Easiest Ever Christmas Dinner Menu

By Linda Larsen

Heavenly Cheese Molded Salad

Linda Larsen

Christmas dinner is one of the big meals of the year, including Easter and Thanksgiving. They can all involve lots of preparation, lots of work, shopping, preparing foods, serving, cleaning up, and often end up with a frazzled host or hostess collapsing into his or her place at the dinner table.

If that doesn't sound like your idea of a good time, turn to this easiest ever Christmas dinner menu instead. My best tip is to serve the ham cold. After everyone is finally seated at the table, all the food is passed, and blessings have been said, the ham is usually cold anyway! And spiral sliced hams are just plain delicious cold. Make a couple of flavorful sauces to serve with the ham to dress it up a bit.

Then, some easy side dishes and a super simple make-ahead molded salad, plus Christmas cookies, round out this delicious meal. So have a merry Christmas and enjoy the day with family and friends. And spend less time in the kitchen!

Easiest Ever Christmas Dinner Menu

• Crockpot Spicy Pecans
  For an appetizer, all you really need is something crunchy and salty. Serve with some champagne or wine for the perfect starter to your festive meal.
• Serve the ham cold, right out of the package! Make sure it's a fully cooked ham, of course.
• Ginger Mustard Sauce for Ham
  Mustard and ham are perfect partners. This super smooth and rich sauce is spiced with some onion and a hint of ginger. It's served cold, so make it well ahead of time.
• Cranberry Sauce for Ham
  This is my take on the traditional Raisin Sauce usually served with ham. The cranberries are more flavorful and also add a nice colorful touch to your Christmas table.
• Heavenly Cheese Mold
  This easy and delicious recipe is perfect for the holidays. Serve it in stemmed goblets as in the picture for a special touch.
• Cashew Grape and Greens Salad
  Make the dressing ahead of time, or use your favorite bottled vinaigrette. This recipe provides some fresh flavor, crunch, and cool taste to this menu.
• Sugar Snap Peas with Red Pepper
  This side dish just looks like Christmas! It's fresh and simple and the perfect foil to all the other rich dishes.
• Crockpot Creamy Potatoes
  I love this easy recipe; it's creamy, rich, flavorful, delicious, and so simple to make. For any 'easiest' dinner, you have to have a crockpot recipe!
• Garlic and Herb Parmesan Knots
  This easy bread adds flavor and a bit of crunch to refrigerated dough. Get your kids to make this so you can finish everything else!
• Christmas Cookies
  And of course, dessert is Christmas cookies!
• busycooks.about.com