Recipes for Christmas Dinner

Holiday Turkey

-1 Thawed turkey
-Olive oil
-Seasoned Salt
-Garlic Powder
-Celery salt
-Ground pepper

First, make sure your turkey is completely thawed.  If it's frozen, you may have to remove it from the freezer a couple of days before you're ready to cook it.

Start by removing all the insides of the turkey, and place them aside.

Rinse the turkey down with cool water, inside and out, and pat dry.

Place the turkey in a rosting pan, and completely coat it with olive oil.

Season generously with seasoned salt, garlic powder, celery salt and pepper.  Make sure your add seasoning to the inside as well.

In order to prevent the tips of the wings from burning in the oven, either bend them back behind the body of the turkey, or cover the tips with aluminum foil.

Follow the baking instructions on the wrapper, and remember to baste your turkey often.

Once the turkery is golden brown, and is cooked thoroughly, cover remove it from the oven and immediately cover with foil.

Holiday Ham

-1 pre-cooked, spiral cut bone in ham (hams with the bone in are much more flavorful)
-Handful of cloves
-1 cup dark brown sugar

Remove ham from packaging and rinse with cool water.

Gently push the cloves in to the ham, into various spaces along the spiral cuts.

Coat the skin of the ham with the brown sugar.

Place ham in a baking dish, along with enough water to coat the bottom of the dish.

Follow the baking instructions on the wrapper.

Once the ham is thoroughly cooked, remove from the oven and cover with foil.


The holiday turkey and ham are two of the most traditional recipes for Christmas dinner, but here's a recipe that's a bit more modern, and your party guests will love it.

Baked Lasagna

-1 box of ready to bake lasagna noodles
-1 32 oz. package of ricotta cheese
-2 bags of shredded Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses
-2 whole eggs
-2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
-1 lb. ground beef, pork or turkey
-1/4 c. parsley flakes
-Seasoned salt
-Pepper
-Garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 bags of the shredded cheeses, eggs, parsley flakes, and all seasonings (season to taste)

Brown meat until completely cooked through, then add spaghetti sauce.  Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Line the bottom of your lasagna pan with a small amount of the meat sauce.

Then line the pan with a layer of lasagna noodles, then a layer of meat sauce, and then a layer of the cheese mix.

Keep layering the lasagna until you run out of noodles.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown on top.

String Beans

-32 oz. can of fresh cut string beans
-2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
-1 piece of smoked turkey meat (any cut)
-Garlic powder
-Seasoned salt
-Pepper

Thawed or frozen, boil smoked turkey meat until fully cooked.

Cut meat into bite sized pieces and set aside.

Drain water from string beans

Rinse string beans a couple time, and transfer to a medium saucepan.

Add oil and seasonings (season to taste)

Then add meat

Cook covered on medium heat for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, string beans can continue to simmer to bring out more flavor.

As an option, a about 1 teaspoon of hot sauce or crushed hot peppers to the pot.

Roasted Red Potatoes

-1 bag of small red potatoes
-3 tbsp. Italian seasoning
-Garlic powder
-Seasoned salt
-Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rub each potato under cool water and pat dry.

Cut potatoes into fours, and transfer to shallow baking dish.

Coat potatoes with oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with seasonings (to taste) and with Italian seasoning.

Turkey Gravy

-All the insides of the turkey (neck, giblets and liver)
-1 medium onion (preferably a sweet onion)
-2 cups water
-2 tbsp all purpose flour
-1/4 c. milk
-Pepper
-Seasoned salt
-Garlic powder

Sear turkey parts in small frying pan.

Add turkey, along with any oil from the pan, to medium saucepan with water.

Mix in onion, and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and let simmer.

Add flour to a small cup.

Gradually add milk until you get a smooth consistency.

Gradually milk and flour mixture to saucepan.

Stir frequently so that gravy will not scorch bottom of pot.