menu planning help

[vernacular_life]

I'm kind of burned out from travel and a late night/early morning of urgent work emails/tele cons (niiice!) and realize that um, Christmas is less than a week away.

I need menu help....I'm hosting Christmas dinner (good friends S&D, their 2 yr old, and her parents) I'm getting a honeybaked ham, but am kind of at a loss for sides.

Menu thus far:
-shrimp cocktail (costco?)
-app provided by Dixie

-honeybaked ham
-green beans blanched, with butter, lemon, thyme
-rolls

-dessert provided by dixie

-coffee/tea/cocoa + cookies

I need something else with the ham, but am at a loss. Potatoes? What kind? I'm thinking fancier than potato salad. Baked Stuffed acorn squash?

help help please!

Comments

[eleanor-ramilly.livejournal.com]

Maybe the potatoes in a gratin? Easy to prep ahead of time and then insert into oven as required. And yay, melted cheese!

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

ah! perfect! that's what I've been searching my brain for...and yes, yayyy melted cheese :)

[spacedcowgirl.livejournal.com]

what about mashed sweet potatoes? altho the acorn squash sounds really good too :)

[njlorelei.livejournal.com]

I was thinking mashed sweet potatoes too.

[njlorelei.livejournal.com]

Maybe also a fruit salad? Or spinach salad?

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

hm, a winter fruit salad will be nice! thanks!

[janaya.livejournal.com]

potatoes au gratin are practically MADE to be served with ham.

[ee-chick.livejournal.com]

how about scalloped potatoes, or potatoes au gratin? If you'd rather do sweet potatoes, Bobby Flay has a divine sounding scallop with a little bit of spice (chipotle?).

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

That's def what I'm looking for....my mom loathes potatoes (wth, mom?!) so it never comes to mind.

The Bobby flay ones sound interesting - will look those up! thanks

[jillyz19.livejournal.com]

I think a cheesy hashbrown casserole would go nicely with the ham. Add a nice salad and some dinner rolls and that sounds like a great meal! (BTW, I am a friend of Andrea's (effy) and I accidentally clicked on the friends tab when reading her journal, and came across your entry.) Merry Christmas!

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

hello :)

i've never had a cheesy hashbrown casserole, but OMG it sounds delish! will add that to my list of options. . thanks!

[tray85.livejournal.com]

Now that someone mentioned cheesy hashbrown casserole, I want some!

I usually do cubed potatoes w/ butter, chopped onions, fresh parsley and salt/peper baked in aluminum foil for about an hour. Its simple, but people seem to love it.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

there's something to be said for crispy potatoes and cheese :)