The Gainor Family: recipes

Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Sweets

I started baking a few weeks ago and baked or mixed or prepared just a few little treats every now and then--a little each week. We gave more than half away, but we're still enjoying them ourselves around here. My kiddos have more sugar highs this month than probably the rest of the year combined!!! I'd love to share some of my favorite Christmas recipes with you! Enjoy!!!

Two things:

1. All of these recipes are EASY PEASY except the cookies and the oreo balls.

They aren't terribly difficult, but more time consuming. The others usually take 10 minutes to make.

2. For all the South Asian bakers, they are ALL eggless except the sugar cookies. This is a big deal in our city. ALL of my neighbors are strict vegetarians (in Hindi we say "totally veg"). Only one family in our neighborhood that we know so far eats eggs--still no meat though.

Peppermint Bark

Oreo Balls

Sugar Cookies

Gingerbread People (crispy) and No Bake Cookies

Oreo Bark

We made these plates and shared our goodies with our friends. We also took them around to some of the neighbors we have built relationships with in our neighborhood so far. We did this a few days because you usually go in and visit and have chai and hang out for a while. Not the typical American drop off. It was fun!

I love all the helpers I have--they are cute too!

And...one more--fudge--I use cheap, chocolate candy bars.

I learned this recipe from a lady in Europe when we were at a guest house with a lady waiting on Jackson to be born. She made us so many snacks. You can use simply candy bars and sweetened condensed milk--that's all. The recipes I use now add a little butter and vanilla, but I can attest that it's not necessary. Still simple and easy and quick.

The hardest part is opening all the candy bars!

I do all of mine in the microwave.

I've burned chocolate and messed it up every time I've tried the stove double boiler method. But, it's been many years since I did that...maybe I could do it now that I have some cooking experience--not saying I'm a pro--far from it...just previously, I knew nothing at all!!! But, the microwave has won me over and works every time...why change?

And we definitely saved us a stash--it's my hubby's favorite!

White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and Peanut Butter

I only used nuts in the white Chocolate--totally optional.

There was a casualty that made me sad...

that was my spatula spoon that I used all the time!

Just so you know, the gingerbread men recipe is a crispy recipe. Thin little crispy guys.

I have some other chewy molasses cookies that I love too--didn't make them this year.

Maybe a New Year treat after we go to the capital to wait for the baby???!!!

We had a few friends over for a cookie decorating party one evening!

This is Sam--hard at work. He was quiet in his little corner working so hard.

He made all three of these and more!

Yours truly

Parks with his most eaten food--banana. Not kidding, he has about 3-4 everyday!

It continues to be the best medicine for his tummy! We can tell a difference when we're all out of them.

During rest time, I taped the paper onto the table and Sarala and Jackson decorated it with all things Christmas they could think of. It was such a great activity for them to do. Creative, different, time consuming, fun...and made for such a fun cookie decorating table! Enjoy their creations--such sweet pictures! Sarala took these pictures while I was finishing up on our cookies and icing.

Jackson's nutcracker

My favorite is how he writes things phonetically these days.

A penguin

Friday, May 07, 2010

Chick-fil-a in India

Last night was a fun family night. We told the kids during breakfast that we were going to Chick-fil-a, but that it wasn't what they were thinking. Now, they know there isn't a Chick-fil-a in India. But, they were excited to figure out how it was going to happen. By the time it was dinner time, they had figured out that we were eating Chick-fil-a at home. But, when they came to the dinner table they squealed with excitement and thought it was so fun even though it was different.

We asked Carla to send some Chick-fil-a boxes/french fry holders in a package, and she went all out even sending straws and placemats and cow toys! Awesome! I had originally planned to simply fry chicken like I normally do, but this recipe made it much more like CFA, and I think I might use it from now on when I fry chicken. Check it out! Actually, if you live overseas or like cooking from scratch, check out that blog. Many ladies submit tried and true scratch cooking recipes that live here in S Asia.

And, we actually have lots of chicken left, so I might make biscuits in the morning for CFA breakfast biscuit sandwiches. Look out!!!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Getting in a meal-time grove

I mentioned in one of the former India Food posts that Sam was struggling with meal times, especially when we eat Indian food. Now that we're through that little stint, I believe it was a mixture of both culture shock issues and toddler defiance issues. Well, Sam is eating the food and eating the food well. He also can handle spice much better than Sarala or Jack and likes it. Here are a few different videos from dinner the other night while we were "interviewing our kids about their meal."

You can see Sam eating some Tomato Paneer (thanks for the idea, Andrea).

He also rolls his eyes at me instead of answering the question (that's some defiance I mentioned)

And, you can hear Jackson still processing that we live in India.

Also, we have a BIG rule now that you can't say "I don't like it" at the table (we'll be eating a lot of food made for us, and we're trying to say nicer phrases at the table). It's our rule, but Jackson thinks it's God's. Don't worry, the video cuts off as Sarala was correcting him that it's Mommy and Daddy's rule, and that God says they have to obey Mommy and Daddy.

Since Sam wasn't cooperating, I moved on to Jackson.

You can hear Sam, now saying, "get me" and ready for his interview!

Interview with Sam saying he likes the food... "this kind"

So, we are all getting used to eating Indian food a LOT and learning other options of new things to ask our helper to make. There is still a whole other world out there of Indian food we get to discover! We realized we're just in a rut of asking for the same things cause we don't know ideas of what to ask for, so we've learned from others about so many fun new things to ask for.

***So, here's a request--if you know S Asian food and read this blog or facebook, please comment or email me some of your favorite foods, so we can have new ideas of what to try!***

We're also finding balance too of cooking and eating more American food. The more we feel settled and into a routine, the more I have extra time for cooking--it takes a long time here (I'll explain that in another post one day), and we're pretty busy. Also, the longer we're here, the more I know of substitutions, how to better cook from scratch and have time to teach our helper to cook American food. We taught her to make fried chicken and french fries! We had it twice in one week! Yum!

To make fried chicken, she goes to the market for us. She picks out the chicken (it's alive in a cage). She tells them she wants boneless and skinless and watches the whole procedure and waits for it all to be done--that's a quick example of why it takes longer. But, one pound of that very fresh chicken is less than $2. In the hot season, it's a just over $2. Then she comes home and cleans it up for us, cutting some more off...then it's ready to cook.

Last week, I made taco soup and it was yummy. At the bottom of the post, I've included the recipe I use in the US and the one I've adapted for here. I basically double it here and freeze it so next time I don't have to cook it and go through the process everytime! You'll see how a quick taco soup meal in the US is longer to cook here.