MONDAY WEEKNIGHT MENUS - PLANNING MEALS FOR CHRISTMAS EVE

MAKING COOKING AT HOME EASIER
MENUS THREE AND FOUR

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf) 

FROM THE HEALTHY VERSION OF THE SEASONS OF LANDGRAF CASTLE COOKBOOK; VOLUME 2

So here we are in the final lap of the Christmas Season!  

No need to stress over meal prep and grocery lists!  I’ve done that for you this time. Today's blog turned into a double feature!  

Here is a simple Christmas Eve lunch menu as well as a Christmas Eve dinner menu.  I hope it makes your holidays a little lighter and you have a lot more free time to relax and enjoy those that you love and are inviting to your home for Christmas. 

If you are like me, you will need to have your guest come on THEIR schedule instead of yours, and that may make things a bit complicated unless you keep it simple.  The very first rule of holiday entertaining for the sane is “keep it simple.”

Typically, this holiday only last for two days; Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (unless you are doing the twelve days of Christmas) so rule number two is to totally forget about your diet and enjoy the day!  Yes, I DO like to keep these recipes healthy whenever possible, but this is a holiday celebration; feel free to indulge yourself!  Just don't overdo.  You can’t diet 365 days a year, and it is healthy and good to give yourself little rewards for all the other days you have stayed true.  Celebrate!  No dieting allowed.  And remember rule number one.  I’ll say it again…..Keep it simple!

Have you ever tried cooking two festive meals on Christmas Eve with a two year old granddaughter in tow?  It is a great balancing act for sure; but do I want to give up my time with my granddaughter to slave over a stove????  The answer is easy; it is a definite “NO!”

That is why I do all the heavy cooking and preparations the day before Christmas Eve, and have it all ready to go into the oven on THE day.  This really eliminates the haste of meal prep on that special day we all want to visit and have fun.  Only certain dishes will work for this.  I’ve picked an easy to prepare beef dish for Christmas Eve Dinner.  I’ve found a few perfect recipes that are simple, tasty and elegant and can be prepared ahead of time.  What more could you ask for on a holiday?  I’ll run through the whole routine with you, if you are interested in some ideas, and if you like; all you have to do is follow instructions, ready? 

Let’s do Christmas Eve lunch first!

CHRISTMAS EVE LUNCHEON:

The small for-lunch-crowd at our house on Christmas Eve consists of my Mom, my granddaughter, my husband and me.  The larger crowd comes in the evening.  Some years I do brunch for the early gang, and some years I do lunch.  This year it will be lunch.  I’ve tried to join these two events on our Christmas Eves without success for many years.  I finally gave up and went with what worked.  Now it feels like a normal routine.   When the adult children were growing up this gatering time in the daylight worked.  They could be around for lunch.  Now they are working and can only attend in the evenings, so we see them later.

My Mom can’t stay up too late or drive home after dark.  She likes to sleep in her own bed at night; and I can’t seem to get her to spend the night in my VERY comfortable guest room.  She isn’t up to the schedule of the arrival time for when my retail-working adult children begin to arrive on Christmas Eve (anywhere from 8 p.m. – 9 p.m., and then we often party all night long); so we have resorted these days to having Mom over for lunch, and we spend the day chatting and catching up on each other’s lives and doing Christmassy things with her during the day and then seeing our grown children and their families later.  We even have children from another state that can’t seem to make it to our house until New Years weekend.  Well, that's okay because everyone with children needs to be in their own home at Christmas.  We will see that part of the family (that brings my two grandsons) for New Year's this year, and that is another story for another day. 

Sometimes between lunch and dinner most Christmas Eves,  we may attend a candlelight service at a nearby church, or ride to some special mid-day Christmas Eve event together (the four of us.)   I love it when Mom wants to join in on these things. Sometimes we just relax at our home.   Always we have a nice brunch and/or lunch together, no matter what other activities we decide to pursue.  

I always want to volunteer to babysit with our two-year old granddaughter for the whole day on Christmas Eve while her parents work their last shifts before Christmas.  That way she gets to spend some Christmas time with her great-grandmother, and we get to enjoy some Christmas time with her too, away from the crowd that surrounds our tree on Christmas Eve.  We usually give her a few early gifts and that way she even remembers who they came from!   I love seeing her and my Mom together too.  It is a very special day for us!

I keep the lunch simple but tasty.  This year I’ve chosen one of our favorite soups to eat whenever the weather outside begins to be a bit nippy.  I call it “Christmas Eve Soup.”  I’ll make up some special cornbread with broccoli inside to serve with it; and I will have a cheese and fruit tray and a gelatin salad too.  I’ll have a dessert tray full of Christmas cookies, candies and some Key Lime pie afterward.  Practically all of this can be done ahead the day before and just pulled out of the refrigerator and/or re-heated.  That way we get to enjoy more visiting time and have less cooking time to worry with.  I’ll put on a pot of coffee to go with desert later and make some sweet tea to go with our lunch.

I’ll serve these foods up on the pretty Lennox Christmas China that Mom gave me a few years back when she and my Dad downsized.  She will still get to enjoy the pleasure of using these dishes that graced her table at their farm for so many years in the past.  It will be festive, simple and elegant.  I’ll serve this lunch at my bar-height table in my cozy little Christmas kitchen, and it keeps me from having to re-clean and reset the dishes in the dining room in a big hurry before our Christmas Eve guests arrive later for a more formal dinner at the end of the same day.

Here are the recipes I will be using for lunch:

CREAMY LIME AND PEAR SALAD

Ingredients:

1 can (15 ounces) pear halves

1 package (3 ounces) lime gelatin

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed.

1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple (drained but save juice on the side)

1 cup chopped pecans (toasted and divided into halves)

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Drain pears and pineapple and reserve the juices.  Set fruits aside in a bowl in the refrigerator while you make the rest.  Pour juices into a small saucepan and bring juice to a boil on top of stove.  Stir in gelatin until completely dissolved.  Remove from the heat and cool slightly.  Pour pears, crushed pineapple and cream cheese into a large bowl and mix together with hand mixer or food processor.  When all is well blended stir in the chopped pecans.  Fold the jello mixture into this mix and blend again.  Stir in the whipped topping (I use Cool Whip) and mix well.  Pour final mix into an ungreased 11 inch x 7 inch dish, or any decorative mold that you wish to use.  Refrigerate until well set.  Sprinkle the top with the remaining half of chopped pecans.  (This recipe yields eight servings.)

BROCCOLI CORNBREAD

(This dish is always a lot of fun to serve because the broccoli is a surprise which adds flavor and interest to the every-day dish of regular cornbread.  On holidays I use a premixed cornbread just for simplicity and to save time, but I rarely do this the rest of the year.  At Christmas, I’m all about easy!.)

Ingredients:

2 packages white cornbread mix

4 eggs

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup cottage cheese

2/3 cup melted butter

Directions:

Prepare a casserole dish.  Mix all ingredients together and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut in squares and serve hot with butter.

CHRISTMAS EVE SOUP

(I love this recipe because it taste so good on a cold winter day, but it is SO EASY to make and easy to prepare ahead.)

Ingredients:

1 can tomato paste

1 can tomato sauce

1 pack Hidden Valley Ranch Powered Dressing Mix

1 can Rotel

1 can black beans

1 can white shoe-peg corn

1 can pinto beans

2 lbs. cooked lean ground beef, drained

1 cup water

1 onion, chopped

3 Tablespoons minced garlic

Sea Salt (to taste)

Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Sautee the onions and minced garlic, then fry the beef in a skillet on the stove, being sure to drain off any excess grease.  Transfer that to a soup pot and add all the other ingredients.  Stir well and heat until hot.  Add in the salt and pepper that you desire, then; simmer a few hours before serving.  (Grated cheddar cheese is a nice topping and I like to serve thin crackers with this too.)

Such a simple Christmas Eve lunch; but I promise all who eat it will enjoy a tasty meal.  My Mom doesn’t like a big fuss; so this suits her well.   I’ll let you pick out your own favorite cookies and candies and pie.  I can’t do it all for you! 

I also like to serve a fruit and cheese tray before this meal as an appetizer.  I’ve found that adding oranges (sliced) and pomegranates (sliced open with the colorful seeds spilling out the sides) to the Christmas fruit and cheese trays always makes it a bit more festive.  I just pull together some assorted cheese cuts with a platter of grapes and apple slices and add those little touches to it.   I halve the oranges and slice them very thin and stack them in pretty random designs leaving a few whole oranges placed here and there for an artistic touch with scattered crackers and chips and dips in little crystal bowls.  Maybe a few taper candles here and there or even inside the whole oranges????  These little things make soup and cornbread look like a feast fit for a king. My husband says I don't really care about eating the food and I just want to be artistic with the table; perhaps he has a point - that is one of my favorite parts of preparing a meal.

So we usually laugh the day away and spend time sharing our gifts with my Mom and my little granddaughter; then when it is dark, the rest of our Alabama immediate family members begin to come in from a long day of retail sales management and other such jobs.  They will be exhausted, and I love greeting them with a nice glass of wine and some appetizers when they walk in the door.  They often head for the coffee pot first! 

Soon their shoes are tossed over in a corner and they have changed into some more festive party clothes and they are unwinding and feeling ready to party.  They all also come in the door HUNGRY!!!!  This suits me fine, because I have a very festive Christmas Eve Dinner already prepared by the time they arrive.  Most of it is simply re-heated and ready-to-serve.  I have set the dining room table the day before, and it is all festive and waiting on its occupants.  All I have to do is light the candles and set out the food.  EVERYTHING is prepared ahead and either just re-heated or refrigerated until needed.  Easy-peazy – simply  due to a bit of prep time spent the day before.  The aroma of the meat will be drifting through the house and mixing with the smell of the cookies and sweet snacks.  It will not be long before everyone makes their way to the table and we offer up a prayer of Thanksgiving to God for another year of blessings. 

By this time I will have set out a more elaborate fruit and cheese tray than we served earlier on the cozy kitchen table (I’ve cleared and put away everything from the earlier luncheon.)  This time I’ll add a few olives and cold veggies and some cream cheese with red and green pepper jellies to the fruit and cheese mixes.  Nothing hard at all; just festive and colorful.  We will drink water, tea and wine with coffee later when we enjoy our dessert. 

We will serve ourselves from the kitchen and eat our meal in the dinning room, which I will have set in a festive pattern using my favorite dishes all covered with Cardinals in the snow.  As we begin the meal, I will light the candles on each end of the table, and as we have dessert later we will light the Hannukah Mennorah, as Hannukah starts on Christmas Eve this year.  We celebrate a Christian Hannukah at our home each year.  (We are NOT Jewish, only in our hearts and through adoption into The Kingdom of God.)   This   means lots of festivities will be uninterrupted for the next eight days, including Christmas Day, which we have come to realize is actually positive evidence of the fulfillment of the meaning of the message from that first Hannukah that spoke to say God is still with us!  He is sending a Messiah!  It will be a great miracle and He will be The Light of The World.   This is the way we, as Christians, will  celebrate the Miracle of Messiah that the Hannukah story so symbolicly points us to!  God was  in the miracle business back then, and He is still doling out Christmas miracles every year; if you just open your eyes and look around.  As we light the Christ Candle of the Advent wreath on Christmas Morning we wiill remember more of the same; of Emmanuel; Christ with us!  We will celebrate the miracle that made it possible for God to come to dwell on earth!  How significant all these beautiful candles are!  How significant it is that they all point to the miracle of Christ!

The Christmas Eve menu this year is Old Fashioned Cheery Coke Salad, Rolls, Red-Wine Infused Beef Tenderloin With Mushrooms and Gravy and Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Modern Day Green Bean Casserole.  There will be White Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping for dessert as well as the assorted dessert trays I have prepared ahead full of assorted Christmas candies and cookies. (My granddaughter especially wanted some chocolate covered cherries.)  You know my assorted tray of cookies and candies will include some glazed donuts; which are traditional for serving at Hannukah!  There; you now have yet another excuse for throwing your diet out the window for a few days!  

Here are the recipes I’ll use:

OLD FASHIONED CHERRY COKE SALAD

Ingredients:

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained and reserving juice.

14.5 ounce can of dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup, drained (but reserve the juice.)

1 large package of cherry Jello (8 ounce size)

1 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola

½ cup chopped pecans (walnuts work too)

Directions:

Drain the cherry syrup and pineapple juices into a saucepan setting the fruit aside in the refrigerator until needed.  Bring the fruit juices to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the Jello.  When Jello is fully dissolved add in four cups of Coca Cola. Transfer all to a large bowl and add in fruits and nuts.  Pour into whatever mold you will be using or an oblong casserole dish.  Chill in refrigerator for 3 – 5 hours before serving.

RED WINE INFUSED BEEF TENDERLOIN

(This is a favorite for Christmas Eve at our house because it may be prepared in advance.  If you chose to do so, just bake and slice meat as directed, then return meat to the pan and cover with the drippings on top of the meat.  Refrigerate safely for up to two days.  To reheat simply bake covered in 350 degree oven for one hour or until heated through.  If you desire the non-alcoholic version; simply substitute water for the wine. This recipe serves four and I double it for my gathering of 8)

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced thin

1 beef tenderloin (have your butcher trim the fats)

1 can (10 – 12 ounce) condensed French onion soup

1-1/4 cups of dry red wine

½ cup ketchup

8 tablespoons minced garlic

½ cup brown sugar

1 package Lipton onion soup mix

Sea Salt (to taste)

Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

1 pint fresh mushrooms and one chopped onion sautéed together in1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Place sliced onions in a large shallow pan.  Cut small one-inch deep slivers into your meat in eight separate places.  Fill those slivers with the minced garlic.  Rub the meat with some salt and pepper.  Top the onion slices in the pan with the meat.   Sautee some mushrooms and onions in extra virgin olive oil.  Pour the sautéed mushrooms and onions over the top of the meat. Mix the remaining ingredients well and pour them over all.  Cover the whole dish with foil.  Bake the covered dish for three and one-half hours or until the meat is tender.  Let stand covered for ten minutes before slicing.  Serve topped with drippings.  (If you are cooking this ahead of time and refrigerating and heating again, let it cool, then slice and recover with the foil, then keep it refrigerated.  On the next day, simply place in the oven at 350 degrees F for one hour to reheat before you serve  Remove the foil and continue heating for 10 more minutes..  You may want to reserve some of the drippings to make a separate gravy dish on the side but be sure to leave some of the drippings around and over the meat.)

CREAMY GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients:

5 pounds Russet potatoes

2 tablespoons sea salt

16 ounces half-and-half

8 tablespoons minced garlic

8 ounces grated parmesan

Directions:

Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes.  Place in a large saucepan adding the salt and cover the potatoes with water.  Bring the potatoes to a boil over medium heat then reduce the heat to a rolling boil.  Cook until the potatoes are tender and fall apart when picked with a fork.  Set aside.  In another saucepan add the minced garlic and the half-and-half and heat over medium heat until it simmers.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Drain the water from the potatoes.  Using a hand- held mixer and a large bowl, mash the potatoes and slowly add the garlic and half and half mixture, then the parmesan.  Give this a few minutes to thicken. 

(I’m going to cook these potatoes ahead of time then put them into a crock pot to heat on the next day.  I’ll give them about two hours to heat up and add more half and half if they get dry before time to serve.  SO GOOD!!!  We never eat potatoes at our house except for special occasions; so that adds to the fun for me!)  That extra side of gravy you make from the meat drippings can also be available for the potatoes.  I also like to have little crystal containers full of grated cheese and green onions and bacon bits for toppings if anyone desires.  This turns out a lot like a potatoe bar.)  

MODERN DAY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh green beans

8 ounces roughly chopped mushrooms

5 strips bacon

1 cup thinly sliced onions

3 tablespoons minced garlic

½ cup almond meal

1-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

 3 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Drizzle Olive Oil on the thinly sliced yellow onions.  Sprinkle them with one teaspoon of sea salt.  Mix until onions are coated well with oil and salt.  Spread onions evenly on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until the onions are brown and crispy.    Put one teaspoon of sea salt into a pot of water and bring it to a boil.  While the water is waiting to boil sautee the garlic and mushrooms and pieces of bacon together, stirring over medium high heat on the oven in a skillet.  Remove ends of the green beans and break into halves and drop into the pot of boiling salty water.  Boil the beans for five minutes then remove and place into a bowl.  When the mushrooms, bacon and garlic are golden remove them also and place in another bowl.  With skillet empty and now heated to medium low, add one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and then one cup of almond milk.  Add half of almond meal and whisk all together until it disolves, then repeat adding other half of almond milk and almond meal, whisking all the time over a medium simmer.  Add 2 teaspoons of sea salt and two teaspoons of cracked black pepper and keep whisking until the mix becomes the texture of heavy cream.  Reduce the heat and stir in bacon and mushroom mix.  Add green beans and stir all together.  Pour all into a medium sized casserole dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Remove foil and sprinkle onions on top.  Place back in oven and bake for five more minutes uncovered.  Enjoy this healthy, natural side dish with no guilt!  

I’ll save the best for last with this yummy dessert I’ll serve with coffee.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE WITH BLUEBERRY TOPPING

Ingredients:

FOR THE CRUST:

2 cups crushed graham crackers

1 cup slivered almonds

½ cup white sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons caramel topping

FOR THE FILLING:

1 pound white chocolate, chopped

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

¾ cup white sugar

4 eggs beaten

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE TOPPING:

½ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

¼ cup water

1 pint fresh blueberries

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Make the Crust:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Make the crust in a food processor or with a hand-held mixer.  Blend together the graham cracker crumbs, almonds and sugar until the almonds are ground fine.  Pour in the melted butter and caramel while processing until mix is combined.  Press the mixture into the bottom and half-way up the sides of a 10 inch spring-form pan.

Make the filling:  In a metal bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the white chocolate, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat and set aside.  In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and ¾ cups sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time.  Beat in the flour and the vanilla and blend in the melted white chocolate slowly, beating until the filling is well combined.  Pour filling into crust.  Bake in the middle of preheated oven for one hour then turn off the heat and crack the oven door open just one inch, letting the cheesecake cool in the oven to room temperature.  The secret to keeping the cheesecake from cracking on top is to do this, and let it sit for several hours before moving it.  Cover loosely and refrigerate overnight before removing from pan.

Make the topping in a saucepan.  Combine ½ cup sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in water and blueberries.  Bring to a boil then simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Press through a fine sieve.  Stir in lemon juice.  Allow to cool and store in a glass jar until you use over cheesecake.      

Well, we usually enjoy a meal similar to this one and then move to the living room to open our gifts under the Christmas tree.  After we have had our festive fun we all go back to the kitchen for coffee and more desserts. It has become my custom to give away an AnnaLee Elf, so we will draw for that.

Before long it will be time for one two-year-old little girl to get to bed in time for Santa to come at her house; and the house will begin to empty out.  It is always so strangely quiet when everyone leaves!

We will have a brief pause and then it will be Christmas Day!  

Time to light that tall candle in the center of the Advent Wreath that stands for Christ.  Time to remember that God sent us a precious Savior!

Most likely we will attend a church service on Christmas Day.  Some years we like to be lazy on Christmas Day and stay home.  Anyone who wants to come by is always welcomed.  Sometimes we get a call from a little one saying she wants us to come see what was under her tree on Christmas morning, and we scurry around and head right over to share her excitement.  Some Christmas Days are spent at my Mom's house visiting.  You never know - and we like it to be mostly unplanned!  

  

At the end of the day – it is worth every minute of the preparation.  If any of this helped you with your own Christmas planning; I’m glad.  

Each celebration is a bit different and each family has their own favorite things and traditions, but it is fun to share our ideas and recipes and notes.  I would love to hear about some of your traditions and holiday routines.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May God's greatest blessings be yours in this joyful season!