One Pan Christmas Dinner

For this wonderful Christmas one-pan recipe, you are going to need:

• a Cornish Rock Cornish Hen
• two servings of green beans
• a potato or sweet potato
• a pack of mushrooms
• a pack of cream cheese
• one can of cream style corn
• half a bag of parmesan cheese
• a cornbread stuffing mix

In addition, we will be using some butter spray, Montreal chicken seasoning, garlic powder, seasoned salt, thyme, parsley, dried chopped onion, and some margarine.

Cornish Hen

The thing that will take the longest to bake is the Cornish hen, so that is what we are starting with.

1. Make a little foil tray out of some tin foil.
2. Drain any juices off of the chicken. Season it with salt, pepper, and Montreal chicken seasoning both on the top and on the bottom, and put it on the foil tray.
3. Add pieces of margarine around the chicken to add a little extra flavor and let it absorb into the chicken as it cooks.
4. Roast in the aluminum foil pan at 350 F for 20 minutes.
5. Take the pan out and add other dishes to the pan, then bake for 35 more minutes or until the chicken has reached 165F internally.

Corn Pudding Muffins + Cheesy Cornbread Balls

Every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas at my extended family's house, we would have a cornbread pudding, which was normally made with the Jiffy mix.

1. Put in a can of creamed corn and a cup of cornbread stuffing. Mix that together. You can add the softened cream cheese now and mix it in or leave it separate to add in the center of each muffing for a pretty contrast. Sour cream would work for this, too.

2. In a separate bowl, mix a cup of cornbread stuffing, half a cup of the shredded parmesan and half a cup of boiling water. This will become our dressing balls which we will have on the side.

3. Return to the pudding mixture and drop spoonfuls into cupcake liners. Feel free to fill those up to the brim: this does not rise or spread a whole lot, so you do not have to worry about it overflowing.

Roasted Thyme Potato Wedges

This can be easily substituted with sweet potato, which might even cut down the price a little bit.

1. Cut your potato into wedges a bit smaller than the ones in the picture, as some of mine came out slightly underdone.
2. Sprinkle some seasoned salt all over them. Add some thyme, too. If you are using a sweet potato, the same seasonings will make it nice and savory, and also add some color to this dish, as it comes out pretty yellow because of all the corn and cornbread.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I know mushrooms are not everybody's cup of tea, but if you do like them like I do, go ahead and add this to your Christmas dinner.

1. Take the stems out and set them aside, leaving the center whole so that you can stuff them later with a cream cheese mixture.
2. Slice up the stems into thin slivers for the green beans.
3. For the filling, get a bowl and add a fourth of a teaspoon of salt, a fourth of a teaspoon of garlic powder, half a teaspoon of chopped onion, and half a teaspoon of parsley flakes.
4. Soften up some cream cheese and smush it all together.
5. Add in half a cup of parmesan and mix that all together as well.
6. Stuff the mushrooms very well to the top or even overflowing. If you have some cream cheese leftover, like I did, it can make a decent spread for bread.
7. Get the cornbread parmesan balls you prepared earlier, crumble one up on a cutting board, and dip the mushrooms into it. This is going to crisp up nicely on the pan. The top will be crispy while the bottom is well cooked through.

Mushroom Roasted Green Beans

1. To a small skillet, add half a teaspoon of Montreal chicken seasoning, half a teaspoon of the chopped onion as well as about a tablespoon of the margarine, and melt some butter with it.
2. Add the mushroom stems and let it all sauté together until the mushroom slivers get some color and the butter becomes golden. Add some salt and pepper.
3. Toss the green beans in the butter sauce and set aside for the pan.

Get baking! See the chicken part for the instructions.

One-Pan Christmas Dinner

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think! And if you have any other Christmas dinner ideas on a budget, feel free to share them in the comments.

I would love to hear what your plans are this Christmas. Are you going anywhere? Are you having friends over? Are you hosting this year? Or are you having a quieter Christmas this year? Have a very merry holiday season and a Merry Christmas!