Christmas Dinner Recipes

If you can still find fresh green beans, we like this recipe:
Nutty Buttery Green Beans

Recipe Courtesy Emeril Lagasse, Emeril's There's a Chef In My Soup, HarperCollins Publishers, 2002

Prep Time:
10 min
Inactive Prep Time:
12 min
Cook Time:
14 min

Level:
Easy

Serves:
4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

* 1 pound green beans
* 5 cups water
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter-- (I think this is too much. 2 tablespoons works well.)
* 1 (2 1/4-ounce) package sliced almonds
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Trim the green beans by snapping the ends off. Place the water and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a medium, heavy 3 1/2 quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Carefully add the beans and return to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the saucepan from the heat, and drain the beans in a colander set in the sink, pouring away from you. Rinse under cold running water and drain.

Melt the butter in the same saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the almonds, Worcestershire sauce, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper. Cook, stirring, until the almonds are toasted, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the drained green beans to the pan and cook, stirring, until well coated with sauce and warmed through, about 1 minute.

Using an oven mitt or pot holder, remove from the heat and serve.

Our Christmas dinner tradition also includes prime rib, potatoes and rolls. We also have an appetizer course of French Onion Soup (homemade), gingerbread men as place markers, jello and green salads, bearnaise-flavored sauteed mushrooms to complement the steak, and conclude with caramel custard. We usually have a green vegetable, but a tasty alternative is French Glazed Carrots. This has become a time-tested menu - we have been doing it for about 20 years. All of these recipes are pretty easy to make. If you are interested in any or all of the recipes, let me know and I would be glad to share.

We made this super yummy spinach salad for Thanksgiving, it does call for bacon but really I thought it was overkill and it could easily be eliminated.
1/4 c. begetable oil
2 TBS of cider vinegar
1 tsp. of sugar
1 tsp. of finely chopped onion we used dried with no problem
1 tsp. of minced parsley we use dried here as well
1 tsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. paprika
Blend well and let is sit for a bit before you toss with 4 c. spinach and 2 hard boiled egg.

If you like green bean casserole but want something different try
16 oz of frozen California Mix veggies
1 small can of cream of mushroom soup
1 c. cheddar cheese
1/3 c. sour cream
1 small can of french fried onions
1/4 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Mix veggies, soup, 2/3 c. cheddar cheese sour cream 2/3 of the french fried onions and pepper together and put into an oven safe dish. Bake about 30 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
My family usually doubles the veggies because we don't like a lot of sauce but some people really like the sauce so I left the recipe as originally called for.

One of our fav's is Carrott casseroll.

1 to 2 pkgs of frozen carrotts (or fresh if you want)
just enough to fill pan a little over half way full.

Then make a cream sauce with melted butter, flour to thicken and milk.(make enough to pour over carrotts) add 1cup sauted onions to cream sauce and about a cup of cheese, 1/4 teaspoon of mustard powder, 1 Tablespoon of dill and salt and pepper to taste. pour over carrotts.

Then cube about 5 slices of bread and sprinkle over top. drisel over the bread 3T melted butter, and a little extra cheese and dill if you like. (I do)

Then cook at 350 degrees untill carrotts are cooked through and bread is toasted.

Enjoy and have fun with your family.