The Childfree Life

What's everybody planning on cooking/eating/gorging on for the holidays?

I've got the world's most effed work schedule around the holidays, but here's what I'm planning:

Christmas Eve (working half a day):
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Deviled Eggs
Devils On Horseback
Hot Dog Wreath (mini hot dogs inside crescent rolls)
Olives And Pickles

Christmas Day (off work):
Cocktail Meatballs
Olives And Pickles
Cheese And Crackers
Spicy Candied Nuts
Whatever is leftover from the day before

Main Meal:
Prime Rib Roast
Roasted Potatoes
Cauliflower Gratin
Brussels Sprouts Salald

No desserts because we're drowning in cookies and candies.

For drinks, we have bottles of spiced wines, but the wife can't drink on Tuesday because of her meds that day.

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"There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." - Unknown

Wow, you’re much more on top of things than I am!

For Christmas Eve, I’m stealing CarryOn’s idea and doing a prime rib roast with red win jus. To go with, we’ll do potato salad, something sauerkraut based, and maybe another dish - there’s a good one I haven’t made in a while that’s rice, broccoli and cauliflower with a cheese sauce. I might do that one.

For Christmas Day, we’ll be at my parents place, so I can guarantee we’ll have eggs Benedict for breakfast, sandwiches of some description for lunch, and dinner will be Turkey, stuffing, whipped potato casserole, rutabaga, peas + carrots, and gravy. Candy cane ice cream with liqueur poured over for dessert.

Boxing Day we’re getting together with friends at their place, so not sure what that will be yet - we might take something over.

For New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, one dinner will be fondue, and the other will be beef Barbacoa, cilantro-lime rice, corn salsa, and guacamole. Not sure which will be on which day yet though.

Mr LaT is working right through from Xmas Eve to New Year's Eve, so we're not doing Xmas dinner until New Year's Day.

But the menu will be:

Brekkie:

Black pudding
Bacon
Scrambled egg
Tomatoes
Toast with Lime marmalade

Main Event

Hogs in Duvets (maybe venison sausages rather than pork, seeing as the stuffing is made from pork)
Home-made pork and apple stuffing
Yorkshire pud
Mashed potatoes with spring onion (for me)
Roast potatoes (for him)
Honey glazed carrots
Sticky red cabbage (with dried fruit, red wine or port, cinnamon, brown sugar)
Roast parsnips (for me)
Roast gammon (for him)
Lashings of gravy
Cranberry sauce made with a bit of orange zest and port

I don't bother with a meat for me, because it's all the trimmings etc that I really like, I don't think a slab of turkey or whatever really adds anything.

All washed down with a 2008 Veuve Clicquot for me and Worthingtons Cream Flow for him.

No starters or puds because there's more than enough to choke a horse as it is......

There'll be home-made gorgonzola and parma ham 'twists' knocking around, as well as any amount of cheeses/crackers/mince pies/fruit cake/gravadlax/ice cream and leftovers should anyone feel the need to eat even more later on in the evening.

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Too bright to breed

Some things I left out:

We're reviving my tradition of going out for breakfast Christmas morning. Our two choices are Waffle House and Denny's, and it looks like Denny's is in the lead.

I'm also making Yorkshire puds to go with the roast, and I bought a Christmas pudding and a jar of sauce to go with it.

NYE (I'm working from home 6PM-3AM) will be fondue. We always have fondue Christmas Eve.

NYD, I'm using the slow cooker to make pork and sauerkraut. I'm sure there'll be mashed potatoes on the side. Maybe some lima beans as well. I'll be dragging NYD, having worked all night.

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"There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." - Unknown

CO, what are “devils on horseback”?

^^^ Prunes wrapped in bacon and baked in the oven. You can also stuff them with an almond or some cheese if you like, but we usually don't.

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"There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." - Unknown

Christmas Eve: party foodfest of homemade bagels, prawn canape selection, bresaola, crab, antipasto

Christmas breakfast: cinnamon buns

Christmas dinner: turkey, roast potatoes, rice, red cabbage, yorkshire puddings, roast sweet potatoes. Chocolate yule log for dessert

And here I was thinking that devils on horseback was just some fancy kind of deviled eggs.

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The admin formerly known as Force10

Devils on horseback are one of those things, if you're not big into sweet-savory, that might sound kind of nasty, but they're crazy delicious. I don't care if I made a million and there were only two people, there'd be no leftovers.

I think there's a related dish, angels on horseback, that substitutes dried apricots for the prunes. I always mean to try those, but the dark, dark magic of the prune always calls me.

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"There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." - Unknown

Angels on horseback are oysters wrapped in bacon (the 'devil' version is any type of fruit, usually dried).

Maybe there are regional variations, because I grew up thinking 'Devils on horseback' were kidneys wrapped in bacon and therefore wouldn't touch them (kidneys being one of the vanishing small number of foods I don't like).

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Too bright to breed