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

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I am pregnant so no port or mulled wine for me this year. I think I will make some non alcoholic Buck's Fizz to drink throughout the day.

we often chop and change for the meat - people seem to love different things, but what never changes is all the trimmings - stuffing, bread sauce, loads of veg etc! we always have a home made pud on the table for after but the the likelihood of anyone eating it on the actual day is slim - we were still eating ours this year at Easter!
We always have canapes and cocktails on Christmas eve - a mixture of home made and bought - it makes it special but hardly any fuss lots of chance for catching up with family and wrapping last ins presents.

We have all the suspects and the meal is humungos. But I hate sprouts so I'll boil them with Swede, mash them together with butter, salt and pepper. I'm the only one who likes it so all the more for me!!!

sprouts are lovely when you add lots of crispy bacon bits and gravy, that's how we serve them.

I find getting roast potatoes ready at the same time as the turkey a real fuss, so I often do scalloped potatoes instead. They keep warm in the bottom of the oven whilst the turkey cooks.

We don't do christmasy pudding s nobody actually likes that, so we concoct a big festive "snow mountain" made of merengue, whipped cream and chocolate figures.

Ahhh...Christmas! This year we're sticking clear of the enormous, fills up the oven, turkey and opting for a hunk of lamb instead. Not traditional, but it's our fav roast meat. We love trimmings, so they'll be plenty of veg and Yorkshire pudding. Brussel sprouts roasted with chestnuts are my all time fave, so they'll be making an appearance. Pudding wise, I'm thinking if a chocolatey biscuit type of with ice cream. For drinks, anything goes in our house! I love prosecco, but have recently discovered mojitos, so I'm also going to experiment with making those! Yum

My sister sometimes does this fabulous thing with the turkey! It's called Bethlehem stuffing, though I doubt it has any connection whatsoever to Bethlehem. You take cream cheese and spices and stuff the turkey ...BUT you stuff it between the skin and the meat. The skin crisps beautifully and the meat is lovely and juicy and aromatic.
Very ordinary ingredients .... delicious transformation.

Planning on two options- Turkey and Goose this year. Should settle any arguments about which to have. Sticking to good old Christmas pud and cream though!

I'll be making a cake as ds has a nut allergy and it's a nightmare getting safe ones - am going to have a bash at a Yule log this year.

My spin on pigs in blankets: make patties (think small, fat burger size) using sausage meat or skinned sausages, then wrap stretched streaky bacon round the outsides and tie in a knot. Wrap dried prunes and dried apricots in bacon to serve alongside.

One year, we had a last minute wheat and dairy intolerant guest and I had no time to buy or make a wheat free Christmas pudding. I made a rice pudding using coconut milk, once cooked topped it with Demerara sugar and bruleed it. Served with pears poached in mulled wine. I made enough for everyone so the allergic guest didn't feel I'd made the effort just for him. Bizarrely, the coconut rice pudding and the poached pears went brilliantly with Christmas pudding.

We make extra veg and accompaniments so we know for sure we'll have leftovers. We chop up turkey, sausages, stuffing and all the veg, put into a rectangular dish about same size as ready made puff pasty. Even add bread sauce. Then make a white sauce and mix in, top with pastry for the most tasty and easy Boxing Day pie

For us the extra special part is making the cream for the Christmas pudding together. Most people have Brandy cream or brandy butter... Not in our house. Last year it was Bailey's and the year before that fine Irish whiskey. Made even better by the ongoing discussion of "how much is too much to add" and dad usually going "sure keep pouring, bit more. Keep going, almost there. Yep about right", then upon tasting the lethal concoction admits he wasn't watching the person pour it in to the cream Same thing happens each year. Needless to say, designated drivers are advised not to touch the dessert cream, but use the squirty cream instead.
It wouldn't be Christmas dinner with some fine booze now would it!

After years of far too much time and stress going into Christmas dinners, I've learned from my MIL. She got some turkey slices in a tinfoil type tray thing and put them in the oven. Did some sprouts, bessie's roasties, parsnips and yorkshire puds and shebang - that was it. We had an amazing stress free day! No tips needed, just plain and simple, ice cream for puds and then back to the couch for Christmas tv and a game of travel The Chase - winner winner turkey dinner.

The difference for us is that the dinner is often a bit retro. Normally me and DH are quite adventurous with our cooking but at Christmas, everything goes back to basics. No herbs, homemade sausage meat stuffing, homemade pigs in blankets, and pudding is always trifle and cheesecake, which is what we both grew up with.

We do however have a different starter each year and the cheese, crackers, chutney and grapes that we put out in the evening is legendary in my family. We buy every cheese we can think of and serve it up on a huge board with a choice of drinks. Most people have port but some me and my sister pick something different. Year before last it was tequila, last year I made daiquiri's. this year I have honey whiskey in mind

My husband is Lebanese living in England and I shall be surprising him with a full traditional Lebanese Christmas Dinner!
A very large turkey, has to be large as the Lebanese are very social and undoubtedly we shall have a houseful. I shall not be preparing the turkey the English way, but I shall stuff it with rice, just like you stuff a chicken. Drink cherry wine, a very old wine. People make their own wine in Lebanon (I shall have to settle for shop bought) For dessert, I shall make ma’mool, (ma'amoul are small shortbread pastries filled with dates, pistachios or walnuts) fig jam, apple jam and baklava. Side dishes of tabbouleh and mixed salads, fried beans and lamb-stuffed cabbage. Delicious.

I handed over the planning of Christmas day lunch and tea to my 5 and 3 year old.
We are having for lunch:
Roast meat (possibly 3/5 bird roast, if I can find one that is gluten-free)
Chips
Peas (with tomato ketchup for the kids)
DH and I will be having yorkshire puddings and more veg

Tea:
Crisps
Pie
Sausage rolls

And, I will be adding lots more buffet food but I want the kids to have the sort of day they want. DH and I guided them towards the roast dinner but said they could have whatever they wanted for it and they very much chose dinner!

If making your own sausage rolls, slather on some BBQ sauce to the pastry before adding the sausage meat and rolling up to make them extra delish!

Due to family allergies I make glutenfree/milkfree/eggfree liebkuchen and stollen buns. Stuffing is glutenfree.

We have our first full Christmas meal by candlelight on Christmas Eve. We started doing this when the children were tiny so I could enjoy Christmas morning without worrying about the turkey. We love it so much we still do it. It's such a happy meal with such an air of anticipation! We don't have a starter and for pudding we have what is known in the family as Schlump - a homemade mincemeat mix on the bottom, covered with sliced Gala apples and a spiced sponge topping (again gluten/milk/eggfree so everyone can eat it).

DH is a chef and by xmas day he will have cooked/seen far too many traditional dinners by then plus he works xmas day until 5pm, has done for the last 12years.
Me and DS tend to have a big Elf breakfast (pancakes, bacon syrup) then when DH gets home we set up a blanket on the floor and have an xmas picnic all together. Lots of cold cuts, continental meats and cheeses, fresh breads and dips, easy to do buffet/party food. It means we can relax as a family without anyone being stuck in the kitchen and no stressing as we have so little time left of the day we can thoroughly enjoy it.

Chips on boxing day with cold meat (unless veggie). Always cut into an initial (so one A if your name begins with the letter A). No idea why!

My DC are young so it is about making things fun for them. We have mocktails in festive red (cranberry cocktail with a dash of soda water) with a twist of green (wedge of line), Santa hats made out of strawberries and whipped cream, and little Christmas pud treats which are really rice crispie marshmallow balls with white chocolate melted over them and a sprig of mint.

We start with baked avocado stuff with crab and egg white (it's so bloody delicious). Regular Christmas dinner but not until after the queen.

After a food coma whilst watching sleeping really the kids play with their new toys we get out the many puddings.

well none of us like turkey and we're not mad keen on roast dinners on a whole, so we have a mixed game pie (that we make) and some roasted mediterranean veg.. we still pair this with stuffing and pigs in blankets, but it's something we all adore so it's special for us.

Husband and I spent our first few Christmases apart with our respective families, so have become accustomed to doing a second, smaller Christmas together a few days later. This tends to be a roast duck rather than a goose as it is quick and easy and a much better size for two people. And then a big tray of mixed roast veg with garlic cloves roasting throughout the mix.

If you want something delicious and alcoholic to sip, but you're peeling veg with sharp knives and can't get too tipsy (yet!) then I can recommend last year's invention - The Christmas Cup!

Four parts lemonade (or three if you're feeling daring) to one part ginger liqueur. Make a big jug full, chuck in some ice and infuse it with some big strips of orange peel and a cinnamon stick!

I promise it helps the prep go with a swing! :)

I have to admit, that since Lidl's appeared in my locality, I've changed our Christmas offerings!

Tea time nibbles are now more likely to come from Lidls, with my DF absolutely loving the gingerbread biscuits.

However, for the Christmas period, we now always have a seafood selection on Christmas Eve, as it gets me off cooking. Lobster, prawns, and lashings of Mayo, nice bread, salad and maybe new potatoes.

Ice cream sundaes for pudding.

Then on Christmas Day, I've discovered the Lidls 5 bird roast - I usually cook 2 so we get plenty of leftovers. Those get devoured with yorkshires, roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts and red cabbage.

The red cabbage gets cooked in advance, and frozen in smaller portions. The gravy gets done end of November and frozen. I use Jamie Oliver's recipe - oven roasting chicken wings and veg to make the gravy stock.
Also frozen ahead of time!

Actually, I think my top tip for Christmas is to start making space in your freezer now, and make as much stuff to put in it.

We have:
Traditionally roasted turkey
Spuds roasted in goose fat
Mashed spuds with lashings of butter and cream
Honey roasted carrots and parsnips
Brussels Sprouts with lardons and chestnuts
Red cabbage cooked in the juices of our Christmas Eve cherry coke ham
Yorkshire puddings
Apricot and sausage meat stuffing
Gravy
Ratatouille
'Proper' Mushy Peas