Whatcha cooking for Xmas dinner?

I'm a traditionalist and love Turkey. It's our turn for Xmas dinner so Turkey it is. Wife makes great stuffing ( cooked in the bird, never had a fatality). Mashed turnip/carrot, mashed potatoes, green beans, Brussel sprouts, 2 kinds of jellied salads, cranberrys, garden salad. Dessert is my mother's recipe of "Buche de Noel" which is fabulous.
Not a big crew, only 10 of us for dinner but I'm really looking forward to it. Kids are older now and my oldest daughter studies out of town so that makes it even more special. She's got a boyfriend now, kid doesn't even own a gun......... :ashamed:. Ahh he's ok anyway. So, got any different traditions?

We had the big Christmas last year, I am not a fan of Turkey as it is very hard to get everything right moisture wise when you roast a whole bird. I made the traditional turkey with all the sides but I also decided to go different and I put on 2 lamb shoulders in the slow cooker. The lamb was eaten first and nobody left the house hungry.

This year my mother in law is back to taking care of Christmas so it will be more traditional than last year.

Normally we go with turkey. But we are hosting this year and I get tired of turkey (turkey for Thanksgiving, turkey for Christmas, turkey at Easter, my wife cooks with ground turkey) so this year I am thinking a nice prime rib. Potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, peas, horseradish, and gravy will accompany it. Couple of appititizers (thinking bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese for one of them) and haven't thought of the dessert yet (maybe a cheesecake).

We don't have a big group either. Our family get togethers have dwindled down to my mother, my brother and his family (3), my Aunt, my Grandma and us (4) so we don't need 25 lbs of meat. Besides, I have found turkey dries out really quickly compared to beef in the fridge.

Dyth

I do a prime rib at New Years but if I don't get a turkey at xmas I'm even more miserable all year.

Fox, how do you season your lamb in the slow cooker?

Not sure exactly what's happening around our place this year? SiL just passed away (48 yrs. old, cancer) BiL might be here with his 2 sons, grandma, and maybe a couple other nephews.
We do usually have the traditional fare. Bird, ham, lazy man`s cabbage roll, mashed taters n gravy! Wife makes an awesome gravy! And of course an assortment of pies for dessert. Christmas`s here are getting quieter by the year, which doesn`t hurt my feelings.

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Originally Posted by terrym

Fox, how do you season your lamb in the slow cooker?

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I just put some salt, pepper and rosemary on it and made sure to keep water in the bottom, lamb has so much flavour you don't really need to do much, just keep it hot as lamb fat gets weird when it gets cold.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I just put some salt, pepper and rosemary on it and made sure to keep water in the bottom, lamb has so much flavour you don't really need to do much, just keep it hot as lamb fat gets weird when it gets cold.

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Gotta try that.

turkey for lunch at my parents. turkey for dinner at the in-laws. with the traditional accompaniments of course. turkey turkey turkey. wouldn't change it for the world!

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Originally Posted by terrym

Gotta try that.

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Shoulder is tough so let it cook for a while, not like a rack of lamb.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Shoulder is tough so let it cook for a while, not like a rack of lamb.

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Pulled lamb here we come.

I don't come from massive families... but my brother and I both hooked up with ladies who are from massive families. So, there's TONS of gatherings and I don't think there's much traditionally euro-canadian fare that we don't eat over the holidays.

My wife is a bit special and likes to let excitement dictate our reality... so this year we're hosting THREE of the 5 dinners we're part of.

W.
T.
F.

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Originally Posted by Oddmott

I don't come from massive families... but my brother and I both hooked up with ladies who are from massive families. So, there's TONS of gatherings and I don't think there's much traditionally euro-canadian fare that we don't eat over the holidays.

My wife is a bit special and likes to let excitement dictate our reality... so this year we're hosting THREE of the 5 dinners we're part of.

W.
T.
F.

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I feel for you, no escape when it is at your house.

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Originally Posted by terrym

Pulled lamb here we come.

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It pretty much looked like this one.

http://www.darwinfoodies.com/2012/04...lamb-shoulder/

See, why would anyone want to eat turkey.

The SIL is cooking the traditional Christmas dinner and I'm not a big turkey lover so no excitement there.
But I will be cooking the Christmas eve dinner so deer tenderloin, shrimp, sweet potato fries or garlic mash potato and cheese cake.

I did a Turkey that I brined for 2days, and then put on my Kamado smoker. Turned out to be one of the best yet! I'm going to probably try to repeat at Christmas. New years, I'm doing a prime rib.

FishFrenzy