When we are entertaining, or there is a special occasion, Zak and I always go a bit overboard with food. Christmas is nuts though! generally make 3 different roasts, two veggie sides, roast potatoes, gravy and trifle, and that's on top of making biscuits with the kids.
Shopping for everything was already hell and I spent over a grand more than I was supposed to, but good God was the food fantastic. And thank God we overdid the catering because we had some very pleasant and unexpected guests join us! I got to meet 
When I was a little girl, we had so little growing up, but my mom always made sure we felt magic on Christmas. I really try my hardest to try to give that to my own kids, even if it's exhausting and stressful. They are all getting older and we're running out of time as they are all officially teenagers now and as of next year, Aime will be out of school and our youngest will have started high-school. God I feel old 🤣
So, back to the cooking, I am one of those people that hates sharing a kitchen. Like I get a special kind of anger when someone is in my cooking space 🤣 and god help them if they try to intervene with anything I am cooking. Lol. Generally, I'm a big softy, but when it comes to Christmas food, I become a monster!
Today's chapter is all about how I got it all done:
1. Learning to Ask for Help
I normally kill myself every year, making sure the food is perfect. Before I met Zak and circumstances changed, I wrked in Hospitality which meant I never got time off over the festive period. Only the ublic holidays. Looking back I don't know how the hell I managed, shopping for food and presents on the 24th, and then still managing to cook everything and wrap presents all night long so I could have everything ready for Christmas day. Things got better when I moved in with my mom, but l spending my life with Zak has been liberating and has allowed me to really do special things that I just couldn't before.
I realized that, after a lecture from Zak, who was 100% correct, there were actually plenty of tasks I could delegate. Like making the stuffing is a pain, so I got the kids to help me crumble bread and grate carrots. I basically sat at our dining room table and worked from there, with four Christmas elves to help pass me stuff as went along, it really was a massive help.
Also, when I did go shopping with Zak for the food that I wanted to hand pick, I asked for a damn wheelchair because fuck standing. I just can't do it. Especially not in Christmas madness season and for a shop that took us 4 to 5 hours.
2. Costing and Shopping Lists
I cannot stress enough how important this is. Walkng innto a shopping centre without a list or a budget and just your wallet is a guarantee that you will spend every cent you have. It's worse than a casino.
Also, staying up to date with pricing and making sure you have a cushion for extras that you may have forgotten about or didn't even consider (which is where the extra grand came in).
I put EVERYTHING on a spreadsheet, from gravy powder, to drinks to meat, veggies dessert and Christmas crackers. I kept updating it and revising the budget and my shopping list as we went along.
3. Time Management
I am partially but permanently disabled, and I simply cannot handle the physical aspect of making a Christmas feast on my own anymore.
This is the most vital part of prep and keeping my sanity as well as managing to get all that work done without hurting myself and landing on my back for three weeks. So, this year, I started about a week in advance. The 1st thing I did was start prepping the trifle. Then I prepped, stuffed and pre-roasted the my famous drunk bacon chickens - which I made a hybrid of, using traditional stuffing mixed with bacon. This meant I would only have to brown them on Christmas Day. Next was marinating the pork belly after carefully scoring the fat layer - a process I am absolutely anal about as so many people cut into the meat itself which absolutely ruins your roast, leaving you with no crackling and dry meat. I then stuck it in a roasting tray and let it soak in cider for a day or two. It's such a vital step that I only trust to certified and trained blockmen or I do it myself. Then the lamb, which I have never actually done before, was marinated in salt and fresh herbs and a bit of wine and lemon juice.
4. Fucking Fridge Tetris
I hate Tetris.
Thank god, Zak is really good at organizing and we have two fridges, but we still basically ran out of space. I had to make decisions about what to store when and how. Oven Tetris was also a thing, especially on the day of Christmas eve when I was prepping sides and juggling roasts. We were gifted a lovely oven earlier in the year, but I had yet to test it's roasting abilities (they all turned out AMAZINGY).
Each roast needed 3-4 hours of oven time (not including browning) which I staggered over 1 to 2 days.
Then on the 24th, I made the sides: green beans and caramelized cinnamon carrots, gravy and I browned all the roasts. This did require a lot of standing (and butter) and Pierre Jordan totally helped me get through it all 🤣
- The trifle:
This was the 1st thing I prepped as it actually needs to soak at least 24 t 48 hours before serving. Anyone who knows me will know that I have FOROOT (fear of running out of trifle), so I made 3 🤣 I do so every year.
1st, I prepped the jelly. I couldn't be bothered to layer they jelly in the actual trifle bowl as this is just stupidly overly complicated and makes zero difference to the taste. What is important is, once the jelly is set, to layer everything and let the booze and fruit soak into the sponge. So I make the jelly in advance, and then spoon it on in layers when am ready to build the trifle.
Next I spent ages de-pipping and peeling litchis and cherries. I mean, you can buy them tinned and ready prepped but they are ridiculously expensive and tinned fruit runs out off the shelves so freaking fast at Christmas. We managed to buy a 1 kg box of litchis and a 2kg box of cherries for really good prices (even though it hurt me in my bank account to buy in bulk like that! Lol.
For more on how I made the trifles and various trifle recipies you can check out my posts: Claire's Crazy Cakes: Chapter 95 - FOROOT: Fear of Running Out of Trifle
Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 18 - Don't Trifle with my Trifle
🎄🍨🍒🍫🍦Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 32 - Don't Trifle with my Trifle!!🎄🍨🍒🍫🍦
🍒🍨🎂🍰🎄⭐☃️🍫🍪❄️Claire's Crazy bakes and Kitchen Hacks Chapter 60 - DEATHLY Decadent "Black-Forest" Trifle 🍒🍨🎂🍰⭐🎄☃️🍫
I would LOVE to make this again. Maybe I'll give it a shot for 2026: Deathly Gorgeous: Amarula, Berry and Chocolate Cheesecake
Survival Booze
For protection against frustration in the kitchen and whining relatives and children, I cannot stress the importance of having a glass of wine with you and just keep filling that baby up 🤣 really don't drink at all anymore, but fucking Christmas eve I drank like a fish. It also meant I could treat myself to the good stuff
while the cheap wine I used to buy got chucked into the food.
Turns out I needed it all though and the left over cherries, or at least the ones I set aside, went into my punch for Christmas and I topped it up for for my "Ladies New Year Brunch" which I have yet to make a post about - and there is still some in the fridge which I will most likely drink this afternoon while spending some much needed time jamming on my guitar.) It was basically a bottle of Smirnoff, mint, cherries, cranberry juice and served with a bit of Sprite for bubbles, and Ice of course.
After the passion fruit, cocktail mix of 2023 that I had to store in a 5 litre plastic container,Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 19 - Passion Party Punch
Zak bought me this awesome Jam Jar cocktail set that I'd never even used before. It consists of one cocktail dispenser and 4 jam jar glasses with straws. So much fun! It was SO awesome!
Having started my cocktail making training when I dropped out of school, my cocktails are notoriously dangerous as they taste divine and you don't know how much booze you've consumed till you try to get up to go to the bathroom 🤣
This year I received fancy and beautiful wine glasses which I am so grateful for, since all of my nice glasses have broken over the years.
2. Crack
Every single savoury dish, except for the carrots, required this, so prepping it in advance was very important. Zak helped me with this as it's a freaking mission to peal and chop a whole sock of garlic (about/ bulbs) and then chop al the herbs. Ideally, the crack should also have time to marinade, especially if I'm using chilies as it brings out their flavour and softens the burn, but I didn't use chilies this time. For roasting purposes I needed rosemary and garlic, parsley and basil. All the herbs get chucked into by crack dish and marinade in a bath of sunflower or (if I can afford it) olive oil. The idea is for the flavours to mix as well as for the flavours to merge with the oil for drizzling purposes. I also kept some extra rosemary aside to put on top of the lamb and the chickens during roasting.
I had to make this one chili-free as it would have overpowered the roast flavours and not everyone at the table would appreciate the spiciness.
For more on "Crack," you can check out my post here: Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 10 - Homecooking with Crack
3. The Chickens
Roast chicken, at least the way I do it, takes a lot of prep. Normally, I have to decide whether I am going to make traditional stuffing with chicken liver (you can't even really define the liver flavour but I promise but it makes such a difference to the taste.).
It's becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of whole chickens with giblets and I honestly hate scratching through the bag of giblets. It's just …ew. Well, it's either that or I have to buy a tub of chicken livers that inevitably goes off as I forget to freeze it and I end up chucking the rest (which is a total waste, but it's becoming almost impossible to find whole chickens with giblets these days.) , or just stuff it with streaky bacon and handfuls of garlic for my "Drunk Bacon chicken."
You can check out both recipes here:
🎄🍗🐓🐔🎅⛄Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 34.1 Traditional Roast Chicken With Perfect Stuffing and Gravy🎄🍗🐓🐔
Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 17 - One Pan Easy Roast Drunk Bacon Chicken
Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 7 - Traditional Roast Chicken
The principles are relatively similar. Slow Roast over at least 4 hours at 150 degrees Celsius (covered with tin foil - then remove tin foil for browning as this is a hands on process that requires nursing), chickens should always be layed on a bed if roughly chopped onion and swimming in a bath of wine. They should also smothered in butter rosemary and garlic and of course, no matter which chicken you make, you need at least 2 litres of wine (1 for you and 1 for the chicken 🤣. The chicken literally falls off the bone. You cannot tell breast meat from thigh meat. It is all just artery-stoppingly delicious. By adding all the onion and the wine, by the time you are ready to brown, you have the makings of an absolutely delicious gravy. Pour off most (not all) of the excess juices and fish out about 3/4 of the onions. If you blend this together, you don't even need to add thickeners like gravy powder or flour!
Back to this year's Christmas Chickens:
So I combined the two just by swapping out the liver of the traditional chicken stuffing with bacon since we couldn't find chickens with giblets. Turned out pretty freaking amazingly though!!
Roast Pork Belly
As I said before, having worked in a grill and butcher restaurant, I am an absolute snob about meat and how you treat it. I insist on chosing my own piece of pork belly.
You are looking for about 3kgs, bone in is fine and makes for great ribs. The fat marbling n the meat is what will make or break your roast. The fat is everything. As for the fat on top, you can use a craft knife to score the fat CAREFULLY. Be sure to (obviously) not cut yourself, but also make sure you don't cut too deeply. If you hit the meat, you've gone to far and risk your roast drying out. Correct scoring will also lead to fantastic crackling, which is the whole point of pork belly roasts.
Turn up the heat to maximum for the first 45 minutes to achieve the crackling and then roast for four hours at about 150 degrees Celsius. You do not need to cover the pork belly with foil at any time.
Check out this Jamie Oliver Video which I follow to a T (except I do a cider bath for about 24 to 48 hours before roasting. It just adds to the flavour and does incredibly good things to the tenderness of the meat.
Roast Lamb
I've done chops plenty of times, but lamb is also extremely expensive. If I can, I skip it all together, but my mom requested it this year, so I made a plan.
This time I made my 1st Roast Lamb! And it Turned out PERFECTLY!
Don't over complicate things.
Use the herb and garlic mix (Crack) to season the meat as well as a bit of salt. Then add a squeeze of lemon juice and about two glasses of wine.
Rest the meat on a bet of roughly chopped onions and cover with foil.
Roast for four hours at about 150 degrees Celsius.
Once again, you will be left with incredible juices and onions for gravy.
Pour off most (but not all) of the excess juices and remove about 3/4 of the onions and place in a pot to make gravy.
Gravy
Because what on earth s a roast without gravy?
I normally prepare each meat's gravy separately, but honestly, this year, I honestly just couldn't be arsed by the time it got to making the gravy (which is the last thing I do before serving) and I plonked juices and onions from all 3 roasts into one pot and made the most divine gravy. Why over complicate things? Use a stick blender to joosh it all together and you'll notice that the thickness will already be absolutely perfect. You can add extra seasoning if you really want to, but it's not necessary. Simmer on a very low heat, stirring occasionally, until you are ready to serve.
Roast Potatoes
To get these right, to not have them stick to the pan and to ensure maxmum crunch on the outside and soft fluffiness on the inside, follow this:
- cut, peel and chop yoThis is an essential step that a lot of people miss. This ensures your potatoes are cooked through and fluffy by the time you've browned them in the oven. Skipping this can lead to disaster.
- Make sure the potatoes are well drained before adding to the roasting pan. My granny used t dip them in seasoned flour, which is something I often do, but it's not really necessary although it's divine).Cover with the crack mix and some seasoning salt and drizzle with the oil from the crack. You may need to add a bit more oil, but make sure the potatoes are completely covered. I normally mix it all together by hand as you don't want to end up with broken and mashed potatoes.
I ran out of roasting pans so I had to transfer the lamb into the pork tray (which was enormous anyway) and this meant that the potatoes got some extra delicious flavour from the leftover lamb juices.
Green beans and Carrots
I tried to find brussel sprouts but they were either EXTREMELY expensive or impossible to find. So I skipped them this year and kept the veggies simple.
Green beans: season with crack mix and add loads of butter.
Carrots: Peel and Roughly chop (if you use baby carrots you can skip this step). Add cinnamon and sugar in generous amounts and once again, smother with butter.
The veggies can sit at the bottom of the oven while you finish browning meat and potatoes. They are very low maintenance. Just stir occasionally and make sure they don't burn.
Ginger Bread Cookies:
I went back to royal icing this year, even though last years chocolate dipped ones were to die for. Royal icing is cheap and easy to make and I basically just let the kids have free reign when it came to rolling out the dough and using the christmas cookie cutters, decorating them, icing them and adding sprinkles. We had some hilarious results, but it was so heart warming to watch them work together. Even
The idea is that these can be hung on the tree as extra edible decorations and they can be gifted to neighbours etc.
If you intend to hang them from the tree, be sure to make a decent sized hole in the cookie before baking, so that you can thread a ribbon through to be tied together and then finally hung from the tree.
🎄⭐🎄☃️🍫🍪❄️Claire's Crazy bakes and Kitchen Hacks Chapter 59.1 - Gingerbread Cookies: Part 1🎄⭐🎄☃️🍫🍪❄️
And that, my friends, is a "Christmas wrap!" I hope you found some of my tips useful. Whishing you a happy 2026!
Love,
The Mobey/Ludick/Williams household! 🎄⭐❤️![]
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