to think that they can get what they are given and be bloody grateful

[bogie]

Christmas dinner... was planning, Soup to start then Turkey, roasties, parsnip and mustard mash, brussells, stuffing, pigs in blankets and carrot ribbons with honey and parsly then christmas pud or chocolate triffle (cheese board in the evening)..... I am cooking for 15!! with 3 under 5's wanting to open and play with all their presents.... and now SIL and her DP have decided that this is not good enough because sil's dp doesn't like parsnip or brussels so I will need to do mash potato and a tin of sweetcorn for him and her 2yo ds, now I only have a small oven and a small kitchen, I have planned it all and now I am getting pissed off, if they were going to a resturant they couldn't say oh and you will have to change your menu because my 26 year old boyfriend doesn't like it so cook sweetcorn and mash aswell.

[SantasMooningArse]

LOL at ketchup. My ex wouldn't eat anything red. By the time I left (!) he;d restricted himself to weetabix, tuna and sweetcorn sarnies, bananas, kievs, garlic mushrooms, steak or choc fudge cake. In entirety.

OP To avoid a hissy fit this year i'd do thw sweetcorm tbh but when I invited again (if) I'd make it clear there were to be no menu amendments. Mash - no.

And maybbe have a chat with sister about how she could fancy a man who has hissy fits over sweetcorn? yuck! The opposite of sexy.

[footstep]

bread sauce. It's delicious, Tyler. Christmas isn't Christmas without it :)

I think the multiple types of potato thing is very weird though.

[nickelpombear]

if, as you say, the mustard mash is literally a spoon og mustard, then don't tell anyone it's mustard.

you could just call it "mash" and if anyoen asks, say that mustard instead of salt is healthier.

so, you're serving mash.
you could do what we do at home and put sweetcorn in with the normal veg. then if he only wants sweetcorn he can pick it out himself (once it's on his plate)

then he can watch all the children eating properly and feel like a spoilt brat.

[nickelpombear]

oh, and roast dinner has to have mash and roast potatoes.

there is no debate about this fact.

[tyler80]

But presumably if yo have bread sauce you can't have gravy?

White sauces with roast dinner just seems wrong. In the same category as serving cauliflower cheese in a meal with gravy

[diddl]

Gosh, I haven´t been having Christmas for years then!

I loathe bread sauce.

[Lovecat]

I would not like your menu and you're ruining perfectly decent veg(parsnips with mustard - boak, carrots in honey and parsley - double boak) - personally I'd much prefer more greens and couldn't have the spuds as I'm low-carbing, but I would never assume that I can stipulate to the hostess what she should be cooking, and would simply try and cadge more sprouts (oh, the joy) :o). You are stir-frying them with bacon, yes?

But I wouldn't be feeling particularly grateful (per your thread title) and would more likely to be sitting there feeling mildly hard-done by at the lack of other veg. Not as bad as my sister, who one Christmas fled my parent's house in tears because they hadn't made her any vegetarian gravy...

And if you'd like to slag my Crimbo menu off by way of return, feel free :o - turkey, gammon, vegetarian alternative (roasted mediterranean veg in thick tomato sauce baked in puff pastry, probably) pigs in blanks, stuffing, roasties (budgeting about 6 per person), mashed spuds, roast swede or glazed turnips (haven't yet decided which), buttered carrots, sprouts (stir-fried with bacon), broccoli, cauliflower mash, peas, sweetcorn, creamed spinach, parsnips, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, gravy, yorkshire pudding. No starter....:)

Sherry trifle or Choc log for pud.

I'm only cooking for 8, but DH has to have peas, sweetcorn and mash (OMG! your SIL's boyf isn't related to him, is he?), DD won't eat a roast without yorkies and only likes broccoli and carrots, the rellies expect mash as well as roasties and have enormous appetites, one rellie is a veggie, another one has (ill-fitting) false teeth and can't deal with chunks and, as I said, I'm a low-carber so need the swede, cauli, spinach etc... thankfully I have a range cooker!

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I agree with whoever it was that said that Christmas dinner should be simple and straightforward.

To me, the change from normal roasts etc is in the stuffing, sausages, cranberry, and we always have some chestnuts in with the sprouts.
It is hard enough cooking a huge turkey and enough potatoes for a whole load of people, without doing complicated veg.

Aren't mashed potatoes with turkey an american thing? I didn't realise people had mash with Christmas dinner here.

[SantasMooningArse]

course you have gravy with bread sauce! you tend (IME) only to have a little of it- as you might (and probably also will) have cranberry sauce.

Mind, NOTHING beats a boxing day sarnie of cold meat (not turkey for us, kids hate it), cranberry, bread sauce and stuffing.

I prefer the bread sauce cold for the sarnies tbh. Only reason I think I bother (and even then Colemans does a sachet- not my usual style but we're away and could for all I know have a two ring burner and oven so Waitrose stuff booked and if needed sachet will be bought)

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

tyler - bread sauce is thick, so it sits on the side of your plate rather than pouring over everything. Definitely as well as rather than instead of gravy. Try it - honestly it is yummy.

Lovecat - fair play to you but that sounds like a nightmare cooking all those different things!! Do you have time to enjoy the day or are you stuck in the kitchen for hours on end?

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Mmmm Santas - yum yum. Cranberry, bread sauce, stuffing, turkey and gravy all in one mouthful.

[tyler80]

I like my plate to be drowning in gravy, I can't see there'd be anyway to keep another sauce separate. I've never had cranberry sauce either, I thought that was an American thing to be honest.

[SandStorm]

If it were me I would cook what I planned and if someone can't find enough to eat on the table I would gently suggest they go and make a cheese sandwich in the kitchen.

[SantasMooningArse]

And what we will eat-

frozen sorbet 'shots' for appetizer, apple and elderflower for boys, champagne for us

Eitehr that or smoked salmon if at home

three pig roast pork, roasties, pigs in blankies, bread sauce, gravy, cranberry and apple jelly (home made, as a sort of pork / festive hybrid), sprouts with bacom and chestnuts, carrots (not buttered veg options as we have 4 dairy-intol people in immediate family), roasties, peas, maybe broccolli.

Pud- home made pud, choccy option or a fruity option- a pear sable this year. Plenty becuase we live off the peftovers then for a few days.

Christmas cake (vanilla vodka variant this year from GHI), mince pies. no cheese due to above mentioned intolerance but DH might have some.


'Tis nice; personally I prefer to cook from scratch (not poncey just like it) but we eat courses an hour apart spaced throughout the day. We have an ice rink where we are this year, but as we are faaaar from relatives it's present / family / eat / skate this year.

[Lovecat]

Alibaba - I only have to do it once every 3 years, and I love cooking.

Elderly rellies and nephews/nieces keep DD occupied, SIL sits in the kitchen and does veg prep and gossip with me, DH knows to keep us topped up with gin, we have the ipod on loud - it's lovely :)

Also the gammon gets cooked on Christmas Eve while we're out at midnight mass, the trifle and choc log are made the day before, as is the filling for the veggie main and the prep for the bread sauce. So it's basically a large roast dinner and I'm lucky enough to have a huge cooker. I don't tell DH that, though, otherwise the gin supply might dry up...

[BeaSpellsaLot]

Mashed potato probably an Irish thing, it's served with everything here

[diddl]

Oh we eat quite a bit of mashed potato, but generally it´s roast pot with a roast, isn´t it?

[BeaSpellsaLot]

Not here! Mash with everything, I don't like the texture of mashed potato and get made to feel very awkward for asking for anything else.

Roasties are like rocks as they don't seem to be parboiled, but just thrown in the oven.

If we go out for Sunday roast (apart from my sister's) I end up having chips. Can you imagine, chips for a Sunday roast!

[JinnyS]

Mashed and roast in this house because DS1, BIL and GPs doesn't like roast and DS2 and SIL doesn't like mash.

Brussels and another green veg (possibly leeks this year) because BIL, DS1 and DS2 doesn't like brussels.

Two different stuffings because GPs only eat sage and onion and other people prefer the more adventurous flavours.

Roast parsnips and roast carrots because I hate parsnips.

I also do a steamer load of frozen peas, cauli and broccoli just in case there is a new dislike that has appeared since the last time I catered for the family

It's once a year and not a big deal to put another couple of pans on. I'd rather have people coming to eat with me knowing that I've remembered their preferences and taken them on board than feel that I've just done what I want to do.

[nickelpombear]

LoveCat
As a vegetarian, I'd advise to stay clear of anything with puff pastry wrapped round it - it will go all soggy in the gravy and not be nice.

And if you're worried about gravy - use Bisto gravy granules (the beef ones are veggie) and make it up using the water from the veg.
My family has always done this (well, powder before granules existed!), and my dad is very against vegetarians!

[LetThereBeRock]

Why would you want to pour gravy all over perfectly good meat and vegetables?

[LetThereBeRock]

That's a general 'you' btw.

[hairytriangle]

YANBU, if you are cooking, but some mash and sweetcorn isn't that big a deal - buy some smash and get some tinned sweetcorn. that'll shut them up.

[JinnyS]

They are only asking for tinned sweetcorn anyway. Ready prepared mash that can be microwaved is pretty good now - the only problem is that everyone will want some :)

[nickelpombear]

because gravy is lovely.

I always swamp my dinner with gravy.
and sometimes I use my gravy to make a lake in the middle of my mash - v similar to a sandcastle on the beach.