Question of the Day, Wednesday, December 25th, 2019

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm having trouble coming up with a question! Today has been frantic, so I'm going to go with something easy.

It's Christmas Day for many of us, the day after for some. Did you/will you cook a big meal, or is something simpler on the menu?

Mom and I went on strike many years ago on Christmas Day. We wanted to spend the day with my family, not in the kitchen. For a long time, when Mom was still alive, during the few days before Christmas Day, we'd bake a ham, a roast beef, and a turkey breast. Dad would slice them very thin, and on Christmas Day, around noon, we'd set out the meats along with about 7 types of bread, more condiments than most people know exist, chips, dips, a BIG salad, and a good-sized selection of pies and cakes. Then everyone just grazed all day long and into the evening. Now, with just me, I bake a Stouffer's Party Sized frozen lasagna. The big ones taste better, and, once cut into single servings, they freeze well. Garlic bread, salad, and ONE pie!

I will be baking a turkey breast cutlet so that the ferals have a good Christmas dinner! HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT BONELESS, SKINLESS TURKEY BREAST CUTLETS UNTIL THIS YEAR???

 

[verna davies]

Merry Christmas.

I am a Bah Humbug person of the first order. I treat it like any other day and eat the same as every other day. Dont know why I dislike Christmas so much as I had lovely family Christmases growing up.

 

[Mother Dragon]

We don't do anything really elaborate. It's whatever the mood is. Curry, lobster if it's on a big sale, shrimp, cream of poblano soup, submarine sandwiches. I don't remember the last time we had a traditional turkey dinner.

This year is pretty fancy for us. Prime ribeye steaks (medium rare), creamed mushrooms, a super-loaded baked potato for Robert, a baked sweet potato with cinnamon brown sugar butter for me, my special garlic bread, basic salad, iced tea, wine, and Cherry Yum Yum for dessert, with Alka Seltzer as a chaser. We've already done a lot of the prep, so there won't be a huge amount to do.

The Cherry Yum Yum is divine with the added plus of being really quick.

 

[Maria Bayote]

Well since my husband and I are working abroad (no Christmas break!), we just had dinner at a quite fancy resto last night. It was a buffet, so I ate as much as I could - trying to gulp every ounce of my homesickness.

However, my family back home in my country hired a caterer for our traditional Noche Buena Feast. Nobody wanted to cook. LOL.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[Norachan]

Merry Christmas!

We don't really celebrate Christmas in Japan, Mr Husband and I both have to work today. We did have a special dinner last night though. Pasta in cheese and herb sauce, garlic bread, salad, wine and cheese cake for desert.

The cats had steamed chicken breast and a handful of dry treats each.

 

[Mia6]

Last night Nicole had:
Honey-Baked Ham (not homemade, from a store called, Honey Baked Ham, ha! but it;s very good)
Cheesy Potatoes, my fave
Dill Dip with raw veggies
Deviled Eggs
My mother's meatball recipe, sooo good

Today she will have:
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes etc.
Dessert not sure what

 

[di and bob]

We celebrate with a big meal on Christmas eve. Baked ham, mashed potatoes and homemade chicken and noodles. Of course homemade pumpkin pie too with whipped cream!

 

[rubysmama]

Did you/will you cook a big meal, or is something simpler on the menu?

I'm not cooking, another family member is, but I'm bringing the mashed potatoes, and my Vegetarian Gardein Stuffed Turk'y. Everyone else will be having real turkey. Dessert choices, I think, will be homemade pound cake, pumpkin pie and ice cream.

 

[Winchester]

I'm doing a nice, but not exotic, Christmas meal with filled pork chops (which will be filled with apples and raisins), scalloped potatoes, and dried corn. I was going to give Rick the rest of the peanut butter swirled cheesecake from Sunday, but he already finished it. I took an apple pie out of the freezer this morning, will thaw it a bit, and then throw it into the oven to be served with some French vanilla ice cream.

 

[mightyboosh]

For the first time in forever we're having the big turkey dinner on Boxing Day. I have seven grand kids so with all that going on it's usually rush, rush, stress, stress trying to fit in all the cooking with the excited kiddie bedlam.
I don't know why I haven't done this before.
I'm looking forward to the bubble and squeak after a couple of days. I think it's as good as the actual main event. Yummy.
Merry Xmas all.

 

[jcat]

We have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve - this year it was roast duck - and then eat leftovers Christmas Day.

 

[WillowMarie]

Everything sounds so yummy!

I ended up picking up a day old pre-cooked chicken from the deli that are only a couple dollars, plus come potato salad, coleslaw, and rolls. Yum, yum!

 

[weebeasties]

I like to have a meal that is easy to prepare on Christmas. Last night I made a pineapple upside down cake and for our dinner today I'm making roast beef with potatoes and carrots. If I'm feeling energetic, I may try to make some of those soft pretzels like they sell at the mall.

 

[cheeser]

Now that Dad is sick and I don't have as much time and energy as I used to, this year's meal will be pretty scaled back, more like an average Sunday dinner after church kind of thing, except for more people. Besides, our company isn't too keen on eating leftovers, so the less I cook, the less I have to throw out or store for later for us.

 

[catapault]

It's just the two of us, plus two cats. I had gotten 2 hen pheasants from the nearby game farm last Friday. Let them rest in the refrigerator until late Monday afternoon, then skinned them (plucking pheasants with their fragile skin - compared to chickens - is not an easy thing to accomplish.) I'll do something with the breast meat, make wild rice, maybe Brussels sprouts. Thinking of heating brandy and flaming the fruitcake for dessert.

 

[neely]

The last five or so years we have spent today at our neighbor's house only a few short blocks away. We became close friends when our dogs had eyes for one another. She is a fantastic cook so I leave all the cooking up to her and since I love to bake we make a great pair. A few of the other neighbors will be there also so it's a low key and friendly atmosphere, i.e. no exchange of gifts except for our animals.

 

[sivyaleah]

Well, I'm Jewish and my husband has dispensed with the whole celebrating thing over the years since his family has shrunk to nearly nobody and isn't exactly close in distance nor emotion (to put it mildly). However, I love cooking and it's still a nice gesture to cook a fancy meal at home for us, so I do. And this past year, we have been eating so much healthier for so many health reasons that to allow ourselves to indulge for a few days is quite a treat.

So, I bought the smallest Berkshire Bone-in Smoked Ham I could find (still big but I'll be able to use leftovers for sandwiches, split pea soup, etc.) and that will be the main dish. I think I'm doing a rosemary/fig/Dijon mustard glaze on it. Making homemade garlic chive mashed potatoes and asparagus roasted with pesto and grated Parmesan cheese. I even bought a pint of fancy ice cream for dessert - I can not remember the last time we had that, probably when on vacation over the summer.

I even made Christmas Eve dinner - a mini Feast of the 7 Fishes - it was the Feast of the 4 Shellfishes LOL. Had Lobster & Crab ravioli and I made a white wine shallot/garlic cream sauce and chopped up fresh snow crab into it. Then, served a few stone crab claws on the side for each of us. It was way TOO much food for us LOL. Overkill. Only 6 regular size raviolis each but neither of us could finish it. Ate the crabs (of course) and 1/2 the raviolis each. I totally bought too much crab for that dish - wasn't sure exactly how much I'd need. I could have bought 1/3 of what I did. I'll know better for next time and save a ton of money too It was, however, delicious.

 

[cassiopea]

Christmas Eve was a maple glazed ham with mashed potatoes (Courtesy of my awesome mom) and I made dessert, which was a Bavarois!


Christmas Day we are having duck





Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

[Jem]

Last night we had Chinese take out at my Dad's and had various hors d'oeuvres and cookies to snack on. Not something we usually do but it was really good.
Today, it's just hubby and me, nothing planned per se, but I took out bacon wrapped steak medallions...not sure what I'll make with them yet.
Tomorrow (at my Mom's) we are having a traditional turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed and scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, a veggie side dish and various salads. I can't remember if we are also having mashed turnip....I love turnip! For pre-dinner snacking, I'm making my dill pickle cheese ball and my mom always makes bacon wrapped water chestnuts. We'll also have a cheese, crackers, pickles and what not platter. For dessert my mom made a cheese cake and apple pie and I'm bringing some of my home made cookies. I hope there are left overs!!!!

 

[Willow's Mom]

I have EZ Complete for Willow, The Honest Kitchen Base Mix for the dogs, and 20 lbs of "dog meat" @$1/lb, for which I am very grateful. She also got a medium feeder rat.

I'm the only human in my family, so I made a big ol' pot of split pea soup that will last a long time and freeze well.

The houseplants are getting some sunshine to eat too.