Christmas Dinner Fundie Styl

[RR88]

Instant mashed potatoes are disgusting. You'd think that celebrants of traditional gender roles and "back to basics" lifestyles would prepare real food more often.

[ChunkyBarbie]

Recipe for the dishwasher detergent please.

I just saw this now... I use equal parts Borax and baking soda. For a cheap rinsing agent I use vinegar. I buy it in the jugs at Costco. Cheap as heck and lasts forever. Vinegar, baking soda and Borax are cheap and Eco-friendly.

[demgirl]

I agree completely. :)

demgirl - what movie did you see?

The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Real Christmas fare, right? But my mom was insistent. It was intense and very violent, but I think generally well done.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Real Christmas fare, right? But my mom was insistent. It was intense and very violent, but I think generally well done.

OMG so you're the only other person who hasn't read the damned book already? ;)

[GatorGutCasserole]

I have a house, actually. We bought our first in March. Why would you assume that I have an apartment?

I thought you had ... something else, but you still haven't replied : ) You know what, never mind, I'll use my imagination: ) ;)

[demgirl]

I am totally the only other person that hadn't read the books! It's nice to know who the 2nd person is! My parents have read the books AND seen the Swedish versions of the movies, and my mom was still all, "ZOMG, we go NOW." And I was all, "Popcorn? Cool." But it was pretty good. Much more violent than I anticipated however.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

I am totally the only other person that hadn't read the books! It's nice to know who the 2nd person is! My parents have read the books AND seen the Swedish versions of the movies, and my mom was still all, "ZOMG, we go NOW." And I was all, "Popcorn? Cool." But it was pretty good. Much more violent than I anticipated however.

Yupyup! And I really love to read, too. I heard the Swedish versions were much better 'tho.

/I like the movie theaters where you can customize the topping you add to your popcorn

[Jezebel]

My mom ended up slow-cooking a pork shoulder roast with chiles and garlic, and we had delicious tacos for Christmas dinner.

I'm an indifferent cook at best, but even I have my limits. Instant mashed potatoes and frozen roadkill/salisbury steaks? Oh, hell no. I ate enough of that garbage in the school cafeteria while growing up.

So if I had to do dinner I'd at least roast a chicken and a pan of cubed potatoes, steam some broccoli, make a spinach salad, and maybe a loaf of garlic bread. Apple cobbler and brownies, with ice cream, for dessert. Good, simple, inexpensive food, that's easy to prepare so I don't get stressed over it, in other words. That way, I can enjoy my guests' company and still provide a meal we can all enjoy.

And if culinarily-challenged me can manage that, why can't the oh-so-dedicated Christian homemaker who posted that sad menu do better? Is she that overwhelmed? Is she that indifferent? Was the food made from donations that nobody else wanted? Or are the standards for "good food" in her family and immediate social circle really that low?

All this talk is starting to make me think my MIL's recipe for "Beanie-weenie tropicana" is high-class grub (I just threw up an my mouth at the mere thought!). For those who really want to go there, it's hot dogs, pork and beans, and frozen concentrated OJ and pineapple chunks. Probably also has a few other ingredients, too, but I was too scared to ask for :mrgreen: more specifics

We got served something incredibly similar to that once, when I was in elementary school. Maybe someone dropped a few tabs of acid in the lunch ladies' coffee pot? Maybe they were tired of the complaints about the awful food and decided to fuck with our minds? Whatevs. It was HORRIFIC. :o But, thankfully, it was an aberration that was never inflicted on us again.

[doggie]

I am totally the only other person that hadn't read the books! It's nice to know who the 2nd person is! My parents have read the books AND seen the Swedish versions of the movies, and my mom was still all, "ZOMG, we go NOW." And I was all, "Popcorn? Cool." But it was pretty good. Much more violent than I anticipated however.

I knew very little if anythign about it till I watched it saturday. very volent. but she sure got her revevenge on the asshole.

[Black Aliss]

I also forgot to say that Count and youngest count caught the salmon this summer and all the veggie except the mushrooms are grown in the backyard. It is just me and the count, I work fulltime and I can find time to garden so why can't these families with million kids can't?

This. I work a 10 hour day and still manage to cook a balanced dinner from scratch, with vegetables from my garden. On Christmas Day, however, the kitchen is closed. We stock up on fancy cheeses, meats, and spreads, and lay out a buffet that everyone can graze on as they wish.

[jenny_islander]

It isn't choosing to eat prepackaged Salisbury steak, instant mashed potatoes, and veggies (which veggies?) for Christmas dinner that bugs me. Heck, plain freeze-dried potatoes were invented by the ancient Quechua, who didn't wither and die on them! It's the comment that this feels like something special. As other people have said, if they are eating this because it seems fancier than their usual, good grief, what is their everyday cooking like? (For foreign readers: Salisbury steak is just ground beef stretched with bread crumbs and/or soy grits, highly seasoned, and bound with egg. It is formed into patties, sauteed, and served with a savory sauce. So, hamburger patties covered in brown gravy or condensed mushroom soup. This is the kind of cheap food my generation got in public school and shunned as Mystery Meat.)

For Christmas dinner, we had our usual potluck with my husband's extended family. We did crudites with dip and assorted storebought pickled and marinated nibbles and brought the remains of a loaf of honey wheat bread I got as a present from my employer. Other people provided more crudites with dip, little tasty spicy potato chips, roast turkey, ham with brown sugar glaze, mashed potatoes with gravy, potatoes au gratin, bread dressing, cranberry sauce (canned), cranberry sauce (homemade from wild highbush cranberries), rolls, a wide selection of fizzy drinks and juice, several kinds of tea breads, Russian tea cakes, homemade fudge, and pies. Everybody took home packages of leftovers. The bread dressing did not turn out; the person who made it thinks she forgot to season it. There's extra gravy, so she'll probably just pour the one over the other and reheat them together.

[ladypuglover]

OMG so you're the only other person who hasn't read the damned book already? ;)

I haven't read it or even heard of the movie. :oops: Am I missing anything worthwhile?

[Witsec7]

I really don't think the salisbury steak folks got it from a donation. The post seems to read that its a tradition. Now I could see if it was homemade but the frozen stuff? Mechanically recovered meat, yuch.

Today we had a baked pork loin that had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days dry rubbed and then slow cooked in the oven for 6 hours. Green bean casarolle (made with beans from my garden and onions from my garden-all dried last year), mac and cheese, assorted antipasti, quiche, wilted winter greens Thai style, and fruit tart made with ricotta cheese. This is pretty low key by my standards.

Even if you are poor, food doesn't need to be joyless.

[Witsec5]

[link=][/link]

Sorry I didn't mean to come off as a food snob. Some people can't eat ramen or other processed foods and with the exception of ramen, homemade whole foods can be less expensive (and less convenient) than processed. At our middle age, a few of my friends whether they have money or not feel that it actually saves money in the long run (in terms of fewer medical expenses, etc.) to eat healthy whole foods and they go organic all the way. Young people can get away with ramen and be okay for a while.

I know it takes a lot of effort to grow and can or freeze foods but fundies aren't exactly trying to put themselves through college and/or working two jobs. Yesterday was a special day for Christians and should have required a little more effort than opening up boxes and cans and heating them up. If the whole idea is to have the girls become happy homemakers, a lot of fundies are doing a poor job of "training" them.

BTW: Yesterday I just ate just three things for dinner, roast turkey, chopped spinich salad, and green beans with slivered almonds. Nothing fancy or snobbish here.

[clarinetpower]

I haven't read it or even heard of the movie. :oops: Am I missing anything worthwhile?

It's a trilogy of books, and the Swedes made all the movies, but the first one was remade by an American recently. The books are very enjoyable, and the main character is a lot of fun--tough, brilliant, and unpredictable, but also very human. The author was a crime reporter for many years, so they are very detailed and well-written, IMO. He died soon after, however, so this is all we get.

They really hit American shores around a year and a half ago or so, and I'm thinking you could borrow, check out from the library, or find them used pretty easily now because they were very popular and a lot of people bought copies. I borrowed one from my stepmother last Christmas, and they were good distractions on sleepless nights and when visiting the thundering horde at my dad's (and I just needed to disappear for a while.)

Since they are set in Sweden and written by a Swede, it's an interesting glimpse of another culture. I now know why we Norwegian-Americans drink so much coffee. (Though we don't like to admit it, we're a lot like the Swedes. ;) )

/tangent

[gilora]

There are ways to be cheap and feed your family better than that! Hell, I made dinner for my family (5 people) and my SIL's 3 kids last week....we had red beans and rice and corn bread and I think it cost $3, believe me it tasted better than microwave salisbury steak and instant mash! (not to slam salisbury steak...we eat it sometimes).

What I don't get is why fundies eat so many processed foods....They use the kids a slave labor and I would think that the headships would want a 50's style dinner on the table, so WHY is everything in a can and microwavable?

Ah, but all that processed crap IS a 50's style dinner. TV dinners, spam, all that stuff was supposedly created to make the housewife's life easier.

I make potato latkes as part of Christmas dinner (hubby is a Jew) and at Thanksgiving I make real mashed potatoes with butter & cream. For our small group (around 10 people) I make five pounds of potatoes. I would think with a million kids to feed, a QF mom would need to make 10-15 pounds of potatoes. That's a lot of potatoes to peel, cut, cook and mash, especially if you don't have a good stand mixer. I can see why someone would go the instant route in that circumstance, but it's just lazy to also skimp on everything else.

[notsocommon]

What in the heck do they normally eat if they think that is 'fancy eatin' ?

[GatorGutCasserole]

What in the heck do they normally eat if they think that is 'fancy eatin' ?

Roadkill in it's fur, tossed in mud, rotten potatoes, moldy bread. Since I cannot imagine anything lower than that. I'm a snnobby bitch who loves to make handmade reverse California Rolls on occasions, honey-chili glazed prawns, or beefsteak tartare. These aren't even the fanciest foods on earth.

[Fun-Dee]

If they're trying to be frugal, at this time of year you can get a giant frozen turkey dirt cheap. They're not that hard to prepare, either. I don't like to cook everyday, but I can cook a turkey dinner. Also if you have a couple of kids old enough to use a peeler, you can go through ten pounds of potatoes pretty quickly.

[debrand]

I haven't read it or even heard of the movie. :oops: Am I missing anything worthwhile?

I recently watched the Swedish version with my daughters. There is a very intense rape scene that I had no idea was coming up.

My girls LOVED the movie but I don't restrict what movies they can watch. When we went back to the rental store, they picked the next two movies in the series to watch.

It is a really good series and I hope that the American version is as good as the Swedish one.

[debrand]

If they're trying to be frugal, at this time of year you can get a giant frozen turkey dirt cheap. They're not that hard to prepare, either. I don't like to cook everyday, but I can cook a turkey dinner. Also if you have a couple of kids old enough to use a peeler, you can go through ten pounds of potatoes pretty quickly.

You don't even have to peel the potatoes. Just cut them, toss with oil and spices and throw them in an oven. I do this all the time with different root vegetables.

[debrand]

Um...I made crock pot pork ribs for my husband. Used the cheapest piece of meat that I could buy and then dumped an entire bottle of PRE-MADE BBQ sauce (Gates) on it with some chopped onions. He loves it.

I wrote before that my daughters made ribs for our dinner. That was the meal that everyone voted for and my girls offered to cook it. Ribs are still better than frozen salisbury steak and instant potatoes.

It is the bragging that bothers me. It makes me sad that they feel that frozen salisbury steak and instant mashed potatoes are a fantastic meal. :cry:

There are GREAT cooks on this forum. :drool:

[RR88]

Ah, but all that processed crap IS a 50's style dinner. TV dinners, spam, all that stuff was supposedly created to make the housewife's life easier.

Have you ever read James Lileks' books?

[lessa]

Well, here I was feeling bad that I 'cheated' this year and made sausage lasagna with the no boil noodles, roasted asparagus and frozen rolls with fresh pumpkin pie and gingerbread cookies for dessert. I didn't want to spend the whole day in the kitchen and with the annual zeppole breakfast I wasn't up for the normal spread.

I hope they at least sprung for the Stouffer's salisbury steak and not the Banquet brand. Though honestly what else are they doing that they don't have time to make a nice meal.

[browngrl]

[link=][/link]

Sorry I didn't mean to come off as a food snob. Some people can't eat ramen or other processed foods and with the exception of ramen, homemade whole foods can be less expensive (and less convenient) than processed. At our middle age, a few of my friends whether they have money or not feel that it actually saves money in the long run (in terms of fewer medical expenses, etc.) to eat healthy whole foods and they go organic all the way. Young people can get away with ramen and be okay for a while.

I don't want to derail the slagging of the salibury steak or revelations of Christmas menus (moderator delete if off topic please) but I have got to say : unless you have a specific allergy or medical problem or issue with weight - I can not think of one reason why you can't eat ramen noodles. If you say that they have a lot of calories: I agree. If you say that you have celiac's and can't eat them : I agree. However I just can't agree with the statement :" young people can get away with ramen and be okay for a while (italics mine)". If eaten in moderation by someone without a specific medical problem : there is no proven medical harm in ramen AND they are delicious. I also have a problem with people insisting that somehow organic produce will solve all their medical problems. Please. There is very little good scientific evidence to back up the claims of organic food proponents (other than advising a moderate and common sense approach). I see people every day with nasty nasty diseases who exercise/eat right and do all the things you are "supposed to do". Sometimes illness is just bad luck and/or genetics.

I am going to stop ranting now as I am starting to froth at the mouth.

(please excuse spelling/grammar mistakes - have only had one cup of coffee so far)