There is no official topic for this week’s Ten on Tuesday (or there wasn’t late on Monday afternoon when I was trying to write this post) so Hillary and I came up with our own topic this week. Given our love of food and drink we’ve decided to list 10 Things You Love to Eat/Drink During The Holidays.
1. Swedish meatballs. I don’t know why I only make them at Christmas, since we love them so much!
2. Cookies. Polish Tea Cakes, gingerbread cookies, sugarcookies, spritz. Mmm.
3. Latkes. My mom’s best friend was Jewish and we often incorporated traditional Jewish foods at our holiday celebrations. Christmas dinner always included kugel and we always had potato pancakes at least once during the holiday season. I made them for Dale and Hannah the other night while we decorated the tree and they were a big hit.
4. Chinese food. I think it’s a regional tradition but Chinese food is a big deal around here on New Year’s Eve.
5. Speaking of New Year’s Eve – champagne. I love it.
6. Prime rib, roast turkey, baked ham, roast pork – Christmas dinner has to include some sort of “meat in a pan” as the main course. Truth be told, the beef is my favorite.
7. Chex Party Mix. I make a double batch every year.
8. Ribbon Candy. The best comes from Hammonds.
9. Fruitcake. I know it gets a bad rap but I’m convinced that’s because so many people have never had really good fruitcake. My friend Dinah makes the best and she shares. Hooray!
10. Peppermint Mocha Lattes. Yummy!
I just looked over my list and realized that none of these things are remotely healthy. Good thing the holidays only come once a year!
What about cookies??
Seven out of ten from your list would go on mine. Especially the chinese food on New Year’s Eve.
Every year my husband fills my stocking with Lindt chocolate balls – a tradition I hope he never drops! Would love to see your recipe for Polish tea cakes.
Your house is the place to be during the Holidays!
I lost count on your list.. did you really think you were only listing ten??
I used to make fruitcake every year. I love it. It was always such a hard sell to get anyone to try it.
Great list! Mine isn’t at all healthy either.
All the regional/cultural New Year’s foods are interesting. Most people here in Georgia eat black-eyed peas for New Year’s.
Ohhhhh this is a good one.
I think I might need to know more about those Polish Tea Cakes. You’ve piqued my interest.
Ok, so since I’ve never lad latkes, I can only claim to have 9 in common. I’ll have to try them, though, ’cause they sound yummy!
Have to disagree on them all being not so healthy … take the peppermint mocha latte, for instance … peppermint is a known digestive aid, chocolate can help lower blood pressure & aids in vascular health, milk is good for strong teeth & bones, and coffee can help stave off Parkinson’s disease. Sounds pretty freakin’ healthy to me. Just sayin’!
Yummy!
I think the unhealthy bent of holiday foods might come from the ancestral need to put on an insulating layer of fat for the winter. Not terribly flattering, but it’s my excuse, anyway.
Mmm, peppermint mochas.
My mom always made Chex mix with plenty of butter – talk about unhealthy and deliciously addictive. And my sister-in-law’s mom made an incredibly bourbon-soaked Lane Cake, which is a southern fruitcake. Those dear ladies are both gone, but I can still taste it all!
Great list. As Bruce’s grandmother was known to say “diet on your own time”. The holidays certainly aren’t the time.
I love #3 on your list because my mom’s best friend from childhood was christian and it was tradition for us to make a new ornament for her tree each year and then we’d decorate it with her while eating latkes and chinese food.
I love the ecumenical character of your list and some of the comments. Jewish Christmas for many of us involves going to a movie and then out for Chinese food!
My favorite thing to bring to all the work-related holiday feasts that occur on campus at this time of year is a box of Clementine tangerines. Everybody loves them and they help me protect my diet by not eating so much cookies and cake before lunch!
How do you make your Chex Mix?
I think I just gained 10 pounds from reading that list. 0.o
Wonderful list!! I love your photo, too — a little snowman, is he? So cute.
Yum!! My list is startlingly similar!
Latke recipe sometime as a blog post, please, pretty please?
Definitely champagne, and egg nog. We’re non-gluten and low-carb, which nukes most holiday favorites. We used to have persimmon pudding. Miss that.
Champagne is healthy. It’s made from grapes, it can be organic, and don’t you often toast to good health? It’s pretty much the definition of healthy 🙂
Enjoy all your holiday foods. That list makes me hungry!
It’s me, the Snow Dork again. I just noticed (because I got called away while reading your blog entry for today) that the snowflakes stick to the bottom of the screen. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this.
OK, carry on…
At our house it is Christmas bread, a recipe that my late mother-in-law made every year. When she passed away in 1999 I became the baker of the Christmas bread, an all day affair (sometimes into the night). But when I see my husband take his first bite and know that he’s thinking of his mom, and when my brother-in-law calls on Christmas morning to tell me that NOW it is Christmas, it is all so worth it.
Holiday food isn’t supposed to be healthy. I can’t think of anything healthy in the holidays. Not that it matters much. I mean, really.
I was reading and nodding along. Prime rib, champagne, cookies, Hammonds (the food co-op here sells it!) – yep. Good list.
Don’t forget chocolate in your stocking. Hershey Kisses and jelly beans. yum
Yowza! This is an amazing list, and a wonderful 10onTuesday idea. I am going to make my list now, too. Also, was yesterday’s recipe truly equally good with walnuts? Because, you see, I totally have walnuts and everything else to make that.
Roast beef is my favorite, too, and I’m making it this year. And spicing things up with some shrimp scampi on the side. Surf and turf for Xmas — why not? Also agree about the fruitcake.
Lots of yummy special occasion treats… you can concentrate on healthy the rest of the year! I know what I’m ordering next stop at the coffee store:)
The Hammonds factory is in Denver, and I’ve toured it! They also make great candy canes with natural flavors.
oh boy – I am SO on my way over to your house right now..yummmmmm
I am now craving Swedish Meatballs.
I remember Chinese food being a tradition where I grew up in NY, mostly our Jewish friends, and I gladly joined in.
That would be for New Year’s 😉