Been a long time

As Salamu Alaikom, It has been a long time. Insha'Allah all of you are well. I hope to get back to blog soon. May Allah forgive us all our sins and keep us on the right way.Ameen.

Eid Dinner

As Salamu Alaikom dearest ummah,

Insha'Allah you all had a wonderful 16Th November Eid dinner, Eid Mubarak for those I didn't personally tell in Facebook or otherwise. May Allah grant you all a fresh slate and many blessings for this year to come. Ameen! Now down to the nitty gritty. I kept the meal fairly simple and somewhat modest.

As you can see it pretty much consisted of 2 meats and a starch. Looks yummy doesn't it?

The chicken was done tikka style in a terracotta clay baking pot (every kitchen should have one of these, it's best for slow cooking any meats and roasts and if you look carefully in the upper right hand of the photo above, you will see the corner of it :) it's got ridges in the bottom so the meat doesn't touch the bottom directly and cooks evenly.)

The pasta, aah who doesn't like pasta tossed with veggies (broccoli,cauliflower, and carrots-- sliced black olives too), and Parmesan and Romano cheeses with garlic, salt and an aromatic olive oil? MmMmMm

The London broil, a wonderful piece of meat, coated in spices and cooked in the oven slowly and turned. It melted in the mouths of those who dared.

A completed plate, ready for the taking, of course its not truly done up without pita topped with hummus. HAHAHA how could I forget one of my favs?

And there you have it folks, a modest Eid dinner cooked in Florida by a proud Muslim American. Believe it or not, the different blend of such flavors pleased all pallets.

May Allah grant you all every need, lift any stife that weighs on you and give you all many blessings. Ameen!

Birthday Dinner

As Salamu Alaikom o/,

It's alway fun when you find photos you knew you had but forgot where you put them only to find they were where they belonged to begin with. HAHAHA!!!! I know I'm such a noob sometimes. These are some photos of my Birthday dinner that I cooked. Alhamdulillah! It was fantastic.

This is the leg of lamb right off the grill. It was marinated in a pomegranate glaze, my secret recipe. It's boneless so I opened it pretty much flat and had to do very little cutting, once glazed, it was tied and bagged for the grill.....the next day.You can see the results for yourself.

In this next pic you will see molokhia with rice and chicken. Originally it was not mixed but everyone at my little party was so excited to dig in, they had mixed and dished it before I could get there with the camera or even let them know to dish it the way it was and mix it as they eat it. LOL obviously it was too good to wait.

Of course no meal goes without a salad, I picked greek. In the bigger container, hummus. In the smaller container, baba ghanoush. I didn't bother to plate them to look pretty, I kinda knew that it wouldn't last too long and of course it didn't .
This was my birthday meal. I thank and give all my praises to Allah for giving me the mad skills I have in the kitchen. I made everything at home and brought it all to my families house.... hence the containers. Only the meat was cooked at the families house. Insha'Allah you all enjoyed the photos. Salam

salaam

as salamu alaikom to my ummah, ramadan kareem to you all. insha'Allah soon i will make new posts. some of you know i have been very busy.

may Allah grant you all peace,patience,strength,and many rewards. Ameen.

much love, salaam

Blueberry Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today I had a plan to bake a cake. With the over abundance of blueberries in my freezer.... smoothies were not my only plan, considering I usually only use my blender for hummus anymore. I tend to have all of the ingredients for homemade baking in my cupboards and icebox. This one was very simple. The only modification I made was the amount of berries used. Instead of 2 cups berries, I used 3. Here is the recipe should you want to indulge and make one for yourself. ENJOY! http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/blueberry-lemon-bundt-cake/

Kitchen Creations with Ori Part 1

Ok as some of you know I spend alot of time talking about recipes and certain meals etc. that I've made. Lately I've been getting all nerdy with my digi-cam. I hardly ever use it and taking pics of things I've created in my wonderful little kitchen. (I am in no way a photographer and although good at many things, taking pictures is not one of them).

Exhibit 1 : Baba Ghanoush (illustrated on the left) and 3 types of Hummus ( regular,black olive and red bell pepper on the right)
Exhibit 2 : This is Goat meat done into meatballs with Arabic spices and grilled. I served it with a salad made from cucumbers and labna.Pita bread on the side. Was completely awesome.



Exhibit 3 : This is Portabello Mushroom caps stuffed with seasoned ground chicken meat, a slice of tomato and covered in swiss cheese. No need for a side, this is a meal in its self.





Exhibit 4 : Lamb and rice stuffed grape leaves with a tomato gravy, labna with olive oil drizzled over the top and pita bread. The perfect combination. (the trick to the rice is cooking it using the water you blanch the grape leaves in)


Exhibit 5 : The perfect breakfast. Don't knock it until you try it. Blueberry pancakes with vanilla, and cinnamon. Topped with razzberry yogurt. Scrambled eggs with thyme (bcos I like thyme in my eggs). And well... the coffee did'nt make it in time for the photo shoot.

Enjoy, more to come in the future Insha'Allah!

A Disgrace for all Muslims

Just this morning, checking emails, I noticed an article in yahoo. Now I know yahoo is not the right source for any real news but this one stood out and it really disturbs me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100307/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_al_qaida_american

Upon reading this article, I felt my heart sink a bit. I know Islam well enough to know that this individual is way off in many ways. First off, to declare we American Muslims start trouble.... well does this not disturb you? Granted, Muslims in America do have to endure the stigma of "siding with terrorists" but when asked why, well, its not just the Mossad or Zionist lies... it's Muslims like this.

There is a difference between tribalism and Islam!!! Wrong choices and right ones. I can not express this enough.

I do not agree with what Major Hassan did in Ft. Hood. I believe this man was mentally disturbed for a few reasons. He had to listen to men and women telling him their deepest darkest war stories from abroad. This in its self is disturbing. I'm sure these stories cut him to the bone. Second, he was being sent to where the war was. To have to see Arabs and Muslims being killed on a regular basis, when he himself was both, would have been gut wrenching. No matter what media lies are told about him, there is no actual solid proof that what he did was intentionally a terrorist move. I think the man had some issues that no one in my Govt. helped him with. From what I understand, he had lawyers to try to get him out of serving overseas after he asked several times to be excused from this and several times... denied.

As far as this young man stating that we American Muslims should target anything or anybody... well, this is not the right way to go about doing anything. We should refer to the Qur'an and Sunnah. We have enough trouble with the non-believers. Allah knows best.

The Zionists and Governmental entities that are using lies to stunt the growth of Islam and the heighten the security of ...ahem (Palestinian occupied lands) Israel, on the day of judgement, they will be dealt with insha'Allah. Again, Allah knows best.

So as I close this blog saying, tsk! tsk! shame on you young man for trying to bring your ummah down by trying to get them to follow you. You have the right cause but you are going about it the wrong way. Those who follow the right path will succeed.

Subhan'Allah Allahu Akbar!!! Come on let us all say it loud and proud! Maybe it will help us weigh more on the right side of the scales on the final day of judgement. It can't hurt to try.

Oh and lastly, if you want Muslims to stop killing then stop killing Muslims. If you truly want peace, give peace and it will be returned to you.

American Soldiers Come Home!! The war that is being fought for is to line the pockets of the top 1% elites. They dont care about you or your families.