Ways to make Simple Food Feel Festive

There are so many ways to make your meals feel festive even if you do not have the money to buy special food at Christmas time.    Here are some ways that I add Christmas to some of my normal food.

1.  Add mincemeat to an apple pie (if you have no mincemeat add mixed spice, sugar and sultanas)
2.  Make a pie with the left over chicken or turkey and use a cutter to make a Christmas shape on the pastry.
3. Use a cutter to take Christmas shapes out of the pastry and leave a gap.
4. Using a large cutter  you can cut a shape out of a piece of bread and lightly toast and then fry or air fry an egg in the middle.
5. Serve slices of cheese cut out as stars with your crackers (the left over bits can be used for cheese on toast later).
6. Cut Christmas shaped pieces of bread to dunk into your boiled egg at breakfast
7. Make Christmas shaped Scottish pancakes for breakfast to serve with spiced apples and yoghurt.
8. Add mixed spice and sultanas to your porridge
9. Use rosemary as a garnish so that it looks like a Christmas tree.
10. Make tear and share bread in the shape of a Christmas tree,
11. Use puff pastry and cut pasties made into the shape of a Christmas tree or other Christmas decoration
12. I serve things with a nice garnish and use our nice tableware at the table to make the meal feel special. In a little vase I add some sprigs of rosemary and a few red berries and some water and then I float a tea light on the top for a cheap decoration.
13. Cut fruit into Christmas shapes and and put on skewers
14. Use food colouring added to a bit of vodka to paint your pastry before cooking to give it festive colours
15. Make sausage rolls in the shape of a wreath.
16. Add flavours like mint and orange to hot chocolate,
17. Add mint flavouring to home made chocolate cookies and crush a few candy canes and sprinkle of top when they come out of the oven.
18. Make ginger cookies in the shape of reindeer (putting a post on later about this)

It might take a bit more effort when you don’t have much money, but you can make lovely meals from what you already have and then just give them a twist.  Children will just love getting anything in the shape of Christmas, and a few spices can add a Christmas taste to anything. How do you make your food seem like Christmas?