Some Christmas Dinner Ideas

Christmas day is near. Wherever we go, we hear Christmas jingles playing; we see colorful and extravagant decorations everywhere. Shopping malls are a hit and the spirit of giving can be felt through exchanging presents. If you travel around the world during Christmas Eve, I'm sure you'll notice that every family celebrates it by preparing special and delicious foods. This is true regardless of our race, location and status in life, we will have something on our dinner table to share with our families and friends.

Italy is a dominant Catholic country. Catholic Italians in certain parts of the country have the tradition of abstaining from red meat during Christmas Eve. And because of that, they have fish for dinner. This is also known as the 7 Fishes dinner. If you are on a seafood diet, Italy (on a Christmas Eve) is the place to be. Or even if you are not a seafood lover, you might still want to change the menu and have a different course on top of your dining table. After all, fish is high in protein and a very healthy food to eat.

Let's move over to central Europe. Germany. A traditional German Christmas dinner is also a top candidate if you want to try a different approach towards preparing your Christmas dinner. Traditional German Christmas dinner is held during Christmas Eve rather than Christmas day itself. It usually consists of dishes such as stuffed Christmas goose, potato dumplings, red cabbage, and baked apples for desert. Aside from those I've mentioned, there is a wide variety of delicious dishes that Germany has to offer. Choose what suits your taste, time and budget. You can ask your family and friends to help you prepare the dish that you chose and maybe spend a little time together at the kitchen. Sounds fun?

If Italian and German cuisine is not your taste, another popular choice is UK. It's a bit closer to home than you think. Christmas favorites in UK include dishes such as roasted turkey, Brussels sprouts, dressing, roasted potatoes, and of course, pudding pie! If you want to add a little color to your dinner, you might want to decorate the table with Christmas crackers, (consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in bright colored papers) wherein you could place some goodies inside.

One interesting dish to prepare this Christmas dinner is a Mexican dish. Most Americans are familiar with Mexican cuisine and having one this Christmas will definitely be a hit to your family. You may add a little decoration to your dish to make it special. Remember; always have fun preparing as much as having fun eating! Labor of love adds flavor to the food you cook.

Even if some countries do not traditionally celebrate Christmas like Thailand, China and India, their delicacies will surely be a prime candidate on your Christmas dinner menu. They have plenty of delicious dishes that would tickle your taste buds. The trick in preparing the right food to eat is that you choose something that is easy to prepare. We are all busy this Holiday season so we don't have ample of time to allot for cooking. You wouldn't want to clean a messy kitchen this Christmas! The most important thing in a Christmas dinner is not what you eat but the people you are sharing the food with.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe at Every Family Events

This is our families’ secret and easy dessert recipes. We have a large family so this one makes over 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies. You can experiment with most cookie recipes to adjust to your own taste. Remember the more brown sugar you use the more chewy type cookie you create. I don't think this one needs much adjusting. First we will start with ingredients to our chocolate chip cookie recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4cup sour cream
3 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions to cookie recipe.
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together.
3. Sift cake mix, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
4. In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Stir the chocolate mixture into the eggs.
6. Stir in the sifted ingredients with sour cream.
7. Mix in chocolate chips.
8. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls cookie sheets.
9. Bake for until edges are starting to turn dark brown.

Enjoy these wonderful cookies at any occasion. They create very easy dessert recipes at family events. You might notice my secret ingredient. It is the boxed yellow cake mix. Cake flour gives the cookie a little more body than the regular unbleached flour. You may use any of your favorite brands. If you are making smaller cookies don't forget that the baking time goes down. Many ovens produce heat from the bottom of the oven, so as not burn the bottom of the cookies many times I will double pan the cookies before I bake them. Baking is similar to a gigantic chemistry experiment. The best way to get the experiment right is to keep experimenting. Once you have found the best combination's of ingredients and procedures, stick with it. Enjoy and you can use this on other holiday recipes!

Discover Chocolate Dessert Recipes at Raspberry Cake

We make a 3 layer cake with 2 layers of raspberry cream filling and topped with a chocolate raspberry butter cream icing. Are you salivating yet? To make this cakes use your favorite chocolate dessert recipes or for the inexperienced baker just use 2 dark chocolate cake mixes this.

Mix with:

8 medium eggs

2 cups cold water

2/3 cup oil

Mix on medium speed until well blended, scrape bowl, and mix for 1 more minute. Pour in equal portions into 3 (10x2 inch baking pans). Bake at 350 degree preheated oven for approximately 30 to 40 minutes or until done. Cool on rack;

remove from pans, level cakes by cutting off rounded tops.Purchase a good fruitful raspberry pastry filling (H&H) is the best, place about 1 pound of filling in a bowl and add whip cream to it (whip the cream first) now fold them together until you reach the desired flavor and thickness (don't make it too thin). Use any chocolate butter cream recipe that you like and add to the icing (black raspberry extract) until you some reach the desired flavor (if you make the icing too thin just add more 10x sugar). This is not just an easy dessert recipe because its take a time for decorating and putting filling but if you done in our Chocolate Raspberry Cake, you can use this to your thanksgiving dinner recipes and many events too.

Assemble the cake:

On the bottom layer put a dam of icing around the edge and your filling in the center and smooth to level, repeat for 2nd and 3rd layer, decorate as in picture, use shaved chocolate or chocolate jimmies in center of the top. Now it’s done! You make a moist chocolate cake. And you can serve it maybe on your next holiday recipes.

My top secret recipe at the Cheesecake Factory is Madeira Chicken

Here’s my top secret recipe for one of my favorite places to eat, the Cheesecake Factory. Just about everything there is scrumptious but the Chicken Madeira in particular is wonderful.

I’m an advocate of entertaining at home. Save yourself a lot of money by being your own chef. Surprise your family and friends with these healthy chicken recipes the next time you have guests. It’s quick and simple.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets

8 asparagus spears

4 mozzarella cheese slices

Madeira Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

3 cups Madeira wine

2 cups beef stock

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Procedure:

1. Heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover each chicken breast with plastic wrap then use a mallet to flatten the chicken to about 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle each fillet with salt and pepper.

2. Sauté the chicken fillets for 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until the chicken has browned just a bit. Remove chicken fillets from the pan and wrap them together in foil to keep the fillets warm while you make the sauce. Don't clean the pan. You want all that cooked-on goodness to stay in the skillet to help make the sauce.

3. With the heat still on medium, add two tablespoons of oil to the skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for about two minutes. Add the Madeira wine, beef stock, butter and pepper. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until sauce has reduce to about 1/4 of its original volume. When the sauce is done it will have thickened and turned a dark brown color.

4. As the sauce is simmering, bring a medium saucepan filled about halfway with water to a boil. Add a little salt to the water. Toss the asparagus into the water and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus spears. Drop the asparagus in a bowl of ice water to halt the cooking. The asparagus should be slightly tender when done, not mushy.

5. Set oven to broil. Prepare the dish by arranging the cooked chicken fillets on a baking pan. Cross two asparagus spears over each fillet, then cover each with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Broil the fillets for 3 to 4 minutes or until light brown spots begin to appear on the cheese.

6. To serve, arrange two chicken breasts on each plate, then spoon 3 or 4 tablespoons of Madeira sauce over the chicken on each plate.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Now we can serve our Madeira Chicken, and we can also add this in our holiday recipes or any occasion or events too.

Learn How to Make a Spicy Chili Recipe in Chicken Wings

We all love spicy chicken; and it’s probably a spicy chili recipe to make. Except if you are allergic or you just can't love spicy food. Being a chicken lover myself, I have collected 3 hot n' spicy recipes for you to try out in your chicken today or anytime you would like to treat yourself for a delicious meal; they make good family specials as well! Although they have similar names, they are very different. Perhaps their origins differ.

#1. Hot N' Spicy Chicken Recipe #1. Spicy Chicken Wings

- 1 lg. can Parmesan cheese

- 2 tbsp. oregano

- 4 tbsp. parsley

- 1 tsp. salt

- 1 tsp. pepper

- 1 stick margarine

- 4-5 lbs. chicken wings

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Melt margarine in small pan. Cut up chicken wings. Discard tips. Mix all dry ingredients in bowl. Dunk chicken wings in margarine and roll in cheese mixture. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour. Serve warm.

#2. Hot Chicken Wings

Chicken wings

1/2 stick margarine

1 bottle Durkee hot sauce

2 tbsp. honey

10 shakes Tabasco

2 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

Deep fry wings for 20 minutes. Drain and dip and let set in sauce. Take out to dry and then serve.

#3. Hot-N-Spicy Chicken Wings

5 lbs. bag chicken wings (drumettes)

12 fl. oz. Louisiana Pre Crystal Hot Sauce

1-2 sticks butter

Fry chicken wings until golden brown and drain on paper towel. Mix hot sauce and melted butter and pour into deep pan or crock pot. Add chicken wings to sauce and heat thoroughly. Now you made an easy chicken recipe at home. But you can also use this on your holiday recipes to or in any occasional event too.