What to do for my first Christmas dinner?

Question

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home and he has decided to invited his dad, step-mom, and step-sister (who is about 13) over for Christmas dinner.
I have never cooked Christmas dinner before and I am nervous. I don't really want to go with the traditional turkey and ham since there will only be 5 of us, so I need ideas of what to make and side dishes. I am open to any ideas.

We are having our dinner on either Saturday or Sunday around 5-6pm since we already have other plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Answer 1

What time of day are they coming over? My family has had a tradition since before I was born of having a champagne brunch on Christmas morning. My mother always said that she does Thanksgiving, and that one big meal is plenty for the year. It certainly takes the stress out of Christmas morning.

Answer 2

On year, when there were only five of us, I cooked a turkey breast instead of a large turkey. It was perfect. These are available in your grocery store near the turkeys. We had traditional mashed potatoes, sausage dressing, green bean casserole, corn casserole , hot rolls, pies etc. sides.

Another option would be stuffed cornish hens.

Here are two foolproof recipes that will please...

Sausage Stuffing.... delicious and complements the turkey well . Not difficult at all.


3/4 lb. Jimmy Dean sausage
3/4 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. EACH chopped green pepper and celery
1/2 C. melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
5 C. white bread toast
5 C. crumbled cooked cornbread
1 1/2 C. warm chicken broth

Cook sausage until brown, drain but reserve 2 T. dripping. Set aside

In the same skillet, saute the onion, celery, and green pepper with the butter.

Beat the eggs with a fork. Stir in seasoning.

Add torn bread toast cubes and crumbled cornbread. Toss until well coated.

Add sausage and reserved drippings and vegetables.

Add broth and mix well. Bake covered at 325 for 45 min.


Baked Corn Casserole... whenever I go to a potluck, this is requested...

1 pkg Jiffy cornbread mix
1 can ( 15 3/4 oz) corn, drained
1 can (14 3/4 oz) cream corn
2 eggs, beaten
1 C. sour cream
1/2 stick butter. melted

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13 X 9 casserole with cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients and pour into casserole.

Bake uncovered for 60 min. Dust top with paprika.

Answer 3

I love to be nontraditional for Christmas dinner since it is so soon after Thanksgiving and I still feel a little "turkeyed out." I don't much care for ham, so I started a really cool tradition of Italian cooking. I make lasagna, chicken fettucine, seafood pasta or whatever I feel like making and then I serve it with a large salad (similar to Olive Garden's) and garlic toast or breadsticks. It's always a big hit with my family and it's fairly simple. Good luck!

Answer 4

Well I'm very traditional, so I would recommend the ham. The leftovers make great sandwiches! You can send some home with his family, and best of all, it's already cooked, so you don't have to worry about getting it done right. Check out Honeybaked Ham. They probably have varying amounts to choose from.

Answer 5

You know what my brother in laws wife does, they celebrate Christmas with her family either a couple days before or a few days after. Well anyways, she makes Chicken Enchiladas. I thought she was nuts at first, but the more I thought of it, it was a great idea. Do something like that and have cookies, candies, crackers, meats, cheese's, chips and dips to snack on. Egg Nog (if your into it).

Answer 6

Have you considered a goose or a duck for Christmas dinner? Waterfowl are delicious and flavorful, but you do have to drain the fat off (as waterfowl during life need the fat to float on water) a lot. Fix your favorite dressing (I like apple-sage dressing, but wild-rice dressing is more traditional for roast waterfowl), scalloped potatoes, steamed string beans with sautéed mushrooms, cranberry sauce (I'll admit, I like the jellied stuff from the can even though I've made my own on occasion), glazed carrots, candied sweet potatoes, greens, cornbread, dinner rolls, whatever pies you and your extended family like, and Christmas Cake (take your favorite White Cake recipe, and once the batter is made scoop out ½ cup of batter and put it in a small bowl. Scoop out another ½ cup of batter and put it in another small bowl. Tint one bowl of batter red and the other bowl green. Fill cake pan[s] with white batter, then drop spoons of red and green batter randomly throughout the pan[s]. Swirl with a knife or a chopstick until you get some pretty cool swirls in the batter [but don't make it muddy]; bake as directed. Once cake is cool ice with a mint icing and decorate with crushed candy canes).

Answer 7

if you want to go with something in the traditional vein, but for a smaller crowd, you can buy just a turkey breast to cook, or you could opt for a roast chicken instead. Cornish hens are always festive, but since people tend to have a strong preference for either light or dark meat, and not both, the chicken tends to work better.

I myself try to do "untraditional" things for my holiday celebration, last year, I went with a sort of italian theme, and my center dish was a stuffed roasted pork tenderloin.

Answer 8

Maybe you can go for a seafood feast. This is rarely done for Christmas. Usually we have turkey, ham, chicken and all the uaual menu.

Answer 9

Last year I had crab! Instead of Turkey it was a good sub.

Answer 10

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