Holiday Eats

[Harmony]

I'm making my first batch of Chex Party mix of the season.  My home smells amazing.

The *holidays are a time of feasting.  What are some of your favorites?  What are some of your traditions?  Recipes welcome! 












*The word 'holidays' are not meant to demean the word 'Christmas'.  It is used here to include Thanksgiving and other November/December celebrations that can be, but are not limited to, religious-based observances. 

[Stadler]

Thanksgiving for us was always a traditional T-Giving meal:   Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, cranberries, sweet potatoes, etc.

I could eat homemade stuffing from now until next 4th of July.  I legit like green bean casserole.   And I can eat turkey sandwiches from the day after until next Labor Day.  I love sweet potatoes, but don't like marshmallows, so don't really like the traditional sweet potato casseroles.

Christmas for us was more an ethnic meal.  Pierogies, ham, borscht (cold beet soup), mom-made lasagna (with meat; I've asked for spinach in there but have 30 years of "no dice!").    I LOVE pierogies; don't eat the beets.   

[Cool Chris]

Green bean casserole can die in a fire. I know it isn't alive in order to die, but seriously, how did that crappy dish barge its way in to the standard American Thanksgiving meal? The Pilgrims would have turned around and headed for home if the Indians fed them that shit.

[JayOctavarium]

Green bean casserole can die in a fire. I know it isn't alive in order to die, but seriously, how did that crappy dish barge its way in to the standard American Thanksgiving meal? The Pilgrims would have turned around and headed for home if the Indians fed them that shit.

I like all of the aspects of it minus the actual green beans. I HATE green beans.

[lonestar]

Green bean casserole is one of those remnants of shitty '50s cooking that just won't die. Blame the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for that one.


My family's dining goes as so...

Thanksgiving- Traditional turkey dinner...the standout being my mom's stuffing. She uses a special apple pork sausage and fine diced potatoes in it. Yes she is my mom...but I have yet to try something that is even in the same universe as her stuffing.

Xmas eve- Dungeness crab, sourdough bread, melted butter.

Xmas breakfast- Maple sausages, crab eggs benedict, Swedish pancakes,scrambled eggs

Xmas dinner- Traditional turkey, with a prime rib as well.

[JayOctavarium]

Thanksgiving- Traditional turkey dinner...the standout being my mom's stuffing. She uses a special apple pork sausage and fine diced potatoes in it. Yes she is my mom...but I have yet to try something that is even in the same universe as her stuffing.

Xmas eve- Dungeness crab, sourdough bread, melted butter.

Xmas breakfast- Maple sausages, crab eggs benedict, Swedish pancakes,scrambled eggs

Xmas dinner- Traditional turkey, with a prime rib as well.

Can... Can I spend Christmas with you guys?

[lonestar]

Thanksgiving- Traditional turkey dinner...the standout being my mom's stuffing. She uses a special apple pork sausage and fine diced potatoes in it. Yes she is my mom...but I have yet to try something that is even in the same universe as her stuffing.

Xmas eve- Dungeness crab, sourdough bread, melted butter.

Xmas breakfast- Maple sausages, crab eggs benedict, Swedish pancakes,scrambled eggs

Xmas dinner- Traditional turkey, with a prime rib as well.

Can... Can I spend Christmas with you guys?

Right? It's no wonder three of my mom's sons are chefs.

[Cool Chris]

Green bean casserole can die in a fire. I know it isn't alive in order to die, but seriously, how did that crappy dish barge its way in to the standard American Thanksgiving meal? The Pilgrims would have turned around and headed for home if the Indians fed them that shit.

I like all of the aspects of it minus the actual green beans. I HATE green beans.

So you like soupy fried onions? 

Thanksgiving is traditional  turkey, potatoes (real potatoes not that sweet potato garbage) stuffing, green bean casserole (most everyone else in my family likes it), green salad, rolls. Christmas dinner can be the same, or different, depending on where we are. If we are with all the same family we will do something different, like a London broil.

I could eat homemade stuffing from now until next 4th of July.... And I can eat turkey sandwiches from the day after until next Labor Day. 

Same here.

[lonestar]

I actually will make a enhanced, doctored version of stove top from time to time just to have stuffing on hand.

[TAC]

The only thing that'll hit my plate on Thanksgiving is turkey, potatoes, corn if available, and gravy.

[lordxizor]

I love holiday meals. No specific foods or recipes. We're competent, but not great cooks in my family. We mostly stick with the traditional foods. My favorite is Christmas eve where we do some Swedish foods (meatball, sausage, cookies and breads) to celebrate our Swedish heritage. Most of it is store bought at a local Swedish food store (no, not Ikea), but I have started making Swedish meatballs myself the last couple years.

[Harmony]

LMAO at all the hatred for green bean casserole.     I heard someone recently say that studies show the most hated food at Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce (undoubtedly from the can).  Both of these can be excellent additions to your Thanksgiving table if made correctly.  Not to toot my own horn, but I make the best cranberry sauce I've ever had.  PM me if you want the recipe.  It goes great with chicken and pork too.

And if you want decent green bean casserole, try Paula Deen's recipe on-line.  The trick is to briefly blanch the fresh green beans in chicken stock ahead of putting the casserole together so they don't get all mushy at the end.

[Cool Chris]

And if you want decent green bean casserole, try Paula Deen's recipe on-line.  The trick is to briefly blanch the fresh green beans in chicken stock ahead of putting the casserole together so they don't get all mushy at the end.

For myself at least green beans are my least favorite vegetable, so it doesn't matter if the recipe is from Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, or Sophie, I am not going to like it.

I also am not a fan of cranberry sauce.

The only thing that'll hit my plate on Thanksgiving is turkey, potatoes, corn if available, and gravy.

This resembles my plate pretty well. I feel like years ago some of us made a pie chart to show the %s of each item on our plates. Mine would be about 20% turkey, 35% stuffing, 25% potatoes, 10% rolls, 5% gravy, 5% whatever side dish my wife made to keep her from being annoyed I didn't eat any of it.

[Stadler]

See, I like green beans when done right (I make them myself with shallots, garlic, salt and pepper) and I will often eat a bowl of sweet potatoes mashed with a little salt and butter. I LOVE sweet potatoes. 

[Harmony]

Yeah, sweet potatoes are great.  Very versatile from savory to uber sweet. 

Anyone out there have a good recipe for mashed acorn squash?  I looked on-line and everything looks kind of pedestrian to me.  I'm actually not a fan.  My mom always brought them and people at my table seemed to like them but I never got her recipe before she died which is a bummer.

Anyway, one thing I never enjoy is the stuffing.  And if anyone makes it inside the bird, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.  I can manage a few bites of Stove Top.  But otherwise, I'll pass.

[lonestar]

For the acorn squash, I usually halve it, remove seeds and put it skin side down on a sheet tray. Season the other side liberally with s&p and brown sugar, a slice of butter in the empty seed cup and some maple syrup. Roast at 350 for a good 45 minutes at least till tender, then scoop out the guts, mash and re-adjust seasoning. I always prefer roasting it to peeling and boiling, the texture is just so much more appealing.

[lordxizor]

I love cranberry sauce and also make a pretty good version of it.

[lonestar]

Not a fan myself, but it's really easy to make. Frozen cranberries, sugar, orange zest and a cinnamon stick. Simmer for hours.

[Chino]

I always make a 2ft high tower of mozzarella encaroza, and it's always a hit. I destroy my kitchen in the process, but it's worth it.

[Podaar]

Thanksgiving - Turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, lemon carrots, and pies. Lots and lots of pies. Lonestar, the stuffing that I make uses a special apple pork sausage. I don't put potatoes in it, but it does have a finely chopped golden delicious apple, slivered almonds and craisins. I've always got rave reviews for it.

Solstice - Prime rib (see the food thread for the last couple of years), Yorkshire pudding (or rolls if we don't want to fuss), brown gravy, funeral potatoes, beet salad, and chocolate cake. This is our traditional evening to gather with the kids and grandkids. We don't do a Christmas gathering.

Christmas - Morning; Ebelskivers. This is a danish pancake ball that has been a Christmas tradition in my family for at least five generations.
Afternoon; Honeybaked ham, rolls, funeral potatoes, and green salad.

[Stadler]

Anyway, one thing I never enjoy is the stuffing.  And if anyone makes it inside the bird, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.  I can manage a few bites of Stove Top.  But otherwise, I'll pass.

Not in any way mocking you, just making an observation: that may be the first time I've ever heard someone say "no" to stuffing.  I get it, we like what we like, but that always seems to be the one thing that everyone CAN agree on.  I know people that make Stove Top and just eat it like it is. 

[Chino]

I'd rather not eat for the day that have to put stuffing on my plate.

[bosk1]

I heard someone recently say that studies show the most hated food at Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce (undoubtedly from the can). 

I've had lots of really good, homemade versions.  But I actually prefer the canned stuff.  I grew up on it, so that's obviously one reason.  (although I don't care for some of the other things I grew up eating)  But I eat it basically as a condiment:  A little sliver with each bite of turkey and gravy is the perfect Thanksgiving bite.  (or spread on my leftover turkey sandwich)  I like it just fine in that context.

But as far as other dishes, I really prefer homemade, more creative dishes.  My mom usually asks me to bring a homemade baked mac & cheese that I've been doing for years now.  It's not my favorite, but is pretty good.  It started as an Alton Brown recipe, so that should tell you something already.  But I've modified it through the years to taste, and I always make it a bit differently.  My bechamel is mostly cheddar, which is pretty traditional for mac and cheese, but I also like to add a good amount of asiago or gruyere to take it up a notch.  This year, I was thinking about "next level"-ing it by adding chorizo.

[Stadler]

AH! As I was reading, I was formulating the question "do you ever put anything else in there?" and you answered it at the end. 

I make a decent mac & cheese, but I have to find a way to make it creamier. I'm an Alton Brown fan, so I might try his version.  But I like adding things.  Sausage is good.  I will put in halved cherry tomatoes as well. 

[cramx3]

I'm not a fan of the cranberry but have nothing against it. 

I absolutely love green beans in general, my favorite veggie I think, but I can't recall last time I had a casserole to comment if I enjoy it, but my gut tells me green beans are best sauteed and not baked in something. 

My Thanksgiving is very traditional, nothing of total interest other than my mother's broccoli and cheese caserole.  It's essentially taking something healthy and making it very unhealthy, but it's soooo good and simple.  Broccoli, velveeta cheese, and beaten ritz crackers on top. That may be the only different dish than what you'll see at everyone elses Thanksgiving.

Also, my moms stuffing (not dressing, but definition) is really really good.  I could just eat that all day long, not sure how she makes it though to comment anymore than it's super soft and delicious. 

For Christmas eve we do a tradional Italian meal of lots of seafood my uncle makes.  He does a seafood stew, crab legs, fried calamari, coconut shrimp, two different seafood pastas (a white and red sauce), and crab cakes.  Christmas day is usually closer to a Thanksgiving meal.

[bosk1]

I make a decent mac & cheese, but I have to find a way to make it creamier.

Some years, mine has been less creamy than I would like.  I think it just boils down to:
1.  Change your sauce/pasta ratio in favor of the former.
2.  DON'T overbake it.  Your sauce and your pasta are already cooked before you put your casserole dish in the oven (for most recipes), so you usually don't need the full cook time in the oven that most recipes call for.  I generally cook it a little less than what is called for, remove it from the oven, turn up the broiler, and then when the broiler has reached the right temp, I put it back in for literally about 2 minutes so the panko/cheese crust on top browns up. 

[pg1067]

Growing up, we always did the traditional Thanksgiving feast, and my wife and I have always done the same.  I don't really care for most of the traditional TG food, though, so to me it's a helluva lot of work for what I consider to be a mediocre meal.  I think my point of view is significantly influenced by the fact that we never had a big TG gathering like a lot of folks have.  I'm 11 years younger than all of my siblings, so from the time my youngest sister got married at 19, I never had more than one sibling living in the house, and it was hit or miss who would show up for TG.  Also, all of our extended family was back east, so we never saw them.  This more or less continued after I got married since my wife's family is also back east.  Nowadays, we only have a few close living relatives -- both of her parents and both of mine are dead -- so it's just my wife and me and our two teenagers (and occasionally a family friend).  My wife finally decided that, this year, she's not going to buy a full turkey and will scale things way down (but she'll still do the pecan and apple pies!).

Christmas dinner when I was a kid was, for whatever reason, centered around ham, which I never liked.  My mom made a bunch of different kinds of cookies, my favorite of which were oatmeal butterscotch cookies with marashino (sp?) cherries.  For whatever reason, my wife's family adopted most of the Swedish Christmas food traditions of her father's mother (who was born in the U.S. to two immigrants from Sweden).  She makes ground pork meatballs and some other stuff and a couple types of Swedish Christmas cookies (spritz and pepparkakor).  She also makes Swedish coffee cake, which I think is dry AF, but she insists on making one for Santa Lucia (sometime in the second week of December, I think) and one for Christmas morning.  About 10 years ago, we added roast beef to the mix for those who don't care for the pork meatballs.

[Lonk]

My family does not make a traditional thanksgiving meal. We usually have a variety of meat (Chicken, pork, maybe ribs), different types of rices, 2 types of potato salad and chicken salad (and we do the same for Christmas).

[Harmony]

For the acorn squash, I usually halve it, remove seeds and put it skin side down on a sheet tray. Season the other side liberally with s&p and brown sugar, a slice of butter in the empty seed cup and some maple syrup. Roast at 350 for a good 45 minutes at least till tender, then scoop out the guts, mash and re-adjust seasoning. I always prefer roasting it to peeling and boiling, the texture is just so much more appealing.

Sounds easy enough.  I may have to do a trial run this weekend and see what the family thinks.  I kind of recall my mom's having some cinnamon and brown sugar flavors in hers, which I would normally like but I can't get past the stringy texture of the squash.  I love butternut squash, but just couldn't ever get into the acorn squash.  Thanks for recipe!

I can guarantee you all that nothing beats my cranberry compote.  It uses caramelized shallots, fresh cranberries and dried tart cherries among other things.  I'm pretty sure it was originally from Bon Appetite but I've been making it for the past 15 years.  The thought of canned cranberry sauce makes me nauseated.

I always make a 2ft high tower of mozzarella encaroza, and it's always a hit. I destroy my kitchen in the process, but it's worth it.

WTF is that and do you have a picture of it?   

funeral potatoes

WTF is that??   

Not in any way mocking you, just making an observation: that may be the first time I've ever heard someone say "no" to stuffing.  I get it, we like what we like, but that always seems to be the one thing that everyone CAN agree on.  I know people that make Stove Top and just eat it like it is.

I think it's probably a texture issue more than anything.  Growing up, my mom made a sage-based stuffing with celery (not a fan) and apples (ew) and it either came out super dry or super wet and either way, I just never enjoyed it.  One year I made a wild rice and mushroom stuffing that I actually enjoyed.  But my sister hates mushrooms and I promptly lost the recipe anyway so there went that.  I have grudgingly enjoyed a bacon/corn bread stuffing but not enough to get super jazzed about it.  It's a lot of bread - I'd rather just have a roll with butter on it.  I know, I know....I'm the oddball at the Thanksgiving table but other than some gentle teasing, nobody cares because it just means more for them!

Christmas Eve at our house is always some version of surf and turf - grilled filet mignon or a T-bone with lobster or crab depending on what's fresh and available.  I think we did scampi one year which was fine.  It's always gluttony at its finest as we splurge on the wine to pair with the meal which translates to both a great white and a great red. 

I know a lot of people really enjoy the dessert portion of these meals.  Honestly, I never have enough room so typically skip this part.  We may get some chocolate truffles for the Christmas Eve feast but not always.

Christmas Day is typically just a matter of grazing.  Everyone brings a couple of appetizer type dishes to share.  A highlight for me is my mom's clam dip.  It's nothing special but it was served yearly since I was a kid, so it's a traditional dish for us.  Mulled wine and champagne with the opening of gifts.  It's pretty laid back and that's what I like best about it, honestly.  Nobody feels like they have to knock themselves out too much with the food.

[lonestar]

  I know people that make Stove Top and just eat it like it is.

Why you outing me bro...


Yeah I make it on occasion, though it's usually for turkey sandwiches with stuffing. Dopest shit ever.

[Stadler]

I know a lot of people really enjoy the dessert portion of these meals.  Honestly, I never have enough room so typically skip this part.  We may get some chocolate truffles for the Christmas Eve feast but not always.

Now, on THIS we agree.  Do not like pumpkin pie, do not like pie in general (though I can be coaxed into a slice of apple if it's not too tart).   I usually just gorge on the main food, then go have a glass of wine and fall asleep.


Thank you Bosk; both of those could reasonably be the culprit, since I usually follow recipes to the letter.  I need to adjust.

[Podaar]

funeral potatoes

WTF is that??   

Seriously? You're from Arizona, certainly you've been exposed to enough Mormons to have gone to one of their after funeral food fests! 

https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/funeral-potatoes-utah-potato-casserole-2108116

[bosk1]

I have never in my life heard that name.  But judging from the link, I know the dish. 

[Podaar]

I have never in my life heard that name.  But judging from the link, I know the dish. 

The ultimate food for when you want to comfort a group of grieving folks. Unfortunately, I'm not able to eat them anymore due to dietary restrictions to combat high A1C numbers.

[Harmony]

funeral potatoes

WTF is that??   

Seriously? You're from Arizona, certainly you've been exposed to enough Mormons to have gone to one of their after funeral food fests! 

https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/funeral-potatoes-utah-potato-casserole-2108116

Oh!  That's what we call Potatoes Peru!  That's my kids' favorite dish of all time.  They'd eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner.