Holiday Dinner Ideas?

We are a mixed-faith family (I am also a product of one) so we have a hodgepodge of traditions that work for us, even if they are weird :crazy_face: We always have Chinese or Thai on Christmas Eve. Since we are more “Jew-ish” than Jewish, we follow cultural traditions without strictly adhering to religious ones and there is a traditional ham dinner for Christmas Day. I have also added a pineapple-cheese-Ritz cracker side dish recommended by @abasket in a thread a while ago!

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I always make popovers for Christmas using the Barefoot Contessa recipe. It is usually successful, but I have had one or two flops. The good news is they still taste delicious even if they are not “puffy”. Good luck!!

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Are there any other Slovaks? My family is from Eastern Slovakia (Trebišov district, about an hour from the Ukranian border). We ate traditional dishes for Christmas Eve growing up, but DH doesn’t like any Slovak food. He won’t eat anything with sauerkraut, mushrooms, peppers & onions… Do your families eat traditional foods? If so, what will they eat? I miss my food :cry:

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Czech here, but the Czech side of my family never hosted the holidays. My grandmother made amazing pastries, but she was not one to cook for a crowd. I loved her cabbage soup and poppyseed cake. She’s been gone a long time, and my dad does not follow his heritage at all, so all I have are memories.

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Do you know any of her recipes? That would be great if you did.

She barely spoke English and couldn’t write it, so we have nothing from her on paper. I have used the Internet to approximate both the cookie and the soup recipe. She taught my mother to make noodles for chicken soup which we had every Sunday. Unfortunately, when the family immigrated from Canada to the US when my dad was in high school, his troubles with English and being made fun of for his accent caused him to shield us from his heritage. We never learned a word of Czech and, except for Sunday soup, never ate any of the foods he grew up with. It was important to him to be “American.” We lost a lot when grandma died.

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I totally get that quote. I grew up under the same desire to be “American”.

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My mother’s grandmother (the cook in the family - her mother was a clerk on Wall Street) was German. So Mom grew up eating a lot of German food. So she always included red cabbage for holiday meals, which adds a bit of color and different flavor.

I follow the tradition, even though (like cranberry sauce) it has lovely color but not consumed much by my family. So this year I opened the jar early, when I had 2 dear friends over for our annual Christmas get together. (I make crockpot pot roast, send leftovers home with them.) They both enjoyed it.

Usually there is only one brand (or none) to choose from. This was what I bought this year, Aunt Nellie’s sweet and sour. Very easy to serve - I like it room temp, so just pour into a pretty dish.
https://www.kingsoopers.com/p/aunt-nellie-s-sweet-sour-red-cabbage/0004430005957?fulfillment=PICKUP&storecode=62000042&&cid=shp_adw_shopl_.king+soopers_g_lia_shop_acq_evgn_ship_pantry&gclid=CjwKCAiAtouOBhA6EiwA2nLKH7Uzio0tm_BLmERmZzR8z7TUXSuqA_aTmn7zBe-OFttTOKR0P9wvnBoCNLsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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I get that; we were lucky to live in a Slovak neighborhood, so there was strength in numbers. Everyone went to the same church and worked at the same steel mill. I lost the language in the 80s when my grandparents died. We just didn’t speak it after everyone passed.

If you ever want to delve into the food, this cookbook is a good starter; it’s an American-ized version of traditional recipes. The book has been around for decades; our grandmother’s sold them as church fundraisers. The book is actually still in print and can be purchased from the organization. There’s also a Facebook group for Slovak food called My Favorite Slovak Recipes; there are people from Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, etc. People post family recipes, especially now during the holidays. They’re really helpful with identifying food/recipes based on people’s vague memories of dishes from childhood.


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I make a sweet and sour red cabbage pretty regularly - it’s in an old Time-Life Italian cookbook and is very, very easy.

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I actually have a jar of leftover Aunt Nellie’s red cabbage in the refrigerator. Had some with Mrs. T’s pierogi’s a couple of days ago.

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My folks were immigrants from Croatia (formerly Yugoslavia) and we ate a fair amount of Croatian food–Sarma (stuffed cabbage), cabbage soup, and janjetina (lamb). As a kid I hated it because I wanted to eat the kinds of meals my friends were eating (TV dinners). We also spoke Croatian at home and English in public unless my folks didn’t want people to hear what they were saying.

I went to Croatia pre-Covid and when I returned, I decided to start making some of the food I had on my trip. I found a great cookbook and recipes online. I’ll make fritule on Christmas Eve (which my mom made as well). She was a terribe cook, but mastered these little donuts.

Croatian Fritule Recipe | Croatian Fritule Recipe

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Traditional fare tomorrow, but our son is visiting from college exactly 2,030 miles away, so we are doing something a little different and having a pizza party Christmas Eve with some vino. I am trying to recreate my favorite pie in America - Pizzeria Mozza’s Margherita Pizza. It will turn out to be a disaster, but we’ll all have fun trying our creations.

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Christmas Eve and I’m still not sure what we are having tonight or tomorrow! But the freezer and refrig is full so my daughters and I will have a meeting shortly and figure it all out. :slight_smile:

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I was hoping we’d have duck tomorrow, but the grocery story didn’t have breasts (which are easy and only two of us) and the whole duck and goose they had last week was gone. We took a white truffle risotto class yesterday and there are leftovers so we will probably eat that, unless we eat leftovers from today’s cooking class which is Beef Wellington. I must say I am enjoying my husband’s new Covid activity which is taking cooking classes!

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Spent all morning making Brunswick stew for Christmas dinner tomorrow and a lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner tonight. S2 can’t be here because he has Covid so it’s just my husband, S1, my 100-year-old mother and her caregiver.

Merry Christmas! :christmas_tree:

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D20 requested Chinese tonight; I’m not going to complain because I don’t have to cook :tada:

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We just had a delicious but odd Christmas Eve dinner. Dutch potato soup, sushi, a delicious baguette. Christmas cookies later!

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We always just snacked on cheese and crackers on Christmas Eve since H was usually singing at several evening church services - of course now we call it charcuterie :blush:. Christmas Day is cinnamon rolls and coffee early, then presents and then late large breakfast - basics with eggs, bacon, grits and cut up grapefruit. No lunch. Steak and baked potatoes for dinner.

If anyone wants lunch or more for Christmas Eve they can have catfish stew that I have stockpiled in freezer

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Dinner is over and dishes are done. The pork Wellington was great. DIL constructed it at their house and brought it in a cooler to bake here.

She has made this many times and says the one important thing is to get a plain pork tenderloin, not one of those vacuum packed in broth or marinade, otherwise it’s too salty with the prosciutto wrap.

Hope everyone had the best day they could, and stayed safe and healthy.

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