Dishes for the Christmas table on January 7th. What to eat for Christmas, description and recipes

Hello dear readers. Christmas is no less important holiday than the New Year, although many today forget about it completely. On this day we celebrate the birth of Christ, which means that the celebration should take place according to all the rules. Many of us, celebrating Christmas, completely forget about the true meaning of this holiday. It is for these reasons that we believe that any dishes can be prepared for the festive table. Although in fact there is a list of certain dishes that will be appropriate for a festive meal. This holiday involves the preparation of exclusively lenten dishes, so some of the usual goodies will have to be abandoned. At Christmas, the whole family gathers together at the same table, so it is necessary to prepare a sufficient number of festive dishes.

There are a huge number of similar dishes, but for the celebration of Christmas, you should choose the most suitable ones.

Of course, today not everyone adheres to fasting, but still some fasting dishes are still traditional today and are served at the Christmas table.

What dishes are prepared for Christmas. What to cook for the Holy evening

If for the New Year we can cook absolutely any dishes, then for Christmas it is necessary to prepare a somewhat restrained menu. Ideally, all meals should be lean, which means that they do not contain meat, milk and eggs.

Now, many do not follow this important rule when preparing various meat delicacies.

But if you are used to sticking to traditions, then for the duration of the celebration you will have to give up the usual meat treats. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare traditional dishes for Christmas.

The main dish that everyone is used to preparing on this important day is kutya. Traditional kutya is made from boiled wheat, which is supplemented with liquid honey. In this case, it acts as a symbol of fertility and prosperity.

Today, a popular substitute for wheat is boiled rice, which is also served with a little honey. Each family prepares kutya according to its own special recipe, so today there are a huge number of variations of this traditional dish.

Dinner is prepared the day before Christmas, and during cooking, the hostess must be in a good mood. At this time, you need to forget about all the existing problems, because our mood can affect not only the preparation of dishes, but also the general festive atmosphere.

The festive table should consist of 12 traditional Lenten dishes, personifying all the apostles. Therefore, it is necessary to think over the festive menu in advance, which will contain only lenten dishes. Also, let me remind you that the Holy evening is better to meet in the circle of close people.

An obligatory dish is kutia, which is solemnly placed on the family table, giving the right to the owner of the house to be the first to try this goodies. Only after that, the rest of the family can taste the kutya, scooping it up with a spoon.

And now it's time to get acquainted with the rest of the festive dishes that will be present on the Christmas table.

12 Meals for Christmas - Recipes

Nowadays, not so many people will agree to give up roasted poultry or meat pie. In this regard, a festive menu was compiled, consisting of meat dishes, without which the celebration will hardly be considered successful. Although many still fast without experiencing any discomfort.

We will consider a modern version of the Christmas menu, which consists of a wide variety of dishes prepared according to a special recipe.

1. Kutia

If earlier this dish was prepared exclusively from wheat grains and honey, today there are a huge number of options for its preparation, which differ in a variety of ingredients.

Today, in addition to wheat, rice is also used, which is complemented by raisins and walnuts.

We will consider the following version of kutia, for the preparation of which we need such ingredients.

Ingredients:

- a glass of rice and wheat grains;

- a glass of raisins;

- 100 g of honey;

- sugar and salt to taste.

Cooking

The cooking process takes a small amount of time, so this dish will please any hostess.

First of all, it is necessary to boil the rice in lightly salted water, after which, move it to a colander and rinse under running water. We place the washed rice in a separate bowl, where we mix it with honey and sugar. We thoroughly wash the raisins, after which, pour boiling water so that it picks up moisture.

Add the softened raisins to the rice and mix thoroughly. Actually, the dish is ready, which means that it can already be served at the table.

2. Pie with cabbage and mushrooms

This dish is considered lean, because mushrooms are a substitute for meat here. This option is perfect for those people who still fast on these holidays.

That is, there may be meat dishes on the table, but it is always important to provide a choice to guests who can follow the good old traditions.

The preparation of such a pie will not take too much time, because for its base we will use ready-made dough.

Let's take a look at the list of products that will need to be prepared for making such a pie.

Ingredients:

- half a kilogram of puff pastry;

- 200 g of champignons;

- 100 g of hard cheese;

- half of white cabbage;

- a third of a glass of milk;

- 20 g of butter;

- two medium-sized potatoes;

- two tablespoons of vegetable oil;

- a mixture of dried herbs, salt, pepper.

Cooking

Despite the fact that this is a pie, it does not take long to prepare. At least most of the time will be spent on baking the pie itself. But first of all, you need to try to chop the cabbage as finely as possible, while salting and peppering it a little.

A small amount of vegetable oil is added to a heated pan, in which we will fry our cabbage until fully cooked. Cut the mushrooms into small slices and fry in a separate pan with basil. The frying process will take at least 10 minutes, while the prepared mixture must be poured with soy sauce.

Next, we proceed to the preparation of potatoes, which must be boiled until fully cooked and add the prepared butter and milk to it. In fact, we are preparing a puree that will become part of the filling. Mushrooms are mixed with cabbage and cheese, after which we add the cooked mashed potatoes.

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees, in which we place two layers of puff pastry. Already after 15 minutes, the cakes will be completely ready, after which they will need a little time to cool completely.

After the cakes have cooled, we distribute all the prepared filling on one of them, and cover with the second cake on top. Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the pie and place in the oven for another five minutes so that the cheese is completely melted.

3. Compote with dried fruits

Since it will be problematic to prepare a compote from fresh fruits at this time of the year, dried fruits come to our aid, which will turn out to be an ideal basis for an uzvar.

You can use not only dried fruits alone, but also various spices that will give the drink a special piquancy.

In order to prepare such an uzvar, we need:

- two liters of purified water;

- half a kilogram of various dried fruits;

- 3 tablespoons of sugar;

- a tablespoon of honey.

Cooking

To begin with, let's deal with our dried fruits, among which there will be: pear, apple, cherry and apricot. You can choose the perfect combination of fruits for yourself, that is, it is not necessary to use all.

We wash the dried fruits and leave them in warm water so that they have time to soften. We boil water for compote and add the prescribed amount of sugar, after which we put fruit in the syrup.

We boil the compote for about half an hour, after which we give it a little time to cool. Warm drink is supplemented with a spoonful of honey.

4. Light baking

Not a single holiday table is complete without baking, but more often than not, we get by with the store option. On such a holiday, you can not be too lazy and bake delicious homemade pies on your own.

For this we need the following products:

- half a kilogram of apples;

- 500 g flour;

- 60 g margarine;

- 1 pack of yeast;

- one glass of milk;

- three tablespoons of sugar;

- 2 teaspoons of sunflower oil;

Cooking

It is necessary to dissolve the yeast in milk by adding a teaspoon of sugar. Beat eggs with melted margarine and sugar.

Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil into the mixture, and begin to introduce the prescribed amount of flour little by little. Gradually knead the dough, after which, leave it for about an hour so that it has time to rise.

We clean the apples and cut them into small cubes, which will need to be fried in a pan, adding a small amount of sugar. Next, we form the pies themselves, placing an equal amount of filling in the dough.

The pies will be ready 15 minutes after they are placed in the oven, while the oven must be preheated to 200 degrees.

5. Poloninsky salad

This salad belongs to lean dishes, so everyone will like it. In addition, it is quite simple to prepare, which will not take you too much time.

For cooking you will need the following ingredients:

- two small beets of the same size;

- about a dozen walnuts;

- one bulb;

- 300 frozen mushrooms;

- a few cloves of garlic;

- a teaspoon of vinegar;

- about five tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Cooking

The beets are baked in the oven for about an hour, after which they are peeled and cut into strips. Add some vinegar to it.

Grind the garlic and nuts with a meat grinder. Mix all the ingredients and season with vegetable oil.

6. Vinaigrette

Such a salad is familiar to everyone, because it is prepared from the simplest vegetables, which are pre-boiled until fully cooked, peeled and cut into cubes.

For cooking, we need potatoes, beets, carrots, pickled cucumbers and beans.

All these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and the salad is supplemented with vegetable oil and fresh onions.

7. Vareniki with potatoes

For dumplings, the usual yeast-free dough is prepared from wheat flour. The filling can be boiled potatoes with the addition of fried mushrooms with onions. Mushrooms can be used both forest and porcini.

8. Cabbage rolls

Ordinary cabbage rolls are cooked with meat, but if you are fasting, then this ingredient can be replaced, for example, with the same mushrooms. Most often, rice is used for the filling, but you can also replace it with millet.

The lean version, consisting of mushrooms and millet, is complemented by stewed carrots with onions and tomatoes. The further course of action, for sure, is known to everyone.

9. Pickles

We need to create an interesting mixture of sauerkraut, tomatoes and frozen cranberries.

Absolutely everyone will like such a light, slightly spicy salad, and at the same time, it will serve as an ideal snack.

Cranberries and cabbage - the combination is quite unusual, but the taste is quite interesting.

10. Vegetable stew

To prepare such a lean dish, you will need carrots, celery, onions and parsnips. If this combination of vegetables seems boring to you, then you can supplement it with the same mushrooms. They will give the dish a special taste and aroma.

By the way, it is best to use dried mushrooms, because only they can make vegetable stew so fragrant.

11. Cabbage

The classic version of this dish involves the use of meat broth, but if we are fasting, then it should be cooked in water.

To prepare cabbage, we need sauerkraut or raw cabbage, to which millet is added. You can add potatoes or parsnips to the resulting mixture, the choice is yours.

Carrots are grated, and then fried together with onions in vegetable oil. Boil the dish until fully cooked.

12. Baked apples with honey and nuts

To prepare such a festive dessert, you only need sweet varieties of apples. The secret to evenly cooking apples is to pre-pierce them all over with a fork.

We remove the core from each apple and put inside each apple a teaspoon of honey and walnuts, which must be crushed in advance. Sprinkle the top of the apples with sugar mixed with cinnamon and place in the oven.

Please note that a small amount of water must be poured into the bottom of the mold so that the fruit does not burn.

Meals for Christmas

Each of the proposed recipes has several cooking variations. In fact, even from an ordinary dish containing meat, you can prepare a lean version by replacing the meat with another ingredient that is similar in calorie content.

Traditional tasty dishes at Christmas are rich enough in a variety of vegetables, which makes them lean. If you are not used to fasting, then you can cook classic versions of such dishes.

Each of us wants to spend Christmas at the festive table, enjoying delicious homemade dishes. Someone strictly adheres to fasting, but someone does not deny himself anything even on such a day.

But for those and for others, there is an ideal menu, the dishes of which may vary depending on the ingredients used.

Prepare 12 dishes for Christmas that will decorate your table and delight not only you, but also your guests. I hope you enjoy the recipes!

How to properly celebrate Christmas. What can't be done. Christian traditions and customs. Notes for Christmas. How to say Merry Christmas.

On the night of January 6-7, the entire Orthodox world celebrates Christmas - one of the most important Christian holidays.

This is a holiday that symbolizes renewal. After all, it was the birth of Christ that proclaimed a new, bright era for mankind. It is no coincidence that a new chronology was even established - from the Nativity of Christ.

The birth in the flesh of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary is one of the miracles revealed by the Lord to mankind. Therefore, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, everyone expects a miracle and prays that the next year will be better and happier than the outgoing one.

This bright holiday in Orthodoxy is one of the master's twelfth holidays and is preceded by a 40-day one.

The celebration of Christmas begins on January 6 with the appearance of the first star in the sky. As you know, after the birth of Jesus, the first of the people to bow to him were the shepherds, who were notified of this event by the appearance of an angel. According to the Evangelist Matthew, a wonderful star appeared in the sky, which led the magi to the baby Jesus.

all about Christmas

Christmas Eve is called Christmas Eve. In Russian, the name comes from the word "sochivo". It means soaked grains of wheat - the prototype of the well-known kutya. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Eve on January 6th.

On Christmas Eve, an All-Night Vigil is served with Great Compline, during which prophecies about Christmas are sung and read.

Around midnight, Matins begins, which is performed according to the order of the great holidays. On it, fragments of the Gospel of the Nativity are read and the canon "Christ is born ..." is sung - one of the most beautiful canons in Orthodox worship. Then the festive Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

All-night vigil- liturgical service, which consists of Vespers and Matins, which received these names according to the time of their performance. Before the holidays, morning and evening services are combined into the so-called "all-night vigil", that is, a prayer that continues all night. Such a prayer happens only twice a year - at Christmas and Easter. Before Christmas, in the all-night vigil they serve not Vespers, but Great Compline: it is performed after Vespers served on Christmas Eve, hence the name.

What to cook for Christmas:

It is customary to put 12 dishes on the Christmas table, and Kutya decorates the table. Lent ends on January 6 and Christmas Eve begins.

Each hostess prefers her own recipe for cooking Kutya. There are a great many recipes. The simplest: they take the cereal and soak it overnight, then boil it until cooked and add all sorts of sweets. So, for example, you can take rice, honey and marmalade, as well as millet poppy and honey, some even cook kutya from barley and millet groats. You can add marmalade or candied fruits to Kutya.

Also on the Christmas table it is customary to serve Uzvar - dried fruit compote.

On the very day of Christmas, believers celebrate and feast - they “break the fast”, it is already allowed to eat not only lenten, but also “quick” food.

Various pork dishes are traditional on the Christmas table: jelly, roasted pig, stuffed pork head, roast. Baked poultry and fish, fried and baked meat in large pieces are also served on the Christmas table, since the design of the Russian oven made it possible to successfully cook large-sized dishes. Finely chopped meat and offal were boiled in pots along with traditional porridge. Various pies are also stuffed with meat: kalachi, cheesecakes, koloboks, kulebyaks, kurniks, pies, etc. Casseroles and pancakes are prepared. In addition to meat fillings, a variety of vegetable, fruit, mushroom, fish, cottage cheese and mixed fillings are prepared.

Folk traditions of celebrating Christmas time from Christmas to Epiphany are rooted in the Slavic customs of celebrating the winter solstice. The obligatory attributes of the holiday were dressing up (dressing up using skins, masks and horns), caroling (visiting houses by a group of fellow villagers who performed “favorable” sentences and songs addressed to the owners of the house, for which they received refreshments), carol songs, or carols, youth games and divination.

Christmas time began on Christmas Eve with a dinner with Christmas kutya and porridge, a pie with pretzels, even for the holiday they baked animal figures from wheat dough, which decorated tables, windows of the hut and sent them as gifts to relatives and friends.

When the family gathered at the table, the elders remembered the year - all the good and bad in the outgoing year. At the end of the meal, the children took part of the remaining kutya to grandparents, as well as to the poor, so that they could celebrate Christmas. In some areas, food and tablecloths were not removed from the table until morning, believing that the souls of the deceased parents would come to the table to also eat.

Then the mummers, dressed in sheepskin coats with wool up and animal masks, in order to be unrecognized, arranged dances in houses and on the streets, played skits and whole performances. At the end of the 17th century, the crib theater penetrated from Poland to Russia: scenes about the birth of Jesus Christ and other plots were played in a special box-crib with the help of dolls.

Echoes of pagan beliefs were also manifested in the fact that it is customary to guess at Christmas time. In some villages, straw was burned at Svyatki - according to legend, the dead ancestors at that moment came to warm themselves by the fire. The Church, not approving witchcraft superstitions and pagan rites, assimilated "harmless" customs, and they organically entered the life of the people.

By Christmas, the owners always cleaned the house, washed in the bath, laid a clean tablecloth, stocked up new clothes, which they put on at the beginning of the day, and invited lonely people to Christmas dinner. But in some places, superstitions associated with the holiday were also widespread: they did not drink plain water at breakfast, since it was believed that a person who drank water on Christmas morning would be thirsty for the whole summer.

What not to do at Christmas:

Under fear of all sorts of troubles, on Christmas it was impossible to bend, weave or sew anything. The legs of the dining table were tied to each other with a rope so that the cattle would not run away from the herd. The remains of the evening meal were taken out of the fence - "so that the wolves do not harm the peasant cattle."

A folk proverb says: Whoever slaughters cattle on Christmas Day will die in three years.

You cannot lend on Christmas Eve anything that is connected with fire, for example, flint, matches, a lighter, a bucket of coal or firewood, etc., otherwise misfortune will befall you.

Never sew, wash your hair, wash or lend on the three-day holy holidays (Christmas, Easter and Trinity), otherwise you will make yourself tears and poverty.

On Christmas Eve, bread, salt and money are not borrowed from home, otherwise all good things will go past your hands. Do not cut hair and do not spin wool. Do not wash or boil clothes. Believers must finish all the dirty work by this day on Maundy Thursday, and whoever “pulls” dirt on Christmas Eve will sit in it all year for this.

You can’t sit at the Christmas table in mourning, that is, in black clothes - you’ll call trouble.

If on this bright day a dog howls in your yard, then be in trouble. To get rid of it, you need to immediately go up to the dog, untie it and say: “As the rope does not hold you, so the trouble would not hold on to my house!”.

Do not buy ropes on January 8, on the second day of Christmas, so that there will never be hanged or strangled people in your family. Do not cook or eat jelly on this day, so as not to invite the deceased to the house.

On the ninth of January, on the third day of Christmas, do not chop wood until sunset.

What to do for Christmas:

According to popular beliefs, in order for your loved ones to be happy and healthy for a whole year, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ on January 7, ask the oldest family member to treat all relatives with milk. Bringing milk to someone, he should say every time: “The Lord was born, the people were baptized. Be cheerful and healthy. Amen".

On the eve of Christmas, in the old days, food was taken out and left for needy people or treats were distributed - it was believed that in this way all deceased ancestors who did not have time to eat before their death satisfied their hunger. After the festive feast, the food was not removed from the table, so that the souls of dead relatives would eat the festive food, and for this they would pray for you.

In that family where there is no peace and harmony, on Christmas night they put a bucket in the frost, and in the morning they put it on fire and say: “The ice will melt, the water will boil, and [so-and-so] soul will ache for me.” This water is given to the husband to wash or in the form of tea / soup, and also wash the husband's linen in it. Holy Christmas water always helps a woman's trouble.

Ask God for Christmas what you really need. Ask seventy-seven times and you will be given. Whoever asks God for something on Christmas at three o'clock in the morning, it will be given to him.

If on Christmas night you look out for a flying star in the sky and make a wish, then it will surely come true.

On January 7, in the cold, jump out into the street lightly and, as soon as goosebumps appear on your body, say: “There are a lot of pimples on my skin, so that I also have so much money.”

Notes for Christmas:

♦ If a person in a drunken state is the first to show up at your house, the whole coming year will be in noise and quarrels. If a woman crosses your threshold first, then this is to gossip and failure. If a man or a boy - to well-being. If an old man or an old woman - to a long life. If a bird knocks on your window - to amazing news. If a beggar or a beggar comes to you - to loss and need. If several people appear at once - to a rich life.

♦ If a man comes to you on Christmas morning, wear plain clothes that day, if a woman wears a colored dress, so that the whole year goes well.

♦ When the family sits down at the table at Christmas and when the first star appears, it starts to dine, then an unmarried girl or an unmarried guy from this family, taking the first non-lean piece in his mouth, should keep it on his tongue and not swallow until, going out into the street, accidentally will not hear any name from people passing by. It was believed that the groom or the bride would have the same name. People say that this sign has come true more than once.

♦ Cucumbers will be firm and crispy if you pickle them exactly on the same day of the week as Christmas this year. For this purpose, a good housewife keeps in a secluded place the salt taken on Maundy Thursday.

♦ It is a good, good omen, if during the Christmas feast a domestic cat sits under the table - this means that no one will die this year from all those sitting at the table.

♦ If two people come to your house on Christmas morning, there will be no death, divorce and separation in your house for a year.

♦ If someone spills or breaks something in your house on this day, then the whole year will be restless for your family.

♦ If a person going to church at Christmas stumbles, then in twelve years, to the day, he will get sick. To prevent this from happening, you must immediately say: “I’m not going to the devil, but to God, He will save me.”

♦ On the ninth of January, be sure to visit your godfathers and parents.

♦ A child who takes his first steps on January 10 will be healthy, beautiful and live a long life.

♦ If a sick person sneezes loudly on the third day of Christmas, he will soon recover and live for a long time. If a person who is seriously ill talks about pancakes or horses that day, then he will soon depart to another world.

♦ On the tenth of January, do not put the dough or sourdough.

♦ Don't give your husband a towel on January 11th, otherwise he will start to loosen his hands.

♦ Don't open the door immediately after your doorbell knocks or rings on January 11th. Wait until they knock or call a second time, otherwise you will invite illness into the house.

♦ If Christmas falls on a Monday, many men will die that year. If Christmas coincides with Tuesday, an even number of guests are called to the table so as not to invite poverty into the house. If the Nativity of Christ falls on a Saturday, then many old people will die this year before the next Christmas.

♦ If a midwife was called to a woman in labor and she gave birth to a child at Christmas, then the midwife would never take even a penny for her labors, moreover, she was obliged to become a godmother to the baby. This custom was never violated, the old people knew: whoever takes money for childbirth will spend it on a coffin for himself.

Merry Christmas greetings:

♦ Merry Christmas! Happy bright day!
Let this day be lucky in everything!
Let joy look into your house,
The car is new - in the garage,
Profitable work - to the house,
And there are a lot of kids in it!

♦ Let the Christmas miracle
Give you warmth
May it never be bad
Meet every day with kindness!

♦ The star of goodness and magic lit up ‒
Merry holy Christmas!
God bless and people help!
May the starlight in the soul not fade away!
May the house be filled with happiness and wealth!
Love, health, peace! Merry Christmas!

♦ Let the night sparkle with magic,
A flock of snowflakes is rushing up.
We congratulate you on Christmas,
We wish you smiles, joy.
The flow of divine love
Let it flow with wonderful light,
And the Lord bless you
Health, happiness and success!

♦ We wish you a Merry Christmas
Smiles, sincere laughter,
Good health, success
And a lot of good things.
Let the blood play in the heart
And the joy lasts forever.
And may they be with you forever
Hope, faith and love!

♦ Merry Christmas
And I want to wish from the bottom of my heart
So that life is full of happiness,
So that adversity and sorrows do not know!
I wish you to be fulfilled
All your hopes and dreams
To pure love and tenderness
You can always enjoy!

♦ May the bright holiday of Christmas
Everything you dreamed about will come true!
May there be a lot of joy, goodness in the house,
And let the heart not know sadness!
I wish you many fabulous miracles,
The warmth of love, spiritual purity!
And let the snowflakes fall from the sky
Keeping the peace of heavenly beauty!

♦ It's Christmas again ‒
Forces of Heaven triumph!
On this day Christ came
To save our world from evil.
Glory to Him forever
Conqueror of darkness!
Congratulations with all my heart
With this great joy!

♦ Candle flicker warms the house
And sparkles with gold
When a magical Christmas
The Lord will come to light!
He gave his life for us,
Must remember this
And what bequeathed to the people -
Perform diligently!
May you keep your peace
From shutters to threshold
enduring love,
Simple faith in God!

♦ A star lit up - Christ was born -
And the world was lit up with love!
May happiness enter every home!
Happy bright Christmas!

♦ Christ has come to us today,
To teach love to people.
Friends, let's celebrate
And let's get a little better!

♦ Let the snowflake ring,
announcing birth,
And fill with delight
Your mood!
After all, today is Salvation,
Love celebration ‒
Saint comes
Christ Christmas!

♦ When the snows cover the ground,
And Christmas will come again
Raise a glass for happiness
For peace, for friendship, for love!
And so that without grief and doubt
May you have many bright days!
Save comfort, family peace
And the respect of friends!

♦ Merry Christmas,
What is already knocking on the house!
Open wide the doors
You Love, Hope, Faith!
fur trees
Smell all over the house
Every needle
Whispers: "Merry Christmas!"
Let resentment and loss
Fly away like leaves!
Let luck enter the door
On the bright holiday of Christmas!

♦ Congratulations on Christmas!
May a miracle happen in your life!
May joy, inspiration and goodness
They will be able to live in your house!

♦ Today is Christ's birthday ‒
The good news is spreading across the planet!
I wish this Christmas
Consent and joy without end!

♦ Happy New Year!
Happy New Year's Eve!
Happy New Year's Eve!
Merry Christmas!
Let everything be in order in the family,
And luck will be near!
May health be good
Happiness - bright, incomparable!

♦ Christmas has come to your house,
Happiness is all around!
Let smiles hover in it
And I also wish you:
Kindness and beauty
So that all dreams come true
Let health not fail
And let luck come!

The question of What to cook for Christmas has been relevant for many, many, many years. Every year on Christmas Eve, every Orthodox family sets a family Christmas table, which, according to tradition, should include 12 Lenten dishes,

Christmas is the brightest and most magical holiday. Christmas Eve - the night of January 6-7 is called Christmas Eve. Until the evening of Christmas Eve, the Orthodox adhere to a strict fast and break their fast only after the appearance of the first star in the sky.

Before Christmas, it is customary to set the table twice: on January 6 - on Christmas Eve, the table must be fast, and on January 7 - already on Christmas itself, here you can already cook dishes from eggs, milk and meat. Many adhere to the traditions and prepare 12 Lenten dishes for Christmas. The number 12 symbolizes the number of apostles, there were just 12 of them. Someone believes that 12 lenten dishes at Christmas symbolize the number of days of Christmas time - there are also twelve of them.


There is very little time left before the Holy Evening, and now it is important to know what to cook for Christmas 2017, how to treat relatives and invited guests tasty and healthy. Many mysterious and beautiful rituals and traditions are associated with Christmas night, which are still honored and observed in many families - for example, children walk and tell and sing carols at Christmas.

So what to cook for Christmas? What dishes to serve at Christmas on the table? What does a classic Christmas menu look like?

According to tradition, it is necessary to cook kutya or kutya without fail. This is a tasty and healthy porridge made from wheat (there are recipes for making kutya from rice or millet), which begins the Christmas feast.

What to Cook for Christmas - 12 Recipes for Christmas

1. Kutia

Ingredients: wheat groats - 1 cup, walnuts - 1 cup, dried apricots - 10 pcs; raisins and poppy seeds for half a glass; honey.

We wash the cereal, leave it in cold water for 4 hours. After that, in a bowl made of aluminum or stainless steel, boil the cereal over low heat, adding 2 cups of water. When the porridge reaches readiness, set it aside and let it cool. At this time, poppy seeds, raisins and dried apricots in different dishes are poured with boiling water. When the water gets cold, drain it, grind the poppy seeds, cut the dried apricots into small pieces. Walnuts are also cut into small pieces. Mix the porridge with all the ingredients, add honey to taste.

2. Uzvar (compote)

Uzvar - dried fruit compote. The traditional Christmas drink uzvar is brewed from a mixture of dried apples and pears, cherries and plums. The real uzvar has a rich, pleasant taste, so cook it in advance - in the morning. This drink is also very useful, in winter you can cook uzvar not only for Christmas, Generous Evening and Epiphany, but just like that, as an alternative to compotes (canned or frozen berries) and tea.

3. Lenten hodgepodge

The first dish for Christmas (on Christmas Eve) - Lenten hodgepodge how to cook?

Lenten hodgepodge with mushrooms is perfect for hot dishes. For her, you will need mushrooms (in winter, of course, the choice is small, so use fresh champignons, you can also take dry ones), a small head of cabbage, one carrot, two onions, two or three pickles, a small potato, salt, herbs, oil and pepper. So, put the water on the fire until the water boils, fry the mushrooms and onions. Grind cabbage, carrots, potatoes and pickles. We alternately lower raw vegetables into boiling water, let it boil, then mushrooms, let it boil, and before removing the hodgepodge from the heat, add garlic, herbs and vegetable oil. The first dish is ready.

4. Pampushki

Traditional dish for Christmas - Pampushki

Pampushki is served on the table instead of bread, but bread must also be on the table. Pampushki are cute round buns made from unleavened yeast dough, and it’s good to cook such a dish as ...

5. Vinaigrette

Let's make a vinaigrette for an appetizer. For him, we need boiled beets, carrots, potatoes, pickled cucumber, a can of canned peas, herbs and salt. We cut the vegetables into small cubes, finely chop the greens, then combine all the ingredients, salt, season with oil. Vinaigrette is ready! In strict fasting, you need to eat lean dishes without oil, so if the vinaigrette is not seasoned with oil, it can be served on the table on strict days.

6. Potatoes in foil in the oven

Dishes for Christmas recipes - Potatoes in foil in the oven

Ingredients: medium-sized potatoes (2 for each person), garlic - 4 cloves, herbs, vegetable oil, salt, spices, foil.

We thoroughly wash the potatoes, removing all particles of the earth. Let dry and then brush with oil on all sides. Cut off a piece of foil so that the piece matches the size of the tuber. Coarse salt, garlic are placed in the center of the sheet, potatoes are sprinkled on top, which are sprinkled with salt. We pack. After the bundles are ready, it is necessary to make several holes in each of them with a toothpick. We heat the oven to 200 degrees, put bundles on a baking sheet, bake them for about fifty minutes. We check readiness. When there are no complaints, remove the foil, put the potatoes on a dish and sprinkle it with finely chopped herbs.

7. Cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Dishes for Christmas - Cabbage rolls with mushrooms recipe

Ingredients: champignon mushrooms, white cabbage, rice, onion, carrot, tomato paste, salt, pepper.

Cut the mushrooms, fry in oil. Add finely chopped onion to them, fry everything together. Three carrots, which are sent to the pan with mushrooms and onions. At this time, boil the rice, which is then mixed with the chilled contents of the pan. This is stuffing for cabbage rolls. Stuff boiled cabbage leaves. After that, lightly fry to fix the shape of the cabbage rolls. We put them in a saucepan. We prepare a mixture of water and tomato paste (for 1.5 cups of liquid - 3 tablespoons of paste), pour the cabbage rolls. Simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.

8. Vareniki with potatoes

Vareniki on the Christmas table - What to cook for Christmas

On the lean table, be sure to put dumplings with potatoes. To do this, we prepare the dough as for dumplings, only without eggs. The filling is mashed potatoes with fried onions. Then we make dumplings, boil and serve on the table with vegetable oil.

9. Vareniki with cherries

Vareniki for Christmas - Sweet dishes for Christmas

Vareniki with cherries. A wonderful sweet dish that can be eaten as a dessert!

Although you can make dumplings with other fillings: potatoes, cabbage, beans and even poppy seeds.

10. Baked fish with vegetables

Baked fish with vegetables is a great option for a delicious lenten Christmas dinner.

Ingredients: Fish (fillet) 2 pcs.; Red tomatoes 1 pc.; Bulgarian pepper 2 pcs.; Onion 2 pcs.; Garlic 2 cloves;

Peel vegetables and fish and prepare for further work. Chop the vegetables randomly and place them on a baking sheet. Salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil and send them to bake in a preheated oven. Vegetables should be cooked through. Take the pan out occasionally and stir gently.

Rub the fillets with fish spices (or salt and pepper) and red paprika. When the vegetables are ready, lay the fillet on top, pour over the juice from the vegetables. Put in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Then turn over and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

11. Blanks

Christmas dishes - Preparations for the Christmas table - Salads for Christmas

You can open a jar of vegetable salad from summer stocks - for example, pepper salad, eggplant salad, or make a sauerkraut salad. Two to three menu items vary each year.

12. Dessert

Dessert on the Christmas table - Sweet dishes for Christmas 2017

For dessert, we will prepare fruit jelly according to the principle of vegetable aspic. We cut the fruits, put them in glasses and fill them with a sweet solution of gelatin.

The second dessert on the Lenten table can be baked apples with honey, nuts and dried fruits.

Try to cook the right Christmas dinner, because 12 dishes are not just food, but a wonderful folk and family tradition, and it only seems like it takes a long time to make them. It's really easy to do everything.

What not to cook for Christmas - What dishes should not be on the Christmas table

After Christmas Eve, Orthodox believers celebrate the bright holiday of the birth of Jesus Christ.

When is Christmas 2014 celebrated?

Every year on January 7, Orthodox believers around the world celebrate a great event - the bright holiday of the Nativity of Christ, traditionally considered one of the twelve main church holidays of the year.

The Nativity of Christ is the great twelfth feast. Christmas Eve is celebrated on January 6, and on the night of January 7, a festive Divine Liturgy is celebrated. The twelve following days after Christmas are called "holy days" or "Christmas".

Christmas 2014: the history of the holiday

The story of the birth of Jesus Christ is contained in the Gospel of Luke and Matthew. It is said that during the reign of Herod in Judea, the emperor Octavian Augustus ordered a nationwide census. How to celebrate Christmas 2014?

Mandatory attributes of the celebration of Christmas and subsequent Christmas time were dressing up or dressing up. People used animal skins and horns, as well as masks. Then they went to congratulate their neighbors on Christmas and carol - to visit the houses of their fellow villagers with songs in praise of the birth of Christ, for which they were supposed to have refreshments. Also, mummers on the streets played skits and staged whole performances to the delight of others.

Christmas divination 2014

Fortune-telling was also considered traditional at Christmas time. The girls were guessing at the betrothed and the imminent marriage. Various divination techniques were used for Christmas: in the hole, on the shoe, on the comb, with mirrors, with candles, and many others.

By Christmas, it is customary to clean the house, take a bath, change into clean clothes, and lay a clean tablecloth on the table. In some regions of our country, people did not drink plain water from the beginning of the day: it was believed that a person who drank water on Christmas morning would suffer from thirst all summer. Also on Christmas it was impossible to sew, bend or weave anything. On this day, the legs of the table were tied to each other with a rope so that the cattle would not run away from the herd, and the remains of the gala dinner were taken out of the fence - "so that the wolves do not harm the domestic animals." Christmas: what to cook?

It is important that on Christmas Day the table is set for an even number of people. At the same time, the hosts set up another device for one imaginary guest. The meal began only with the rising of the first star.

Traditionally, pork dishes were put on the Christmas table: jelly, roast, whole roasted pig or stuffed pig's head. Roasted poultry and fish were served, as well as finely chopped meat and offal, which were cooked in pots in the oven along with traditional porridge. In addition, at Christmas, housewives baked pies with various fillings, as well as kalachi, cheesecakes, koloboks, kulebyaki, kurniki, pies and much more; cooked casseroles and pancakes.

It was believed that the richer the table for Christmas, the more successful the family will spend the whole year.

Merry Christmas 2014 Congratulations: Short SMS

You can congratulate your family and friends, as well as friends on Christmas, using SMS. Below are concise messages that will certainly bring joy to your dear people. Merry Christmas,
We wish you happiness and health!
Neighbor without offending anything,
Serve, people, good deeds!

Beautiful coming of Christmas
How quiet this holiday is and bright!
We hear kind words -
Adults are happy with them and children.

Let the Christmas wonderful light
In the soul it burns without fading,
Love will warm the year
And any dream will come true.

Let everything be for the good, for good,
And let the heart not know sadness.
I wish you luck in everything
May God protect and welcome people!

Knocking on the windows of Christmas
To sing to the soul and heart,
I wish you everything
What you yourself wanted.

Joseph and the Virgin Mary could not find a place for themselves in the house in Bethlehem, so they were forced to stay in a cave. On the same night, the Infant, the Son of God, Christ, was born to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Shepherds were the first to come to worship Jesus, having received news of the great event by the appearance of an angel. At the same time, a wonderful star flashed in the sky, which led the Magi to the Baby. The guests presented Christ with gifts in the form of gold, frankincense and myrrh.


Christmas- a religious holiday, and the treat here has its own symbols and traditions.

The Christmas meal is divided into two feasts: Christmas Eve And Christmas treat

In Russia Christmas Eve It begins like this: all those gathered begin to eat as soon as the first evening star appears. This usually happens before dark, at dusk. Sochivo is eaten at this meal - porridge made from whole grains soaked in water, vegetable broth, and diluted honey. Rye, and wheat, and rice, and lentils will do. Other obligatory dishes are baked fish, preferably whole, and thick compote-broth.

On Christmas Eve, it was customary to cover the shop with a white tablecloth, sprinkle straw over it, and prayerfully put kutya and candles there. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Christmas Eve meal was modest and very strict, according to custom, the remnants of the treat were kept on the table until the morning so that the deceased relatives could “eat” at night, and then distributed to the poor.

christmas treat,
on the contrary, it was generous - porridge in a pumpkin, a hare in a pot or a hare pie, a side of lamb, aspic, the same suckling pig with porridge, or even a whole pig. Zealous housewives stocked carcasses of large upland game - black grouse, capercaillie. In St. Petersburg, according to the same German tradition, they preferred a goose with apples. But black and red caviar, all kinds of homemade preparations, soaked lingonberries, pears, apples, pickled mushrooms, cucumbers were primordially Russian treats.

Pastries remained the same decoration of the Christmas table until the end of the 19th century, when luxurious cakes came into fashion. And before that, pies were baked - with meat fillings - pork, offal, less often beef or lamb. Kulebyaks with a variety of fish were very popular - from burbot livers to salmon and beluga. No less - pies with cabbage, potatoes, porridge, onions and eggs. Sweet pies were rare - sugar remained expensive for quite some time. But honey cakes, gingerbread and cookies were in great demand.

Tangerines, paradise apples and nuts in gold foil, which our great-great-grandfathers hung on the Christmas tree, came from Germany under Peter I along with the Christmas tree. In Rus', roes were a festive sweetness - glazed gingerbread cookies in the form of animals, most often goats. Small roes were hung on a Christmas tree, large ones were presented to guests.

Historians write that foreigners - prudent Germans, economical French, stiff Englishmen who happened to be at the "Russian" Christmas - were struck on the spot by the scope and abundance of the meal. After all, if you celebrate, so widely, from the heart, in Russian!

However, the true meaning of this magical holiday is not in a rich feast. On the night before Christmas, real miracles happen - but only to those who are ready to make this world even a little better.

Honey gingerbread
7 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups honey, baking soda on the tip of a knife, three-quarters of a glass of water.

Mix sugar, honey and water in a saucepan, put the saucepan on the fire and bring to a boil. Gradually add flour to the slightly cooled mixture, knead the dough, put it for half an hour to cool.

Dilute the soda, mix it with the dough, leave it on the table for ten minutes, then roll out a layer one and a half centimeters thick and cut the gingerbread cookies with a special mold or glass.
Spread the gingerbread on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour and bake at 220-240°C for 15-20 minutes.

How to make icing for honey gingerbread.
Pour 1 cup of sugar with 0.5 cups of water, cook slowly, skimming off the foam, until the liquid begins to stretch from the spoon like a thick thread. A little vanillin or vanilla sugar is added to the resulting syrup, cinnamon can be used. After the icing has cooled slightly, you can start icing the gingerbread cookies. Large gingerbread cookies should be smeared on top, they are glazed with a brush, and small gingerbread cookies are directly lowered into a bowl with glaze as a whole. Lay the glazed gingerbread cookies on a baking sheet, place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 50-60 ° C, dry the gingerbread cookies until a shiny whitish crust appears on top.



Classic Christmas kutya recipe

Ingredients for cooking kutya

A glass of wheat (150 ml)
100 g poppy
A third cup of raisins
100 g chopped nuts
50 ml honey
4 cups boiling water
Plain clean water for soaking
Sugar to taste

Wheat for kutia must be prepared in advance. Rinse wheat grains thoroughly, then dry in a warm oven. When it is completely dry, sprinkle it with water, put it in a mortar and start pounding with a pestle. Wheat will be ready when the grains are completely free of shells. Then it will need to be washed again well to separate the grains from the husk. After that, soak the wheat overnight in cold water.
The next day, the wheat should be washed again, poured with water, put in a saucepan and boiled over low heat. Periodically add water and stir. While the wheat is cooking, you can do poppy seeds. It should be poured with boiling water and left to infuse for an hour. Then drain the water, add sugar and grind with a pestle in a mortar.

Rinse the raisins well, pour boiling water over them, leave for half an hour. Then drain the water, add poppy seeds and crushed nuts to it and mix thoroughly. Add mixture to cooked wheat. Pour honey slightly diluted with boiling water into the future kutya. Mix everything again. Serve immediately, because kutya deteriorates very quickly and loses its taste due to the fermentation of honey.

More briefly about kutya
Since wheat for kutia is infused for a long time, this must be taken care of in advance - on January 5, in order to be in time for Christmas Eve, the 6th.
If the calendar is already January 6, and kutya is not ready yet, you can cook rice kutya instead of the classic one. Just replace wheat with rice. You don't need to crush it, just rinse it well and boil it.
It is customary to serve lean milk from hazelnuts or almonds to kutya.
Instead of a pestle and mortar, you can use a deep wooden plate and makogon.
You can add crushed dried apricots or grated chocolate to kutya. You can also season it with cinnamon or vanilla.


How to cook juicy

1 cup wheat grains

100 g poppy

100 g walnut kernels

1-3 tablespoons honey sugar to taste

Cooking:
Wheat grains are crushed in a wooden mortar, adding a little warm water so that the wheat shell comes off. The kernel is then separated from the husk by sieving and washing. Then they cook the usual crumbly lean porridge on the water.
At the same time, poppy seeds are ground until poppy milk is obtained, honey is added, everything is mixed and added to the wheat. At the end crushed walnut kernels are added.

True, there is another way to prepare sochi - from rice. Rice is poured with boiling water and boiled for three minutes over high heat, six - on medium, three - on small. For another twelve minutes, do not open the lid, allowing the rice to brew for a couple.
The ratio of all components for juicy is preserved. You can add raisins, dried apricots, prunes, etc. to it.