Christmas dinner side dishes/salads...what do you serve?

[Disney-Kim]

If you do a salad....what kind? for your sides..what do you do differently? like the casseroles etc...

I am just looking for ideas of sides that are different than the standard green beans or corn.

 

[barkley]

twice baked potatos (bake potatos, remove from oven and squeeze open like you would to put topping on them, put them in a caserol dish and cover with cheddar cheese sauce. put them back into the oven until cheese bubbles and begins to brown)-we then top with sour cream, chives-whatever you would put on a regular baked potato.

regular green salad with the addition of craisins (cranberries dried like raisins) and crushed walnuts or pecans.

we are having a honey baked ham christmas day, so dh is making his homemade baked beans (they cook all day in the oven and taste so good when they finaly come out ).

 

[tw1nsmom]

Roasted carrots make a nice side dish and are really easy. I just buy a bag of baby carrots, put them in a large shallow pan lined with parchment (you want them in a single layer, and the parchment paper makes for easy clean-up), coat lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Roast them in a 375 degree oven, stirring occasionally, until soft and having some carmelization. They're super sweet and my kids love them. They can take a while to cook (a large pan can take an hour), but you can do them ahead of time and warm them in the microwave. I've also done asparagus and brussel sprouts this way (kids won't touch those, but DH and I like them).

 

[zippeedee]

I make roasted carrots too, but add a sweet potato cut into wedges and some small whole beets. I toss them all with olive oil and some salt, pepper and thyme.
We usually have prime rib. I make oven roasted potato wedges from the Frugal Gourmet's Christmas book (roasted on a sheet pan with butter, olive oil, crushed garlic and a half cup of chicken broth put in for the last half hour).
I also love sweet and sour red cabbage (just like Ralphy hated in A Christmas Story) now it comes in a jar, I used to make it from scratch, it is a pain to cut up because the color gets all over everything.
Another favorite is green beans in tomato sauce (saute a sliced onion in olive oil with a crushed garlic clove, add a can of stewed tomatoes and a can or frozen pkg of green beans and simmer just until the beans are cooked.
I just realized I'm cooking all this stuff in four days, I need to go to the market tomorrow!

 

[Disney-Kim]

the carrots sound great...but I don't think anyone else will like cooked carrots...but me.
The green beans in tomato sauce sound good too.

 

[crazelion]

homemade mac and cheese, green beans with fresh potatoes, and chittens with cole slaw and hot sauce.

Okey Chittens is a southern thing that we down in the south. Let's just you really don't won't know what you is eating. All I am say it's part of the pig.

 

[Disney-Kim]

are chittens the same as chitlins?? I have heard of those.

 

[swankybeth]

DH is making his "famous" salad for Christmas. Romaine lettuce, chickpeas, roasted red peppers cut into bite sized pieces, cut up marinated artichokes, and then he makes dressing. The dressing is 1/4 C olive oil, juice from 1/2 lemon whisked into the oil. Then add approx. 1/4 C balsamic vinegar, whisked into the mixture and kosher salt, pepper, oregano and dried basil to taste, plus a little of the juice from the marinated artichokes is also whisked into the mix. It's better if you don't dress the salad until ready to serve, enjoy!

 

[Barb D]

I guess my dinner is boring -- pork roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans ---
but one of the things we're having for breakfast is apple gingerbread. That could be a dinner side dish, too I guess. Oh, and we're also having cooked apples with the pork roast for dinner. OH, and spinach/cheese ravioli for vegetarian DD12. That's different.