WEEKLY MENU 12.22.24
It’s officially holiday week – Weekly Menu 12.22.24 includes plans for Christmas Eve, Christmas Brunch, Christmas Dinner and some easy meals for the rest of the week~
We’re still making cookies during the Weekly Menu 12.22.24 – one small batch at a time. Bert and I were out of town for a little hockey and haven’t gotten caught up on the wrapping. Plus, Amazon is doing us dirty – they’ve been a week or two out instead of a day or two, which messes me up, present-wise. I’ll print pictures of the items that haven’t arrived yet, put them in a box with something heavy (to confuse the recipient), and wrap that. Of course, they’ll get loaded on top of the breakfront when they finally get wrapped. It still cracks me up that none of the boysies ever noticed the correlation between Santa coming and the breakfront emptying off. I was never a present hider.
Looking for something (extremely) last minute? Check out our fabulous (some might even say epic) Gift Guide. It’ll help – there are 50+ ideas in there. There is plenty that you can still get done before the big day, including gift card ideas and local buys.
Christmas is more relaxed during the Weekly Menu 12.22.24~
In my parent’s day, Christmas was pretty formal. We always went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Santa visited while we were there, which meant we were up until 3 or 4 AM on Christmas Day. Interestingly, we never put together Santa coming with the fact that Mom came to mass later than the rest of us, even though she never, ever didn’t come with DOLD otherwise. Come to think of it, Mom was not ever a present hider. And no, I didn’t put it together either. Like mother like son, apparently.
We still do mass on Christmas Eve, but we go at the much more civilized time of 4:00 PM instead of midnight. We started a new tradition, and it stuck. An ever-expanding “Garage Party” that starts after mass with a keg of beer, soup, sandwiches, and cookies is how we celebrate now. It’s relaxed, tasty and very, very fun.
High-end Open House is how we roll
We save the traditional Christmas Dinner for Christmas Day. Of course, everything will be high-end. It IS Christmas Eve, after all. Our menu is loosely based on the Holiday Open House post.
Our appetizers are all cold – we’re starting out with a small charcuterie tray and a couple of our favorite dips, all of which can be made in advance and put out when we get back from mass. I’ll even get the silver out to put everything on.
Ox Roast is a thing in Erieland.
Spoiler alert: it’s actually not ox. It’s beef that’s been seasoned and slow-roasted. Then, it’s sliced thinly and served in au jus. Our butcher makes some of the best – all I have to do is pop it in the crock pot and let it warm. We eat it on fabulous, soft rolls that are locally made. And we add horseradish—plenty of it. You know you’ve got enough horseradish on there when you can’t fully catch a breath after a nice bite.
We’ll round out the dips and sammies with our easy Potato Leek Soup. It’s vegetarian, cheap and a little bit decadent. Very nice trifecta.
Bonus Menus ahead…
RECIPE LINKS
CHEX MIX
HORSERADISH DIP
DILL DIP
CREAMY POTATO LEEK SOUP
Weekly Menu 12.22.24 continues with Christmas Brunch and Dinner too!
RECIPE LINKS
CHEESY EGG CASSEROLE
CINNAMON MONKEY BREAD
As mentioned, we ARE going full on traditional for dinner. We’re having ham, family favorite scalloped potatoes (we’re debating about adding Scalloped Onions) and a Baby Jesus Birthday Cake. Get all the deets at the link below.
CHRISTMAS DINNER
RECIPE LINKS
PARMESAN ONION TOASTIES
ITALIAN GREEN BEANS
CROCKPOT CREAMED CORN
I’m leaning toward a Pepperidge Farms Coconut Cake for Baby Jesus. Our Baby Boy will be the youngest at the table, so he’ll do the honors by blowing out the candle. After a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday to You”, of course.
The Weekly Menu 12.22.24 has plenty of leftovers too. We’ll need some easy, family-favorite dinners to counteract all the rich classics. Sunday dinner is affectionately known as “Chicken Crepes” even though there will be no crepes in sight.
In high school, I developed this recipe for Sunday dinner. I made the crepes and laboriously deboned chicken breasts for ten (because you couldn’t buy the chicken that way). Then, I’d make a cheese sauce and saute the chunked chicken with a few onions until cooked through, before adding them to the sauce. They were/are absolutely delicious. They’re also much more manageable now since we can buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and I skip the crepes. They’re superfluous and don’t add much to the meal.
We’re having spaghetti and meatballs for Festivus. Seemed appropriate. On Thursday, we’re having plain Chopped Burgers and Broccoli. On Friday, we’re putting the ham into play with hot Ham and Cheese Sliders. If any scalloped potatoes are left over from Christmas (doubtful), I’ll cut them into rounds and pop them into a muffin tin. They bake at 350 degrees F until crispy and gooey, with just a little sprinkle of cheese on top.
WEEKLY MENU 12.22.24
