Christmas Archives - Carma's Cookery

5 Ways to Bake Healthy Christmas Cookies

December 15, 2017Creative Cookery, Flavor Blending, Healthy Living, Special OccasionsChristmas, Cookies, healthy ingredients

Do you ever wish there were healthy Christmas cookies? I don’t know about you, but Christmas time is pretty much cookie time! I’m a total cookie monster and all those delicious varieties of cookies can add up to a lot of sugar and calories. So […]

Pumpkin Gingerbread – An Experiment

December 22, 2012Creative Cookerybaking, Bundt cake, Christmas, gingerbread, kitchen experimentation, pumpkin bread

I love to experiment with cooking and baking. In this video, I walk you through today’s experiment with pumpkin and Fresh & Easy’s Ginger Bread mix. Mentioned in this video: My “gingerbread” story Bonkers for Bundt Cakes

The Gingerbread Man Is Coming to Town!

October 13, 2009Food Fiction & Essays, Special OccasionsChristmas, gingerbread man

Once upon a time, there was a father who really loved gingerbread men. So, he made up a Christmas tradition for his sons and daughter. On Christmas Eve the Gingerbread Man would come to town and give all the children their very own gingerbread men […]

Easy Christmas Cooking that is Sure to Please

December 19, 2007Special OccasionsChristmas, food planning, holiday cooking

hotblack via morguefile.com

Christmas is a hectic time of year. (Now there’s an understatement!) Many families find that they barely have time to breathe much less cook dishes to bring for this or that function. In fact, a Christmas tradition that is developing for many is going out for Chinese! Grocery stores have gotten on the “help you have a happy holiday” bandwagon and offer “cheat” dishes that can be purchased and prepared for the occasions with very few people becoming the wiser. Though Christmas may be about being with friends and family it is not about broadcasting a possible lack of talent in the kitchen, time on hand, or a shortage of attention span that is required in order to prepare a stellar dish for your Christmas needs.

Of course, you could begin preparing and freezing large casserole favorites as early as August for the Christmas season. In this instance you could freeze all your family favorites and have great dishes not only for family functions that require a pitch-in dish, but also for those nights when you are far too busy to be bothered with something as demanding on your limited time as actually preparing a home cooked meal. If you prepare casseroles and similar dishes that work well with a holiday theme throughout the year be sure to double your efforts next time and freeze half for busier months such as November and December.
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Fun Christmas Cooking for Everyone

December 12, 2007Special OccasionsChristmas, food planning, holiday cooking

snowbear via morguefile.com

It’s great to have friends and family over for Christmas, but if you’re the one stuck in the kitchen doing all the cooking every year, that’s not so much fun. One way to avoid this is by rotating locations for the festivities from one year to the next. Another way — a much simpler way — is to delegate items of contribution from all guests in attendance each year so that the cooking and meal preparation duties are shared among them all.

Of course this isn’t a perfect plan. Pot lucks can often lack the flavor compliments that a meal prepared by one individual may have. So, another great plan is to prepare pieces and parts of your Christmas dinner well ahead of time. With careful planning there are recipes that can be prepared as much as a few weeks ahead of the big day and stored either in air tight containers at room temperature or frozen for heating or baking on the big day for best results. Any of the prep work that can be taken care of before the big day is one less thing to be taken care of when the time comes and that takes a load off your mind.
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Traditional Christmas Cooking

November 28, 2007Special OccasionsChristmas, holiday cooking

Kakisky via MorgueFile.com

Christmas is a time of year when families around the world gather together and observe traditions that are the same for them year after year and yet vastly different from those that other families share around the block. There are very few universal Christmas traditions any more and there is nothing wrong with that. In America however, there are some recipes that many people consider traditional holiday cooking and there is little that will be done to dissuade these opinions. The truth is that many of these traditional holiday foods are largely traditional in specific regions rather than the United States having one nation-wide traditional Christmas dinner.

For example, my family usually served turkey and ham. Appetizers always included black olives and a relish made with pepperoccini. Many families are like mine and serve both ham and turkey. While others answer quite quickly that it is neither. One of the best all-American Christmas cooking ideas I’ve ever seen was lasagna. There are no right or wrong traditions — only those traditions that work well for you and your family. If you feel the need to change a long-standing tradition for a large extended family, by all means discuss it with everyone involved. Otherwise it is your tradition and you should feel free to make it your own.
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Tag Archives: Christmas