Cooking at Christmas time either brings joyful thoughts or thoughts of dread. Maybe it’s a combination. We all love the food at Christmas and the smells wafting through the house. But it also puts a lot of pressure on whoever is the main cook of the house. Most of the issues with cooking at Christmas can be solved by making things simple. The truth is, we tend to complicate food production for the holidays, making too much food, too many different types of food, and not involving the family to help cut down on the host having to do all the cooking.
Intermixing the Old and the New Ones
Every family has its traditions, and it’s always good to keep and pass these on. But it’s also fun to add in something new. If you find out that no one in the family likes something, just stop doing it. Even if it was tradition, there is no point in continuing.
There are many traditional foods that you can serve at the holidays, but there are also some foods that you can add to make the celebration newer.
Let’s look at some traditional foods and how to incorporate something new.
· Potato Salad – This is a common dish served at festive celebrations all over the world. There are many ways to make it.
If you’ve always made it one way, why not try a new way. For example, if you make mayonnaise-rich potato salad, you might want to try one that doesn’t have mayonnaise just to shake it up a little.
· Turkey – It might seem odd to you but not everyone eats turkey at holidays. Many people today are now enjoying plant-based diets, so they want something else.
Others are just tired of the same old thing each year. Why not have a pizza party or try some traditional dishes from around the world - like Chiles en Nogada, which is enjoyed during the holidays in Mexico, as your main dish.
· Feast of the Seven Fishes – This is an Italian tradition. You can change the theme of your holiday depending on what you normally do and still be fully traditional, while also trying something new.
· Doro Wat on Injera – This is the traditional Ethiopian Christmas dinner.
It’s a spicy chicken stew. You could sub turkey for chicken and use this recipe as a way to use leftovers from your traditional turkey dinner, shaking up the old and new in a very tasty and original way.
· Go German – There are many rich traditions for food in Germany.
Instead of your normal turkey, why not roast a duck instead? This can be a good way to shake up your Christmas dinner, keeping it traditional while adding something new:
You get the idea regarding food. Look to your heritage. A fun idea is to get everyone to do a DNA test to check your genealogy before the holidays, then ask each person to bring a dish from a country that they discovered was part of their genetic makeup.
You can set up a Facebook group around Halloween with your entire family to discuss cooking for the holidays, as well as DNA test results if you do that. Be sure to also include children and grandchildren. Not only in ideas on what to serve, but also in preparation if possible.
However, you choose to proceed, remember that you don’t have to do it all. You can ask for help, you can skip some things, and you can add new things as you desire.
