Non-traditional holiday meals-- suggestions?

LadyXaverian · December 2014

On the 23rd, we're "doing Christmas" with my best friend and her family. She looooves to cook, but she asked me if I would come up with an idea or 2 for non-traditional holiday foods since we'll each be doing traditional meals that week with our own families as well.

Do any of you have non-traditional holiday dishes that you always eat over the holidays? Maybe on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve? Something from your culture or something regional?

Help! I don't have to cook a thing- I just need to provide inspiration for the menu.

Maebb · December 2014

My grandmom always made frozen lasagna. That's easy.

From living in Thailand, I love Thai coconut chicken soup or tom yum goong (hot and sour soup with shrimp), and the coconut chicken soup is white with tomatoes and cilantro for red and green and chilis if you're feeling bold. I serve both with Jasmine rice.

Jellybean707 · December 2014

DH, DS, and I are doing a fondue dinner on the 24th which I think is super fun and non- traditional. We did it almost every year when I was a kid and it was always such a blast.

We are doing Beef Wellington on the 25th with DH's family which I have not ever heard of before but I guess is kind of common?

Maebb · December 2014

Another idea - my dad makes cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, so I think breakfast for dinner could be fun. Hashbrown casserole, cinnamon rolls, etc.

Or fondue. Dipping stuff is fun! Or some kind of taco bar. The Mexican restaurant near us does "cantina" dip that's white cheese dip with steak, chicken, shrimp, onions, and bell peppers, served with chips, tortillas, guacamole, and salsa.

HStrawberry · December 2014

My in-laws always from a cocktail party with loads of appies on the 23rd... Lots of different things on crustini, fancy cheeses and crackers, hot dips, mini desserts, etc. Pretty much anything goes, its a real mix of ethnic food and more classic North American appies.

Maebb · December 2014

Low country boil sounds good too. I guess I'm really hungry.

LadyXaverian · December 2014

Good ideas, and it's also helping me come up with a few of my own. Keep them coming!!

kellyfo14 · December 2014

We do lasagna Christmas Eve. Italian food tends to be pretty easy for a group. I second the taco night though. That's always a winner in my opinion.

Disneygeek77 · December 2014

Growing up, we had sub sandwiches on Christmas Eve. I don't know how it started, I think my mom just didn't want to cook one Christmas Eve so she ordered a big sub sandwich with chips and soda. Well we all liked the sandwich so much that she has kept up the tradition for about 20 years now. Now that us kids are older, we provide soups, apps and salads to the sandwich platter.

I wanted to do the same thing, but my husband had a traditional meal on Christmas Eve and sandwiches didn't seem right to him, so what we do now is I get a big chicken pot pie from Costco and we eat that. I might do the sandwich thing this year though because it sounds good to me.

jmcmoe · December 2014

My immediate family always had breakfast on Christmas eve at like 10 pm because we never got a proper breakfast Christmas being farmers and having to go out and milk our cows before the extended family would come for lunch. This year we are mixing it up and having a "Mexican fiesta" with all of contributing different dishes such as antijitos and a taco bar. We are even having a piñata for the kids with little gifts instead of candy inside!

texasmama786 · December 2014

A good pot roast with vegetables, ribs or brisket perhaps?

ShuShubee · December 2014

My family tradition is also lasagna on Christmas Eve. However, the fondue idea sounds delicious too!

LadyXaverian · December 2014

jmcmoe said:

My immediate family always had breakfast on Christmas eve at like 10 pm because we never got a proper breakfast Christmas being farmers and having to go out and milk our cows before the extended family would come for lunch. This year we are mixing it up and having a "Mexican fiesta" with all of contributing different dishes such as antijitos and a taco bar. We are even having a piñata for the kids with little gifts instead of candy inside!

Love the pinata idea but not sure I'm feeling the Mexican meal. I wonder if we can justify the pinata without the Mexican food haha!

ETA: Party City for the win. They have Christmas tree and Snowman pinatas.

jmcmoe · December 2014

LadyXaverian said:

jmcmoe said:

My immediate family always had breakfast on Christmas eve at like 10 pm because we never got a proper breakfast Christmas being farmers and having to go out and milk our cows before the extended family would come for lunch. This year we are mixing it up and having a "Mexican fiesta" with all of contributing different dishes such as antijitos and a taco bar. We are even having a piñata for the kids with little gifts instead of candy inside!

Love the pinata idea but not sure I'm feeling the Mexican meal. I wonder if we can justify the pinata without the Mexican food haha!

ETA: Party City for the win. They have Christmas tree and Snowman pinatas.

I saw some "Frozen" pinatas the other day and other winter themed ones...we haven't actually purchased one yet so we end up getting one like that! Just no lame Spider-Man or superhero one haha that jut wouldn't work with Mexico or Christmas

sunnysunsun · December 2014

Maybe from being in Southern Arizona, but we love red beef tamales and and chili rellenos for Christmas Eve or New Years!

LadyXaverian · December 2014

amt1983 said:

The San Francisco classic Christmas Eve is to spread newspaper over the table and have dungeoness crab and sourdough bread. Mmmmm.

I grew up in Nova Scotia, and we always did this but with fresh lobster on Christmas Eve. I get home for the holidays about once every 5 years-- last year was that year. It was amazing.

MoreThanSparrows08 · December 2014

My grandparents always do Mexican food on Christmas - Tamales (homemade, of course), Enchiladas, rice, beans, etc. I don't know where it started, but my grandmother's rationale is that we get enough traditional food, so she does something different to break up the monotony.

idontevenknow · December 2014

I'm with @Mazinator‌- Southern California girl here and we do tamales and chile relleno casserole with all the yummie sides. My aunt makes this super yummie roast with a bottle of pepperoncinis and a stick of butter in the crockpot all day in it goes good in burritos (or a hoagie roll) and it goes good with it. I know you said that you weren't sure about Mexican food, but tamales would be fun for the kids since they are considered a "gift" that everyone can unwrap.

llambrose · December 2014

We always did an appetizer type meal on Xmas eve growing up. Just lots of yummy appetizers all centered around our traditional cheese fondue that we have every year. One year we did an Italian Xmas meal, another year we did a taco bar another year seafood. My family is not big into 'traditional" big holiday meals. My mom hates things like Thanksgiving and things like that so we are always down for trying new things for the holidays.

Pips09 · December 2014

Christmas Eve is always lasagna. Yum!

Trek3 · December 2014

We have also done lasagna.

Roasted duck is excellent, we have done steak, cabbage rolls, lamb, ... probably just a ham this year.

RibbetRibbet · December 2014

I always host a Christmas for one side of my family and I usually make Chicken Pot Pie. I can freeze it ahead of time and just bring it out the day of with no prep.

Lasagna sounds delicious though!

BookitBoo · December 2014

We do Nochebuena Christmas Eve night -- pork roast in MIL marinade, yellow rice and black beans, diced onions and fried plantains.

One of my favorite memories growing up was Christmas Eve service and the church always gave the kids a bag of fruit. The smell of oranges and apples still makes me happy, so I like to do a fruit salad.

Low country boil is always popular and easy!

newguardwife · December 2014

We do Mexican with both of my families. (Even though we are german/czech/english.)

becks2012 · December 2014

We always have oyster soup and fresh bread for Christmas Eve.

If it is just the immediate family for Christmas day, we have a tea party for dinner. Scones, hot tea, mini sandwiches, and assorted other finger foods and desserts.

Also for all you homemade tamale ladies, can I come over?

TMast21 · December 2014

We always had homemade raviolis, sauce, meatballs and sausage - I think that's pretty standard in Italian families, at least with my extended family. My husband and I always have creme brulee french toast xmas morning, since you have to prepare it the night before so it's easy to just throw in the oven xmas morning.

raveness · December 2014

idontevenknow said:

I'm with @Mazinator‌- Southern California girl here and we do tamales and chile relleno casserole with all the yummie sides. My aunt makes this super yummie roast with a bottle of pepperoncinis and a stick of butter in the crockpot all day in it goes good in burritos (or a hoagie roll) and it goes good with it. I know you said that you weren't sure about Mexican food, but tamales would be fun for the kids since they are considered a "gift" that everyone can unwrap.

I want tamales so bad now! I'm originally from SoCal, and lived in CO for 15 years; good Mexican food was so easy to come by. PNW is in desperate need of good, real, authentic Mexican food.

peggels24 · December 2014

On Christmas Eve, my family always does the appetizer thing - pigs in a blanket, knishes, small egg rolls, tiny sandwiches, pizza roll, swedish meatballs.

My in-laws always do lasagna

My friend's family always does 7 fishes - all seafood all night

On News Year Eve, a lot of people do Chinese food around here.

Disneygeek77 · December 2014

HappyMonkey817 said:

Our New Year's Eve thing is fondue.

I'm thinking of starting this too. I think the kids would like it.

wcmama1001 · December 2014

LadyXaverian said:

jmcmoe said:

My immediate family always had breakfast on Christmas eve at like 10 pm because we never got a proper breakfast Christmas being farmers and having to go out and milk our cows before the extended family would come for lunch. This year we are mixing it up and having a "Mexican fiesta" with all of contributing different dishes such as antijitos and a taco bar. We are even having a piñata for the kids with little gifts instead of candy inside!

Love the pinata idea but not sure I'm feeling the Mexican meal. I wonder if we can justify the pinata without the Mexican food haha!

ETA: Party City for the win. They have Christmas tree and Snowman pinatas.

We eat tacos on Christmas Eve every year, too. They are fast, easy and yummy!

nah82 · December 2014

Christmas Eve was my grandpa's birthday, we always ordered pizza and stromboli and had DQ ice cream cake.

stephchris0321 · December 2014

Italian food sounds delicious and non-traditional! Either pesto pasta with chicken, cheese tortellini with a creamy tomato basil soup or sauce, or homemade lasagna, with garlic bread and salad. Don't forget a yummy dessert!

HStrawberry · December 2014

Another favorite we do is fondue. We usually do a few pots of broth (dipping various meats, sea food and veg) and a few different cheese ones (dipping raw veg or cooked things from the broth and fresh bread) and then we usually play some games to have time to digest... Then do a caramel and/or chocolate fondue for dessert. It is so fun when you have a huge group (8+), you can have a lot more variety of things to cook.

I always make an epic soup the next day with the left over broth and meat/veg. It's unreal!

JCPSand2B · December 2014

Rdfxxt

shakalex · December 2014

Christmas wings.... Various kinds of wings ie lemon pepper, mild, bbq, garlic

misslizzy82 · December 2014

omg you're all making me hungry. I don't have anything to contribute because we never had any "pre-christmas" traditions. 2 years ago we were pescetarian so we did a big salmon and butternut squash/sage stuffed shells for Christmas. I really need to make those stuffed shells again, maybe they'll be one of my freezer meals!

kellimark · December 2014

@saiven um didn't know there was a melting pot cook book. Heading off to Amazon !!

AHemm1986 · December 2014

This year I have to entertain my "grandparents" on Christmas Day for dinner and I really want to make spaghetti with meatballs....but will likely go more traditional.

There is a backstory to the spaghetti. They visited for Christmas back when my mom was pregnant with my little brother (now 24) and she was not feeling well. She needed to make something quick and easy to feed a large crowd, so spaghetti and meatballs it was. Well my "grandmother" (I use quotes because she actually is my gma but doesn't act like it) went on a huge rant about how offensive it was that my mother had served spaghetti and meatballs to her family on Christmas and how inappropriate of a choice that was....She made a huge scene.

Flash forward to this Christmas...they're coming to visit us (for less than 24 hrs thank GOD) for Christmas dinner. I'm seriously thinking about doing spaghetti and meatballs, but my mother keeps telling me I'm evil.

Back on topic, I love the fondue idea!

LadyXaverian · December 2014

AHemm1986 I think the only thing to make is spaghetti and meatballs. Please do. And report back.

CanukMam · December 2014

We started a tradition last year, Fried Chicken, homeade waffles and maple syrup. Delish!

jmcmoe · December 2014

Another tasty option would be raclette! But someone would need to have a raclette set! (It's kind of along the same lines as fondue except with different cheeses and grilled meats and veggies)

Non-traditional holiday meals-- suggestions?

Re: Non-traditional holiday meals-- suggestions?

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