Holiday Recipes

[stillshimpy]

Aha! Good to know.  

 

I don't actually make any candy and it sounds like that's good, because apparently it wouldn't have turned out if I did :-)  I wonder if the ingredient is Lecithin?  I am sure I could look that up :-) 

[annzeepark914]

I never made candy until I saw the Barefoot Contessa make her white chocolate bark (and saw how easy it is to do!)  When I saw Ina tie pretty ribbons around the cellophane bags of bark and give them as gifts?  I said to myself, "Hey, even I can do that".  Half the bark may have sprinkles of crushed peppermint, the other half may have chopped walnuts and Craisins.  I always feel so Ina when tying up those little bags of bark :>)

[backformore]

I've made the chocolate bark using chips, it turns out great.

I bake a lot of cookies at Christmas, all from scratch. This year I'm taking some shortcuts. The Pillsbury bake off recipe for peanut clusters turned out great. The cookie part is pie crust, cut in small squares and baked, then it's mixed with melted white chips , peanut butter, peanuts and toffee chips.

I also made saltine toffee, easy and quick recipe, used semi sweet chips and sprinkled the top with crushed candy canes. Neither of these take a lot of precise measuring and timing, which are the things that tend to mess me up.

Still making my butter cookies, which are labor intensive. Adding a couple easy recipes means I don't have to make as many batches of the from scratch cookies.

I have a friend who makes "fudge" for everyone for Christmas. People are thrilled to get it. But she doesn't do the old-fashioned sugar syrup with cocoa kind. Her recipe is one can sweetened condensed milk, one 12 ounce bag of semi sweet chips. Melt in the microwave, pour in a pan. Vanilla, nuts, fruit, peanut butter, can be added, even chopped peppermint on top. She make batches and batches of this stuff, and has the reputation of being some candy master, which she thinks is hilarious. She laughs about how her Christmas gifts cost a few bucks and take about 2 minutes to make.

Edited December 21, 2014 by backformore

[Mountainair]

So does anyone here do Christmas dinner? Christmas Eve dinner?

Usually cooking is the last thing on my mind around Christmas. Christmas Eve is always spent at my in laws. My MIL makes her chicken soup (canned everything, lots of butter, and chicken breasts cooked all day, it is yummy), bread, and hot sandwiches. We all get together there and do the present thing with all the siblings.

My parents usually come for New Years and I'll cook then. This year they are coming late Christmas night so we will have a big dinner the next day. Since it's just the four of us, two little ones who aren't big eaters I've decided to start Christmas Day off with a breakfast casserole and monkey bread. After that I was just going to do munchies. No lunch or dinner. Meatballs, cream cheese pinwheels, veggie tray, crackers and Neiman Marcus Dip, Bacon/ Ranch pull apart bread. The in laws usually stop in for a bit Christmas Day so this way I'll have snacks around for them and what ever is left over we can munch on the next day with my parents until dinner.

I was gifted a Honey Baked Ham so that is going to be the main course on the 26th. I'll do twice baked potatoes, green beans with bacon and brown sugar, cauliflower casserole, bread and spinach salad. For desert I'm going to make a peanut butter Oreo pie.

[PRgal]

Christmas Eve dinner for us since I started doing a more "traditional" Christmas dinner - we used to go out to a Chinese restaurant since my mom's birthday is Dec. 25.  That way, my mom can still have her bday dinner!

[mansonlamps]

Christmas Eve for us has always been shrimp, crab legs, corn bread and German potato salad along with a host of appetizers. Same for the last 40 or so years. Christmas day is either traditional turkey dinner or, if my brother is in town, prime rib. I like when my brother is in town!

[Bastet]

Christmas dinner is almost always ham; not something I want to eat more than once a year, but I do like it for that one meal.  Christmas Eve just depends on what we’re in the mood for.  This year we’re having prime rib.  It’s not my favorite, but my parents like it a lot.  (I don’t dislike it, and I love the sauce made from fresh horseradish root, so I’m not complaining, but it definitely wouldn't be my pick.)

 

I’m in charge of the veggie side, and with the prime rib I’m doing a spinach gratin (Ina Garten’s ultra-rich, ultra-delicious indulgence) and with the ham I’m doing a Brussels sprouts dish with walnuts.  I love Brussels sprouts and eat them all the time, most often simply roasted, but my mom needs some stuff mixed in to enjoy them.  I love this Emeril recipe and have found it good for people who feel that way about Brussels sprouts.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Bastet

[jenh526]

This year for Christmas dinner we're having roast beef tenderloin with new potatoes. For dessert, it will be a Pink Adobe French apple pie with hard sauce. I also made some Toll House cookies over the weekend just for the heck of it and because I was a having a craving for them.

[mansonlamps]

Bastet, I may try the spinach recipe, do you make it "as is" our do you tweak it? Sounds like LOT of onions.

[Bastet]

I cut the recipe in half, as Ina's recipes always yield a TON of food, and I use a lot less salt (two general rules at play here: I always use half the salt Ina calls for in any recipe, and I don't think recipes with a lot of cheese need much extra salt) -- about 1/2 teaspoon.  Otherwise, I make it according to the recipe. 

[emma675]

We don't really have a Christmas Eve dinner tradition so this year I'm making chicken piccata, twice baked potatoes, bacon wrapped green bean bundles with butter and brown sugar, and for dessert I'm attempting the terrifying Chocolate Espresso Dacquoise from America's Test Kitchen. I've been wanting to make this for months, but it's so much work and I haven't had the time. I'll report back on how it goes.

[mlp]

My older daughter is the only relative I have within a thousand miles.  She always works on Christmas Day so she can give one of her employees with little kids the day off so we have our Christmas some other day.  This year it will be tomorrow.  We always have a standing rib roast, very rare, and shrimp cocktail and a glass of wine while the meat rests.  And Pillsbury crescent rolls are a must for her.  The rest varies depending on my whim.  I wish I'd seen that spinach recipe Bastet referenced before I went shopping.  Prime rib is horrifically expensive but I buy one just once a year so I don't mind the splurge.  I get one big enough for a couple meals of leftovers for both of us and she takes the nice bone home for her dog.

 

Merry Christmas everybody!

[Bastet]

Wow, mlp, that is very generous of your daughter -- you turned out a good one.

 

And, hmm, now I want shrimp cocktail during, well, cocktail hour before our prime rib dinner tomorrow night.  I don't want to venture out again, but I have some pretty nice frozen shrimp and all the ingredients for a sauce (and the horseradish in that would be a nice teaser for the horseradish sauce with the meat) ... okay, taking shrimp out to thaw right now.  Thanks for the appetizer suggestion!

[DeLurker]

Got my nephew and his family visiting for the holidays. He made an apple pie for Christmas and ended up with extra dough so he saved it.

He just whipped up a post Christmas lunch for all of us: individual turkey potpies using turkey/stuffing/cooked carrots/gravy topped with that extra pie dough. Yum!

[Shannon L.]

I started talking about cooking a turkey in another thread, but it's probably more appropriate here, so this is where I'll continue.  I'm cooking my first turkey on New Year's Day and, after getting a lot of different ideas/advice, it sounds like cooking it upside down is a great way to go.  My next question is:  I bought the bags, but am not sure if those work better than leaving it out of a bag and basting it.  What do you all think?

 

edited because I had a question about yams vs. sweet potatoes, but decided to try both of them and see for myself.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Shannon L.

[mansonlamps]

I cut the recipe in half, as Ina's recipes always yield a TON of food, and I use a lot less salt (two general rules at play here: I always use half the salt Ina calls for in any recipe, and I don't think recipes with a lot of cheese need much extra salt) -- about 1/2 teaspoon.  Otherwise, I make it according to the recipe.

Well I made this for Christmas and it went over really well, especially with my one niece that has requested it be there every year from now on, so thanks for the recipe. The one thing I would caution is definitely make sure to season to taste after stirring everything together. Maybe my parmesan wasn't very salty, but mine tasted like wallpaper paste at that point. Amazing what a little salt and pepper can do to bring the flavors out.

Also, while easy, it was pretty time consuming in the prep part. Sauteeing the onions and waiting for the sauce to thicken seemed to take forever.

[emma675]

I made the terrifying Chocolate Espresso Dacquoise! It took over 24 hours and there was a lot of cursing during the part where I had to precisely cut the baked meringue into four 3 inch bars (one broke and had to be used as a middle bar held together with butter cream). It was fantastic and didn't last long at all.  Mine looked exactly as it does on the site, except I may have eaten the hazelnuts on the top before they made it onto the cake.

[grisgris]

Kudos to you!!!

[Lovecat]

That is gorgeous and sounds delicious, but I find myself wondering why the meringue is not simply baked in the right sized bars to begin with, to avoid that cutting step which seems so fraught with peril!

[Mountainair]

So....... Finally..... New Years. What are your traditions? My grandma used to always serve black eyes peas and some other junk (she is not a cook, though she thinks she is). I've never been one to cook for New Years unless I'm having company.

We had tons of BBQ left over from tonight so I'll re heat that for dinner tomorrow. I bought munchies for either tomorrow or New Years Day. It's just the two of us and I may let the five year old stay up. DH will play video/computer games and I'll watch tv. Big Woop!

Any how, I got stuff for chicken wings, meatballs, veggie tray, feta dip and then my leftover Christmas ham will be used for 15 bean soup the next day!

Happy 2015 guys!

[Bastet]

I spend New Year's Day with my parents watching the bowl games.  My dad is from Oklahoma, and black-eyed peas and (non-sweet) cornbread are the traditional dinner for him.  My mom and I both loathe black-eyed peas, but she makes them for him every year.  I make the cornbread (my paternal grandma's recipe, but I add jalapeños).  We snack all day while watching the games, though, so my mom and I don't go hungry for skipping the beans.

 

This year we'll be snacking on veggies and a dip made with dill, parsley, onion and Beau Monde seasoning, shrimp cocktail, baked parmesan and herb chicken wings, mushrooms stuffed with sausage and sage, salami, cheese and crackers, and phyllo dough "cups" (made in a muffin tin) with spinach, feta and sundried tomatoes.  My mom and I have yet to divvy up who is making what, so I guess we better get on that.

[ALenore]

I'm going to a New Year's Eve party tonight.  The hostess is providing most of the food, but I'm bringing parmesan crackers.  I got the recipe from the New York Times about 10 years ago and have been making it for parties frequently ever since.   The crackers look like shortbread cookies but are actually made from butter, flour and parmesan cheese.  It's an easy recipe (as long as you have a food processor).   http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/dining/temptation-delicious-deception-to-go-with-wine.html.   They really do go great with wine. 

[emma675]

I don't usually do much for NYE (it's never been that big of a deal for me, even as a kid!), but I do make grilled rib eyes, potato casserole and green bean wraps for New Year's day. Here's to a good 2015!

[backformore]

Last night I made the sweet and spicy meatballs that backformore posted back in November -- yum-my! I used the whole berry cranberry sauce and Farm Rich's turkey meatballs. To go with them, I roasted small red-skinned potatoes, seasoned with garlic sea salt and Worcestershire pepper.

Glad the meatballs were a hit!   People always rave about them, and I feel dumb because they're not even homemade meatballs, I just use the frozen ones.   I usually cook them in a crockpot for hours, and then taste.  Sometimes I add a little BBQ sauce to make them more flavorful.   The recip works best with the cocktail size meatballs, but the larger ones work OK too.   

To repeat the recipe - a bag of meatballs, a can of cranberry sauce, a bottle of chili sauce.  mix the 2 sauces together in the crockpot, then add meatballs and cook on high until they're bubbly, then turn the heat down.   

 

If the meatballs aren't pre-browned, you can brown them a bit first, but it's not necessary. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

So clever!  Strawberry turkeys - 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkgNeb5pAMv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[Gramto6]

13 hours ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

So clever!  Strawberry turkeys - 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkgNeb5pAMv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Wow! So cute! And looks relatively easy to make...

[Anela]

I'm trying Spinach Artichoke dip again. I wasn't sure about it when I made it four years ago. Something was off with the recipe, and I didn't eat much. I usually make a raw (except for the spinach), spinach dip, from a family friend's recipe. Since mum is gone, and my sister won't be here, it's only me and my dad, and he doesn't like it. Whenever I make it, too much is wasted. I like cheese, but I'm still not sure about a dip featuring it. This is one of those times when I wish we had company. 

I'm roasting pumpkin, to make my own puree, from a pumpkin that I grew this year (just the one). The bigger one will be taken to the woods, so that the deer, or anything else, can eat it. I'm working through my list, and need to do that in a little while. 

I hope to try making Yorkshire puddings, tomorrow, or asking dad to make them. I've never done it before. I'm making pumpkin cheesecake, in two or three days. 

[Anela]

I'm going to add that my instagram feed has featured pecan pie. I don't like pecan pie, or sweet potatoes, or green beans. I grew up in England, mostly, so I didn't grow up with this. We only had Christmas, and I don't remember eating sweet potatoes, or pumpkin, until we moved over here. I was surprised that I liked pumpkin pie. 

We make creamed peas (just peas in white sauce), several different sorts of potatoes, because I love roast potatoes, and we used to make them every week. I'll make scalloped potatoes tomorrow, or Friday. I love the stuffing, and my parents would find me snacking on it before dinner. 

I really miss my mum, and my English aunts. Only one of them is left. I need to get up again, before I depress myself, and anyone else. When my mum was alive and healthy, my parents made this place look really nice, and they would do the cooking, except for the one time I made a pumpkin cheesecake (the only time, the day before), along with sour cream and noodle bake. I didn't want turkey, so I made that for *my* dinner, but they were hungry that night, so it became everyone's dinner. 

I'm going to look up some turkey recipes, for leftovers. Dad will give some of it to the dog, and the cats (including the cats outside), but I want to make some soup, maybe a pot pie, if I can get the vegetables soft this time. They were still hard, the one time I tried to make one with chicken. Turkey in white sauce, turkey sandwiches, wraps... I'll throw in a few links for recipes later, since this is a recipe thread.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Anela

[Anela]

https://sugarspunrun.com/pumpkin-cheesecake/

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/the-best-spinach-artichoke-dip/

I've never had gruyere before, and I got the wrong artichokes - I got them in a can, instead of the marinated ones that were in a jar. If I like it, I'll get the right ones next time.

https://www.loveandlemons.com/how-to-make-pumpkin-puree/

I made this squash soup on Sunday. I'm not a squash fan, but when this was freshly made, it was good.

http://coffeeinthewoodshed.com/2013/10/08/id-like-to-sip-my-cider/

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-muffins-recipe/

https://cloudykitchen.com/blog/small-batch-dinner-rolls/

[SuprSuprElevated]

Another cute little candy. I didn't visit the page, but looks sort of easy to figure out.

Edited December 2, 2022 by SuprSuprElevated