2008 christmas dinner suggestions

[joycenalex]

i need some, help! my recipe box isn't helping. i do want custard tho' for dessert

[jennielynn1970]

I have a good recipe for a creamcheese flan. It's outrageously good!!


Cream Cheese Flan

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
7 egg yolks
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook 1 cup sugar in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until sugar melts and turns a light golden brown. Quickly pour hot caramelized sugar into a 2-quart flan dish. Using oven mitts, tilt dish to evenly coat bottom and sides. Let stand 5 minutes. Sugar will harden.

Whisk together egg yolks and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Process egg whites, cream cheese, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in blender until smooth. Stir egg white mixture into
egg yolk mixture. (Pour mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into a large bowl if there are lumps); pour custard over caramelized sugar.

Place dish in a large shallow pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 1/3 up sides of dish.
Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Remove dish from water bath; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. Run a knife around edge of flan to loosen; invert onto a serving plate.

[joycenalex]

I have a good recipe for a creamcheese flan. It's outrageously good!!

share please?

[jennielynn1970]

Sorry, had to copy and paste, lol.

It comes out a lot like cheesecake, but is flan. If you don't mind some prep work, it's well worth the effort. It's just the sugar part that is a pain to do to get carmelized.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

What about sweet potato souffle? This is SO good, everyone loves it, and I dont even like sweet potatoes!

Sweet potato casserole

Bake potatoes first- I wrap in foil and bake them like you would a white potato for an hour or so. Wait until they cool, then easily peel away skins.

Ingredients

1 stick butter
1 T vanilla
3 cups sweet potatoes
1/2 Cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup evaporated milk

Topping
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick hard butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup nuts

Mix potatoes, sugar, vanilla, evap. milk,eggs and butter. Pour in buttered casserole dish. In a separate bowl combine brown sugar,flour, butter and mix well to make crumbs. add nuts to the mix (I use walnuts). Sprinkle on top of potato mixture and bake for 30 mins at 350 degrees
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I make 2 patches and freeze one for later

[joycenalex]

we don't have a "traditional meal", so what i fix has varied over the years. i'm going to make the 2 suggested recipies. thanks for the suggestion, any others?

[Daisy and Delilah]

What about sweet potato souffle? This is SO good, everyone loves it, and I dont even like sweet potatoes!

Sweet potato casserole

Bake potatoes first- I wrap in foil and bake them like you would a white potato for an hour or so. Wait until they cool, then easily peel away skins.

Ingredients

1 stick butter
1 T vanilla
3 cups sweet potatoes
1/2 Cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup evaporated milk

Topping
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick hard butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup nuts

Mix potatoes, sugar, vanilla, evap. milk,eggs and butter. Pour in buttered casserole dish. In a separate bowl combine brown sugar,flour, butter and mix well to make crumbs. add nuts to the mix (I use walnuts). Sprinkle on top of potato mixture and bake for 30 mins at 350 degrees
__________________
I make 2 patches and freeze one for later

I make this for every holiday. I also add pumpkin pie spice or seperate spices. Whatever you like(if you like spice). My family treats it like a dessert and they go absolutely crazy over it.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

It is good , isnt it?

If I dont bring it, my family gets so upset!

I have tried it with coconut as well, but I did not like that as a topping.
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I forgot to add I use a BIG bag of those tiny marshmellows, I put them on the last 5 minutes, and let them brown a bit. If you have not tried it this way, try it! IT IS DELISH! More like a dessert for us too

[beeniesmom]

Here's my Christmas Baked Pasta.

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 lb. lean stew beef
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 large can of pureed tomatoes
¾ cup water
½ cup red or white cooking wine (optional)

For the pasta mix:
1 lb. rigatoni or penne cooked al dente
1 small container of ricotta cheese
2 ½ cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese


In a large pot over medium high heat, put oil, beef and onion. Let cook for about 10 minutes stirring every few minutes. Add salt, pepper, both cans of tomatoes, wine and water. Let simmer, covered, for about 1 ½ to 2 hours on VERY low heat. You need to stir the sauce every 15 minutes. If it’s boiling too hard, lower the flame. It is only supposed to plop every few seconds.

When the sauce is done you can continue on and make the pasta.

You can use any pasta you like pasta with ridges usually is better.

Cook a whole box (1 lb.) of pasta in abundant salted water minus 3 minutes what the box instructions indicate so you have very al dente pasta.

Drain. Put it back into the pot you cooked it in. Add 4 ladles of the sauce you made and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients, one by one, listed under “pasta mix” above except for ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (to sprinkle on top before baking).
Mix well being careful not to break the pasta.

With a ladle, scoop the pasta in assorted baking pans (you can probably make two 9x13 pans or one very big lasagna size pan). Pour a few ladles of sauce on top. Use all the sauce on each of the pans.
Sprinkle some extra mozzarella cheese if you want.
Cover with foil.

At this point, you can either freeze them or bake them in a 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 10-12 minutes or until the top reaches desired brownness.

[jennielynn1970]

If you like that old green bean casserole that they advertise, I found one on Food Network that absolutely kicked that old one's butt!!! It's from Guy Fieri (who just annoys me, but the recipe is great). It's pretty easy to make, just get everything pre-cut and and done at the store. Buy the bags of green beans that can be nuked, it saves a ton of time.

I did follow the directions for the fried onion topping, and it took time, but wow, fresh onion rings/slices, they were really tasty. Don't like dealing with hot fat, but it wasn't too bad. I made this for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was a hit!



Prep Time: 25 min
Inactive Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 45 min
8 to 10 servings

The Mean Green

For the Beans:
2 pounds green beans, in bag for steaming in microwave
4 strips bacon, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large Vidalia sweet onion, 1/2 cut into large dice, 1/2 reserved
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 2 by 1/2-inch pieces
4 shittake mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch strips (bought at store this way)
4 oyster mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch strips (bought at store this way)
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the Roux/Cream sauce
1/4 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups panko bread crumbs (japanese bread crumbs, or just use regular ones)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the Green Beans
Nuke green beans till almost done, but still crunchy.
Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish.
In a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, saute bacon until lightly crispy, remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. In remaining bacon fat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, heat over medium-high heat, add onions and saute until just starting to caramelize, add in red bell peppers, saute 2 minutes, add in mushrooms and minced shallot and saute for 2 more minutes. Season with the salt, pepper and cayenne. Toss with green beans and set aside.

For the roux/cream sauce:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is melted, add in flour, all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until well combined. Continue to stir for 1 minute more. Add in milk 1/2 cup at first, stirring well to combine, then add 1 cup more milk, stir to combine and bring to a simmer, then add final 1/2 cup of milk and stir and simmer until thickened.

Add in seasonings, combine with green bean mixture and pour into prepared pan. Top with 1 1/2 cups panko crumbs, then reserved bacon, then remainder of panko lightly sprinkled on top.

Place in oven, set timer for 35 minutes.

You can do the topping as below, or if you want, just use the dried onions in the can like they call for in the original recipe. This is a bit involved. They taste fantastic, but if you don't like to work with hot fat, then either buy onion rings or use the ones in the can.

For the Topping
1/2 cup buttermilk
Reserved 1/2 Vidalia onion, thinly sliced, with a mandoline
3 medium shallots, thinly sliced with a mandoline
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 cups canola oil

In a medium bowl place buttermilk, onion, and shallots. Let sit 10 minutes, drain well. In a medium bowl, combine flour and seasonings. When green beans have been in the oven 25 minutes, in a large frying pan, heat canola oil to 350 degrees F. While oil is heating, dredge drained onion and shallots in flour mixture. Drop carefully into the hot oil, 1/3 at a time. They will cook rapidly, 1 minute or less. Turn over if necessary. Remove and drain on paper
towels. Let oil heat between batches. When timer goes off for green beans, take out of oven, top with onion-shallot mixture, evenly coating the casserole, place back into oven and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Remove and let set 5 minutes before serving.