Christmas Day Brunch Ideas

We grew up doing all of our Christmas activities on Christmas Eve. When Christmas Day rolled around, it was like any other day, no special meals, no company, no... nothing. It really was a lonely day. Not sure why it happened that way but... oh well. Today is here.

We have chosen to try to keep the day as stress free as possible even though often we have a houseful. One thing that has helped me to be less stressed is to have a brunch instead of a 'Christmas Dinner'. I find that if we say brunch, no one knows quite what to expect, I'm free to make what I want, and if at the last minute something doesn't turn out, or there isn't time to make something... no one knows the difference!!

Often we have others over and they will ask what they can bring. I try to give them a few choices and then just mark what ever they have chosen to bring off my list of things to do.

Many times we have similar dishes, sort of our tradition, that my dear husband and children ask for. This year our menu looks like this:

Turkey Breast
Apple glazed Meat Mixture ( as we call it - recipe below)
Chili/ Bacon Egg Bake ( a new one for us)
7 Layer Salad
Fruit Tray ( Oranges, Pomegranates, Asian Pears)
Swedish Limpa Bread
Finnish Nisu ( a sweet bread)

Homemade Apple Cider
Orange Juice
Coffee
Tea

Followed by: Cranberry Orange Cake with warm butter sauce
Peppermint Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Topping

Recipes:
Apple Glazed Meat Mixture
8-10 Pork Sausage Links
3/4 lbs. cooked kielbasa sausage (cut into slices)
1/4 cup apple jelly
1/4 cup apple juice
2 T. maple flavored syrup
6 oz Canadian bacon, sliced or chunked

In skillet, combine sausage links, kielbasa and apple juice. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over med heat about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to med-low and continue to cook 15 minutes until sausage is cooked. Remove Kielbasa. Continue cooking until sausage is browned ( about 2 minutes) Remove sausage from skillet. Reserve 2 T. drippings. Stir apple jelly and syrup into drippings in skillet. Add Canadian bacon. Cook over med. heat until thoroughly heated. Add kielbasa and sausage, turning to coat with glaze. Arrange on platter, spoon remaining glaze over top.


:) and of course, there IS a variation to this.
I have used ham instead of the Canadian bacon, added regular bacon, used ready cooked sausages, and maple flavored sausage. This is a favorite with the men at this house!