Mr Christmas feels the credit crunch

Britain's very own Mr Christmas - who celebrates Christmas every single day - said the recession had forced him to scale back the whirlwind of daily festivities this year.

Mr Christmas (a.k.a. Andy Park, a divorced electrician from Melksham*) said his weight had plunged after slashing his mammoth daily portions of mince pies, champagne, roast turkey and all the trimmings.

He used to blow £11,000 a year on his daily Christmas knees-up but has trimmed his budget down to £5,000 in 2009.

"Before the credit crunch I was eating a 14-pound turkey, now I'm down to a four pounder. I've cut down from nine massive roast potatoes to four," Park said.

"I used to have 40 peas on my plate, now its just a tablespoon. I now have to make a bottle of champagne last two days. From 40 mince pies a day I've gone to 12 and there's no double cream."

To read more, click here.

* What I want to know is was Santa cited as the 'other party' in his divorce proceedings.

Christmas Pizza!

As I sit at my computer this morning, looking out at houses and gardens iced with snow, my thoughts turn, once again, to food...

Fed up with the traditional turkey for Christmas or just wondering what to do with the leftovers the next day? Then why not make yourself a Christmas pizza?

Christmas Turkey Pizza

For the Dough
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the Sauce
250ml whipping cream
4 tbsp. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 strips crispy bacon, chopped

For the Toppings
1 lb. roast turkey or chicken
3-4 golden fingerling potatoes
1 small red onion
4 tbsp. whole cranberry sauce
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Preparation
1. Prepare dough – Mix all ingredients and let it rise until dough doubled in size, about 1 hour. Dust a pizza stone with flour. Roll out the dough to fit stone. Let rise for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

3. Prepare sauce - melt butter over medium low heat. Add garlic and saute lightly - don’t burn the garlic! Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer and reduce heat. Add bacon and simmer until desired consistency is reached.

4. Spread sauce thinly on dough then arrange the remaining toppings as desired.

5. Bake in the center of the oven until the dough is golden at the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

And here's a recipe for a sweet Christmas pizza

Sweet Christmas Pizza

Ingredients
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 pound white almond bark divided
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup rice cereal
1 cup peanuts
16 ounces red maraschino cherries, quartered
3 tablespoons green cherries
1/3 cup coconut
1 teaspoon oil

Melt chocolate with 14 ounce almond bark in large saucepan on low heat, stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, cereal and peanuts. Pour into greased 12 inch pizza pan. Top with cherries. Sprinkle with coconut. Melt remaining almond bark with oil over low heat. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over coconut. Chill. Store at room temperature.

And here's a Christmas pizza the Franklin family made earlier...

Christmas curry?

A friend of mine is shunning turkey with all the trimmings and having curry for Christmas instead. As he puts it, "I actually like Christmas. I just think that turkey is overrated. Plus, if you go for a free-range, ethically sourced one you can be paying £60 up. Just for something that tastes a bit like chicken but drier and blander."

However, if you're still sticking with turkey (as we are in our household this year) then here's something you can do with the leftover bird the next day, as an alternative to living off turkey sandwiches for a week!

Christmas Roast Turkey Curry

500g Roast turkey
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Chopped coriander Salt
½ tsp Garam masala
1/3 tsp Chili powder
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Ground coriander
4 tbsp Cooking oil
1 Onion chopped
4 Garlic cloves chopped
¼ cup Tomato puree
1 tsp Ground cumin

Put the oil in a hot saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry for 7 minutes. In a bowl, mix together: the tomato puree, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and salt to form a thick paste. Tip the paste into the onion mixture and fry for half a minute. Stir in the turkey pieces and cook for 1 minute. Add 400ml of hot water from the kettle and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the ginger and the lemon juice.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... three altervative recipes for Turkey!

It's quite possible that even by 28 December you still have some turkey left over from Christmas Day and you're not sure what to do with it, to make it just that little bit... well... different. Well here are three ideas from the incomparable Mrs Beeton.

Croquettes of Turkey

Turkey Soup

Fricasseed Turkey

6 December - St Nicholas Day

Today, Saturday 6 December, is the feast day of one particularly well-known Christmas saint, Saint Nicholas.

















Saint Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop of Myra in modern day Turkey and is the patron saint of children, amongst other things including seafarers. In countries like the Netherlands, and its European neighbours, 6 December is the day when Saint Nicholas delivers presents presents and sweets to well-behaved children (rather than on Christmas Eve as Father Christmas does in this country).




I happened to go to Myra some years ago and visited the Church of Saint Nicholas. (St Nicholas' also happened to be the church I went to as a child.) The image which will always remain with me is that of the statue of Saint Nicholas, in full Christmas regalia, in the baking Mediterranean sun. Very festive!

Ho, ho, ho.