Welcome to my Stress Free Holidays series, I will be sharing some tips to reduce the amount of stress this time of year puts on all of us. Some are ones I have used, some are ones I will be instituting this year, and some I will be using in the future. If you have any great ways to reduce the amount of stress please feel free to share them with us!
One of my favorite tips from my mother-in-law is to have simple meals for the last few days leading up to Christmas. Granted, many people will be out to parties anyway but for our family this is a much used tip. Pick very simple dinners, ones that don't make many dishes or leftovers. You will be exhausted getting everything done and ready for Christmas, and your fridge will already be overloaded with food for the holiday and who wants to add extra loads of dishes on top of the to do list?! Some of our favorite simple but healthy meal ideas are: Bagel Pizzas, Crock Pot meals (search for Salsa Chicken, it is one of my favorite), grilled cheese and soup, finger food appetizers (like finger sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, fried ravioli, fried shrimp or clams, etc.) and one pot pasta meals.
Love this idea!
ReplyDeleteGranted everyone might not eat as healthy but gosh it takes a lot of extra work of your plate! And it makes it easier to eat on the run and spend less time cooking.
DeleteI like to incorporate this into the actual Christmas feast. I do a simple a dinner as possible. Otherwise Christmas becomes a huge burden that makes me angry and bitter.
ReplyDeleteDitto, a simple dinner that can be made in the oven or crock pot is totally the way to go for holiday dinner. Especially if you are stuck with clean up too, less pots and pans equals less anger and stress!
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