Christmas Food

Giant sells ready-made holiday meal packages. All you have to do is reheat and serve. I think Boston Market sells something similar as well. Good luck!

J.,
I love to cook for the holidays and I am blessed with a large family of inlaws so I do alot of it. Although you do have a small family so you probably won't want to go all out. I would start with a turkey, very easy. follow the directions with the time. put butter under the skin season it, cover and cook. Mash potatoes, stuffing:I never cook in the bird. Baked Macaroni and Cheese from scratch. Sweet potatoes, fresh string beans, corn, rolls and of course pies. Don't forget. It is the holiday so make everything fresh and from scratch. Don't forget the cranberry sauce. Good Luck and Have fun with it.

Hi I am J.. I know the holidays have past and all, but I am a stay at home mom who used to be a fine dining Chef. I can Help you with any cooking questions in the future. I too have a 1 year old boy and am preganat with my secon due July 2.

Hi Jamie,
Honey Baked Ham has some wonderful food if you want to go that route. You can get ham or turkey and then fix your sides, mashed potatoes, veggies, etc.

Hi Jamie,

When my daughter was little, I used to skip the "traditional" Christmas dinner. Instead, I prepared a great breakfast, only spending about a ½ hour in the kitchen on Christmas day. I would make most of it ahead of time, then when we were done with presents, I would put it the pancakes, sausage or bacon in the oven to heat up, and just whip up some eggs and coffee. Everyone is so busy playing together and relaxing, that for the rest of the day, I would have snacks and then a oven roasted chicken to pull apart for either chicken salad sandwiches, chicken nachos, or whatever anyone wanted. It was a simple day, and the kids were not really into the big meal, which they already had to sit through for Thanksgiving!

Hi Jamie,

The menu ideas that I have for you are the same ones that I make for my family.

Ham with pineapple
Mashed Potatoes with gravy
Corn
Rolls
Cookies

Just thought that I would give you a few ideas. :o) Hope this helps.

My advice to you is First don't go all out of your way to make this huge meal. Make something you can handle even if your are not the best cook. My first holiday dinner with my live in boyfriend and 3kids. I brought a chicken roaster, a box of yellow rice, some pilssbury cinnimon rolls and heated up a can of vegatables. I'm not the best cook but the advice my mother gave me was take your time and concentrate because when you pay attention to what you are doing you will be amazed at the outcome. The way i prepared the roaster i washed it with cold water cleaned the inside of the chicken, then I took a single paper towel and just lightly patted it to take away a lot of the water. Put it in a baking dish and took some butter and rubbed that chicken like i was lotioning my baby. Lightly seasoned it with season salt, pepper and just a pinch of salt,. Got one of those reynolds oven bags and set the tempature to 400 degrees. let it cook for about two hours but if you want to be sure buy the roaster with the pop up timer and you are good to go. You will and your family will enjoy it. Its not what you do its the effort that you put forth that will count the most.. Good luck and Happy Holidys.

I'm with everyone else, ham is by far the easiest thing to make on Christmas. My mom (& now I) always just put the ham in a big roasting pan & pour about 1/2 of a 2 liter bottle of Sprite or 7-Up over it & then baste every once in a while. Keeps the ham nice & moist while not really changing the flavor of the meat. We usually do a potato casserole thingy which is 2 big bags of frozen hash brown potatoes (either shredded or cubed, whichever you prefer) thawed out, 2 cans cream of chicken soup, a brick of sharp cheese shredded, mix all that together in a huge bowl & dump into a 9x13 pan, then sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs & pour some melted butter over it. Bake for about 45 min @ whatever you're cooking the ham at. Then we do a green bean casserole, some corn, pretzel salad (which I have a great recipe so if you'd like it just email me & I'd be happy to forward it to you, it's always the first thing to be completely eaten up) & some rolls. Super easy! Good luck!!!

J.,
For Christmas we usually do ham, a tater dish, some rolls and a veg dish. Then we go nuts with deserts/munchies. On Christmas, I'd rather be spending time with my husband and kids, not slaving over a hot stove all day. Pick dishes you can prepare a day or so before, then just put in the oven to warm or finish cooking. Spend as much time with your family as you can. Christmas is so special and fun when the kids are little.

J.

Not to be corny but...go on Martha Stewarts website...she has the best recipes...and she has it all cut out for Christmas dinners...good luck.

J., go to Wal Mart and buy a nice ham. Then, here is a recipe for something delicious called Pineapple Stuffing, which is a wonderful side dish to a ham dinner, and even your son will eat it because it tastes like yummy cake!! Then, make a nice green bean casserole, which you will find on the back of a can of French Fried onions (in the canned vegetables isle). It's a traditional side, easy to make and yummy. Make some rolls, and presto... a nice Christmas dinner you can be proud of:)
Pineapple Stuffing:
Ingredients- 2 Cans of crushed pineapple, drained
2 sticks of butter
2 cups of sugar
8 eggs
10 slices of bread, cubed

First, preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13X9 pan
Cream butter and sugar w/ blender, and add eggs one at a time. Then, add pineapple and bread cubes. Stir by hand to mix. Spread in pan. (Warning, kind of looks like puke...bakes into a gorgeous and yummy stuffing:) Then, bake at 350 for 1 hour!! Finally, ENJOY!!

Hi J.!
I don't know how far out you want to go, but with only three people, I would make it simple. You don't want to spend your entire Christmas day in the kitchen! We like ham on Christmas. So I would suggest a small ham. Glaze it with some honey and sprinkle brown sugar on it. If your family likes pineapple, then put some pineapple slices on it using toothpicks to hold them on. If you pick a boneless, precooked ham, it only takes an hour or two in the oven! Then, make your family's favorite foods...whether it is mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, mac & cheese, a favorite vegie, and some rolls. Don't forget gravy! It's actually less stressful cooking for your own family because you already know what everyone will eat! When you are cooking for extended family, you usually try to have a little of everything in case someone doesn't like something. And for dessert, again, make whatever you know your family likes...perhaps a cheesecake and maybe some choc chip cookies for the little guy (and big guy?:)) There are tons of websites if you want to browse recipes. One I like is foodnetwork.com - it has recipes for anything you can imagine! Good luck and Happy Holidays! Let us know how it turns out!
AMH :)

Ours is ham (I just toothpick pineapples and cherries on mine and roast it), green bean casserole (recipe on the French fried onion can), scalloped potatoes (cook sliced potatoes, layer in casserole with cream of celery soup mixed with milk, butter, and pepper, and bake). And I get some goodies from the grocery store like poppyseed roll, a chocolate orange, eggnog. And Christmas cookies. :)

I would suggest to see if your local store offers holiday dinners. then all you do is reheat it. That is what I do. and in 2 hours my dinner is ready & all i do is reheat everything.

ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, rolls, ham noodles, then pies and cakes. that is some things i can remember us making when we have our christmas dinner.