Christmas Dinner 2016! Delicious ideas for the upcoming Holiday.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Hanukkah! I had another enjoyable Christmas festivities with my loved ones! It takes a lot of effort and time to put this all together, but I enjoy it.

This is an outlet for my creativity, my family is vowed, I have meals for the next couple of days, I don’t gain weight during holidays since I work so much – Win-Win, right!

My version ‘Herring under a Fur Coat Salad” (Seledka pod Shuboy)

My centerpiece this year was ‘Herring under a Fur Coat Salad”, the famous Russian salad, which sounds so funny, but since we are in Florida and have no use for Furs, decided to rename mine and take the herrings from all those layers on top: “Herring on top of a T-shirt” sound more appropriate!

Christmas Menu

Appetizers

Seledka (herring) and boiled potatoes
Bread with butter and Caviar
Eggplant spread
Deli meats and cheese platter

Salad

Christmas Caprese Wreath Salad
“Herring under a Fur Coat Salad” (Seledka pod Shuboy)
Classic Russian vinaigrette salad (Винегрет)

Main Dishes

Baby Back Ribs with roasted peppers
Pierogies with 3 types of mushrooms and onions
Shrimp Scampi
Pasta with cheese

Dessert

Dulce de Deche Waffle cake with Chocolate and walnuts on top
Cinnamon Coffee Cake with pecans and raisins
Store bought cake
Fruit bowl

Drinks

Wine Cocktail
Apple/Grape Punch

Christmas Caprese Wreath Salad

with homegrown basil and homemade pesto dressing.
Super Delicious and adds so much to the festive mood of this Magical season!

The beloved by Russians: Seledka (herring) and Boiled potatoes

Pierogies with 3 types of mushrooms and onions

Classic Russian vinaigrette salad (Винегрет)

Ingredients:

2 medium beets, boiled and cubed (or 2 (14.5 oz) cans of beets, drained)
3 medium red potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed
1 medium carrot, or several snack size carrots, boiled and sliced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 Cup sauerkraut, drained (alternative: use pickles or marinated mushrooms)
1 Tbsp. Wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. Light olive oil
1 Tbsp. Fresh dill, chopped
salt/ pepper to taste
garnish with Feta cheese (optional)

Directions:

Place beets, potatoes, and carrots into a large pot (or boil potatoes and carrots in a separate pot), add cold water and season with salt. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially uncovered, until vegetables are soft, but not mushy.

Let the vegetables cool off.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients listed and adjust to taste. Enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi

Fall-of-the-bone Baby Back Ribs with roasted peppers

The Russian favorite: Bread with butter and Caviar

Desserts

Cinnamon Coffee Cake with pecans and raisins, dry cherries
> Click here for the recipe <

Dulce de Deche Waffle cake with Chocolate and walnuts on top

Combine cooked condensed milk, ½ stick softened butter and 1 tsp lemon juice.

Beat them at high speed for 3 minutes. But, I’ve used 2 Tbsp. butter and warmed up the condensed milk in the microwave until it was easier to work with.

Melt chocolate in the microwave and spread the top layer. Add walnuts on top, plate and something heavy on top of it for couple of hours. Then you can serve or make a night before, wrap in plastic and put in the fridge.

LOTS OF FRUIT! Always!

My favorite song: “I’m dreaming of a WARM CHRISTMAS….” and we had another one of those! Too bad couldn’t go swimming with my crew the day before, but I was able to go the next day.

We’ve decided to celebrate for two days since videos and pictures take too much time. Didn’t want to keep my family waiting.

So happy to see my In-laws in good spirits having a Great time with us! My Father-in-law talked and laughed and made jokes, so glad to see his old self back!