Making Christmas dinner in a small oven?

[OrangeMochaFrappucino]

My family's Christmas plans have changed quite suddenly and I might now be hosting (for the first time ever!). We would just have my parents over so four adults and one toddler. However, we just have one oven and I'm pretty sure it would be taken up mainly by the turkey. I've been looking at things I could do on the hob like steamed greens with bacon butter but that's no good for roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, without which I would be facing divorce (in all fairness, dh is likely to do most of the cooking if he can beat my mum to the kitchen so I mainly foresee my role as wine-opener). I can't figure out the logistics, is there a magic solution I am missing?

Cook turkey first, then wrap with foil, then cover with a towel. Then you have a empty oven to cook everything else in.

Yes,cook the turkey first,Then keep warm as hpsaucy says.

Then the oven is free for roasties and all the trimmings.

Turkey needs to rest after cooking, so do as hpsaucy says and cook it first. Then do the roasties, stuffing etc.
If you have slowcooker , use that to steam the pudding, to free up space on the hob.

And don't panic, it's only a roast dinner with a few extra bits, which could be bought ready made to make it easier, if you prefer?

You can microwave Christmas puddings.

second the microwave the pudding thing, 3 mins, rest 3 mins. rest a bit then eat!

So if you take a turkey out and rest it, even with foil on surely it goes cold? How would you heat it up again. (am veggie so not a clue)

Thanks! I didn't know if the turkey would stay warm but adding a towel makes sense - I'd just been thinking of foil.

I do have a slow cooker but no microwave! I'm an ok cook for many things but find roast s a challenge at the best of times!

Turkey will be fine - needs to rest anyway before carving. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it will stay hot under foil for as long as it took to cook (that's the principle I operate under anyway!) so that leaves plenty of time for roasties and Yorkshires!

And not really a fan of Christmas pudding so had an idea in my head of Christmas cake and cheese for afters but if making a Christmas cake I probably should have started before now, shouldn't I?

The turkey will stay warm long enough for you to cook roasties etc.

Boil the pototoes first so soft them can blast up oven heat to crisp

This time last year I had a military plan of all Christmas preparations and had a huge scroll in the study (am not from 14th century, it was just a very long list!) of the timetabling and scheduling of everything and I wasn't even making Christmas dinner (just a lot of other festive goodies for various get-togethers). This year most of September and October were wiped out completely by horrendous morning sickness that meant I couldn't even look at my kitchen without gagging so Christmas seems to have sort of crept up on me this year!

Not too late to make cake. I made mine today in fact (house smells lovely!)

Right, I'm making the cake this weekend. Am getting really excited now!

how do you make a cake. i like xmas cake, but it's just me and dd who doesn't like xmas cake. Yet it would be lovely to offer should we get any visitors. Parents are abroad, and mates tend to go away xmas, so i never bother.

i think i'd like to make one for a change.

I saw a recipe in the Good Food magazine out now that I thought I might try. It's an egg white icing which gives a lovely snowy effect but I'm not sure about eating when pregnant? I've never made a fruit cake before so don't know how easy/difficult it might be, though Marian Keyes does one called 'Christmas cake without the fear' in 'Saved By Cake' which sounds quite straightforward.

Come to think of it, Christmas cake usually tends to be soaked in loads of booze as well so it may not be entirely friendly to the pregnant woman...

You should definitely make one if you like it. And it will make your house smell amazing!

I've had the small oven /xmas dinner problem before. we're not really fans of turkey so I slow cooked leg/shoulder of Lamb, then let it rest while spuds etc cooked in much hotter oven. I wrapped it in foil and put it in grill above oven, very warm place!

I always do Delia's rich fruit cake. You can soak the fruit in orange juice if you want to skip the booze.

As everyone else has said, keep the turkey covered with foil while you get on with the roast potatoes. Par-boil them for the last few moments the turkey is in the oven then they're ready to roast as soon as the turkey is out. We also have a small oven, which is supposed to have a grill that also doubles as an oven but it's literally like waiting for a lightbulb to cook your food! So I just make do with the tiny oven. I learnt last year to write out everything that needed doing and when so I could make the most of the limited space.

Someone could bring a microwave - that would help a lot!

Cook duck, takes up less space :)

(Perfectly possible though...)

If you get one of those steamer inserts for a saucepan do all you veg in one pan - carrots in first, layer sprouts on top and then peas, and serve all in one bowl?

I keep my turkey under some old towels it stays warm for ages. But if you cook the night before you could lay on a plate and cover with foil - place in the bottom of the oven to warm through.

You need to turn the oven up high for roasts, parsnips and Yorkshires if you are doing them - so not a great temp for meat. Plus you need the juices for gravy.