Christmas dinner is a challenge each year. Nobody feels like cooking, and you start to regret the excesses. It’s inevitable, but you can survive with a few tricks.

You still haven’t recovered from the Christmas Eve dinner when it’s already Christmas Day, and it’s time for another meal. A large part of the Christmas dinner will be based on the leftovers from the 24th, but there’s always something to improvise no matter how little.

Figuring out a quick and easy menu is the key.

A very simple dish to complement the leftover meat or seafood from the previous evening is to make a goat’s cheese pâté with goat’s cheese and olives, and then combine it with some bread and crackers.

To make it you’ll need:

• Half a can of pitted olives

• 125g of fresh cheese

• 70g of goat’s cheese (add more if you prefer a stronger taste)

• A clove of garlic

• Two tablespoons of olive oil

• Salt to taste

Once you have all the ingredients, break up the cheese and add the garlic in small pieces together with the oil and salt, crushing it until you get a creamy cheese texture.

Chop the olives into small pieces and mix them with the cream.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and leave it in the fridge until it’s going to be eaten.

We suggest spreading it on some crackers or toast.

Another simple recipe that everyone loves is artichokes with prawns and ham

To make it you’ll need:

• Half a kilo of clean artichokes

• Several cloves of garlic

• 200g of prawns

• 100g of small pieces of serrano ham

• Oil

• Salt

• White wine

• One chilli pepper

First, you need to chop the garlic and then put the water, salt and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring it to the boil. Add the artichokes and cook them until they are just right. Make sure to drain all the water.

Once the artichokes are ready, put them in a frying pan with some olive oil, sauté the garlic for a couple of minutes and then add the prawns together with a little bit of white wine. Add the ham and stir it in once the alcohol has evaporated.

Serve on a tray and sprinkle with parsley.

Sweet ending

You’ll surely appreciate something low in calories when it’s time for dessert. Pineapple is a great a base as it’s a very Christmassy fruit.

For this recipe you’re going to need:

• A medium-sized pineapple

• Two bananas

• A peach or two pears

• 500ml of water

• A glass of sugar

• Lemon zest

• A decilitre of rum

The first thing is to make the syrup. Pour the water into a saucepan, dissolve the sugar and then add the lemon zest and stir until it gets thicker.

Cut the pineapple lengthwise and remove the flesh inside and the central part of the pulp which is too fibrous and hard.

Cut the remaining fruit into pieces and mix them in a bowl with the syrup.

Then pour it over one of the pineapple halves and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

Happy Christmas!