Our weekly treat

Yummmmmm!

Salaam ya'll! My best buddy L (Um Aliyah) and I often carpool to take our daughters to school. Last week we stopped by a local doughnut shop and OH MY GOODNESSS I'm glad we did! It puts places like Dunkin' and Krispy Kreme to shame! Fresh-made, hot, yummy and definitely decadent! I bought a dozen for us to share; they were only $5.99 which is about $2 cheaper than the chain places. :) It is near my home here in Knoxville and it's called Dippin' Donuts. (Giving them a shout-out in case anyone is googling them, this review might show up!)

We got strawberry and creme, jelly filled, coconut, chocolate glazed, choc glazed & lemon filled, Boston creme, a crueller, plain buttermilk cake doughnut and 2 chocolate, coconut and walnut topped. Are you kidding me? :) We shared the dozen and I'll probably freeze a couple of these cause Aaminah and I do NOT need to polish off 6 doughnuts in a day. :)

Also I like to support locally owned business WHEN it's feasible. They are so nice, it's a mom & pop shop run by professional bakers. People who obviously take pride in their craft. I take delight in it. :) When we walked in last week the owner (I think) came out and asked if we were placing an order for the masjid. He let us know they give a discount to all houses of worship, mA. :) Here in the Bible Belt people don't recognize other religious institutions, either from ignorance or malice, I don't know. So it was really nice he was so kind and open. I hope the school or masjid will order from him sometimes. I gave them a shout out on my fb page as well.

I want to reiterate here, I never ever ever ever do endorsements for reimbursement or free stuff. I don't use my blog to make money (kudos to those who do it's just not for me). I just like to talk and share my experiences, good, bad, or even just the mundane like early morning doughnuts. :)

I have to remind myself how broad the internet is and that I have readers from overseas who will be really interested in the minutiae of life here just as I devour blogs written by people that live elsewhere. I love to expand my horizons. :)

OK so this was just a quick little blog. I know I haven't said anything really note-worthy since I started back up but you know I only talk about what I want. My outlook on life in general has changed, naturally, as I've grown older and my outlook on Islam and Muslims has as well. I've passed that 7 year mark and in any relationship, you grow, you change, you find your pace. I have a long way to go but I feel like I've hit my stride so to speak Islamically. I'm not as hard with some things and then in others I am probably a little more strict. Our outlook changes as our situation in life evolves.

I guess this is a long way of saying the focus of my blog is more family, friends and food with faith being the common denominator and what binds everything together. It is intergral, it is important and it is mine. :) My journey in Islam, my path to worship my Creator, is a very personal thing. In the past I spoke about things, how I felt, how I viewed the world but I wasn't always right. So I think I will probably be a bit more silent on controversial issues and instead, focus on all the beautiful aspects of our religion and life. :)

Ma salaama ya'll!

Lil Miss's lunch today and iced coffee :)

Home-made iced coffee (recipe to follow)

Salaam ya'll! So here is the second installment of "What I packed for my daughter's lunch" sponsored by my pocketbook. :)

Last night we made carne picada which is basically just a term for chuck roast that is very thinly sliced and chopped. It is typically used in Hispanic cooking (thus the Spanish name). I decided to marinate it overnight to improve the texture a bit. I used a packaged lime-chili marinade which turned out delicious. :)

This is the meat frying in my cast iron skillet; I drained the excess marinade and oil. :) I put a bit of smoked paprika on it and the color was lovely but I didn't take a pic of it. :)

So we packed leftover carne picada on a small flour tortilla with a sprinkle of shredded cheese and a smear of chipotle mayo. :) I think packed her side-dish container with cucumber sticks, halved baby tomatoes (so the juice wouldn't splatter out as she bit into larger ones!) and pre-shredded carrots. She loves to eat the shredded carrots, weird little girl. :) I then packed some preservative-free Ranch dip (found in the produce section) and in the last small container I took 3 strawberries, cored and sliced them for her. I am sure ths lunch will be a hit!

Her snack was a yogurt tube (strawberry vanilla) and a few Pringles sour cream and onion chips. Chips are her weakness, her downfall, her unhealth snack of choice. We induldge moderately in our house with no guilt. :) I also packed a shelf-stable strawberry milk and also her water bottle with grape flavored water. We'll see how much she brings back!

As I'm now a stay-at-home mama with a going-to-school girl, we've both had some adjusting to do. I was thinking about it the other day when I went to the doctor. I was always used to having her to chat with, point things out to, making every outing a learning opportunity of some sort. Now it's even more precious, the time that we do have together.

On the way to school (which is indeed a bit of a drive) I took the opportunity to explain road signs. She had asked about a particular sign and we are always of course on the lookout for school zones! It was really fun and I love how quickly she catches on mA. Well overall she's just pretty awesome anyway and I miss her a lot during the day.

So how do you fill your days now, UofA? Ahhh let's see, I generally do jack diddly. :) I sometimes lie back down but regardless, I alwyas try to rest a bit while she is gone. I get so tired and I really try to use this time to rest. According to Cap'n, however, I don't rest enough, bless his heart. Allah swt blessed me with an understanding husband mA. :)

I also do my grocery shopping at that time. Besides saving me money ;) I don't use our precious together-time for mundance chores that take up so much time. There are of course my requisite doctor visits as well so all of those things I try and schedule for her school time.

Her school lasts realllly long actually. She doesn't get out until 3:50 pm, subhanallah. I think because we have to fit Qur'an, Arabic, and Islamic studies (plus prayer time) into the schedule and we have state standards to uphold. iA it gets easier, I'm still not used to her being gone so much.

Oh the iced coffee! Yes, it is sooo yummy and delicious AND cheap! I make this at home for a fraction of the cost of "pricey" chain stores with dubious investment portfolios. :) Here is the recipe:

3 tbsp instant coffee, any type
1/2 cup hot water
2 cups cold water
French Vanilla coffee creamer (or any flavor you prefer)
Milk

Mix the 3 heaping tbsp of coffee with about 1/2 cup hot water. I put this in a clean, empty sauce jar. Shake it to mix thoroughly but be cautious of the jar exploding (common sense, shake a bit then release pressure, duh lol). Put it 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cold water. Refrigerate. This is your coffee base. It keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

When you crave some coffee, simply fill a cup 1/2 way with milk. Add a good splash of the chilled coffee base until your milk is the color you like (I prefer a bit lighter). Then add a good pour of the flavored creamer. Be careful bec it is pre-sweetened; you can always add more.

That's it! Delicious and frugal. :) Of course you can pour it over ice but I just pre-chill the coffee base so I can make it anytime and not worry about melting ice diluting the drink.

Alrighty, ma salaama ya'll!

My new fave passtime

Salaam ya'll! I love packing Aaminah's lunch! I love everything about it! No, really. :) I love the planning, the shopping, and actual packing. I enjoy the fact that I can provide her with healthy, yummy options and she doesn't have to eat yucky cafeteria food. Now, at our Islamic school we have CATERED lunches. Yes, you read that right, masha'Allah! Catered. By local restaurants and it's all halal. So yes there are a lot of vegetarian options and tho we do love our meat we like veg too so it's all good.

Sometimes it is catered by Muslim-owned restaurants and then we are able to get zabiha meat. If it is not then they go veg. I let Aaminah pick lunch from school one day per week. It's a little pricey, $5 a day or $20 for the whole week but I understand. They also get a half pint of milk with the food so the school isn't really making any profit on this. Still for us it's too much so it's a weekly treat. Last week Aaminah chose the Petros chili and chips with cheese and sour cream. Basically it's Fritos corn chips smothered in a veg chili with toppings. Really delicious plus it is a locally owned franchise that was started in Knoxville during the 1982 World's Fair. Yes we hosted it. It sucked. The theme was "energy" and as a 4th grader I could not have been more bored. :)



Ok so back to packed lunches. I know I probably send her too much food but I don't want her to be hungry. Plus anything left over she eats later as a snack. Today here is what I sent her:

1 Chobani blueberry yogurt stick
1 clementine (baby orange) peeled and segmented
1 can tuna in water, drained, with a bit of mayo n pickle mixed in to make a salad spread.
7 chocolate covered raisins and 1 date-sized no bake chocolate-peanutbutter oatmeal cookie

I think there was something else but I'm drawing a blank. Oh I made her an English muffin with one fried egg for breakfast but she only wanted her milk. She is still in Ramadhan mode and doesn't like to eat breakfast. :) I packed it so she could eat it at snack if she wished.

Now this wasn't really a good example because I needed to go to the store which I did this morning. I bought some grapes and strawberries (she loves fruit mA!) and I also bought some jelly for sandwiches (her least fave lunch option). I also bought some turkey pepperoni. We make little cream cheese pepproni "sandwiches" for snack or sometimes make a pepperoni and cheese quesadilla. It's very packable and kids love it!

I also bought some veggies I know she likes. I got cucumbers and shredded carrots. She really likes the small thin carrot shreds and of course I slice the cucumbers. I like to get the baby hothouse cucumbers but at over $3 for 4 tini cukes it wasn't happening. I bought 2 large cucumbers for $1.40. :) I wanted to get her some sugar snap peas but I always look to see what's on sale or even clearance veggies before I do that. You can save up to 50% of the cost and just use them in a couple of days; it's all good. :)

They have shelf-stable milk which is awesome. It's a little pricey ($1 a container) but it's organic and flavored. I get her the strawberry and the vanilla and she loves it. I usually freeze it for about an hour before school so it will be really cold plus I put a freezer pack in her lunch box.

Oh speaking of lunch boxes, I waited til now to buy them because of the great clearance deals you can find. I got her a really cute Igloo brand purse-style in a cool chevron design for $5 and I just picked up a Rubbermaid sandwich lunch kit for $5! It's normally almost $15 so it was a great savings! It has a sandwich/main dish keeper with a specialized freezer insert and then 2 snack cups and 1 side cup. It will be great. I've eyed them for a while but put it off until I found them on sale. Patience pays off!

 

 

InshaAllah next time I pack her lunch I'll try to snap a pic of it. I think it's great to give each other good lunch ideas so our children are nourished with love. :) For her drink I pack the milk plus I fill her water bottle with flavored water. I don't like plain water unless it's bottled; our tap water doesn't taste good here. :(

 

Alrighty then, talk to ya'll later, ma salaama!



My newest love

This isn't me; it is Sr. Badra's stock photo from the listing. :)

Salaam ya'll! No, I'm not talking about Cap'n (who is not so new anymore!) or little kitty or a new baby (good lord NO! lol). I am talking about the new khimar I purchased from Badra Boutique. Ohhh mA, I love this khimar!

It's actually called a pak chador so it is the kind that you can opt to wear as niqab or down under your chin. It has a tie-back headband (the penultimate in comfort!) but the front is open. You pull one side either across your face or under your chin, then secure it with a hijab pin. I intend to sew it at some point I just haven't yet.

The one I bought it kind of a turquoise blue; shocking, I know. :) I am the girl who branched out into olive green. lol. It's not that I'm opposed to color I just always find black and it looks good on round faces. I like black but I also like having a little color sometimes too.

I also love this style (and my regular poly tie-back khimars) because they are uber-modest and definitely cover the entire chest area. This is a big deal to me and one of the reasons I am pretty picky about my hijabs. Oh and I can't do the whole "feeling like my jaw has been wired shut" thing with the wrapped hijabs. I can't open my mouth! So as ya'll have known for a while, tie-back khimars are where it's at for me.

Unfortunately the company I've always bought from (www.hijabgirl.com) no longer gets new stock in. I think they are sourced from Syria which would explain the inability to restock. However, it was really a hardship for me as I needed a new khimar and stat!

I am really glad I took the chance on Sr. Badra's pak chador. It is made from a very soft, stretchy jersey material which is comfy. I am not positive I love the fabric though; I went to a family reunion today and was really worried about Aaminah's greasy fingers touching my hijab; it will leave a grease spot, where the polyester ones of course do not. It also doesn't hold the peak as well as the fabric is so soft but overall I really really like it and it's great because it fits any size face as you adjust it yourself.

Look her up on facebook under Badra Boutique or on www.etsy.com. I think the name is the same. I do NOT get paid to endorse products nor do I receive free products; I paid $25 for my khimar with shipping! lol I just like to pass on things I've found that I love. :)

Ma salaama ya'll!

Well, howdy-ho!

 

Salaam ya'll! I know, I know, it's been a RIDICULOUS amount of time since I last updated but sometimes, there just isn't much to say. Or there is a LOT to say but someone's husband doesn't like her to say these things. :) Either way, here I am now so let's just get down to business, shall we?

I would like to introduce a new theme for my blog and that's basically, just a bunch of random thoughts that I'm pretty sure most of you won't be interested in but I like writing so there's that. I like keeping track of Lil Miss's hilarious stories and let me tell you, she does not disappoint in that department! I did get pretty bummed when I lost ALL of my photos on my blog. :( I was going to delete a few that Cap'n objected to but I did not want allll of my pics gone. Boo hoo hoo. But they are so I decided all I can do now is forge ahead, dear readers. :)

So where to start? OK so my health... as you know I was on dialysis last year after my Hospital Episode of 2 weeks! I had probably 10 surgeries and truth be told, I was very ill. Alhamdulillah. Anyway I eventually decided enough was enough and asked my medical team to just stop and give me a couple of weeks. Turns out my kidney, hereafter always to be known as "little buddy", while indeed failing, still provides just enough funciton for me to eek out an existence. Yay! ;) So I am at about 10% kidney function which is, dear readers, dialysis level and I have officially joined the "End Stage Renal FAILURE" club but I am not doing treatment. I feel better and stronger than I did on dialysis so it's a win/win as far as I'm concerned.

Disclaimer: I'm still super sick. I get tired verrrry easily. My house doesn't get messed up and cleaned in the same day. We don't always have the home made 5 dish meals I like to cook. I'm at peace with that. :) I am able to be Ummi to Aami and function at a reasonable (for me) level and for that I'm... all together now... grateful. :D

Immigration update: Cap'n is STILL in the midst of the Carribean. However.... USCIS did approve our petition so yay!!!!! We are simply waiting on a visa interview which should be easy peasy lemon squeezy, done and dusted as the Brits say. I'm so relieved and just reallllly ready to be a family in toto again. :)

What else is there to say? Oh yes Aaminah has a kitty. Bless our heart, it's the third one. Maximus the Catticus should have been named Sh*tty kitty bec he was just mean! So he went back to his original family. Then a few months ago we tried an older girl, maybe 2 years old. However, she did NOT like little children a fact the people who gave her to me said might happen. We took her for a trial and it didn't work out so yep, you guessed it, back she went.

Now we have a new little kitty, 8 weeks old, Aaminah named her "Mimzy". She's cute and cuddly and on my lap as we speak. Aaminah is the Queen of Kitty Land and is in heaven! She is mostly verrrry kind and gentle with her but after a day of school she tends to get a little wild. Working on that with her.

What, you say, Aaminah has grown in the time since I last blogged and is now in school? Yes, she is! My baby done growed up. ;) She started KG this year in our local private Islamic school and let me tell you she looks adorable in her uniform! I could just squeeze her cheeks and kiss her cute little face, which I do quite often. :)

So if any of you took advantage of the fb add button on the side, you already knew all of this stuff. Pretty sure a lot of my fb friends will be happy I've started blogging again; it should cut down on the number of posts I generate on their newsfeeds. Oh well, as I told them once, if they are really my friend they will want to know and if they aren't they shouldn't be on my page. :)

OK so I guess I'll leave something to say the next time. Until then, please keep us in your du'a and I'll say a prayer for you also. Ma salaama!

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.







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:



New look, new direction?

Spanish ruins Jamaica 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: