Bugger, yes I know its me and I'm always haughtily dismissive of this topic till December BUT have gone from always the guest to the host

[TwigorTreat]

for 14 people including 2 vegetarians

need recipe help

have never cooked a turkey in my life ... its not just a big chicken is it

how big do I need? (lot of meat-eating blokey appetites)

feck towels and soaps

good point

(oh and a repaint the front door)

both

You can't give the veggies potatoes cooked in goose fat!!!!!

So unless you want to do 2 different lots you will have to cook them in oil instead.

I cook whatever meat (last year there were 6 of us inc 2 veggies) so we had a duck instead, and a nut roast for the veggies, stuffing - cooked separately as it takes longer to cook the bird otherwise if you stuff it, yorkshire puds, and tonnes of veg. The only veggie bit was the nut roast - and you can cook it before and freze it - or cop out and buy and M&S or Waitrose one. Oh and extra veggie gravey too.

Oh, they'll never know

Me too twig- just found out my aprents ahve invited themselves abck Boxing day for a week! Actually pleased as DH scheduled tow ork from Boxing day night, but majot food panics LOL

picked up the M&S leaflet for pre-ordering today though.... no veggioes as sisters not coming (one will ahev 6 week baby and other going away), but they ahve a fab veggie tart with butternut etc all in; we're having a ballatin (sp) of chicken turkey and duck, a nice ham (), and Dh ahs requested the seafood sselection as his own Chriostmas pressie to eat in a lone frenzy!!!!!

LOL at 'nice ham'

PMSl at attractiveky wrapped saops- my aprents would be pocketing them for future Christmas gifts LOL

Ah nice ham..... MN past!!!

Preens under the ego stroking - left a bit please

Nut Loaf recipes thread

I did Christmas for 14 last year and did practically everything in advance and froze.
Bread sauce, cranberry sauce, 3 stuffings, Also you can do the gravey in advance too. Followed Delia for it all.

My top tip is to parboil the roast potatoes in advance and then toss them in flour and freeze them too! I did it the week before when I had a random hour free. Stick em in a zip lock bag and they can go into the roasting pan frozen.

Just leaves the other veg for the morning.

Also dod a shed loads of lasagne, casserole type dishes and froze them in advance for the other nights.

Only don't do what I did and serve a beautiful Jamie Lasagne that's still frozen in the middle.

Good Luck

My dad was raised in a family where the dog was trained to nick the family roast from the butchers (or they'd not ahve eaten, eitehr that or hedgehog anyhow) so attractively wrapped soaps / guest towels etc not required here! They'll get an airbed (usually our bed but I am pg and my back is going) and they'll be fed, and they'll be mroe than happy with that TBH as thats the way they are. Not sure what tehy'll mkae of the M&S food tbh- suspect thats more of an excuse for Dh and I

If the turkey is out of the oven, you may well have room for two trays of roast spuds.

You will need two trays of spuds anyway for that number of people - especially if there are a number of man sized appetites

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elfsmummy .. this roast potato frozen malarkey .. kindly explain timings from frozen please? and were they really fluffy and crispy a la proper ones .. must check that out .. sounds ingenious

Buy the veggie main course.

i am vegetarian and after 10000 shite christmas meals in the past i now coook my own

quorn roast
nut roast - 2 types
3 types vagetarian susages
vegetarian devils on horseback
sosmix lump things

need loads of cold veg stuff lest over for when the carnivores and nibbling the carcass

DO NOT just do roast veg and think that cuts the mustard it does not
we eat a LOT
we need protein and carbohydrate by the tonne!

Doodle you'd have caught him, he was only Jack Russell LOl (but are you really that old - dog has been dead over half a century!!!- ran in the road. Dad describes as a 'sad waste of a leg of lamb' - should eprhaps point out dad was one of 16 kids raised by an invalid and an alcoholic so perhaps slightly less straling and more survival?)

As an ex Veggie, goose fat is quite clearly tasteable on roasties so will be spotted. Do the propers in the tray with the joint, and a few extras in oil in a separate tray

i wont eat potaotoes cooked in the same oven as a spitting bird and YES i WILL KNOW

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