Christmas Menus

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I feel like I've been thinking about food for days, and, frankly, it's starting to get on my nerves. The coming week is a big food week for me, mostly because we're having the families, and I'm doing the cooking. So, I'm posting my menus here so I can get them off my back for a while. If I could get someone else to go to the store for me, I'd be happy.

We have family over on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but the big crowd is on Christmas Eve. We eat Italian. We're not Italian, we're German, but everyone enjoys Italian and so that's what I fix. This year's menu is:

Braciole and Sauce
Meatballs and Sauce
Spaghetti
Salad
Bread
Wine
Trays and trays and trays of Christmas Cookies

The Braciole recipe (found here -- scroll down) is from Adriana Trigiani's cookbook Cooking With My Sisters. I've made it several times and my family really enjoys it. It's not exactly easy cooking, especially on a day like Christmas Eve, but I'll start early and refrigerate the rolls until the afternoon when I braise them and cook them in the sauce. I might even pop them into the Crock Pot for the afternoon. I'll make my own sauce and split it into two pots, one for the braciole and one for the meatballs. My meatball recipe is pretty much like the one in The Joy of Cooking, except I really don't measure much.

Our Christmas Day Menu is:

Breakfast
Berwick Manor Fruit Rolls

Lunch
Holiday Cheeseball and crackers
Sausage Balls and BBQ sauce
Shrimp Cocktail
Chips and Salsa
Prosciutto Wrapped Breadsticks

Dinner
Ham
Sweet Potato Souffle
Green Beans and Sauteed Mushrooms
Spinach salad with Orange Muscat Champagne Vinaigrette and Candied Pecans
Soft White Rolls
More trays of Christmas Cookies

On Christmas Day we get up, have a quick breakfast (thus the restaurant rolls) and then go to Mass. We'll come home, open gifts, and then start snacking at lunch. For the past few years, we've enjoyed snacking all afternoon, instead of having an official lunch. The boys and Peach especially enjoy munching all day. For dinner, we'll have a more sedate crowd, and an easier meal for me. I hate being stuck in the kitchen all day on Christmas Day, so I give myself permission to take it a little easy. We're buying a Honeybaked Ham, which Doug and the kids like, and I'm o.k. with, and the sides are fairly simple.

Now, back to the kitchen. Or maybe Meet Me In St. Louis instead.

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