Share your inspiration for Christmas Day food and drink with a difference - chance to win Lidl vouchers NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at Lidl have their festive food all ready and waiting - now they want to know how MNers make Christmas lunch memorable for all the right reasons. They’d love to hear how you change things up on Christmas Day to make your meal extra special and please all of those celebrating with you - without breaking the bank.This can include main dishes, sides, puddings, and drinks.

Will you be going down the goose route this year, or opting for some seafood? Or maybe you have an interesting turkey treatment you'd like to share. If you are catering for vegetarians or other dietary needs, what options have gone down well - do you tend to do veggie variations on a roast or something completely different?

What about sides - do you have a cunning way with sprouts that makes everyone love them? Or a potato dish that knocks the usual roasties into a hat. For dessert, do you have a Christmas pudding variation? Or something different entirely that you always end your Christmas lunch with?

Drinks-wise, what's top of the drinks list for you? Do you create mocktails for the youngsters or anyone needingnon-alcoholic options? Or do you have an alternative to the traditional Buck's Fizz or a special version of mulled wine that sets you up for the day?

Inspire others with your personal takes on Christmas Day food and drinkbelow and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where you could win one of five £50 Lidl vouchers.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

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Ah yes Plymouth - we have to have plenty of roast parsnips too, we do them all in with the roast potatoes. A real taste of Christmas now for me.
Walnut, chestnut and red wine loaf sounds a good one too.

Chestnuts are very nostalgic for me as DF would always make a great chestnut stuffing from first principles. Then DM would do everything else!
I think I'll have to at least throw some in with the sprouts

Caribbean sorrel rum!

Christmas dinner is extra special because:
We have a starter which we never normally do. Usually some homemade soup or goats cheese tartlets. My mum insists on bringing out a prawn cocktail too so there is a choice!

The portion size of the main course is HUGE! It's very traditional - my dad wouldn't have it any other way. My favourite bit is the pig in blankets.

There is a good choice of dessert - trifle (only ever made at Christmas), chocolate log, mince pies, ice cream, Christmas cake....

There is alcohol! Even my mum who doesn't usually drink will indulge in a babysham!

I don't often cook Christmas dinner as we're always at my mums/mother in laws house but when I do cook it I like to tweak it a bit.
I make my own stuffing, it's actually a ww recipe and it's delicious!
I like to cook bacon in maple sauce in a frying pan and then cover the turkey with the bacon and wrap it up and cook it.
I also like to (I know this is cheating) but a gingerbread cake, it's from a lady who makes it all at home and it's soooo tasty :)

Having hosted for the past 2 years we are off to SILs, part of me is relieved and part of me is slightly disappointed as I love everything about Christmas dinner control freak, me, no not in the slightest

Have offered to prep veg, make starter/pudding etc so just waiting to see what help they need. Christmas cake is already made and being fed with alcohol regularly

I know there will be plenty of Yorkshire puddings and pigs in blankets as the kids love these. We usually eat early afternoon but save dessert until the evening when we have more room. Dinner is not complete without a mince pie or two and lots of fizz.

We bought a fire pit earlier in the summer and I'm thinking of lighting it and roasting chestnuts seasoned with salt and smoked paprika. DH will probably think I'm mad but hey there's a song about it! I would usually serve mulled wine at Christmas parties but I'm thinking of experimenting with a warm spiced cider or apple punch laced with rum. I suspect there may be a few experiments necessary between now and December...hic

our little twist on Christmas dinner is sage and onion yorkie puds! they are amazing, pudding always a trifle this year i have the task of making a terrys chocolate orange one and drinks we are making glitter vodka jelly shots for us adults and glitter fruit juice punch for the kiddies

A few years ago when DD was small and a very fussy eater and we weren't getting much sleep we decided not to bother with a traditional Christmas lunch but to do a buffet instead. It was a revelation! Everyone gets to choose their favourite buffet food so DM has King prawns, DH pork pie etc. and we have homemade chocolate pavlova for dessert. Now we don't have to spend hours prepping in the kitchen and everyone enjoys it.

My mum does a christmas dessert that looks like a xmas pudding it's a chocolate mousee cake, it's gorgeous and is great because nobody likes xmas pudding!

I make a Christmas Eton mess with caramelised cranberries and cinnamon instead of summer fruit :)

It's all about the trifle in our house - Christmas morning starting the day with a bowl of trifle - seems so very indulgent and starts the day off perfectly.

Not one for big roast dinners, so the main meal is lots of little dishes of foods we would not eat day to day - with trifle again for pudding!!

Last year I was pregnant and suffering with hyperemesis so we had a quiet one at home. This year we are back to spending it with the in-laws.

Mil and Fil always cooked dinner, but since Mil died we now split the work with each branch of the family doing a course each.

This year I'm on Deserts so we'll be having home made cheesecake which Dh and I love and home made trifle which was Mil's favourite, and which no Christmas meal is complete without.

Brace (or two depending on numbers) of pheasant with a sherry and cranberry gravy. Not expensive and only takes an hour to cook (including resting).

Served with braised Savoy cabbages with crispy bacon pieces (from the bacon that was on the pheasant breasts) and roast potatoes of course - looks lovely and festive.

We have salmon for the children and roasted Peking duck with pancakes and fillings. For pudding we usually have a homemade pavlova and shortbread stars dipped in chocolate for the children.
Prosecco and passion fruit cocktails usually start the meal and we finish we an amazing port and cheeseboard after.

We're in a new city, so we'll be making a few traditions this year!
Things that we always have to eat are huevos rancheros for breakfast, sprouts baked in Stilton and cream, and obscene amounts of food :)
I'm a single parent, so stragglers are always welcome, I'd hate for anyone I know to be lonely at Christmas, but being in a new city I don't think we'll have guests, but it'll be lovely just the 3 of us :)

I don't tinker too much with Christmas dinner but I do pan fry the sprouts in garlic and ginger. I always make my own gravy and add redcurrant jelly, it makes such a difference to it. It's much the same as a Sunday dinner but I ramp it all up a notch; cook the potatoes in goose fat, use chantennay carrots because they look pretty.

Cooking ahead makes the difference for me, as I can treat my family to lots of special, home made additions (some traditional and some new) so there's a huge spread on Christmas day as well as lots of leftovers. Blinis are made in advance and frozen, so we can have smoked salmon on them on xmas morning. Bread sauce, white sauce and red cabbage is made also in advance and frozen for side dishes. Home made Christmas cake and pudding always done in October or November, ready for feeding with brandy for a couple of months!

On the day we have TONS of veg, just so we can have bubble and squeak with ham and eggs on boxing day. Swede, sprouts, cabbage, potato, leeks etc are all favourites for xmas lunch and then on boxing day they all get chopped/mashed together and fried! I make chutneys, jams, piccalilli and relishes for finishing alongside all the leftovers.

Traditional Christmas dinnee but a veggie version with a mushroom puff made from creamed mushrooms puff pastry and chestnuts. Delicious.

Also prep the veg the day before to make it easier to cook and so you dont miss out. All healthy veg steamed or oven cooked woth no oil. Delicious. X

With 5 fussy kids Xmas lunch can be a nightmare so we keep it simple with just 3 veg with chicken, mash, roasties and gravy so there's not loads leftover to waste, (they are full of chocolate most years the sneaky pinchers!!) then we have a brilliant buffet dinner with everything from a "mini range" so mini sausages, mini pork pies, mini kebabs, mini chocolate melt in the middle sponge cakes, mini log cakes !! (my mouths watering just writing this !!!) We go all out for the dinner with a huge table full, music playing, games on the floor and the 1 rule is - EVERYONE has to wear their cracker hat from dinnertime till bedtime

I always like turkey as I love the smell . I love cooking christmas dinner even if is just me the dogs . Which is what it will be this year. Cooking christmas is christmas to me . So my twist this year will be plenty of meat .

Christmas day is a food fest. We start with bucks fizz in the morning (not this year as I'm pregnant though!). We start with seafood starter at 11pm is and dinner at 1pm. Leaves time for homemade mince pies and special puds at 5pm ish and cheese and crackers in the evening!

It's only DH, myself, DD and toddler DS on Christmas Day plus we're on a tight budget.

We'll have a large turkey crown so there's leftovers for Boxing Day and beyond and we must have pigs in blankets. I like to get a little game to play at the table between dinner and pudding, rather than just vegging out doing individual things.

We'll have nibbles then for the evening, whatever I can get a good deal on really. Hot or cold, doesn't matter.

We have our Dinner on Christmas Eve so already Different!
For starters we have - Mushrooms stuffed with Feta & caramelized red onion Chutney - Sides - Brussels with bacon bits & honey Pudding - a mix of traditional Xmas Pudding or Homemade Cheesecake Last year was Chocolate orange - this year I'm planning an After dinner mint cheesecake!

For Christmas dinner we always have turkey, ham, sausages, stuffing, spiced beef, sprouts with chestnuts and pancetta, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, red cabbage and something vegetarian. Plus all the various sauces. The vegetarian option is the only thing that changes each year.
Spiced beef is an Irish tradition that I cook for DH. The meaty leftovers are DH's favourite thing about Christmas.

Pudding is always a very boozy trifle for those that want it (DH), although it's mostly eaten for Boxing Day breakfast. We'll probably have a small token Christmas pudding too, although we might forget to cook it again.

Due to a number of factors Christmas dinner now falls to me, and I generally don't mind (Love cooking) but can last year with 3 month old twins, I can tell you I didn't enjoy 😨😞😣 This year I've ordered the entire dinner (starter and mains) from Cook! And mum's bought a pudding. Hurrah no slaving away xmas eve and xmas morning! Just some careful defrosting and timing and Bob's your uncle! All I have to get now is booze, bubbles and crisps/nibbles! Looking forward to it already😂😅🙌