Baked beans on toast for Xmas dinner-your thoughts please

[FillyjonkTheFireEater]

Pros

1. Everyone likes baked beans, unless they are weird. No pushing sprouts round a plate

1. No issues re vegetarians/vegans/people who eat meat but call themselves vegetarian

1. Quick to prepare

1. Looks rather festive

1. Goes rather well with ale

Cons

???

When we've had christmas at home, ie not with PIL or my P's, we have had avocado and prawns, we both love this combo, poached salmon with champagne sauce and posh veg, and christmas pud - takes about half an hour fron start to finish, as pud bought in. Delicious! MIL used to buy frozen turkey dinners to serve on Christmas day when she was working, had only Christmas day and bOxing day off work , apart from Sundays in the whole year, so went for the very easy option. Think I would have done the beans option myself, after all if you like them why not? Christmas isn't about what you eat after all!

I once worked Christmas day in a Texaco garage and you would not believe how many people came in for beans and white sliced.....

I am doing a party meal for ds1 and 2 at lunchtime, me and dh will join in but eat less.

Will shove a Boeuf Bourgignon in the oven ready for a candlelit dinner when the kids are in bed. Haven't decided on starter, something yum but easy and probably cold, then christmas pud after the boeuf. Already have the spectacular bottle of red we will be glugging with it.

well it's a buffet really for ds1 and 2

My friend will serve beans on toast to her kids on Christmas Day if they want it. They are picky eaters yet she battles and gets them to eat good balanced diets most of the year. She refuses to have rows or moans on Christmas Day, she and dh don't eat turkey anyway so they all have what they want as long as its easy to prepare. So one might have fish fingers, one may have pizza...
They please themselves and don't care if others "disapprove" (what business of theirs is it?)

As long as your dc think it's a special treat then I don't think it matters a toss whilst they are still quite young.

As long as you do a few of the Christmas 'traditions' I'm sure they will love it!

But I love Christmas dinner - and I don't get stressed cooking it; I just get steadily sloshed and try not to drop the turkey as I carry it to the dining table

for me xmas is really about the kids

and also, the meal is going to be a vegetarian one so its that faintly depressing (I always find) one of spending all morning peeling sprouts followed by a dry pseudo-turkey.

I do love the deli suggestion. I think a part of my resistance is that our nearest decent deli is about 20 minutes drive away...I hate driving or really, being in the car...

hmm

There is a train station nearby though...it might be quite a nice , christmassy outing...but I do want to get back in time to rip off franny's other idea of a carol service followed by a meal out

for me xmas is really about the kids

and also, the meal is going to be a vegetarian one so its that faintly depressing (I always find) one of spending all morning peeling sprouts followed by a dry pseudo-turkey.

I do love the deli suggestion. I think a part of my resistance is that our nearest decent deli is about 20 minutes drive away...I hate driving or really, being in the car...

hmm

There is a train station nearby though...it might be quite a nice , christmassy outing...but I do want to get back in time to rip off franny's other idea of a carol service followed by a meal out

hmm, I clearly do feel most strongly here

oh and I don't drink. If I did, I think I'd be more up for sitting round some burnt nuts.

Filly, Christmas Eve is on Sunday, there will be very few trains.

is this the case?

what, do trains not run on sunday?

I am quite sure that I have caught trains on sunday in the past, though not, it must be said, this particular train.

the deli in in a very nice little town. its very xmassy, even in june. (penarth, welsh people)

Step-d had them last year for Christmas dinner. Dh, dd and I had turkey and the fully monty, but dsd doesn't eat roast dinners so I gave her the choice of anything she wanted for dinner. It's not about what you eat it's about the day and waht you do. There was no way we were going to insist she had something she didn't want for tradition's sake, it was the first Christmas Day she'd spent with her Dad for 8 years.

When dd was 5 we went to grandparents for Christmas for the firstr time. He beloved grandad put a christmas dinner in front of her (she loved roast dinners) and she burst into floods of tears. Much anxious questioning later, it turned out that grandad always gave her turkey dinosaurs and chips (a massive treat in our family) and because he was cooking dinner that was what she was expecting! Needless to say, the soppy date then cooked her turkey dinosaurs and chips......!

My thought: it's Christmas. Add a little cheese!

If that's what you want to do then go for it, there is no law that says you must have a proper christmas dinner. Plus if everyone likes beans on toast then at least you know they will eat it.

For me though christmas dinner is turkey, roast tatties and veg. But I do it the easy way, buy a turkey crown from M&S, stick in the oven cook, veg, no sprouts though yuk!, little sausages stuffing balls etc and roast tatties and you're done. I don't find it a hardship and sad to say it's the only day of the year that we eat a proper roast dinner altogether as a family.

I bloody love baked beans, actually. They are delicious and very healthy.

Erm, Filly, you could always copy my latest and greatest idea - I think we may be going for Christmas lunch at our local pub this year instead (not going to be gourmet or anything, but it is so cheap, it almost seems rude not to)

Nooooo. How cvan people even consider beans on toast for christmas dinner? Or ready made meals or even ready made roasties for that matter - they are dry and vile. It is not hard to make a roast dinner! I certainly don't spend all morning in the kitchen. I willg et up, do the pressies, breakfast and then all the prep for dinner, stick the roast in and then sit down and relax. We don't do turkey as it isn't that nice. I normally do lamb or something because we eat roast chicken a lot anyway. And the kids all LOVE it. I think they would have a fit if I served up beans on toast.

I can't eat things with tomatoes in so I can't have baked beans with Filly

can I have scrambled eggs instead? if we put a few extra whites in they'd look quite snowflakey

go for it - i wanted curry last year but couldn't find anywhere open.

thsi year we will be on holiday so it will probably be canned something

"And the kids all LOVE it. I think they would have a fit if I served up beans on toast. "

ah, yes, I can see that I must lower their expectations young

am toying with idea of canelloni beans in homemade tomato sauce with maple syrup and basalmic vinegar, it must be said.

topped with goats cheese and with a garnish of parsley (a la tribpot) and olive bread to the side.

And worse is yet to come...no dry christmas cake in sickly marizpan...am thinking cranberry muffins and perhaps a clemantine cake.

might bung the kids a raisin or two. But the figs in chocolate are allll miiiine.

oooh.