Morrocco travel tips

Salamwalikoum,
Sooooooooooooooo it's been a while eh? I actually got back from my month long stay in Morocco about 2 weeks ago, but with all the craziness of getting back into a routine and finding a new place and preparing to move at the end of the month... Well you get the picture...

I should back to regular blogging for the next couple of weeks anyway.

So before I share all the pics and places I visited this time around I though I would give some tips on travelling in morocco and some pros and cons of travelling with a native(i.e. the hubby).

S here we go.
Pros:
-I get to visit only the spots I really want to see and spend as much time as I want there.No wasting time in tourist traps that don't interest me.
-I get to see some spots that the organized tour groups won't usually bother with or that foreigners are normally not allowed to see: for example the interiors of centuries old mosques that non Muslims are barred from seeing.
-I don't get sick too often since we are eating mostly home cooking and well know restaurants.

Cons:
-Not much privacy crashing on family members' couches...
-Public transit...enough said
-Being rushed through site seeing because everyone but you has seen the spot about 20 times...

So suffice it to say that I get a very different experience than most tourists when I go. And I will be sharing some pics of all the spots we visited this time around and some spots I visited on my past trips if I can manage to dig up the older pics...

But in the mean time let me share with you some tips that I don't believe would be mentioned in any guide books.
So handy dandy tip #1:
ALWAYS carry either tissues or tissue paper in your purse/bag/backpack.
Trust me , it WILL come in handy. Most public washrooms are rarely stocked with T.P.. they will likely have a small water tap and bucket within the stall to wash your areas (it's a Muslim thing, we are supposed to rinse our behind with water to clean ourselves clean between prayer times...) And since the most common type of toilet is the whole in the ground/squat to use type- the floor is usually wet and not very clean...OH and remember to tip the attendant especially if the restrooms are super clean compared to usual.

tip # 2:
Public beaches are what I would call "full service".
Most beaches usually have a couple of guys sitting near a large pile of parasols,chairs,tables,etc. Go see these guys, they are there to rent out said items for a pittance really( about 2$ for a parasol,table and 4 chairs for the whole day) Now these aren't the only conveniences on offer. You will see some guys wandering the beach repeating stuff, usually carrying a small cooler or basket with treats in them. You can buy on the spot anything from Popsicles,water bottles,soda pop,candy,nuts,even hot coffee. (the coffee guy was wandering around with a large kettle with some charcoal in a can attached to the bottom-BEST COFFEE I'VE EVER HAD) I would avoid stuff with meat though- but prepackaged nuts and lollipops are definitely okay.

tip #3:
This one I'm sure most people know about- Negotiate,negotiate and bargain,bargain,bargain!
If the prices are clearly shown then don't bother. But if no prices are listed, automatically assume they have double the normal asking price since you are a tourist. So by all means don't be bashful about negotiating. I've seen my in-laws got at it so hard you swear a fight is about to break out and they threaten to leave or they say someone else has it at a lower price... It can get a little heated but in the end once the money changes hands everyone is all smiles and jokes.... So don't worry about being aggressive-just don't insult the seller. Also, even if you LOVE the item on offer, act like you don't really care whether you get that one or any other item.

tip# 4
Look for restaurants that are full of locals not tourists, with faded signage, and mildly off the beaten path(not too far off...)
This may seem a little counter intuitive to us North Americans to purposely look for a slightly beat up restaurant, but think about it- A lot of businesses come and go very quickly in morocco. So if the restaurant has been around long enough to get faded signage and is still full of people then it means the food is likely to be good, cheap, and won't make you  sick. Hence the reason the locals all go there. And pay attention to things like the chicken in rotisseries- the raw ones should always be on the lower bars so the blood wont get onto the cooked ones and make you sick... Gotta pay attention,being sick in another country is noooo fun.

tip #5
SMECTA
Just in case you do get sick to your stomach, or even as a precaution. You can walk into any pharmacy and simply say the name and they will know what you are talking about. It's a safe over the counter medication that won't interact with anything else really. It's really just vanilla flavored clay... You mix 1 packet with about 2-3 ounces of water and drink before every meal. It helps you not to get too dehydrated and will slow any runs that you may have. This little miracle has saved me more than once over the years.

I think this will do for now. I will be sharing some more tips that are slightly more specific to location as I go.
I hope this will help anyone planning on travelling to this beautiful country in the near future.

Till next time

Take Care

Vacation...

Salamwalikoum,
Sorry for such a long absense... Ramadan was crazy busy as usual and a few days after Eid the hubby and I travelled to morrocco to visit his family. So that's where I am right now...I'm going to be here the whole month and hopefully inshallah I will twist my in-laws arms into teaching me the recipes for their wedding cookies and some traditional cross-stitch techniques. More news when I get home in september....

Take care

Rebecca

Some Cookery Inspiration

Salamwalikoum,
Long time no blog for me.... My work schedule got all flipped around again and finding time for blogging seems to be getting harder... And the fact that Ramadan seems to be kicking my bum this year isn't helping... fasting in this heat has been tough. But I have to say I am proud of myself for sticking it out.
Anyhoo I thought I would give a sign of life today and share a website that I regularly peruse for my own amusement.It's called Project Gutenberg. Now I know many people probably already know about this site, it's been around for a while, but for those not in the know here is the scoop. This site is a repository of copyright free books from allover the world in several languages.

It's a huge mix of every kind of book out there, but my favorite section that I find the most amusing (weirdo that I am) is the cookery section. This part of the website contains cook books that even date back to the Roman empire. Some of the books that I find the most useful are the ones that were printed around the 1st World War. These books contain tons of recipes that will fill you up on the cheap and keep you going.

So there is my contribution to blogland for the day. Hope you guys find the website as entertaining as I do. Have fun.

Pattern for Smartness (1948)

Happy Friday!!
The week-end is upon us yet again... I thought that on this sunny friday afternoon I would share another one of the educational video jems I found on you tube this week.
It honestly had me chuckling a few times.

I love these old videos and hope some of you out there enjoy them too.

So here my dears is 1948's Pattern for Smartness:

Enjoy!

Have a nice week-end !!

Moroccan Recipes...Celeri and Meat tajine

Salamwalikoum,

Today I`m sharing a recipe that my husband really enjoys. I made it on Tuesday night for dinner.
It's pretty straight forward. So let's get to it shall we?

Ingredients:
meat
1 medium potato per person
1 celery stalk per person
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 onions
1-2 cloves garlic
dash of pepper
dash turmeric
1/4 pickled lemon
olives
fresh cilantro


Direction:
I forgot to do this... Cook the celery in a bit of water to soften before adding it to the tajine.

So in the tajine or slow cooker put the chopped onions in the bottom with a bit of oil.

In a bowl add all the spices and the put the potato slices with a bit of water and mix until the potatoes are coated with the spices.

Add the potatoes to the tajine. then put the meat in the bowl and coat with the spice mix.
Add the meat to the tajine.

Add some chopped up pickled lemons, the celery and the olives.
Add 1-2 cups of water.

Heat on low to medium heat until well cooked.

So there it is, celery tajine.

Enjoy!

Till next time

Meal plans... June Week 2

Salamwalikoum,
So I am finally posting a meal plan on the right day! Woohoo for getting up at the crack of dawn to get ahead on my housewifey stuff!!

So here is what my DH will be enjoying this week:

Monday
Salade nicoise (Moroccan style)
It's a big salad that is really a meal in itself...

Tuesday
Celery and lamb tajine(no worries I will be sharing this recipe IA)
salad

Wednesday
Spaghetti with shrimp and tomato sauce
Salad

Thursday
Cauliflower au gratin
French fries
salad

Friday
As usual Couscous or some other fancy-ish dish for Jumaa.

Saturday
Gulaba ( a recipe a work colleague from Yemen gave me, it's a 1st time try for me)
It's supposed to be something like chili...
and... you guessed it! Salad

Sunday as usual too busy to make large meals so I have leftovers or sandwiches made using leftovers.


Now bear in mind that I list salad a lot. But I don't always make the same plain old salad, I usually try to make different salads with a base of greens like spinach or lettuce or even coleslaw.


So there you have it, my meal plan for the week.

I will be sharing some of the recipes this week my schedule willing....

Enjoy!

Till next time

Some recipes... Eggs Royale

Salamwalikoum,
I thought today I would share one of the recipes from last week's meal plan. The recipe I'm sharing today is called Eggs Royale. I found this recipe in an old french cook book. I inherited this book from an older lady that my mom was friends with.
This lady was originally from France but immigrated to the US as a war bride after WW2. She was a very funny lady and unfortunately didn't have any family here so my mom was about as close to family as she had.

Anyhoo the book is from 1927 and is in poor shape... but I actually found a listing for it on amazon.You can view the listing here. My copy has the exact same cover. The book has all sorts of recipes and even has a calendar at the end that gives you whats meats and produce is in season and when so you know what to shop for when stuff is least expensive.

Now given the age of this book and that its a everyday cookery book, it doesn't have any measurements at all and the instructions are minimal. I think it was written with the idea that most women using the book would have decent knowledge and cooking skills (Which nowadays isn't necessarily the case)

Ok so enough with the blabbering and on with the recipe.

Now the recipe is similar to eggs Benedict but easier on the supplies and the techniques.

Ingredients:

a few slices of stale bread - crusty french bread is awesome for this.
a few eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
salt + pepper
gruyère or Parmesan cheese
bacon or ham (optional) - I don't use this for religious reasons, but I do sometimes substitute for halal chicken bacon...

Directions:
Butter the bread slices on both sides and fry in a pan until golden an crispy. Set aside in a casserole dish
Poach the eggs and drain well then place 1 egg on each piece of bread.(on top of the cooked bacon if you are using it)
In a small saucepan melt the butter.
Once the butter is melted add the flour and make a paste.
Add the milk all at once and stir until the sauce is thick (not too thick)
Don't forget the salt and pepper.

Now on top of each egg add 1-2 tablespoonfuls of sauce. Top with the grated cheese and pop in the oven under broil until the cheese is golden.

This is pretty good anytime.
I serve this usually with some steamed asparagus or a nice salad.

It's pretty quick and super yummy.

Enjoy!

Till next time.

Good Grooming for Girls

Hello Again!

I just thought I would do a quick little post about a video I found on youtube today. It's a slightly corny little educational video from 1956 about good grooming for girls. I just thought it was awesome. A lot of good advice and for once not too bad for a 50's video.
You will find the video here:
Good Grooming for Girls(1956)

Hope you all enjoy it!

Meal plan...resumed

Salamwalikoum,

I have to admit that lately I've been neglecting blogland quite a bit... My work schedule just keeps changing on me. But now my hubby went and bought a new laptop for me to use...Isn't he just the sweetest man ever? So now with my new toy I plan on wallowing in blog land a whole bunch in the weeks to come! I've got plenty of recipe ideas I want to share and some other fun stuff that I've found on the web.

First thing I'm sharing today is my meal plan from last week... I know, I know ... but better late than never!

So here goes:
Monday:
Chicken with carrots and olives
Salad

Tuesday:
Eggs royale
home fries
steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce


Wednesday:
Lemon-basil spaghetti with vegetables
salmon cakes(like crab cakes only with salmon instead)
Caesar salad

Thursday
Kefta(a.k.a. ground beef) tajine
coleslaw

Friday
Seffa(steamed vermicelli) with chicken

Saturday
Nachos for lunch
African Peanut butter stew on white rice for supper

Sunday is leftovers and cookies day.

So there you have it, that's what we ate last week. And trust me it may look elaborate but most dishes are prepared on my 15 minute breaks from work. So they are do-able even for super busy people.

Moroccan recipes... Chicken rfissa or trid

Salamwalikoum,
It's been a really shamefully long time since I last posted anything a recipe and I thought it was about time I did another morroccan specialty. The recipe today is called Rfissa or as my husband calls it Trid. Trid  actually refers to the flat bread used as the base for rfissa.
This recipe is a bit time consuming so I honestly don't do it all that often. But last week I felt like making something a bit different for Jumaa since I'm always making the same couscous week after week.

So anyway here goes. Now for the flat bread portion ideally it should be rziza as found here on Sousou kitchen's blog... but even after 4 yrs I have yet to be able to make it anywhere near what she has made. So I keep it simple I press it flat into little sheets using a rolling pin or hands - the dough should be almost transparent- then cooked and rolled and sniped with kitchen shears. That's about as close as I will get it.(sigh).

Now for the ingredients:
Rziza or trid
basic bread dough (use very little yeast)
A LOT of vegetable oil(less if using a rolling pin)

Sauce
Chicken
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1-2 onions chopped
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp turmeric or a few sprigs of saffron
1-2 sprigs of cilantro snipped
1 c or more green lentils
Plenty of water.


For the sauce put a drop of oil in a stock pot and fry the onions for a minute or two, then add the chicken and spices  and cook for another minute. At last add the lentils and enough water to almost fill the pot. Turn the heat on medium and let cook while you prepare the rziza.

chicken in the pot looking as apetizing as usual...Usually yummier than it looks

For the rziza prepare bread dough like usual, don't let it rise after kneading.
Seperate into small balls. Grease your hands and your work surface and I mean really grease them, like oil dripping and everything... the more oil the bigger you can spread out the dough without ripping it.
Sorry about this but  I forgot to take pictures of the 1st steps... so I skipped straight to the cooking... I have yet to learn my lesson and do my recipe blogging on a day that's not quite so crazy.

it almost looks like a tortilla...

Once all the dough is cooked it looks something like this stack of goodies:

Now here comes the fun part, just take each flat bread and roll it up and snip it into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide.it should look something like this.

If you make them ahead you can just steam them before serving so they are nice and tender. This time around I just finished them in time to plop the sauce on top and ship it off to the boys as the center next door...

One more pic before the sauce goes on...

This is a decently large amount to make, it served about 6-7 grown men with very litle leftovers....

Now before serving I took the chicken out of the sauce and placed it on a cookie sheet under broil to get the skin crispy and golden.

It's all about presentation people!

So here is the lonely poulet

And now for the sauce

again tastes better than it looks...

Put it all together and what do you get?

Another 5 lbs added to my glutious maximus.... This stuff is soooooooo good.

So there you have it. Another yummy moroccan dish that is easy to make but as I said time consuming...

until next time

Someone lost in the forest....

Salamwalikoum,
I had originally intended on posting a recipe today, but I'm just a bit too upset right now to do it. I guess to understand why I'm so out of it, I should start at the beginning... There is a young man from my home town that about one and a half years ago sought us out( my husband and I) to ask us about Islam. So of course we are thrilled. We gave him all the information and moral support he needed and asked for. And last year during Ramadan he said Shahada and became a muslim. We were all so proud of him and be were close to him, even to the point that he went to Morocco and married my husband's cousin.

From the beginning he was gushing about how Islam was the perfect religion and it made so much sense and how much he was proud of his wife and loved her and couldn't wait for her to come to Canada.

Now in the mean time we had actually moved in with him in order for all of us to get a handle on our finances and come out on top. He and my husband did have a misunderstanding and all since then seemed to have been resolved.

Now since that misunderstanding the young man stopped coming to Jumaa and stopped making contact with anyone in the small community here. Several times my husband reached out to him and several times this young man would say he was stuck and couldn't get off work and he was still a muslim and not to worry everything was fine.

Now all the while his posts on Facebook and his actions were contradicting what he is telling us, but he was still in contact with his wife so we just resolved to pray for him and hope he decides to contact us when he has the time.

Now out of the blue this week he emails us to tell us he has left Islam and is now atheist and wants to divorce his wife... He blames us for his choice to become muslim stating that we pressured him and terrorised him into becoming muslim. He does not want any of us to visit his home or phone him as he will take this as a threat and contact the police.

Now is it me or does this sound like he's losing his mind?
Now he is not the 1st convert that I've seen go back and reject Islam(albeit it's a rather rare thing) but somehow I can't help but notice that this man that was once trying to be as good of a muslim as he could be. Who was becoming kinder and more generous has now become condescending and snarky and is borderline mean... Does this sound like someone who is now on the right path now that he is atheist?  Wouldn't the right path in life make you a better person, not a worse one?

Now I am the type of person that believes that everyone's beliefs are their own and as long as you don't take away my rights to follow my religion you can follow yours even if I think it may be silly or wrong. In the end I know you probably think the same thing about my beliefs and that's fine.

But to blame me for a decision that you made and to say that I was the one pressuring you?
Was I the one that pronounced the Shahada for you?
Did I read your books for you?
Did I make salat for you?
Was I the one telling you to pray or listen to Islamic lectures when you were sitting home alone?
Was several different people telling you that Islam is a serious business and that it should not be taken lightly terrifying to the point that you were incapable of telling them you were not interested?
Really an old man over 70 yrs old and my husband who is 5'4'' are so terrifying to you,  a young 20 yrs old whose almost 6' tall?

Is any of this making sense? Does this kid really think he is responsible for his actions when he blames others for the choices he makes and chooses to abandon a wife that he chose for himself?

I'm just lost in all of this. I feel so betray and angry and utterly disappointed. I've come to realise this young man makes too many rushed decisions without ever weighing the consequences and then blames others for his choices. I have seen him do this in his personal and professional life.
And I've also come to see that his parents are complete enablers....

At this point my husband refuses to have any and all contact with this guy and I am stuck in the go between trying to make sure he does right by his wife.

I pray that Allah may guide him and that my children will never grow up to be like him. I also pray to  have the patience to deal with his smug condescension and insults towards my beliefs with grace and kindness that he may see where the true guided path is found Amine.


till next time (when recipes will follow with joy inshallah)

a discouraged and hurt Sister.

Pantry staples... spice blend

Salamwalikoum,
It's been a while since I last posted something... Hope everyone is still alive and kicking. It's been crazy for me as usual. I thought I would start off with something way simple: my go to spice blend. I found this spice blend online on a site that shares "secret recipes". So this spice mix was listed as the KFC secret spices. I did omit one or two things to make is a bit more general and also so it appeals a bit more to my husband's taste.

I really like this blend, I've tried it on beef, chicken and lamb and it works great with all of them so far. I also use this to make home-made shake and bake(add bread crumbs) or use it to make a roux(add flour) for gravy. O.K.,so enough gushing about the recipe. Here goes!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Rosemary
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Sage
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Marjoram
1 1/2 tsp thyme
3 tbsp dried Parsley
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion salt or powder
2 tbsp or 4 cubes (crushed) either chicken or beef bouillon.

Directions:
Put all the spices in a blender and pulse a few seconds.

To cook a whole chicken you only need about 1 tsp of the spices.
When I make fried chicken I usually put 1 heaping tbsp of spice mix with 1 cup of flour and this is more than enough for a whole chicken.

I usually make up a double batch of this at a time. It keeps really well in a spice jar of plastic container.

So there you have it, Enjoy!

till next time!

Morroccan recipe... Chicken Pastilla

Salamwalikoum,

Wow! long time no blog....It's been a very long time since my last post. As they say, time flys when your running around like a crazy fool having fun  ... So anyhoo, in all the excitement of my dad's birthday party last weekend I forgot to post my next recipe. So today I will be showing you how to make chicken pastilla.

This recipe is a traditional morrocan dish that is made during special occasions like weddings. It's a bit more time consuming than most of the other wedding dishes but I personally think it is probably the yummiest I have tried so far.

Ok so let's get down to business.
Ingredients:
1 whole Chicken
2 onions chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1tsp salt
saffron
sprig fresh cilantro
toasted almonds
sugar (yes, you read that right)
phyllo dough
powder sugar
5-4 eggs

Directions:
In a large stock pot, boil the chicken with the spices and the onions until thoroughly cooked.

Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool.

Once the chicken is cooled, de-boned and shredded- set aside.

Now strain the solids from the sauce, like so:

Once the sauce is separated return the broth to the pot and boil until it's reduced enough to get thicker and richer.

With the onion add the eggs and cook like scrambled eggs.

Set aside the egg mixture and the reduced sauce.

The last thing left to prepare before assembling the pastilla is the almond mixture.

In a food processor combine the toasted almonds with a bit of cinnamon and powdered sugar. This is really to taste depending on each cooks' preference.

Chop coarsely.

Now that all these steps are done, here comes the easy part!

To assemble simply layer 

sheet of phyllo

almonds

phyllo

chicken and a bit of sauce

phyllo

eggs

phyllo

almonds

and finally more phyllo dough to make the surface smooth.

I made my pastillas into little packages, but they can also be layered like you would lasagna in a dish.

Just before baking in the oven brush the tops with a bit of egg yolk.

Bake in the oven at 350F until the pastry is golden and crispy.

Just before serving sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and powdered sugar. And enjoy!

Now as I do with almost all of my recipes.... I forgot to take a picture of the final product... I guess I'm still getting into the habit of having to pause and take a picture every step of the way.

I will eventually wrap my head around the concept and get some pics for you guys. In the mean time, bon appetit!

Until next time

Rebecca

Embroidery course... FREE, ONLINE !!

Salamwalikoum,

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would pop in for a quickie and let you all know what I'm up to.
It's been a crazy week. My mom dropped several bags of baby clothes at my house... she wanted to get them out of her storage and transfer them to mine in case I fall pregnant any time soon....lol

It litterally took me and my sister 12 hours to sort by size and state and divide it amongst ourselves.
We ended up giving quite a bit of clothes to the local thrift store. So all in all I have several large vaccum sealed bags of baby clothes of all sizes for both boys and girls.... That was wayyy too much work...

Also this past week I registered with Anita at Artistic Fingers for her chikandan embroiderie classes.
I'm really looking forward to learning how to do some of those beautiful  stitches.

I am planning on posting my progress once the lessons get started inshallah.

Hopefully I won't be all thumbs like usuall....

Till next time.

Date night movie review

Salamwalikoum,
Gotta say: my my how time flies....Already 1 week since my last post... I think things just got away from me last week.
Hope all is good with everyones kith and kin. On my end I  just wanted to share some of the fun I had on sunday. My DH woke up in a rather good mood on sunday morning and immediately suggested we take my parents out for dinner. So that pretty much sums up my social life lately... A double date with my parents on a sunday night. lol

All in all it was a pretty enjoyable evening. We went out for some chinese food and then a movie.
The movie we saw was called One for the Money. The movie is one that will please men and women alike.

There is enough eye candy for both the male and female variety. A bit of mid-paced action and plenty of burst out laughing jokes and gags. Plenty of one liners too.

I do admit I've enjoyed Katherine Heigl for a while now. I even remember when she was in a hilarious movie called My Father the Hero way back when she was in her teens. This role was a bit different than the characters she's played before. All the other roles I've seen her in were a bit more goofball and less tough than the part she played in this movie. All in all she pulled it off pretty well and the naration is what made the movie all the more funny.

So this was my adventure last night. It was a nice change of pace to go out for a quiet evening with my parents.

Till next time

Meal Plan Monday 3

Salamwalikoum,

So here again for another installment of meal plan monday. Last week I unfortunately forgot to place the order for our halal chicken at the shop so I'm running low on meat. This week will be border line vegetarian until the box of chicken arrives next monday.
Luckily I always keep plenty of legumes on hand.

So here goes for this week:

Monday
We had friends over for dinner on sunday night.
The result way too many leftovers.... so today is
LEFTOVER DAY...lol

Tuesday
lentil soup a.k.a. Shorbat Adas
ingredients:
8 c. water
1 1/5 c. lentils
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic
chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
3/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
3 cubes chicken bouillon

Literally throw everything in a pot and cook on medium heat for about 30-45 minutes or until the lentils a tender and the broth is a bit thick.
Too yummy

Wednesday
Potatoe pancakes
This is a traditional acadian recipe.

3-4 meduim potatoes finely grated
1 egg
1 onion finely chopped
2 tbsp flour
salt pepper and any other spices you want.
oil for pan frying

Make sure to remove as much excess water from the grated potatoes as possible.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and laddle onto a hot skillet with a bit of oil for frying.
cook on both sides until golden and crispy.
Makes enough for 4 people.
This can also be a breakfast food.

Thursday
Spaghetti with meat sauce

Friday
Couscous
(this is still uncertain....)

Saturday
Pot pie
This will be using leftover turkey that is already cooked and sitting in my freezer...

Sunday
as usual is left blank because no matter what meal I plan on this day... it's never what I end up making...lol

So there is this weeks menu plan and inshallah I won't deviate too much from it....lol

Take care
happy eating!

Natural Beauty... Sugaring

Salamwalikoum,

Hope all is honkydory out there!. Today I thought I would share a trick I use for hair removal. It's super inexpensive and mild enough for even the most sensitive skin types.
Basically it's waxing but instead of all these chemical concoctions found in stores this one is found in your kitchen pantry.

Sugaring has been around for a pretty long time. This technique can be used for just about any area.

So here goes:
2 c sugar
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c water or honey

Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan until smooth and bubbly.
Let the mixture cool until it is comfortable to touch.
This is very important if you don't want to burn yourself.

Now it is ready to use!

To use, simply spread the mix over the hair then cover with a strip of cotton.
Rub the cotton in the opposite direction of the hair growth.
In one smooth movement quickly rip off of the cotton.

Don't forget that if you are using this on your face, it's a good idea to lay a cloth soaked in cold water on the areas where the hair was removed to avoid puffiness and redness.

I like this method because I'm forgetful and never think to buy wax or any other products until 5 minutes before I need them.
With this recipe I know I always have the necessary ingredients right on hand.

Also the cotton strips can be reused several times by soaking in warm water and washing when you're done using them. A good washing makes them almost as good as new.

So there you have it hair removal for pennies and environmentally friendly too!

Hope this is useful.
Till next time!

Meal plan monday

Salamwalikoum,
So it's that time of the week again.... Time to figure out what I will be making for dinner all week.
So this week I actually have some beef to cook with for the 1st time in a few months... Halal meat is hard to come by in my area, so we tend to stick to chicken and turkey and sea food since they are the only things that are halal and readily available.

DH eyes lit up when we got some meat from a freind of ours...lol

So here goes:
Monday
Meat with prunes
coleslaw

Tuesday
Tajine made with
leftover turkey,
 potatoes,
brussel sprouts,
carrots and olives.

Wednesday
Tuna casserole
tchatchouka (recipe found here)

Thursday
Cabbage rolls
(they were on my menu for last week but I had so much leftovers that I didn't bother to make them)

Friday
Couscous (as most fridays)

Saturday
Roasted red pepper and tomato soup
Biscuits

Sunday
I rarely plan meals on sunday because we often eat out or get invited to dine at a freinds house.

So there is our menu for the week.
I will try to post the more uncommon recipes at some point over the weekend inshallah.

Bon apetit!

Grrrrr......

Salamwalikoum,
I will apologize in advance for the following post.... I do usually try to keep things light and fun, but today I need to get something off my chest. This is simply me expressing a bit of frustration and nothing more...

So here goes,
Yea I am aware that im overweight!
I do not need a doctor to diagnose me, I' ve been this way most of my life and will probably struggle with this for the remiander of it.
But, this does not mean that I'm LAZY. I actually work really hard. I'm in better physical shape than most of my underweight freinds.
Being overweight means I carry almost 100lbs with me everyday, it's on me 24/7. I can't just put it in the closet at the end of the day like a witner coat.
I have learned to accept myself the way I am and I wish others could to.
I am aware that I'm an emotional eater and I'm making strides in orer to fix that. But it will take time. Rome was not built in a day.

Now I have been trying to religiously follow a good diet, not one of those silly fad diets taht mostly cause malnutrition and yo-yo weight loss.
No, a good diet where my hunger is satisfied and  I get all the nutritious goodness I need and it's HEALTHY.

Now somehow a lot of people out there take it upon themselves to give you advice and normally I'm all for it. But when the people giving you weight loss tips have never had to struggle with their weight, can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound... really!? HOW DARE YOU take it upon yourself to tell me what to do with my body. You have no idea what you are talking about, you are not a doctor nor a nutritionist.
Your telling me that I need to feel hungry all the time in order to lose weight. That if I'm satisfied then I'm not doing it right?
That it's all about will power, just control yourself... Hey, if I could do that, you think I would be in this situation to begin with!?

I what I'm trying to say wiht all of this is:
YES, I'm aware I have a problem.
YES, I'm making an effort to fix it.
NO, this will not happen overnight.
NO, it is none of your damn business.
YES, butt the hell out.

I'm working hard to change bad habits into good ones and it will take time. So please in the mean time keep your bullshit to yourself and give me encouragement instead of your stupid 2bit advice from someone who knows nothing of my struggles.

So there you have it... my occasional rant...

Take care, hope I haven't scared anyone away....lol

p.s. sorry about the potty mouth, or in this case potty keyboard....

A few pounds lighter!!!

Salamwalikoum,

So after like a month struggling to get my diet back on track, I finally managed to do so this week... and it paid off!

A combination of swimming laps every morning and following my diet resulted in dropping almost 10 lbs in a week! That never happens to me, but I think it's definitly encouraging. My goal is to lose an average of 1-2 lbs a week. It doesn't seem like much, but when it comes to weight loss slow and steady wins the race.

It's been show that if you loose weight too quickly it way too easy to regain it just as quickly. Also it can leave you skin all dangly and unattractive... So I prefer to lose a bit at a time and do a little bit of bodybuilding to tighten things up as I go.

I've found this is what works best for. This may not be for everybody... So what do you do to keep things running? Any diets and routines out there that work for you?

Meal Plan monday ... a bit late

Salamwalikoum,
Wow things have really gotten away from me this week... I had originally planned on doing this post on monday and kicking off my 1st themed post. But between work,  researching how to register a non-profit organisation, and prepping for some guests we are expecting on friday at our Islamic center.... It's just been craaaaaazzzzyyyyyy
Alright so let's get this rolling shall we.

I thought I would share some of my tricks to save money on groceries.
I've managed to lower my grocery bill from over 100$ to an average of 60$ a week for 3 adults.
Now granted I do cook over 80% of our food from scratch.

My tricks are probably well know and pretty simple...
So trick #1:
I do my grocery list based solely on what's on sale in the store flyers. I do actually go to several stores since I live in a small town and they are all close together.
Now when drawing up my list I write the prices next to the items that way if it's cheaper in another store but wasn't announced in the flyer I will simply pick it up.

If something comes on sale super cheap, I buy several. This will last me a long while and the item will likely come back on sale before I use up what I have at home.

I buy frozen veggies when they are on sale, they keep longer than fresh and have more vitamins than canned...

Trick #2 : I make a meal plan for the whole week using what I already have in the house. I put priority on the stuff that needs to be used 1st or is left from the previous shopping day.

Trick #3: Make enough at every meal for there to be leftovers for lunch. I don't have time to cook much so I rely on left overs for lunch the next day. I also try not too make too much that way nothing gets thrown away.

Trick #4: Use recipes that make a little go a long way. I do cook ALOT of morrocan dishes and serve them as I've seen them served in morroco. i.e. everyone sitting around the same dish.
Eating this way actually prevents everyone from overeating (or almost...lol) Everyone is satisfied at the end of the meal. There are very few leftovers... so less waste.

Eating this way I 've seen 6 people eat 2 chicken legs, 3 potatoes and 3 carrotts and everyone was full...Also you can have last minute dinner guests whitout worrying if there is enough for 1 or 2 people more than planned.


So here is my meal plan for the week:
Please note I only plan 1 major meal since my husband usually takes the leftovers along as his lunch for work the next day.

Monday:
Leftovers
(I had too much leftovers from the weekend , so I made a meal of it...)

Tuesday:
Macaroni and cheese
(the home made kind, not the in a box bright orange one...)
salad

Wednesday:
Roasted Chicken with carrots, turnips ,parsnips and olives
salad

Thursday:
Red cabbage and beet soup
boiled eggs
Fried cauliflower

Friday:
Morrocan style couscous

Saturday:
vegetarian cabage rolls
coleslaw

Sunday:
Beans and franks
ployes (traditional buckwheat crepe)

So there is my meal plan for this week.
I will try to post most of the recipes over the weekend inshallah.

If anyone is wondering why I don't make plans for breakfast, it's because I usually prepare most breakfast foods (i.e breads, pastries) ahead of time in large quantities and freeze them. So every morning I make a pot of tea before work and whenever my husband wakes up he just grabs a cup of tea and throws something into the toaster oven to eat.

So there ya go, meals for a week

Take care 'till next time

Morrocan pantry staples... pickled lemons

Salamwalikoum,
So as most people have probably noticed by now, I'm crazy about cooking. It's my favorite pass time...
A passtime that my hubby is all too happy to indulge. lol

Now my husband being from morrocco, it is normal that he will miss homecooked foods from his homeland.
Happily when we got married i moved there for several months and was lucky enough to get a crash course in morrocan cooking from my mother and sisters in law.

Now for the most part the ingredients are widely available in north america, but sometimes you need that one thing that give it that special taste and substitutes just can't match.

And pickled lemons are just one of those things. I have tried replacing this ingredient with lemon juice, but it's just not quite right.

So here is my 1st post in a series on morrocan pantry staples.

Ingredients:
water
salt
4-5 lemons

Directions:
Cut the lemons in quarters, leaving a small portion at the bottom still attached.like this:

Pour 1-2 tsp of salt into the cut up lemon and place into a food grade storage jar.

Pour another tbsp of salt on top of the lemons and fill the container with water until the lemons are fully covered.

Now to seal you can either pour a bit of oil on top of the water or process in a water bath in a canning jar for 15 minutes.

Leave jar in a cool dark place to ferment. Usually takes about 2 weeks for them to be ready.

The pickling process removes the bitterness from the pith of the lemon. So the whole lemon can be cooked and will give the lemon taste without the biter.

I will eventually share recipes that use the lemons.

Good luck and take care.

Batbouts recipe

Salamwalikoum,
So today I'm going to share a recipe that my hubby raved about for so long that I finally had him ask his mom how she makes it.
It's super simple. If you can make bread then you can make Batbouts.
I did change the filling but the basics are the same. Batbouts are basically little breads that are cooked stove top instead of in the oven and you can leave them plain or put a stuffing of your choice in them. They also freeze really well, so I sometimes make a huge batch so I have something for my DH lunch.

Pretty much anything you can put into a sandwich you can put into Batbouts. I do avoid mayonaise though because I'm afraid it will not keep well through the whole process, but mustard and other condiments should be fine.

Ok so now for the recipe.

Ingredients:
Bread:
1 cup warm water
1cup milk
4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 packet quick rise or bread machine yeast
1 tbsp butter
Put Ingredients in the order listed into the bread machine and let run through the dough cycle.

If you don't have a bread machine which I know most people don't the directions are a bit longer.

Heat the milk and butter till butter is melted.
In a bowl put all the dry ingredients at once and make a well in the center.
Add the water and the warm milk mixture and stir until the dough is well mixed and sticky.
Then knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
 You may need to add a bit more flour as this recipe makes a sticky dough that is super light once cooked.
Let rise until almost doubled in size.

Filling:
diced chicken
olives
diced tomatoes
parsley
cheese

To make the Batbouts roll the bread dough on a lightly floured surface.

Place the filling on the dough and put another layer of rolled out bread dough on top and seal the edges.

Place the batbouts on a floured cloth and let rise for about 2 hours

To cook, flip the batbouts into a warm frying pan sprinkled with a bit of corn meal and turn over frequently so as not to burn them.
A low heat is best as it will heat the filling without burning the outside crust.

Raw meat would not work well unless the batbouts are cooked in the oven and get sufficiently hot to throughouly cook the meat.

So there you have it Batbouts.

If you want sugar shock...eat Sugar Pie!

Salamwalikoum,

Wow already more than a week since my last post...

So I guess I'm on a baking kick for now...lol

My friend passed this major exam in her nursing studies and wanted to celebrate by ingesting an insane amount of calories, so she asked me to make a brown sugar pie.

And so I did.

Now a brown sugar pie is a traditional pie for french canadians and also common in northern France and Belgium. There are a whole bunch of variations, but all versions are very sweet. Trust me, I'm a total sugar bug and I'm not even able to eat more than a tiny piece at a time.

So here goes.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar

pinch salt

2 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. maple syrup
1 cup cream (heavy-35%)

1 egg

Pie crust

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pour into the prepared, uncooked pie crust.

Bake in a 400F oven for about 30 minutes or until the top carmelizes and the crust is golden.

Now you can put a lattice top on the pie or even top it with nuts, it's a matter of taste. I usually leave it au naturel.

So thats all for now,

Happy sugar Buzz......