Hi everyone!
Just wondering who has started planning their Christmas meal menu yet, since its only 3 weeks away!
What are you planning on serving??? I am still trying to find a dessert and a potato dish.
Share your menu ideas!

Because christmas is such a hectic time for us, I like to have a dinner which doesn't require alot of time in the kitchen. Our new tradition is lasagna-I use Turkey Italian Sausage, lowfat ricotta and lowfat mozzarella cheese. I have not calculated out the points for this, but I serve it with bread and salad. I prepare it ahead of time and there is very little work on christmas day. Everyone enjoys it, and the kids enjoy helping put it together.
Happy Holidays!!

Sunshine, if you're looking for a dessert still, you might try Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake. It's only 2 pts a serving. I made it for Thanksgiving; it looked great topped with fresh berries. The recipe is under WW Desserts; I pulled it up for you.
Jan

Thanks Jan, I'll check it out!

Hi,

It's hard to suggest a potato dish without knowing what your main dish is, but I do have a suggestion. The recipe is long because I always give tips and suggestions when I write down recipes. And this recipe is really simple! Trust me.

Potato Kisses-- Serves 4--you can double, triple, or cut in half, depending on how many people you're serving--

1 1/2 pounds peeled potatoes (yukon golds are a good type)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper, to taste.

Beat the eggs. Mix the potatoes, butter, and beaten eggs. The mixture should be thick enough to hold it's shape, but if it's too dry, add a tiny bit of chicken stock or evaporated skim milk. If you prep them in advance, you will need to add a bit of stock or evaporated skim milk. Regular skim or 1% milk can be used, but the evaporated skim is a little richer.

Put the potatoes in a pastry bag with a large star tip. Spray a baking sheet with veggie spray or brush lightly with oil. Pipe the potatoes in a shape like a Hershey's Kiss. If you've never done this, practice by piping the potatoes on waxed paper until you get the hang of it, then put the potatoes back in the bag and go for the baking sheet. You can make these up to this point several hours in advance. I recommend covering them and chilling them until about an hour before you cook them.

You can either broil them for 5-10 minutes, until browned, or bake them at 450ºF for the same amount of time. If you broil them, don't put the broiler pan as close to the broiler as you would for a steak. Put it in the center or 1 notch higher.

Flavorings: you can use roasted garlic, and/or ground nutmeg. If you don't want black specks, use white pepper. I like to put some chopped chives and chopped Italian parsley for a little more flavor and color.

Anyway, this variation on mashed potatoes look really festive and special. If you use Yukin gold potatoes, the yellow color makes them look like you added a lot of butter. You could leave it out, but you would need to add another egg. You could use egg substitute instead of the eggs. Use enough for 1 1/2 eggs. I've never tried it with just egg whites, but it should work. I definitely would use Yukon golds, though, so the potato dish has an appealing color.

Good luck!

Lin

These sound like a great fun side dish. I was just wondering if you pipe the potatoes into 4 large Kisses (One per person) or into more, smaller ones. Thanks.

Jane

We usually have goose, v. fatty. This year, we're doing a turkey (boring) that I'm going to stuff with dried fruit and nuts and glaze with
a persian glaze that I found in the new BBC Good Food magazine. I'll probably do a few sides (celeriac and potato mash, brussel sprouts, rice instead of stuffing (with dried cherries and marmalade cut orange and almonds) and some sort of green veg and salad. Dessert will be christmas pudding and fruit salad. I'm going to try and do things as low points as I can, but I'll splurge on the pudding. I love xmas pudding .

This is the first time we're doing Xmas at home, usually do it in California. Should be interesting and maybe less stressful.

Since our family is smaller and smaller each year I have gradually done away with the appetizers, snacks, etc., before the meal. We will be having Roast leg of lamb, oven roasted potatoes, fresh green beans and cauliflower,and salad. For dessert I may make a baklava or tiramisu. For me, my dessert will be a goblet of coffee with a splash of kahlua topped with a dollop of ff cool whip.

Years ago when the family was larger we used to have antipasto, some sort of pasta dish, a roast with all the fixings, fruit, nuts, fennel leaves, etc., and sit at the table for hours on end - then of course coffee and pastries.

Times have changed.

I'm having pork tenderloin roasted in the oven with a barbecue sauce, my mother's meatloaf recipe (two meat dishes because we're a crowd), mashed potatoes made WW style, asparagus, and maybe a tossed salad. All easy to make and can stay hot in the oven till we're ready to eat. For dessert I'll have frozen yogurt in a yummy flavor and either the pineapple or lite cherry filling/angelcake. Either one is good and my family likes both.
This is a departure for me for Christmas, but I've been thinking about having something that is easy to cook, doesn't require a lot of pre-preparation, and that is tasty without having a thousand gazillion points. I think this will work out well. My family will like it and we'll all be together which is number one important to us.
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