Christmas Eve I usually want something easy, but delicious. Two years ago I made a deliciously meaty Christmas pasta dish with a recipe by Nigella Lawson.

This year I'm having an open house on Christmas day with roast pork, seafood pasta with a basil cream sauce, potatoes two ways, brussels sprouts, and a jicama orange salad. Therefore, Christmas Eve is going to be simple: Chinese take out!

I love making lasagna for a crowd. It's easy to make before hand and freeze and it feeds a large group easily. Add a green salad and you are done and you haven't broken the bank!

Oh boy, I had to laugh at your:

 "And strangely, those guests want to eat three times per day" !!!

I like doing double duty recipies - a chicken/broccoli divan with rice one day, then a taco "bar" the next, and then use left-overs (chicken/broccoli  & taco meat) for a baked potato "bar" the third day. 

Soup. I can prepare it early in the day and let it simmer all day with no more effort on my part. By evening the aroma has done it's job tantalizing the masses and everyone is dying to dive in by dinner. :)

I love the idea of making dishes that can be used for two different meals!

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Lori said ...
I like doing double duty recipies - a chicken/broccoli divan with rice one day, then a taco "bar" the next, and then use left-overs (chicken/broccoli  & taco meat) for a baked potato "bar" the third day. 

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Soup is a great idea! I think I'm going to go with that for Christmas Eve. If I put it in the crockpot, I won't even have to keep a very close eye on it.

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Melissa said ...
Soup. I can prepare it early in the day and let it simmer all day with no more effort on my part. By evening the aroma has done it's job tantalizing the masses and everyone is dying to dive in by dinner. :)

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