Christmas eve food suggestions

[BankerMommy2010]

Christmas eve is my favourite day of the year, full of excitement with our little boy, in previous years, weve got our ds into bed then hubby has popped out to collect a takeaway, but seeing as everyone has the same idea the takeaways are normally rammed and you end up with a pile of slop when the chefs can't cope with the rush! So this yearIim thinking of preparing a little spread... but no idea what? Our give ds whatever I know he will eat as I know he'll be too excited to worry about eating food... whats on your xmas eve menu?

My DS will be 2 on Xmas Eve! Last year I just did frozen pizzas, garlic bread and salad which went down well and I prepared the salad in he morning so I didn't waste any time in the kitchen!

This year I'm going to make homemade chilli con carne and rice which is DS's favourite meal and do it in the slow cooker so again I can do the prep in the morning, go out for the day and serve dinner up for extra guests etc.

That sounds great, although I do those kind of meals throughout the year, I wanted to do something a little different without lots of fuss. Maybe ill wait on the m&s food brochure and decide then...

Christmas eve is always a buffet type of affair. We have an open house and friends come and go as they please.
I prepare and then freeze mini pizzas, mini quiches, I 'collect' jars of various spreads and salads/olives/philadelphia with sweet chilly sauce and there's always a cake/brownies and christmas biscuits.
I decorate the table and then just laze about.

I take dc out for Chinese for lunch then we have buffet style tea with the sausage rolls, mince pies and beef patties made the day before. I love Christmas eve too x

We preordered an Indian takeaway and picked it up at six so it was the first thing they had cooked and was lovely. We walked up together to collect it which was really nice and they made a huge fuss of the DC and gave them lots of little extras.

My mum always cooked a nice steak on Christmas eve.

6pm would be too early for me to eat. I like the idea if lunch out & buffet for tea... mmmm im soooooo excited!

We always have shellfish/smoked salmon on Xmas eve - we take the dogs for a walk on the beach and collect mussels, crabs and lobsters from a fishing boat. Home and eat with brown bread and butter.

We always have a cheese fondue! Super easy to prepare, but something a bit different that you wouldn't have for dinner usually.

We have always done a nibbles type spread even with we didn't have DD now 3. We did baby led weaning with her so she's always nibled along with us. This year i'm doing:

A snowman cheeseball www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/make-ahead-snowman-cheese-ball/f29c01e3-0729-4c22-ac99-7646b49f8453
with crackers

a cheese platter (bought from morrisons) served with some cranberry jelly for the camembert, grapes for the brie

I'm getting meatballs from Ikea and i'll be doing them in my slow cooker with a jar of cranberry jelly and half a large bottle of bbq sauce - they come out delicious!!!

DD loves cheese & onion sausage rolls so I'll be getting some of those frozen and just pop them in the oven for 15 minutes.

Might get a box of those frozen prawn nibbles from morrisons like we did last new years eve they were divine.

Will put out some olives, pickles and crisps if necessary.

This lot will feed 3 adults and DD for dinner on Christmas eve and then as nibbles during the day before Christmas dinner

My hubby would love cheese fondue.... im guessing I need a fondue? And what cheese do you use?

I do nigellas ham in coke with mash or dauphinoise potatoes and red cabbage, then we use the rest of the ham up on Xmas day/boxing day.

I don't have a fondue, but I put a whole camembert, still in wooden box and wrapper, 'lid' chopped off, stab a few garlic cloves in, in the oven. Servestraight from the box with chunks of fresh bread.

I did a baked Camenbert or Brie
The ones in the thin wooden box can be cooked in that (take the wrapping off) but I've got a small lidded oven dish.
You can use garlic, herbs or walnuts and brown sugar but that's too far for me.
Serve with breadsticks and French Bread.

We have toast and nice jam for breakfast or croissants

Lunch is fish fingers for DC vegetable grills for DH and I, chips, salad
Trifle for DH and I , ice-cream for DC

Evening late buffet is French bread, crisps, dips, fresh salsa, quiche,

Then DC off to bed

I love the idea of having a traditional meal.

Last Xmas eve we spent the day with friends and actually had a full Xmas dinner then but no idea what's happening this year.

Tempted to have a traditional takeaway although would need a back up in case of snow I guess?

Dh now has to work until 4pm. Last year we had m&s lasagne with salad and garlic bread.

Our usual in the past was a 4pm meal at pizza express then home to bake biscuits.

Great stack of Chinese, Indian and other frozen party bits, nice ham and smoked salmon and salad.

Cook as many as people feel like and the rest come in for tea Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve.

It's a very useful habit as it makes me clear out the freezer and DH and the DDs have fun choosing what's on offer in the weeks before Christmas.

As I say we always end up with too much, which doesn't matter as they get used through the holidays.

Last year we had our Christmas Dinner or Christmas Eve and then a buffet on Christmas Day but I think this year we will be going back to what we did for the three years before that and have a buffet of a ham, 'Nigella's' cranberry and soy glazed cocktail sausages, cheeses, pickles and gorgeous bread while watching a film...really yummy, easy and relaxed!

Last year we had a couch picnic of nice bread, cheese, rillettes, bacon jam, nice chutneys and mustards and it was lovely. There was far too much though, I'll have to more restrained this year.

I usually do a gammon joint and then things like cheese, breads, nibbles etc but I always end up spending loads and there's lots left over so I'm looking for something different this year but have fussy adult grrr eaters and 'allergies' fussy eaters so no cheese, no fish, no burned bits- not even charred slightly or dark bits.

Me and DP before we had kids used to have Chinese so I may just have that and not invite anyone over

Oooh I have a camembert cheese baker, lovely little dish with a lid and cooks the camembert to perfection! Mmmmm my mouth is watering, I think we'll have that and some m&s goodies x

We always have a buffet with really nice nibbles, cold champagne and just relax. No effort whatsoever other than opening packet s and heating things up

I always do a HUGE buffet. We dont have family in this country but my teenagers friends all come round and they eats lots. I love to cook anyways and always make waaaay too much and have too many choices :). Think I had 24 late teen/early 20s males last year plus 6 16/17 year old girls ( 1 gluten free and 3 veggies ).

It has been a tradition here for many years and as some of my boys friends have really shady/sad home lives its sometimes the only home cooked/decent/festive or any meal they get

Its noisy chaotic and lots of fun.I love Christmas eve :o

Oh yeah and I buy a bit here and a bit there for weeks before hand,freeze bits and cook and freeze other bits. I only buy whats on special and work recipes round what I have

I'm Hungarian so I cook Hungarian food and kids open 1 present from us!

I make chicken snitzels, rice, spiced red cabbage, cucumber & paprika salad.
icecream cake for dessert

DH cooks on Christmas Day, but I hate turkey so he cooks a duck as well.

Chilli or something in the slow cooker then everyone takes it when they want. I can't plan times as people are calling in and DH usually has to make little visits locking himself in e garage for some assembly work I cook my ham on Christmas Eve so we usually have some of that with bread and nice cheese and chutneys