Can I ask what your menu is like on Christmas?

[justanothermanicmonday1]

I need some inspiration.

Can you tell me what you're having?

Breakfast

Starts

Mains

Desserts

Wine/beverages

Cheese boards etc.

Thank you! 🌺

I enjoy it. I like people to have their favourite foods.

I judge the fuck out of tinned sprouts and mushy veg though and they know it 😁

Just the 2 of us this year....sausage sandwiches for breakfast , a 5-7 mile walk planned and then a cheese/ charcuterie board about 4.
Plenty of red wine.

Recipe please 🙏

Breakfast 8am

Coffee
Breakfast muffins with scrambled eggs and real butter and either bacon or smoked salmon, melon, Bucks Fizz

Lunch 2pm

Traditional Christmas turkey roast with trimmings
Homemade chocolate cake/chocolate log for dessert, white wine spritzer/Bellini or Kir Royale

Dinner 8pm

Cheeseboard and charcuterie board, with sides of grapes, rocket, cheese biscuits, crisps and pickles - every year I make it different, selection of gin/beer/red wine

Chocolates are out all day.

Pork or veggie sausages with copious glasses of Buck's Fizz with the carol service on the radio. Present swap.

Graze on whatever sweet treats we've received.

Lunch around three. No starter. Turkey crown as no one likes the dark meat. Streaky bacon. Lots of pigs in blankets. Roast marmite potatoes. Roast honey glazed carrots and parsnips. Sprouts. Bashed neeps. Bread sauce. Force meat balls.

Christmas pud with pouring cream.

Wine and Sherry

Turkey and stuffing sandwiches in front of Call the Midwife for supper

We don't go to town like some, but I am here for the balsamic potato recipe...

It has been quite intriguing reading this thread though. We are way more casual and its probably because I am in a hot country and it will most likely be boiling hot. So there is no way I could prepare this amount of food, firstly it too hot to make it all, and secondly we prefer the graze the day way. And now I am older with older dc, the fuss of the day is not like it used to be.

So it will be a bbq of some sort. Some years I would make a turkey for a Christmas Eve meal and then leftovers on Christmas Day. This year we might just do some seafood and small things to graze on.

I am quite in awe of the effort some put in though.

Roast marmite potatoes you say..... 👀 Care to share that recipe?

Bashed neeps - what is this?
Force meat balls - and these?

Genuine question as I have never heard of these.

Breakfast - pull whatever you want out of the fridge or fruit bowl for those that want it . Beef for late lunch with whatever readymade dessert I order from Waitrose / M and S - so many to choose from .

Ours varies every year
This year breakfast will be:
Sausage, Bacon and Egg Baguettes

Main dinner will be around 5pm which is a roast - no idea which meat yet but lots of pigs in Blankets and Yorkshire puddings.

I'll be making some snacks and desserts like sausage rolls and brownies etc. We can never find room for dessert so will likely eat dessert after breakfast time.

We don't eat hugely different on Christmas day to a normal Sunday with a roast to be honest.

Breakfast is either bagels with pate & chutney or pancakes with fruit & syrup

Lunch is about 2/3pm, starter is always a prawn cocktail, main is a 3 bird roast, glazed roast ham, roast potatoes, sprouts, carrots, skirlie, kilted sausages, bread sauce, cranberry sauce & gravy.

DH makes a trifle from his mum's old recipe but we are usually too stuffed, so eat it later in the evening

I make an extra tray of roast potatoes at lunch time, as me and my DD love to sit in the evening watching crap tv, eating cold roast potatoes!

We're at home with my parents this year, but loosely do what they do anyway even at home:

Breakfast

Bagels, cream cheese, salmon or Parma ham, Buck's Fizz (but may try kir royale now).

Lunch at about 4pm

Starter: Don't always have one but I might make crab cakes this year, DD (15) will have melon and Parma ham.

Main: goose or turkey, baked ham, Delia's 18th century chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes, sprouts with pancetta, parsnips, braised red cabbage with apple, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce and gravy.

Dessert: Xmas pud with cream, will make something else too, maybe a pavlova.

Breakfast is DIY + Buck’s Fizz
Dinner - porchetta, French fries, pigs in blankets, vegetables.
panna cotta with raspberry couli

tea- fridge raid for nibbles, cheese etc

Help yourself to wine etc

Abs no turkey, Christmas pudding etc thank goodness!

Forgot to say, don't have a cheese board until Boxing Day. Snacks usually consist of leftovers from lunch along with pork pie and piccalilli and pickles.

Wine is usually a good English sparkling such as Wiston Estate Blanc de Blancs or Saffron Grange Classic Cuvée. Along with maybe a Sancerre and a Pinot Noir with lunch, it changes (DH is in the wine trade so always good!).

You sound like a fantastic host! I just know I wouldn't have the skill to cook multiple separate mains for my guests. I hope they appreciate you!

We have my sister and family coming this year.

Breakfast - some danish pastries etc - normally get frozen ones that can be whacked in the oven while we are opening stockings etc. often paired with a glass of bucks fizz for the grownups!

Starts - I like to have a bit of everything so am doing mini starters

• prawn cocktail in large shot glasses
• garlic doughbaubles
• pate with star toast
• puffpastry cheesy xmas trees
• brie and cranberry filo crackers

Mains - turkey dinner
Turkey, ham, pigs in blankets
Veggie roast for DD and niece with veggie pigs which is halloumi wrapped in aubergine
Roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips
Sprouts, red cabbage, brocolli
Cauliflower cheese
Bread sauce, gravy, cranberry sauce
yorkshire puddings (DS2 request)

Desserts
Xmas pudding
chocolate orange cheesecake
strawberry trifle

Wine/beverages
variety of wine red/white/rose
Gin cocktails
Beer
j2os for the kids
fizzy drinks for kids with those poppa balls

Cheese boards etc. - we have a mix of people some like plain 'normal' cheeses and others like all of them!
Cheddar
red leicester
smoked sausage cheese
Y fenni
Stilton
cranberry cheese
mexican cheese
boursain
brie
and any others that catch my eye
served with assorted crackers, chutneys and pickles.

This is all cooked by my mam. I'm not taking credit!

Breakfast is pastries, freshly squeezed juice, tea and apple parsnip and potato rostis with some sort of chutney. She found the recipe somewhere.

Starter is M&S party food
Main is turkey, beef, mash and roast potatoes, yorkshires, roast veg like parsnips, carrots etc, peas, homemade stuffing, the most amazing gravy. We usually all have at least two full helpings each.
Sweet is a treacle tart with cream.

Later on there's a cheeseboard with all sorts of cheeses, crackers, fruit etc. Plus leftover turkey sandwiches with stuffing, cranberry sauce and stuffing. The bread for this part must be a stottie and it must be dipped in leftover gravy.

Drinks are champagne for most of the day. Maybe a cocktail or a Bailey's later.

God I can't wait!

They do.

The requests start in october. My mum always wants a cheese pie. She says my pies are the best thing ever. (Flattery gets you a bigger pie) My dad always used to ask me to make him this rice crispie thing with melted toffee and marshmallow, mixed nuts and glace cherries. I haven't made it since he died but we're all going to be together christmas day for the first time in a few years so I'm going to make one and we'll raise a sticky toast to him :D

I can’t wait either now after reading all these menus.

Am currently deciding on ours though much of it’s the same each year.

We have two Christmas days. I do an English Xmas day on the actual day at mine which is-

Breakfast
Cinnamon rolls
Pan au chocolate
Croissants
Greek/alpro yogurt with homemade hot cranberry and orange compote and homemade Xmas granola
Fruit salad
Panettone/vegan panettone

Dinner
Turkey
Leg of lamb
Vegan Turkey joint
Yorkshires
Stuffing
Roast potatoes
Mash
Pigs/pups in blankets
Carrot and swede mash
Roast carrots and parsnips
Broccoli
Jamie's shredded sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
Jamie's gravy

We also have Italian Christmas Day at my mums usually on 28th.

Antipasti
Fish course usually biggest prawns we can get in garlic
Our family lasagne nothing like lasagne here it doesn't have bechamel and has veal, pork, beef, lamb, salami and various other bits in. It takes a couple of days to make.
Veal or steak with salad
Two or three different puddings usually a tiramisu or zuchotto
Cheese and fruit
Coffee and digestivi

Dessert at mine is usually later in the evening as everyone is stuffed after dinner!

Breakfast- rocky road made by neighbour and coffee

Starter - prawn cocktail and or smoked salmon with home made soda bread

Dinner - turkey ham Brusselers, roast and mash pots, carrots, stuffed tomatoes. Parsnip, turnip and peas, stuffing

Tea - trifle and Christmas cake

Snacks quality street and pringles

Drinks - espresso martinis, red wine whiskey

I live in Greece, and found out on Wednesday that things like vanilla extract for baking cookies is somewhat difficult to come across, I found vanilla powder, which made life a lot easier. Anyway, mine will be a Greek themed Christmas with whatever I can find but I will have to make a lot myself.

breakfast will be mpougatsa if I can learn how to make a decent one in time, it’s a cream filled pastry that you put cinnamon and powdered sugar over. Otherwise, the simpler option, something nice from the bakery the day before like donuts, yogurt with banana, chocolate chips, peanut butter etc. and some fruit, coffee and juice.

starters, just some things to snack on like crisps, olives, salami, they are doing nice tips at the moment like spicy hummus so something like that along with some roasted vegetables

yesterday for Thanksgiving I did a really nice honey roasted chicken, honey roasted carrots with some pistachios on top, and potatoes with pesto, it was delicious. I think for Christmas I might keep the honey roasted carrots, I might end up doing lamb, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce but I will have to make it from scratch, I have no idea how to make stuffing yet,

dessert? Ice cream and… Maybe homemade brownies

I found glutwein at the supermarket yesterday so maybe that, and I might try my hand at making some cocktails like a winter themed Mojito. A couple of years ago I saw a recipe on the BBC for something like a candy cane Mojito, but I’m not sure how easy it will be to find things like peppermint sauce here.

@Hellokittymania we're doing thanksgiving on Saturday night (because outside the USA you don't get weekdays off to cook!) and I've made two batches of stuffing, both of which are delicious and super easy for a first-time stuffing maker.
For the vegetarians:
https://www.alisoneroman.com/recipes/buttered-stuffing-celery-and-leeks
For everyone else, our family recipe since the 80s:
https://www.food.com/recipe/silver-palate-grand-marnier-apricot-stuffing-143653

Breakfast - pigs in blankets, poached eggs and toast (about 9am)

Nibbles such as nuts, pringles and dips, bought canapes after church around 12.30/1pm

Main meal about 3 or 4pm - slow cooked leg of lamb in a redcurrant glaze type thing, roasted veg, sprouts, potato gratin

Pudding (something with cream or custard) and/or cheese board - 8pm with CTM.

Breakfast: bacon butties or eggs benedict - depends how I feel the week before

Starter: mostly just cracking open the chocolate mid morning tbh

Dinner (about 2pm): turkey crown and all the trimmings

Tea: (about 8pm): turkey sandwiches on sliced white bread with a variety of extra fillings. Has to be served on the coffee table in front of the telly.