Christmassy lasagne - a meat one and a veggie one - anyone any ideas?

[Carrotsandcelery]

We are hoping to simplify Christmas dinner and have lasagne, salad and nice bread.

We thought it might help to make the occasion feel more festive if we could add a more Christmassy hint to the lasagnes. One will be a meat lasagne and the other a vegetarian one.

Has anyone got any ideas or tried and tested recipes for festive lasagnes?

Stick a bit of holly on the top???

Sorry - but lasagne is just not festive to me!

Add cranberries and cranberry sauce

Reindeer Venison lasagne?

How could you possibly make it festive?! And how hard is it to roast a turkey?

Not sure you can have a festive lasagne. I would rather have your Christmas dinner than the usual one though. Sounds fab.

All the Christmassy flavours I can think of are sweet. Reminds me of Rachel in Friends with her beef trifle.

Erm... sprinkle with edible glitter before serving?

I just don't put "festive" and "lasagne" together.

Best just to accept it for what it is, and add the good old classics - garlic bread and red wine!

Italian xmas!

I have to make a lasagna for xmas cos I stupidly invited MIL (and both carers) for xmas and lasagna would appear to be the trad dish in this part of Italy.

I may buy frozen premade ones.

And hide the packaging.

While being grateful I don't have to wrestle with a massive turkey at least.

I have found this one Does it sound nice or totally horrid?

It is a very long story but we can't have a traditional Christmas dinner. My ddad gets very very uptight about it and makes my dmum so nervous that she always makes some sort of mistake. It usually then leads to a massive row between them. No amount of counselling my ddad to leave well alone will make him leave it alone. Not having a roast and having a one pot meal seems to be the only thing that can be coped with.

We used to go out for Christmas dinner to avoid this but my ddad cannot cope with my dniece's behaviour in restaurants now so that is no longer an option - hence the current solution.

Please don't tell me all the reasons why we should just roast a turkey as it is not a happy solution for our set of circumstances.

Recipes would be really helpful though

The vegetarian in me is and at the concept of Rudolph lasagne. My dcs would cry, even though they will be having the veggie one.

Don't put edible glitter on-you know what happens when you eat that stuff....

How about buying some proper Christmassy plates. They have them in BHS and I think I saw some in Matalan or Homesense. Festive tablecloth and napkins. then even if Lasagne isn't festive the table will be. Somewhere must sell Christmassy salad servers too.

Has no one suggested using mincemeat yet?

Decorate the top with a Christmas Tree made out of grated cheese. Decorate the edges of the branches with halved cherry tomatoes.

I'm sure something with chestnuts would be lovely. I make a roast squash and chestnut thing with pasta sometimes. Might have been a Jamie Oliver recipe. Would that work as the veggie filling? Just the merchant gourmande freeze dried chestnuts.

As a vegetarian, lasagne would have to include roast peppers -good for colour and roast mushrooms.
Keep the juices and olive oil from the roasting tin to go onto the pasta.
I mix Quorn or Linda Mc Releat mince ( L Mc is nicer but I can't find it) with Dolmino Spicey pasta sauce.

Use spinach pasta for extra colour , and a really rich cheese sauce.
I let mine stand a while before baking it, to let it soak in.

(You don't want to hear this but I don't think lasagne is very festive either. But I have one in the freezer over Christmas for those days when I don't want to cook much)

I really would just make your normal lasagne recipes tbh - faffing around with festive flavours is likely to make it v weird. But you could maybe do a Stilton and walnut salad or something like that as a starter?

Sorry but the one you've linked to sounds absolutely disgusting!

Ah, right! You should have given the reasons in your OP, carrots!

For the meat one, why not make a Christmas dinner lasagne? Buy some turkey breast steaks, and cut into chunks and fry with some onions and a bit of garlic, and then make a white sauce. Add the cooked turkey and veg to the sauce and then add various bits of cooked seasonal/festive veg - e.g. some sprouts, carrots, etc.

Remus I thought it sounded vile too but I was lost at the ground turkey mince so I wondered if it was just me.

Maybe our own favourite tried and tested lasagnes and a really festive table is the way forward. Dmum is a fantastic flower arranger and without all the dishes there should be room for a lovely centrepiece.

Our desserts will be festive too as dh makes trifle, dmum makes Christmas pudding and there are usually some other bits and bobs on the go too.

BIWI I did type out a huge description of the reasons and then thought no one would want to read it and deleted it. My family are lovely but, like everyone's, they have their quirks

Well I love lasagne and I would think a Christmas dinner of lasagne, garlic bread, salad and lashings of red wine would be utterly fab actually.

How to Christmassy it up? Hmmm . . . as others have said, have Christmassy plates and napkins. You could put chestnuts in the veggie one. Have a chocolate log for pudding.

Actually . . . can I come?

Me too Balloon. It sounds fabulous, and soo much easier.

What's for pudding carrots?

Why are you letting your father dictate like this? He sounds a complete pain. Have lasagne if you all want it but I'd draw the line at having it because a grown man doesn't know how to behave.

If you can get "Nigella Christmas" from the library there are a few recipes for festive lasagnas and casseroles. I think one has pumpkin in it? BBC good food is always a good resource for recipes; just type "lasagne" into the search feature and I'm sure you'll get lots of options. You could accompany with a slightly festive salad (crumbled blue cheese, oranges, almonds on top or a sprinkle of pomegranate arils).

I don't blame you for wanting to simplify. Christmas dinner is a logistical challenge at the best of times. Good luck, OP.

I'd love lasagne for Xmas dinner (or any dinner come to that). BTW I spotted some moose or reindeer lasagne in the food section of IKEA - no idea what it is like though.

I know it's silly but 'reindeer lasagne' seems to encapture the spirit of being Christmassy but be totally wrong at the same time.