The pressure’s on when you sign up to host a holiday dinner. Our worst hosting experience of all time was when the upstairs toilet overflowed and “level 3 contamination water” poured onto our guests who sat around the kitchen table eating Christmas cookies. Nobody asked us to host dinner for several years afterward. But this year I volunteered.
Yes, that’s right, Christmas dinner is at my house once again.
When it comes to menu planning, I like to serve a showstopper entree, a starch, a couple of salads and some deliciously cooked vegetables. My mother-in-law always volunteers to bring homemade bread, and that’s a big help.
In my late 20s, when I had more time but less money, I prepared homemade chicken pot pies as the entree. I spent all of November practicing so I wouldn’t have a pie crust fail in front of the grandmas. As showstoppers go, chicken pot pies were lovely because you can decorate the top with cookie cutter designs. As a budget conscious choice, they were thrifty. Flour, butter, cream, carrots, onions, peas, herbs and spices are cheap. Add the meat from a couple of rotisserie chickens, and you have all the ingredients you need.
By my 30s, I had my hands full with two young kids. Our budget had increased a wee bit, but not by much. One entree I used to serve to sizeable crowds was round steak with brown gravy along with pasta or mashed potatoes. It definitely didn’t meet my criteria for showstopper status, but it was easy to prepare and something that even the pickiest of eaters liked, especially if I served it alongside noodles. The recipe is simple: combine 3 pounds of round steak, a packet of onion soup mix, a can of cream of mushroom soup, ¼ cup of water or beef broth and half a sliced onion into a Crockpot and cook on low for six to eight hours. At the end you break the mixture up with a wooden spoon, so it transforms into a meaty gravy.
Now that I’m in my mid-40s, I have less time, but a bigger budget. My favorite thing to serve on holidays is prime rib. I usually buy one from Costco. Cooking an expensive piece of meat terrifies me, so I always buy a smaller rib roast to practice on in November. One year I tried the method where you cook the roast at a high temperature and then turn off the oven and don’t open the door for several hours. The practice roast came out great, but on Christmas Day it cooked too fast and I almost ruined it. This year I’ll cook it low and slow, using two oven thermometers because I’m paranoid.
Speaking of paranoia, I should probably buy a second toilet plunger as well. If I had really been planning ahead, I would have spent all year cross stitching a sign that said: “Don’t use the upstairs bathroom.” Is it too late to ask Santa for one?
Jennifer Bardsley is the author of “Sweet Bliss,” “Good Catch” and more. Find her online on Instagram @jenniferbardsleyauthor, on Twitter @jennbardsley or on Facebook as Jennifer Bardsley Author. Email her at teachingmybabytoread@gmail.com.
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