Turkey or not?

*Hilly, thanks for the tip off about Lidl's veggie wellington. I will drop in there tomorrow and 'test drive' it before Christmas.

With between 8 - 10 of us for a few days we have a 10 kg turkey and nothing goes to waste. Also a gammon. Suggestions of anything else are met with horror .

We used to have a 12lb turkey for the 3 of us, but now it`s just my daughter and me, it`s a smaller turkey. But in case it`s not enough for the 2 days, I`m getting a small piece of lamb as well. A few years ago, I decided to have a fresh turkey for a change, everyone said they were better and we`d always had frozen ones. I ordered it from the butcher, went to collect it on Christmas Eve, and nearly dropped through the floor when he told me the price! AND it didn`t taste any better, so back to frozen after that.

My veggie DS and I usually make a vegetarian main course while the others gorge on turkey or whatever. Filo parcels have been so successful that the omnivores have often asked if they can have one too.

Some interesting ideas here. As DH and I will practically be alone, we may have a chicken (chickens in Germany are tiny - 3lbs is a big bird here!)

In earlier years, if we have gone to church in the morning, or if I have had to sing in church even, I have been known to pop a few chicken breasts in the oven - they take a maximum of 30 mins - time enough for a glass of sherry before lunch.

This year we are having loin of pork, French chined so that it can have a stuffing of apricot and sausage meat.
Have had beef, duck and goose in the past. Never turkey as we are not lovers of it. Will also be doing a piece of gammon. Plus all the trimmings, of course!

We're having a turkey crown and roast pork for the crackling, which my DH really loves. Will probably do gammon for boxing day, giving us loads of lovely cold meat for sandwiches etc afterwards. For my vegetarian DD I've bought 'Chestnut mushroom, brie and cranberry wellingtons' from Lidl. She always says she'd be happy with roast potatoes and veg, but I thought those looked rather nice.

mumofmadboys A real treat for Christmas dinner for all my family is Pine Kernal Roast - an unusual layered variety of Nut Loaf - but posher!

There's a Christmas BBC Good Food magazine out at the moment for vegetarians, which has lots of yummy-sounding vegan recipes.

Just ordered 12lb turkey from a local farm - only two of us but we love turkey dinners, curries, casseroles etc etc.

If you do a cashew nut roast, use some dry roasted nuts rather than all fresh as it adds to the overall flavour. Also, really good quality seeded brown bread for the breadcrumbs, not cheap white bread.

I now always get a single large turkey breast from our local butcher - wrapped in bacon. No bones and "proper" fresh butchers turkey is always moist. Worth splashing out a little on - no waste, no mess so I'm sure in the end it's more economical.

It's not Christmas to me without a turkey - the smell while it's cooking is part of Christmas here. And I enjoy using all the leftovers, including boiling up the carcass for stock/turkey stew.

Occasionally we've had something else - my mother didn't like turkey - she was a v fussy eater anyway, so sometimes I did her favourite beef, but to me it was a bit of a PITA - timing of beef needs to be pretty precise, whereas you can leave a cooked turkey wrapped up to keep hot for at least an hour.
Which was particularly important one year, when I'd had so much Buck's Fizz, I completely forgot even to parboil the potatoes - dinner was well over an hour late but the turkey was still fine!

For a real veggie main course, the nicest I made was a cabbage with a stuffing of chestnuts and pineapple. There were bread crumbs in it too, and a few other things.
You take the centre out of the cabbage, blanch the shell for a few minutes, put in the stuffing and some stock, and bake in a covered pot for quite a long time.
Or you can put the stuffing in blanched separated cabbage
leaves, roll up, and bake as above
Very fiddly though.

Vq, can I come to your's too? Please

Another Rib of beef, on the bone of course

Thanks Gaga. I think I will try that in the next week or so and see what DH and I think. Thx

Mumofmboys I had to cater for my vegan DGD last New Year's day whilst the rest of us had roast leg of lamb.

I got a pack of Merchant Gourmet red and white quinoa and mixed it with some garlic, herbs, olive oil and some diced vegan cheese then stuffed red peppers with the mix and roasted them. DH is not a lamb fan so he joined her in eating the peppers (plus the normal veg we were having with the lamb) and both said they were delicious.

Would that do?

Judypark, it's been a big turkey crown for us ever since I lost control of the massive roasting tin when I was trying to ease it out of the oven, where it had been jammed in. The fat slopped everywhere, and, despite my frantic efforts at cleaning up, the kitchen floor that everybody had to walk across to the festive table was turned into a skating rink. Elderly relatives had to be assisted across and the cats' faces were a picture as they lost their footing and did their best impromptu Bambi impressions.

Same here sued, traditionally it’s turkey, beef and gammon. Sizes variable according to numbers. Nothing huge, though.

Judypark you must be been eating turkey until Easter!

We have a turkey crown on Christmas Day and I always cook a beef and a gammon joint as well. Once Christmas dinner is finished that's my job done. I can sit back and relax while everyone eats cold meats and whatever else is to hand for a few days.

Thanks for suggestions for veggies. My family don't eat fish either. I will look up the Wellington recipe

I'll be roasting a turkey for the family and a nut-roast for me, I have stopped eating meat and cheese this year to help with health issues.

mumofbs We went without meat for few year when ours were teenagers. At Xmas I remember making sweet and sour prawns, with rice, which went down well.
We had a veggie neighbour who gave us some of her special Xmas pudding.
All these food fads

We are having a goose. DH ordered it on Monday from a local farmer. mumofmadboys my DD buys a luxurious nut roast for her veggie family, and Quorn nuggets for the little ones.