My Novice Christmas?!
Answers: This year will be the first me and my partner spend together and while I don't feel upto cooking an entire Christmas dinner, what could a novice such as myself cook for a main Christmas meal?
There are shortcuts
Turkey breast instead of entire turkey
Stove Top stuffing - use only a little water
Rest chicken broth
Saute onion & celery in 1 tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil & add with broth
Hide box - they'll never know
Bob Evans or Country Crock make tubs of mashed potatoes
3 bucks
Very tasty
for bottled gravy, try Boston Market in small jar
skip others - blecch
very good
Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls are the way to go - they make a 4 pack & a 12 pack
Get whipped butter for rolls - small pack under 2 bucks
Make Green Bean Casserole from recipe on
Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup can
Use frozen french style green beans instead of canned
add 1 diced onion for flavor
There are great prepared desserts out there
Frozen cheesecake ready to roll
(Since it's just the two of you, try fresh raspberries with whipped cream - excellent)
Believe me, you can do this.
It will taste swell.
And you will make Christmas memories.
Merry Christmas!
Ham is easy as you just add a glaze and heat it up - it is not as much work as a turkey or a rib roast.
Glaze for ham:
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
Juice from one can of pineapple rings in their own juice.
Mix until smooth and spoon half of mixture over the ham. Spoon the rest over half way through the baking time. Simple and easy.
Serve with either smashed potatoes or a sweet potato casserole and a green veggie.
Kings Arms Tavern Sweet Potatoes
3-pounds sweet potatoes
?-cup light brown sugar, packed divided
3-tablespoons butter
5 teaspoons cinnamon
?-teaspoon nutmeg
?-teaspoon salt
1-cup milk
Preheat oven to 400o
Grease 1? quart casserole
Cook sweet potatoes in boiling salted water until done; drain peel and mash them.
Stir in all the remaining ingredients except 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Turn the mixture in to prepared casserole and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Bake at 400o for 30 minutes.
How about this:
filet mignon or your fav cut of steak
garlic mashed potatoes
corn on the cob
apple or pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream
You can go as homemade or storebought as you need to with all of the above items.
