There are two things you can do this year to make Christmas a little more festive, and a little less frenzied:

Cheating doesn’t have to mean serving up a boring, sub-standard Christmas dinner either. If you do it right, nobody will know the difference – and, what’s more, you’ll stay completely sane.

Sounds impossible? It’s not, just keep in mind these four tips:

1) Forget tradition

A lamb leg on the barbecue is a lot easier to prepare than a roast turkey, an ice-cream cake simpler than a Christmas pudding and peanut butter biscuits take just 15 minutes, as opposed to shortbread. Forget tradition and cook a feast your guests will want to eat in the middle of summer. The added benefit is you get to keep your cool too.

2) Add your own touch to ready-bought ingredients

There’s a reason shops sell Christmas puddings and ready-made hams – so you can buy them at the last minute and then add your own touch. For example, buy individual Christmas puddings, but make a wickedly indulgent boozy custard, or grab a good-quality cooked ham, and choose an easy glaze recipe to make it special. Hide all the packaging and no one will know the difference. We even have a Christmas last-minute cheats recipe collection with lots of helpful shortcuts.

3) Rally the troops

Delegate, delegate, delegate! There’s no shame in asking family and friends to help prepare a Christmas dinner. Decide on the menu, find out who is good at making what, and divide up the work. Easy.

4) Make-ahead

Choose dishes you can prepare well ahead of time and can either be served cold or just popped in the oven, roast potatoes, new potatoes, gravy can all be prepared in advance. Anything that needs cooking at the last minute or is overly fiddly should be forgotten.

Image credit: Ian Wallace

Publication: Taste.com.au

LU Gym news December 2021

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