20 Recipe Ideas for Christmas Dinner

Do you need ideas for your Christmas dinner? Well, I have 20 of them! 20 Recipe Ideas for Christmas Dinner covers not just the entree’, but a slew of side dishes, too! Each one personally “road-tested” by me and my family and guaranteed delicious!

Let’s talk turkey. Are you like me and buy two (or more) turkeys before Thanksgiving? Turkey is at its lowest price during Thanksgiving and I always buy two for several reasons:

I love turkey leftovers! We may be expecting a large crowd for Thanksgiving and I want to make sure we have enough for leftovers!
Sometimes I’ll buy one for Christmas, too. When my father was alive, he was on a salt-restricted, heart-healthy diet because he had heart disease and congestive heart failure. This left ham and beef off the table for our family dinners. Turkey was always the best choice to feed a crowd.
It’s economical! Turkey, per pound, is one of the best values around.

So, if you bought an extra turkey during the Thanksgiving turkey sales, Christmas dinner is the perfect time to roast it.

My Foil-wrapped Roasted Turkey cuts turkey roasting time down by a couple of hours. I learned to make this turkey eons ago from my mother. In our family, we’ve always had our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at 2:00 in the afternoon. Not wanting to get up at the crack of dawn to cook her turkey, Mom found this recipe in her old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook – the only cookbook she ever owned!

I’ve “adapted” the original recipe, which tells you to wrap the turkey in foil. Instead, I place it in a foil roasting pan and then cover it tightly with additional foil. This makes a lot of turkey juices, perfect for tons of turkey gravy!

The downside is that the turkey will literally fall off the bone when you are lifting it from the pan, so if you want a beautiful “presentation” turkey, you’ll need to do this carefully and have plenty of greens (like the parsley in the photo above) to cover the parts that don’t have crispy, golden skin.

If you want a more traditional looking turkey, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Roasted Turkey delivers it, plus a nice savory herbal flavor.

If you are going the “turkey route” for your Christmas dinner, what’s a turkey dinner without stuffing? Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Stuffing is a great complement to Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Roasted Turkey, with bits of herbie, savory goodness.

Love cornbread stuffing by want a more traditional version? Easy Cornbread Stuffing delivers but has surprise additions of green apples and walnuts!

And, don’t forget the gravy! Homemade Turkey Gravy is one of the highlights of roasted turkey. This one is made from a 2-step process (overnight refrigeration of the turkey juices from the Foil-wrapped Roasted Turkey), but delivers a sensational perfect gravy.

Of course you have to have cranberry sauce with your turkey! Sour Apple Cranberry Sauce, made with fresh cranberries and green apples, is the perfect accompaniment.

Making homemade cranberry sauce is so easy – my brother (who lives in New York), visited in November to help with issues surrounding the declining health of our mother. I’d made a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce for blog posts and had it all in either the refrigerator or freezer to style and photograph later for the blog.

As often happens, life intervened and we had tons of family around during this most recent medical crisis. So, one night in early November, we had an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner and my homemade Sour Apple Cranberry Sauce was on the table. My brother said, “this is incredible! The best cranberry sauce I’ve ever had!” High praise that keeps me glowing to this day {grin}!

Turkey not your thing for Christmas dinner? But still need an economical choice? Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Pineapple Glaze and Grilled Pineapple Rings is a good choice. Made with Roasted Pineapple & Habanero Sauce from Robert Rothschild Farms (this is not a sponsored post; I just think this sauce is fantastic!), the surprise bit of sweet heat brings this ham to a new level.

Beef the only choice for your family? Garlic Rib-eye Roast is phenomenal! I learned to make this from my father, a fabulous self-trained gourmet cook, who loved beef over all meat. But, in his later years, this choice was off our menu. Cooked perfectly (medium rare for me!), this garlic-laden roast is a winner.

The above photo of my Classic Creamy Mashed Potatoes was taken in the early days of this blog by me with my iPhone. To this day, this recipe has a steady stream of Pinterest traffic to my blog, which surprises me. I suppose it’s the puddles of melted butter flowing down from the golden butter “pond” on top of the pile of mashed potatoes? After all, who doesn’t love butter! And, mashed potatoes are always a good choice when feeding a crowd.

Is a potato casserole more to your liking? Aunt Barbara’s Cheese Potatoes are easy, cheesy and a delicious comfort-food choice!

Trying to lessen the calorie overload of your Christmas dinner? My Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese are the perfect choice! Creamy and delicious with almost no fat (just a little from the Parmesan cheese), this potato casserole will rock your world.

We are halfway done! Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese is recipe number ten in the line-up of 20 Recipe Ideas for Christmas Dinner! Here are 10 more!

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Warm Maple Drizzle and Toasted Pecans are another great alternative if you want to watch your caloric intact, even on Christmas Day. Satisfyingly sweet, they are super easy to prepare.

Notice the difference in the lighting in the above photo and the photo below? The one above was taken in my kitchen at night with artificial lighting. The one below was also taken in the kitchen, but during the day time with natural light. Huge difference, don’t you agree? I try to take all my food photos during the day, but it makes for an interesting dilemma for dinner!

This Sweet Potato Casserole is an iconic classic. Baked and mashed, the potatoes are flavored with brown sugar and maple syrup and topped with pecans. Every mouthful is luscious and delicious.

Spinach Casserole is one of my family’s favorite side dishes. Frozen chopped spinach is mixed with cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup then topped with crunchy onions. Even the young children in our family love this casserole – a good way to get children to eat spinach!

Busy Day Vegetable Gratin is so scrumptious! Made with frozen veggies (for a busy day), this comes together quickly, freeing you up to move on to something else. Make it the day before, leave off the cracker topping and refrigerate until ready to bake. Another good recipe to get your children to eat their vegetables!

For broccoli lovers, Easy Cheesy Broccoli Casserole couldn’t be easier. Also made with frozen vegetables (broccoli), this yummy side dish is topped with croutons.

Added mushrooms make Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole just a little bit more delicious! My version of a holiday classic, this casserole is always a good choice.

All those creamy side dishes are, well, deliciously creamy! With added cheese and soup, definitely not low calorie! Thyme Roasted Carrots with Toasted Walnuts are a figure-friendly and delicious alternative. Made with a rainbow of colorful carrots, they are beautiful, too!

Now we are on to salads. My Creamy Petite Pea Salad with Bacon and Cashews in Tomato Cups are a great way to add red and green to your Christmas table! This is Tiffany’s all time favorite way to eat peas. When I make this, she can’t get enough! I don’t think she makes this often at her home for her family because if she did, chances are she’d eat the whole bowl!

Even though this salad is called Summertime Layered Salad, the first time I ever had it was on Christmas Eve at my sister-in-law, Michelle’s, house probably 20 years ago. So delicious, I had to have the recipe! She obliged and I’ve been making this wonderful salad ever since. Made the night before, bacon and cashews are added at the last minute before tossing. An easy salad for a busy Christmas Eve or Day!

So there you have it – 20 Recipe Ideas for Christmas Dinner! All great options to make your meal special!

Tootles,

(other Christmas posts that aren’t recipes {grin}!)

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