Loosely following my husband's family's Lithuanian tradition of a Christmas Eve that consists of a meatless "12 course" full day of eating, I was busy, busy, busy with cooking and prepping. I wanted to share with you some of our hits, sorta misses, and just some tips and advice for your next family food fest. Let me be very clear before we get into this...we take a lot of liberties with "12 courses" (crab dip with crackers may each count as one depending on how the menu is shaping up). I think once you see all of the food below, you'll understand why! And it was still way too much food!
A helpful tip if you want to make these for one of your next events - go ahead and make the rice cup portion a day in advance and just keep them covered in your fridge. Even the tuna mixture can be made the morning of your party and kept in a bowl, just hold off on adding the sauce and avocado to the end to ensure everything stays nice and bright and fresh. Right before people arrive, place the rice cups on a platter and add your tuna mixture to them for a delicious and healthy appetizer.
I hope you enjoyed taking this journey through my Christmas Eve culinary feast, and are feeling as ridiculously full as I am right now thinking about the obscene amount of food. We've already started discussing next year's menu and how we're going to pare it down to be less glutinous. Hopefully I can remember that full feeling when the time comes again!
Till next time!
xoxo
Adrienne