, and the relaxing, laughing evening with good food and fun to enjoy.

Then, early Wednesday, we'll head toward Georgia, to see all the other children save the one who still lives in Mississippi---he and his family will be coming here in January while the farming is "laid by" and there's time to travel.

Thursday night, we anticipate taking all the Georgia three, their spouses and sweethearts, the two granddaughters, our son visiting from San Francisco and his fiancee and her mother, just arrived from Brazil for a visit, and whom we will be meeting for the first time, out to dinner. Then on to the Alabama coast, for a whirlwind visit with Chris' family.

I have no idea what the meals will be there, as I'm always the cook when I'm there, carrying great frozen casseroles and desserts and smoked turkeys and hams those seven hundred miles, but not this year---I'll join all the sit-in-the-den crowd, laughing and talking and waiting for the dinner bell. It's never happened before, but I'm gonna try it, just this once. We ARE, however, taking several pound cakes, lots of breakfast muffins, a couple of dozen croissants, and a smoked turkey breast---that should take care of breakfast and maybe a lunch or two. Dinner can be a la Church's---I ain't cookin'.

Says rachel, whose resolve is long-distance and probably crumbly.

Edited December 23, 2006 by racheld (log)