Holiday Recipes … Yum!
Posted on December 10, 2009 by FoBaM-Jamie
There are few things more universal about holiday festivities than the special foods that accompany our celebrations. Whatever tradition you observe, it’s sure to come with a selection of delectable delights that you look forward to all year long. Passed down from generation to generation, these special recipes are an integral part of the season.
After all, gathering around the table with family and friends is an important highlight of the holidays. We raise a toast and share both the feast and our joy. The food – often a mother’s expression of love – is a centerpiece of the social scene. Whether it’s a formal, sit-down dinner or a buffet of yummy appetizers, a gourmet triumph or a novice’s best effort doesn’t matter – just that it’s prepared and served with big helpings of love.
In my family, Christmas morning just wouldn’t be Christmas morning without my mom’s scones – glazed with egg whites and sugar, smothered in butter, peanut butter, and homemade jam. The smell of these flaky biscuits baking in the oven instantly conjures memories of holidays past. Though we occasionally indulge in them at other times during the year, there’s always something extra special about the Christmas batch.
We would never ask you to reveal your secret family recipes (unless, of course, you want to!), but we’d love to know what culinary traditions help make the holidays special in your home. Is it a breakfast casserole, a formal dinner, once-a-year cookies, or freshly baked bread? Is it a traditional recipe that’s been handed down from mother to mother, or a brand new creation from your own kitchen?
I grew up with pancakes cooked by dad on Christmas morning, but when it was my turn to play mom to a family after all the hoopla of gift unwrapping, I decided I would prepare a few quiches and a fruit salad the night before. This made Christmas breakfast a “snap” and the kids, now grown, still ask for the quiche on Christmas morning.
We invite all the grandparents over to watch the kids open the gifts and have a sausage, egg, cheese and bread casserole that is made the night before and popped in the oven. I also make a big pot of cheese grits to go along with it!
HA!
My Italian grandma’s zeppolas and sausages on Christmas morning. Yummy!
@Yvonne – Nothing like a breakfast that’s a snap! That’s my kind of cooking!
@Jill – We have that same casserole at my house – we call it “heart attack casserole”
@Jamie – HA HA!
@Meredith – I have no idea what zeppolas, but they sound fun!
Thanks Jamie Lee
Growing up my family made sugar cookies and decorated them with icing. I enjoyed decorating, but the cookies tasted like cardboard and the icing was too sweet so no one ever ate them. It became a tradition that was dreaded. So I decided to have a Christmas morning routine: first fruit salad followed by quiche for breakfast (thanks Yvonne
), followed by a little gift opening, then chocolate filled ginger cookie baking as a family, followed by a family game of cards (while the cookies bake and cool). I’m looking forward to starting traditions that are my own. Who knows? Maybe I’ll throw some finger painting in there to substitute cookie decorating?? 
OK, now you guys are going to have to post the “Heart Attack” Casserole. There are ways to modify you know–turkey sausage, egg substitute or egg whites, low fat cheeses, whole wheat breads! And Cheese Grits! YUM! Don’t forget the “heart healthy” garlic! and onions are FULL of Vitamin E…
Thanks so much for this. This might sound a little strange, but I spent the first couple of years of my life in Naples, then travelled around the world. Now I’m living in Australia, with my Chinese wife, and son we had whilst living inJapan! Truly international, eh? Anyway, I’ve been trying to rediscover the smells and tastes of my youth with some authentic Italian recipes like these, best I’ve found so far! Thanks again, I’ll see if I can add the feed to my google reader tonight, though my son usually does that for me!