Chipotle-seasoned egg and turkey sausage breakfast bowl (low-carb)

I finally got rid of these old Americana dishes but I kept the 2 pasta bowls because they are so shallow, great for eggs. :)

Salaam ya'll! Aaminah woke up STARVING this morning but didn't know what she wanted to eat. Don't ya'll love those days??? ;) So after about half an hour of general grousing (and my not-so-empty threats of "whiners don't eat breakfast") she asked for us to make something. With "ingredients". :) Which is Aami-ese for "I wanna cook in the kitchen with my mama".

So with those very loose parameters, off we go. I always get vegetarian-fed, cage-free eggs. Why? I feel like they are probably treated more humanely and the general consensus is they are healthier, with more Vitamin D and less cholesterol. iA khair! I usually get Eggland's Best but I think this past time I got the Kroger brand. :)

After a cursory perusal of the fridge we decide scrambled eggs are the way to go. :) I bought some bulk turkey sausage (not the pre-cooked type) to make little quiche with but I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to make a crust today. (Plus I was out of shortening!). So I throw a chunk of the sausage in the skillet with a pat of butter and brown it. I really like to add a little extra sage and red pepper but alas I was out of both ingredients today. That's ok, we improvise, it's how we roll.

Aaminah cracked the eggs (she asked for 2 although I was pretty sure that would be too much) while the sausge browned. After she beat them nice and fluffy (and we fished a few pieces of shell out! lol) I added about a 1/4 tsp of pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. You can buy the small can in the ethnic food section and bring it home and puree it. It will store for a while in the fridge as it is preserved in some vinegar. It adds a delicious spicy, smoky kick to anything and it's one of our favorite condiments. :)

I wiped out the cast iron skillet (we don't use non-stick anymore) and put another pat of butter in. Poured in the eggs, cooked until almost completely set, then I turn off the stove. Cast iron hold heat so well they cook with the heat off. Then I added the cooked sausage back in along with a generous handful (Aaminah's hand!) of shredded cheese. Oh we also put a pinch of salt in the beaten egg but pepper is done after the sausage is added.

Slide out onto your plate or bowl and enjoy! Now for the low-carb thing, it wasn't intentional. Aaminah is a healthy eater with a great appetite for a variety of foods. Typically if I made this it would have half an English muffin on the side as well as a sectioned clementine or a few grapes. I like color on a plate and we like to eat balanced. However, this morning was kind of a spur-of-the-moment post and I had to take her bowl away for a second to even get a pic! ;)

Let's see, for the turkey sausage I used pre-made from the freezer section; however it's easy to make your own (I've done it) and season it as you would like. Being from the south, we love sage and red pepper in ours and I typically add a drizzle of maple syrup (the real stuff not Mrs. Butterworth's lol) at the end or of course you could incorporate it into your mix. However, the sweet maple flavor wouldn't really work well in a savory dish like this. We really like it with waffles or pancakes or even on a biscuit. :)

So on a separate note, I was talking to Cap'n about my blog. Of couse I told him I started it back up and, surprise surprise, he actually read a post! When we first met I told him I had a blog and offered for him to read it but he was uninterested. Now, to me, that was unfathomable. Doesn't he want to know what I think about things, how I view the world??? It was much more simple than that. He was aware there were comments regarding my previous life that he really just didn't want to know. I think he chose the wiser path but if it were me, I would have read it front to back! ;) The difference between us and alhamdulillah for everything. :)

Anyway he is on board with me blogging again; he comes from a culture that is very private and doesn't believe in being such an open book. :) I'm southern through and through and we just don't meet a stranger! I think his acceptance now comes from the fact that we know each other so well now and he knows I am not the type of person to broadcast my bidness ;) to everyone. I take the Qur'anic injunction seriously to keep my husband's secrets and he keeps mine. Alhamdulillah. :) So now that we have that understanding, he has no problem.

Of course he does require I not show our faces; he just doesn't trust the intention of bad people. He also doesn't want me to talk about him a lot at this point except in a general way. He said until he is here with me he just feels it's for the best. He is such an awesome husband, alhamdulillah, and is so easy on everything that when he does ask me for something, I am more than happy to oblige. It's a two-way street, sisters, because he does the same with me. :)

Alrighty then, guess I'll sign out for now. It's nice catching up again. :)

Oh cobbler, how I love thee!

Salaaaaam ya'll! Let's talk about cobbler. Basically it's the lazy-man's pie, sweet biscuits, an easy way to feed sweets to a crowd and use up ripe fruit. In this day and age, I use canned fruit. I just don't have the patience (or usually money!) to buy a bushel of fresh peaches, stand up in the kitchen and peel and pit those babies. So canned or frozen is my go-to; use what works for you. :)
When I went to visit Cap'n this last time I made him a blueberry cobbler. I actually brought a bag of frozen blueberries into his country. I hope I wasn't circumventing customs but it wasn't anything you could plant and trust me, we ate it ALL.

It was delicious. It was warm and gooey and crusty and sweet. Trust me when I say the corner is prime real estate in cobblers as well. I think a cobbler pan should be in an octagonal shape so everybody can have a chance! ;)

I'll give you my recipe but I got it years ago from a Taste of Home magazine. It was a recipe by a lady named Mattie from South Carolina. Allah bless her soul; I say a prayer for her everytime I make this. It's brought a lot of happiness and yummy dinners to my family so I like to be thankful for those who pass on their secrets.

Trust me, follow it exact as it says, do NOT deviate and you will be left with a yummy, decadent peach (or blueberry or blackberry or cherry) delight. :)

Here is the link for the recipe: Mattie's delicious peach cobbler. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we have!

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!