The countdown has started and now is the time to get the food ready for the Christmas holiday. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but everyone enjoys the festivities of a celebration and that’s what this Food for Thought is about: celebratory food. We can all relate to that!
Here’s a Christmas Morning Menu that’s a big hit at my house year after year. Something simple, easy and doable that you get ready in a snap the night before the big day. Here you go:
- Christmas Eve Shortcut Cinnamon Buns
- Christmas Morning Strata
- Chilled Tangerines
Christmas Eve Shortcut Cinnamon Buns
These are made the night before and popped in the oven Christmas morning when the kids are attacking their stockings!
Ingredients
- 20 unbaked frozen dinner rolls Bridgeport is a brand I have used
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup butter melted
Instructions
- Lightly grease a 10 inch bundt cake pan. Place frozen rolls into the pan and sprinkle with brown sugar, the pudding mix, and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top. If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can use a muffin tin, but they turn out better in a bundt pan.
- Cover with a clean, damp cloth and leave overnight at room temperature to rise.
- In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn rolls out onto a serving plate and dig in!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Christmas Morning Strata
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread cubed (either by hand or with a knife)
- 2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 3/4 pound Provolone chopped
- 14 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard optional, but adds a nice little bite
- 3/4 pound shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Make a single layer of bread cubes in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover the bread evenly with the spinach. Then add the chopped Provolone cheese. Top with another layer of bread cubes.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and seasonings. Pour over the layers evenly making sure that all of the top layer of bread is moistened. At this point, you have two options: refrigerate it overnight or bake for 1 hour (350 degree preheated oven)
- When you bake it, watch it starting at about 50 minutes. It shouldn’t be ready to pull until its puffed up a bit and just starting to get golden brown (you don’t want it too brown).
- If you want to test it, a knife inserted in the center should come out clean. While it is cooling, top with the cheddar cheese and allow it to melt by itself. You might need to return itto the oven for just a minute to finish melting.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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