with a little help from my friends!...

I always think that being in charge of our family Christmas Day tea is a bit of a tough gig! Everyone is usually still feeling half full from a huge lunch and often tired from the busy lead up to Christmas Day. Trying to come up with a menu that's not too heavy, can mostly be done ahead and will spark peoples jaded appetites can be a challenge. This year though I think I nailed it with some help from a few "friends"!

We had Mini Cranberry and Turkey Meatloaves courtesy of Not Quite Nigella , I made ours with Pork Mince and they were terrific! Very therapeutic sitting down for an hour fashioning Holly Leaves out of Kaffir Lime leaves I must say!

We also had Lime, Paprika & Honey Glazed Chicken, a favorite recipe from Bill Granger"s Everyday book, this is my all time favorite "people coming for dinner" recipe, it never fails to impress, is really easy and can mostly be done ahead.

We had a Ricotta & Herb Flan for the Meat-Free, Wheat-free, contingent.

My Mum brought a gorgeous Potato Salad and a Pumpkin & Baby Spinach Salad that is our new favorite this Summer...

and just in case we weren't all completely full from the Berry Pavlova Wreath and Plum Pudding that we stuffed ourselves with at lunchtime, we had these cute Puddings made from Chocolate Royal Bikkies. I used to send these along to class Christmas parties when my children were at school and we all still love them!

Last, but by no means least, I made an amazingly yummy Donna Hay White Chocolate Christmas Cake, the recipe was in the Donna Hay bit in the Sunday Magazine a week ago, it really appealed to me because it was full of Dried Cranberries & Pistachios, My favorites!

Thank-you Lorraine (NQN), Bill, Donna and of course Mum! We did it!