Christmas Food/Traditions

[YOhio]

My wife's dad grew up Catholic so her family always eats fish on Christmas Eve. I usually grill up some salmon or make fish tacos. Christmas morning is orange rolls and fruit juice.

[Solon]

Here's where you can post your particularly egregious recipes for fruitcake or for your mom's famous gingerbread recipe. I'd love to find out what traditions your families have and swap recipes.

Mpfunk and I make bacon spinach quiche Christmas morning. It is delicious and fairly easy. It can be prepared the night before and reheats beautifully.

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach, packed
• 1 pound thick-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust, fitted to a 9-inch glass pie plate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine the eggs, cream, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender. Layer the spinach, bacon, and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Place pie dish on a baking sheet to catch spills. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is set. Cut into 8 wedges.



It's hardly healthy and light, but fantastic.


We also include gourmet mac and cheese and biscuits for Christmas Eve spread. Hooray for food!

Great idea. I learned how to make quiche on my mission in France. Too bad my wife hates it and I never make it.

One secret I learned is to use nutmeg. It makes a difference (IMO).

Also, you gotta make your own crust.

[Solon]

Great idea. I learned how to make quiche on my mission in France. Too bad my wife hates it and I never make it.

One secret I learned is to use nutmeg. It makes a difference (IMO).

Also, you gotta make your own crust.

I'm in the market for a gingerbread recipe. A couple I've tried are only so-so. Maybe gingerbread is meant to be so-so. Anyone have a home-run?

[wuapinmon]

Our only real Christmas food tradition is Hawaiian sweet bread. Oh how I hated getting up at 7 in the morning to kneed that shit on Christmas Eve.

Why didn't you just use your hands? I'm sure it would've been much more efficient.

[MarkGrace]

Oops...knead.

[TripletDaddy]

We make pizzas on Christmas Eve.

[Donuthole]

I'm in the market for a gingerbread recipe. A couple I've tried are only so-so. Maybe gingerbread is meant to be so-so. Anyone have a home-run?

I have never had gingerbread as good as my mom's gingersnaps, so I don't even bother making it. I'll post the gingersnap recipe when I get home if anyone is interested.

[FN Phat]

I have never had gingerbread as good as my mom's gingersnaps, so I don't even bother making it. I'll post the gingersnap recipe when I get home if anyone is interested.

I love gingersnaps.

My mom makes a pumpkin roll every Holiday Season. It is awesome. She didn't have any pumpkin this Thanksgiving, so she used sweet potatoes. I couldn't tell the difference.

We usually open half of the gifts in the morning, eat a big breakfast, and then open the rest afterwards. I am not sure why or when it started, but that is the way it has been for years. My wife hates it as her family is the complete opposite.

[BoylenOver]

As long as it ain't sweetbread.

We make chex mix. A holdover from my wife's family.

My dad makes Chex Mix all December. I love that stuff.

Christmas Eve my mom, brothers and I get fast food or pizza for dinner, then we go look at Christmas lights. Christmas day, my dad and stepmom make Eggs Benedict and ham.

[cougjunkie]

Eggs, potato, cheese, sausage... that breakfast casserole?

Mmmmmm....

Yep.

[Babs]

My wife makes a breakfast casserole for christmas morning.

We do this, too. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, I make a mixed berries french-toast breakfast dish that is sooooooo yummy.

[statman]

my wife's family makes a GERD-inducing concoction called "Slush."

In a non-reactive pot, on med-high heat (at least 3 days before serving), combine:

1 large bottle California Style Sunny-D
2 cups sugar
1 can pineapple juice
1 tiny can grapefruit juice
2 cans FCOJ (do not add water)
2 packages Flav-o-aid Raspberry drink mix (do not add water)

Stir until it feels as mixed as it can get...do not allow to boil. Set aside, covered, and allow it to cool to room temperature. Then place it in the freezer (preferably a deep-freeze). About every 6-8 hours, give it a good stir. When it freezes (it will not freeze solid) the wooden stirring spoon where it can stand upright without falling over, it's ready.

Scoop out and serve with (cold) Sprite poured over it--be sure to give the drinker a spoon.

It is insanely sweet and tasty. I do not recommend more than one tiny, (5-6oz) serving at a time, but you will love it. Everyone who tries it likes it, or is too polite to wretch in front of my wife.

My mom used to make that stuff every Christmas as well. Tasty stuff...

[Portland Ute]

My grandmother makes Frankfurter Kranz "cake."

We quite often eat 'rouladen' and spetzel.

My aunt makes a breakfast casserole she calls egg-strata and the most insanely perfect orange rolls in the known universe. The rolls are not frosted, they are glazed with a homemade glaze that has bits of orange peel in it.

They are not so sweet as to slow you down, yet are addictive and yUUUUUUmy.

Also, lebkuchen. Yum.

[falafel]

We usually open half of the gifts in the morning, eat a big breakfast, and then open the rest afterwards. I am not sure why or when it started, but that is the way it has been for years. My wife hates it as her family is the complete opposite.

I guess that means your wife's family eats half of a big breakfast, then opens all the gifts, then eats the other half of the breakfast? That's just weird.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

My family has 2 food traditions on Christmas, one is a hold over from my youth, the other is a new to the HFN-ldc family.

For breakfast we have Strawberry and Ice Cream waffles. This is the one that comes from my family. Fresh waffles, not Bisquick or some other instant variety, topped with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whip cream.

For lunch/dinner both of us really hated the big dinner idea. We buy some decent cold cuts, cheeses and breads and make sandwiches.

We are pretty fancy people though.