Christmas Dinner HELP!!

[StickChildrenTwo]

I realise this must have been done to death but I am in serious need of help! I have no idea how to make things from scratch .

Every year DH and I either buy a roast in the tin kind of turkey roll thingy and have crappy bisto gravy. We have 2 children age 6 and 2. I want to give them a home made nicely prepared special Christmas dinner but do not even know where to start. Also I am aware that they will be wanting to show me toys, wanting to be attached to my hip (the 2 year old at least!) so I don't want to spend the entire day stressed out in the kitchen.

Any good ideas for meat? Does it have to be Turkey? DH and DS1 love gammon but I would have no idea how to cook a gammon joint. I am useless aren't I?! Home made fancy gravy??? How?!

So far the only thing I am good at is home made roast potatoes and I can boil veg but anyone got any nice simple ideas that look and taste good? DO I prepare the veg the night before? I am really aware of the fact that with 2 young boys I don't want to miss Christmas by spending the day cooking.

I really am clueless.

gammon is bloody easy.

put gammon joint in a big saucepan and pour cola on it till covered. soak overnight (I'm trying it with Fanta next time instead of cola)

the next day pat it dry, score skin, rub salt on it add stick cloves into the skin or the meat or both (I do this randomly, no fancy pattern)

then work out time for roasting and roast it in the oven according to instructions.
towards the end you might want to cover it with a foil if it looks like burning.

to speed up process I buy boneless and cut it in half before soaking - much quicker to roast!

that's my field. hth

and you are not hopeless, if you can read you can cook!

Thanks Zing, that sounds amazing! Would Gammon be OK for Christmas, do you think? Sounds lovely with the cola. I shall give it a go! I'm just scared incase I mess it up. I feel like I need a trial run but don't want to buy 2 gammon joints haha.

...and thank you! I can read so there's still hope for me, right?!

Firstly turkey sucks!

They have duck in lidl for £7 gammon £4 with the money you saved not buying turkey get a slowcooker.

Put lump of meat in slow cooker with a tiny squirt of oil go about Your business for 10+ hours (I usually put it on low before bed, then switch to keep warm till I'm ready to serve)

You can put any amount of other stuff in to flavour it some more but you really don't have to it will taste divine cooked in its own juices

Get googling there's millions of recipes online I just put what I fancy and see what it suggest
eg gammon slowcooker cola easy
Or duck slowcooker orange

If I want to try something a bit out there I will put the combination into google eg Recipe duck blueberry and see if someone else has tried it and it was awful

If you can read you can cook, so true.

Lots of things can be done in advance.
Google Christmas dishes prepare in advance

(Can you see a pattern here? )

Starter this year of chick liver pate which i'll make myself and melba toast, naice chutney, sweet wine. Pate is easy peasy to make, anyone can do it, or buy ready made.

Nigella's aromatic ham is a doddle to make and really lovely, I make it every year.

I always buy a ready prepared turkey crown thing from m&s as it is to big for us and we don't love turkey enough to finish an entire one!

Roast veg

Brussels steamed, mix in crumbled vac packed chestnuts and finely sliced and crispy bits of bacon. I defy anyone not to eat that brussels combo!

Ready made trimmings (wrapped sausages and stuffing balls) from m&s.

Bread sauce is dead easy, google a recipe, nothing to it, breadcrumbs, milk, nutmeg, that's it.

Christmas lunch is just another roast dinner!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I particularly like the slow cooked gammon idea. I have a slow cooker which we got as a wedding present and never used so I'll give that a whirl.

I think I am putting too much pressure on myself to be some kind of domestic goddess over night which is not going to happen! I am going to try and do as much from scratch as possible.

I like the idea of homemade stuffing too but have never tried making it myself!

choose up to 3 things you make from scratch, to be proud of

cheat as much as you can for the rest and - we started using frozen baby carrots - delicious & no faffing.

make a simple record of what you made, what went right, what could be improved - invaluable for next time!
And whatever you find tricky just keep practicing! you'll get there.

I'm making confit of duck (to beat DH's stupid turkey) - never made it before, but tried when a friend made it & have the same recipe.

really looking forward to it.

Delia's bread sauce is gorgeous and can be made the day before.

roast potatoes - parboil, freeze ahead, cook from ftozen on the day

you can do it!

Buy ready made posh gravy. Go to M&S/Waitrose if you like.

If you're good at roast potatoes, you can make roast parsnips too. Exactly the same process. Mix up some maple syrup and orange juice to use as a glaze if you like. Just pour it over when the parsips are cooked and stick it back in the oven for 10 mins.

Ready made trimmings are fine. No one cares whether you wrapped the bacon round the chip llama sausages yourself.

Don't bother with the sprouts.

@ chip llama sausages

they must be delish!

probably my favourite typo, ever!

It's a delicacy!

A lot of traditional Christmas dinner or any roast dinner can be prepared the day before. So if you're doing roast potatoes you can peel and boil them for 10-15 mins drain, cool and bag them in the fridge. Veg can be prepped and put in filled covered saucepans, stuffings can be balled or put in a tin. Gravy can even be made, bottled and microwaved on the day.

I sometimes do a cheats real gravy. I use the meat juices a splash of wine to deglaze the meat pan (if I have any to hand) and gravy granuals.

I find a time list helps meat in at 10.30, roasts in 11.15 etc. then at 10.30 i'd set a 45 min timer to remind me its time to put the next thing in.

Liking the timer idea. I think this is the only way I am going to survive! I neglected to mention that it's DS2's 2nd birthday on Christmas Eve so I don't want to spend all that day time cooking either....It's not looking good is it?! Haha. I am wanting to get the fiddly bits done Christmas Eve night when then the boys are in bed and DH is setting up the presents in the living room. This is do-able yeah?! Thank you again for all the tips and support!

Does anyone have a fool proof stuffing recipe???

Everything will be prepared the day before with us. Df is the cook, not me, so it's mainly him prepping.

He always does three courses on Xmas Day. He's making soup to start, which will be made on Xmas Eve and put in the fridge so can just be heated through 5 minutes before we're ready.

Dessert is a trifle, which is the only thing I make. I am no cook, the only way I can do things is to find a recipe online and follow it exactly, so again that will be done on Xmas Eve and put in the fridge.

Main course is Turkey and stuffing, roasted potatoes and carrots, garlic sprouts with ham, cabbage, mashed swede and green beans.

The night before the turkey will be stuffed, seasoned, in the baking tray and covered in the fridge. The potatoes will be par boiled and bagged in the fridge and the carrots prepped, seasoned and covered in a tray in the fridge.
The rest of the veg will be peeled, prepped and left in saucepans of water overnight.

We hardly do any cooking on Christmas Day itself. Soup needs to be heated, turkey tray goes straight from fridge to oven, as do roasties and carrots. Hob just needs to be turned on under the various veg at the right time.

Pretty much the only thing that will need 'cooking' is to parboil, then fry the sprouts in garlic (this sounds rank to a lot of people I know...but if you like sprouts and like garlic it is AMAZING, I recommend)

would gammon be ok for Christmas

Don't ask us! You're the ones eating it OP. If it is a favourite of your family, then of course it is special and perfect for Christmas. It's up to you what to do...

I'm doing christmas dinner tomorrow! Gammon all the way....(And a tiny chicken!!)

We have mash and roast. Then we love cauliflower cheese, parsnips roasted with honey and brown sugar at the end. And then a simple veg like pea and broccoli.

I find if I do one fancy veg, spiced red cabbage eg which I can get perfect, then I can simplify the others eg peas and sweetcorn mix and broccoli.

Making own gravy = faff!!

Pick two or 3 things to make this year, cheat the rest. Next year add another.

Oh and cocktail sausages cooked with honey is a real treat with kids as its so sweet.

marking place!

Thank you again for the ideas. Loving the idea of cocktail sausages with honey. Our boys would love those.

Also beware of homemade stuffing!
It is (IMO) rather like the difference between cheap sausages and posh sausages, I like both but they can hardly be compared as the same foodstuff IYSWIM?
Homemade stuffing is easy, breadcrumbs, butter, and whatever you want your stuffing to taste of. If you don't want to go down the Paxo route (and I make a lovely sage and onion stuffing but quite honestly would not bother for Christmas ) then buy ready made stuff in Waitrose, M&S etc.
TBH I was just like you a few years ago and am now reasonably competent in most areas of cooking by a process of trial and (quite copious) error. Don't be afraid to experiment but truthfully, I'm not convinced that Christmas Day is the time to be stressing yourself out

Roast veggies are easy and make a roast way better.Just chop (into sticks,well kinda)carrots,parsnips and swede or turnip.Toss in oil,sprinkle with garlic salt or chuck ground cloves in,toss again,put on baking sheet and put in the oven

Just to add,if you go down the roast veggies route,to save time on the day just chop the veg now,blanch it (boiling water for a few minutes then straight to cold) and put it in the freezer.take it out on the day

DH and I are vegetarian (I do a Quorn Roast because it's quick and easy and it looks 'the part'. Pre DC , I used to make elaborate nut roasts, roulades and filo pastry main dishes but now I do these on a different day with a salad )

The DC have a roast free range chicken breast each (I don't want aload of bony leftovers unless there are more chicken eaters in the house)

Stuffing- Paxo is ok, you can add other things. I put a diced onion in and cook in a terrine.

I make gravy with the veg water once they've all been steamed. Vegetable Oxo cube and vegetable Bisto granules.

I do make proper Yorkshire Puddings . The chicken and the Quorn are resting.
The parsnips and the roast potatoes are part cooked in the main oven, then go into the top oven to finish off,
Then the oven gets put to maximum and I watch them through the glass door as I finish everthing else.
(I have some Aunt Bessie 4 minute puds on standby though )

To make things easier, I do all the veg prep in the morning and write all the timings on my blackboard in the kitchen.

If you find it easier to do the night before, you'll save a load of time when you want to be with your DC . ( Mine are 11.6 and 14 so they open their presents then waft off to play with them. I have the TV on the rubbishy soaps to cook by )

What about mashed swede and carrot? You can make it now and freeze and then reheat.