[Bacongirl]

Ok so we host Christmas lunch every year.

Usually have a ham, prawns, salads, potato bake, veges, breads & dips, pavlova, sometimes a turkey too.

This year we will have two pregnant ladies and another who is gluten free.

It's been awhile since I was pregnant. Is ham in or out? What about cooked prawns (served hot).

Gluten free is not so hard as most of the dishes we will be serving already are.

So hit me with your pregnancy safe meal ideas

[laridae]

Cold ham or baked ham? If it baked and served hot it should be fine.

[Jjbeanz]

The ham and prawns need to be hot. Could you do a baked ham and cook the prawns?

[kriattica]

Ask the pregnant ladies how they feel about it. I happily ate fresh ham carved Christmas morning and prawns also.

[Bacongirl]

We usually bake the ham and glaze it, nbut it may not be piping hot by the time we carve and sit down to eat.

Prawns will be served hot.

[*LucyE*]

Cooked food needs to be heated to an internal temperature of 75C. This will usually result in a dry roast, so when I was pregnant, I would cook as normal and then cut a portion for myself and cook that again to piping hot. It wasn't difficult to do and meant that everyone else didnt have to suffer dry and over cooked meat.

For prawns, if I wanted them cold, I would cook the green prawns fresh that morning and plunge straight into an ice slurry. Then remove and place in a sealed container in the fridge. I was happy to eat that within a few hours.

There really isn't that different or difficult to cater to a pregnancy safe diet. My biggest concern when eating with the ILs was the food hygiene and handling techniques. FIL would use the same tongs for raw and cooked meat without considering cross contamination. MIL would wash salad leaves in the same unwashed sink that raw meat had previously been in. Food would be left uncovered on the bench for hours on end. Meats would be placed higher in the fridge than veggies etc. this stuff was all second nature to me, pregnant or not but I had to teach DH. He now nags his parents about it.

Wash your hands before preparing food and between handling raw and ready-to-eat foods.
Keep all food covered.
Place all cooked food in the refrigerator within one hour of cooking.
Store raw meat, raw poultry and raw fish on the lowest shelves of your refrigerator to prevent them dripping onto cooked and ready-to-eat foods.
Keep your refrigerator clean and the temperature below 5°C.
Strictly observe use-by or best-before dates on refrigerated foods.
Do not handle cooked foods with the same utensils (tongs, knives, cutting boards) used on raw foods, unless they have been thoroughly washed with hot soapy water between uses.
All raw vegetables, salads and fruits should be well washed before eating or juicing, and consumed fresh.
Defrost food by placing it on the lower shelves of a refrigerator or use a microwave oven. Thoroughly cook all food of animal origin, including eggs.
Keep hot foods hot (above 60°C) and cold foods cold (at or below 5°C).
Reheat food until the internal temperature of the food reaches at least 75°C (piping hot).
When using a microwave oven, read the manufacturer's instructions carefully and observe the recommended standing times, to ensure the food attains an even temperature before it is eaten.

[nationalvelvet]

gluten free - you may want to google some as there are a few good recipes on line.
I am on a GF diet.
Not sure about the pg ladies though.
all the best and hope you have a fabulous christmas!

[EBeditor]

How about hot BBQ prawn and haloumi skewers (you can also add chorizo, or capsicum or cherry tomatoes.)

Instead of ham, you could serve a rolled turkey breast:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/stuff..._turkey_breast/

everything else you've mentioned should be fine.