Hellobee Boards

We're making a big pot of sauce and meatballs and sausage with pasta. We'll have salad and do an antipasti before. We plan on hitting up Arthur Ave (Bronx Little Italy) on Xmas Eve for some great bread. I'll also have a ton of desserts including my favorite - struffoli (honey balls).

Pheasant roulade or scallops or lobster.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: seriously, the whole mac n cheese & Fried chicken sounds fantastic. So much so, that I went out for lunch and had just that.

Man, I am SO hungry right now.

If its with DH's family, there's a pretty set menu the family ALWAYS does so I wouldn't rock the boat. Ham, butterflake rolls, Grandma's three bean salad, mashed potatoes, a green salad of some kind, Grandma's apple salad, Grandma's tuna dip with Ruffles and crudites, and Grandma's deviled eggs have to be on the table. Basically, regardless of who's cooking, we have to do Grandma's greatest hits, and then augment with whatever else we want to bring or make. DH's aunt always makes a cheesy hashbrown casserole, someone makes a vegetarian entree of some kind - last year it was bleu cheese butternut squash gratin - and MIL added some pumpkin bread to the table. I made a bleu cheese chopped salad as the "green salad" option and made both pecan and key lime pie for dessert.

When we host a Christmas gathering for our own friends, I do traditional meals relying heavily on Costco. I do a spiral sliced ham in the crockpot rubbed with brown sugar and a can of crushed pineapple in the pot (the Costco ones are fabulous). I serve it with applesauce, mashed potatoes, rolls (again, Costco), someone usually brings a green bean casserole or I do green beans almondine, and toss up the bagged Parisian salad from Costco with the nuts and cranberries. Dessert is Costco pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

If its my Korean side of the family, we have our own "set" menu. The hosting family must do a turkey and usually there's a chef's choice of a second meat, like prime rib or BBQ pork ribs, but never ham. Creamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing are musts. Then usually the host makes a few Korean dishes, but usually no more than 1 or 2 because the rest of the family rounds out the table with Korean entrees. We usually have Korean short ribs, a stir-fried noodle dish, kimchi, assorted tempura veggies, panko shrimp, a cousin's famous ginger salmon, and of course, steamed rice. There's usually 2-3 kinds of pie for dessert.

I've made this Parmesan herb stuffed flank steak for three years and it's gobbled down every year (I even made two last year). I have the butcher butterfly cut the meat for me and I make it at least a day ahead of time and just throw it in the oven for Christmas dinner. And it looks so pretty! You just need an electric knife to make nice clean cuts.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef-tenderloin-with-parmesan-herb-stuffing/

Ours is a Greek-Australian style Christmas.

Xmas Eve @ In Laws -
Fresh Oysters & Prawns
Feta/Pickles/Olives
Roast Potatoes & Carrots
Roast Chicken
Coleslaw (with vinegar dressing not creamy)
Greek Salad
Potato Salad with Onions/Parsely/Vinegar Dressing
Three Bean Salad
Baked leg of ham with plum glaze.

Followed by probably chocolate mousse/choc ripple cake/toblerone cheesecake that my MIL will make.

Xmas Day either at my house or mum's place -

Leg or shoulder of lamb, slow roasted for a few hours with garlic and herbs.
Roasted Potato & Carrots
Greek Salad/Coleslaw with vinegar dressing
Tiropita (Flaky hand made pastry filled with feta & ricotta cheese) or Prasopita (same thing but with leek/cheese filling)
Home made Olives, Feta cheese/Kefalograviera cheese,
grilled peppers in tomato/garlic sauce,
fried eggplant with garlic and parsley.

aaaaaaand then we can't move for the next week, and are eating left overs hahah

We have yetto do the hosting, but here's a rundown of what is essential for us, aside from Turkey:

mashed or roasted potatoes (or mashed roasted!)
Bread Stuffing
Carrots
Rolls
Gravy

I always bring a tray of mixed homebaked cookies.

@Bao: We usually do a ham with scalloped potatoes, rolls, and corn. Pair that with a pie and that's typically all we serve. One year we did a duck. That was kind of fun.