Hmmmm meatloaf!

Salaaam y'all! I didn't cook last night; Aaminah ate a banana, a meat stick (ok ok a Slim Jim but Allah, I'm ashamed to say that! LOL), a cheese stick and a small roll with butter. Yeah. Didn't win any "Mom of the Year" awards with that meal but... I was soooo tired and sometimes we just gotta deal. :)

I decided I should really up my game today so for breakfast we had turkey sausage with some fried potatoes (a very southern any-time staple!) and then I made a kickin' dinner masha'Allah. :) Homemade meatloaf (with one shortcut), homemade "smashed" potatoes and peas.



I bought these plates over 10 years ago during my Americana phase. :)

Hmmm that's some good eatin' y'all! ;) If anyone is interested in the recipe, here goes:


2 lbs ground beef (I typically use 85/15 but all they had was 80/20 that day so I had more fat to drain)
2 eggs, beaten
half a sleeve stale crackers (doesn't everyone have some of these lurking in their cabinet?? lol)
about 1/2 a cup uncooked quick-cook oats
1 tbsp (more or less to taste) of Turkish red pepper paste. I adore this stuff!!!
salt n pepper
half an onion, finely diced

Now I typically add a grated carrot, some chopped (dry sauteed) mushrooms... really any veg I wanna round it out with. However, we have been trying to not keep as much food around the house that might spoil so I opted not to buy carrots this time. Just keep in mind you can use more veg and less meat. Spinach is good in it too as well as cabbage, finel chopped or grated. Trust me.

OK so normally I would use tomato paste thinned with milk or just ketchup but they had the meatloaf fixin's by Hunt's on sale for $1 a can. It has more spices and some "vegetables" in it so I went with it.

Mix everything, adding the beef last. You never wanna overwork it if possible to keep it more tender. Then bake, in a 350 oven for 1 hour. Take out, try to drain it off (I ended up using a plastic syringe as my turkey baster is out of commission!) and squirt a lil ketchup on top. Pop it back in the oven for 15 to 20 more minutes and you're done! We like to be sure our meat, especially ground, is cooked through. I don't overcook food but meatloaf is better with a crusty outter edge. Trust me. :)

It turned out very moist (thanks to the fillers of crackers and oats) and tasty. We made a BIG batch (2 lbs!) but we will eat it for a couple of days, maybe give some away. That's just how we roll. ;)

Oh I got Aaminah the cutest lil outfit at the used store the other day for $7! It was brand-new, one of those little boutique outfits with the ruffly legs. We had actually made of them before but when I saw this one in the store, well I changed my mind. It was so cute! Here is the pic:


Excuse the lint on my carpet; just enjoy the cowgirl outfit! ;)

 



Abaya for sale

Salaam ya'll. Still trying to decide on a path for my blog. I want to find a good balance between sharing parts of my life and pleasing Cap'n. Also, as I've gotten older and subsequently LESS patient astaghfirallah, I find myself annoyed by more things. I don't want this to become a ranting wall (although we all need to let off some steam sometimes!) so may Allah swt keep me from that. I might give in every now and though. ;)

Oh actually yes I thought I would see if any sisters out there in blog-land in the US were interested in buying a Sunnah Style original eggplant butterfly abaya. It's brand-new, I just bought it but... a wee little problem. It is an inch too long (56") but because it has a beautiful satin trim on it I hate to hem. These are normally $63 on www.sunnahstyle.com plus $7.95 shipping. I would be happy to sell it for $50 iA, shipping included anywhere in the lower 48 states. It is a bit of a heavier crepe called "maypoly"; never heard of it before but alhamdulillah. It is perfect for fall, winter and spring but personally I wouldn't wear it in East TN summers!!!

Here is a stock pic from their website. I hate to send it back because them I'm out shipping and as they are located in Canada my shipping back to them will be significantly more than $8! Anyway, take a peek and let me know if you are interested. I do have a paypal account. Just message me on here if you want more info. It isn't quite freeze size but the bust on this model is 56", waist is 60" and hips are 62". The arms span (if your arms are held out straight from body) is 67". Also there is a slit at the cuff so you can push the sleeves up for wudhu. Nice! :)

Satin-trimmed full butterfly abaya (matching hijab not included)



Some silly Muslim memes :)

Heck yeah!
 

Erm, don't know exactly what "hijabilicious" is but it doesn't sound halal. Funny tho. ;)


 

Hehe... benefit of covering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

New look, new direction?

Old Spanish plantation ruins in Kingston, Jamaica (Dec. 2012)

Salaam my sisters! It's been a while again since my last update. I've noticed most of the blogs I follow have been pretty quite; I don't know if these things come and go. As for me, my ongoing illness coupled with single parenting and as always my uber-private husband equals little inspiration for blogging.

I decided to start by re-doing my blog. I was tired of the old look, all those muted blue flowers. :) Just realized I went with flowers again but this is my own pic of the Tennessee state flower, the iris. I took this outside my sister's house. These particular iris also came from a patch from my Mamaw's house which means this strain has been in our family for years. Masha'Allah this is the type of hand-me-down I like!

Also, the loss of all my pictures on blogger did dishearten me. As I said, it did save me A LOT of work, going through and taking out all photos that were too personal for Cap'n's taste but really... I feel defeated. I had a lot of pics of Aaminah and food I had made. It's not that I miss the pictures so much but if someone clicks on a link on my blog they will be greatly disappointed! We all know pictures help make the post. Alhamdulillah for it all, and this will be the last time I mention it.

So I decided I would read the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer. Allahu rabbi! At first I liked it; I'm a sucker for intense love stories but kinda felt like a teenager watching it. However, the writing is just dismal. It is NOT "novel worthy" writing by any means. I like the premise (I've never been a vampire fan, I just liked the story line) but it was not executed well. This is one time I liked the movie more than the book! Trust me, that doesn't happen that often. :)

I've read books I and II. Now I want to read the rest just because I like to finish what I start but I've been buying them for my Kindle and I just can't justify $7 for a book that seems like it was written by a 17 yr old. Guess I'll netflix the movies and watch those. I'm sure there is hardly anyone out there still wanting to see/read this series but if you are on the fence, don't waste your time or money unless you are just really hard up for something to do. :)

I'll leave you with a bit of advice I've picked up from my husband that will serve you well in ANY situation: if it's not your business don't get involved. :D This has saved me from countless pointless, time-consuming discussions with people who really don't want my opinion after all, they just want someone to say they are right. :) So alhamdulillah for husband's with common sense. lol

So I'll leave you with this random pic. This is evidence of a horrible compulsion I've passed onto Aaminah. Be warned: it's addictive:

 

 

Yes, we hang things off every possible place: doorknobs and drawer pulls are a favorite place. Since taking this pic I have cut down on my "hangers" but it's been hard. ;)



 

 

Autumn in East Tennessee and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse!

Salaam ya'll! I've had sooo many problems with my pics through blogger/android/google plus. Anyway it appears ALL my old photos are gone. Many I still have on my hard drive, some I do not. I doubt seriously if I will go back and re-post, that's a lot of work as I have over 325 posts.

So here are a few pics with captions. Let's see what I can find:

On our way to a picnic at Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County, TN.

Wish my phone cam did it justice; the colors were amazing!!!

My friend works as a server at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and treated us. This is HALF of the steak, we shared. OMGosh, delicious! Perfectly cooked...and $50. Just for the steak. Yeah.

My strawberry-bleu cheese salad. :)

A view of the Tennessee River.



Aaminah and her little friend Jayanah were going to Disney on Ice with my friend Angel. They dressed up as punk princess fairies. :)



So updates, updates, updates... still no dialysis, still under 20% kidney function, still gettin' by. :)

Still married to my awesome Cap'n, still deliriously happy (please say "masha'Allah!") and still waiting, sometimes patiently, for him to arrive.

Still a happy Muslim mama with a happy little girl who's cute n sweet n spicy. :)

I'm hoping to go visit Cap'n one more time but, as usual, money is the deciding factor. We are both VERY simple people. We want to live as Muslims, die as Muslims, have a happy, balanced life and work for the akhira. We wanna share some laughter, weather some storms, and raise our children. So for money to be such an issue (the not-having-it kind ;) really galls us. We are not greedy, more more more kinda people but when you really need el dinero to see your husband/wife, to spend time together as a couple and the ONLY thing preventing you are finances... well it sucks. To be polite. :)

So please make dua for us that Allah swt unites us soon. Amin!

Ma salaama ya'll...

Little Miss's new look m'A!

Salaam ya'll. After Aaminah didn't pass her 4 yr old basic eye test at the pediatrician's office, I took her to be tested. The result:



Don't forget to say "masha'Allah!".

Cute li'l things

Salaam ya'll. So I'm tired of talking about my illness. It's consumed a lot of my time and I'm ready (as I'm feeling a bit stronger) to move onto brighter things. :-)

Ya'll know I'm woman on a budget, I like bargain shopping and I encourage it. It's just responsible and good for all concerned. Reduce, re-use, recycle. :-) So I was at a local neighborhood sale looking for some winter clothes for Aaminah. She's grown so much m'A, she's a size 5-6 now. :-) While there, I spied this cute little purse. It looked brand-new and I got it for a song. :-)  Well, $5.00 but still...



I love the soft muted metallic purple, It goes well with many colors. I am the person that always switches out my purse to match my outfit so this makes it easier!

I really love the chain detail, look here:

Pretty!

I don't really buy much for myself, on a super-tight budget alhamdulillah. But I will ocassionally splurge and at $5, I don't even feel guilty. :)

I also like to be prepared. I am the mom that always has a change of clothes for my daughter even though she's 4. It's just easier that way. So I found a little manicure set, brand-new, but was only $4. It seems you always need something like that when your out, plus even at home those little things like tweezers and files gets misplaced. Now I have them all in one cute little package. :-)

At first I thought it was a little credit card case...

but then opened it up to find these. :-) And everything still had plastic on it so I know it's new and no nasty fungi clinging to them i'A. :-)

I then packed a little change purse I found in Aaminah's toys and put some eyeglass cleaning packs in it (she wears glasses now!) along with a few safety pins, ponytail holders. lip balm and hair clips. The things we always need if we are out and she has a bad hair day or she is eating. (I hate for hair to drop in the food!!!!)

This is the change-purse I re-purposed from Little Miss

And here is what we carry in it. :-)

I also keep a little packet of tissues and found this pretty one for $.50 on clearance. And lastly is the little leopard-print compact mirror I got 2 years ago in MA for $.97, also on clearance.

Aaminah has one also, she is a crazy cat girl!

Too bad they didn't have purple, would have been all matchy-matchy. :)

OK so there is just a bit of fluff for you.  :) Enjoy...  Ma salaama!