~ Zein's Pink Room ~

Meals for next week

2012-01-06T14:23:00.003-06:00

I know, it's still Friday, but I'm planning for next week. We have to get lots of groceries this weekend b/c we slacked off last weekend. Here's what I have lined up so far, but I'm going to have to add a few more main dishes. I'm at a complete loss... I'm so not enjoying being the one in charge of food for the family :(

Sweet Potato Soup
BBQ Chicken
Malfoof (wrapped cabbage leaves)
Shakrieh (cooked yogurt dish) with rice
*something in crockpot but what can it beeeeee??* help me!!

Might make this cabbage salad. Cabbage is nicely priced right now, especially at Sprouts, and I've loved this salad since Mom made it for me after I had delivered Aisha (cough, three years ago).

Recipe for Cabbage Salad:

Coarsely chop about half a head of cabbage

Add a handful of coarsely chopped almonds

Add a handful of craisins (dried cranberries)

Add a chopped apple

Dressing:

(amounts vary to taste)

Plain yogurt (about half a cup)

Orange Juice (couple of tbsps)

Maple Syrup (1 Tbsp if you like)

edited to add: for next week: leg of lamb seared then slow cooked in crock pot, sides of rice and veggies

green salad (Sunday night's dinner) with options of cheese, tuna, Stacy's pita chips

mexican type chicken in crockpot on Monday since hubby won't be joining us for dinner

Simple White Cake

2012-01-05T20:37:00.000-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

This recipe is specifically for a friend of mine who called me the other day needing a quick cake recipe for some guests. I cannot believe I forgot about this one. I use it to make cupcakes, but it can make a square 9*9 cake if you want. It is delicious thanks to the butter and to, what I consider, a little too much sugar. It seriously has a slight crunch on the crust when you first bite into it!

So if you're ever in a pinch (and hopefully have butter, eggs, and milk) this is GREAT to make and decorate or frost as you like. Today I made 6 batches of it for a Girl Scout function this Saturday.

No pictures today, but maybe after Saturday's event I'll come back and add one!

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a 9*9 cake pan or line a muffin pan with liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter in the pan.
3. Bake 30-40 minutes for the cake or 22-25 minutes for cupcakes.

I'm going to link to the website here at allrecipes.com. You have to read some of the reviews to get a feel for how successfull this cake really is! Some people add an extra 1/4 cup of milk which I haven't done. I do recommend beating the heck out of each step as you go. Beat the butter and sugar a LOT before you even start adding the eggs (one by one). One lady said she dropped a spoonful of raspberry jam in the batter before baking ... I have to try that!!

Enjoy y'all.

Apple Whole Wheat Muffins

2012-01-04T14:53:00.000-06:00

Apple Whole Wheat Muffins

taken from Rebel Recipes, University of Mississippi

Oven: 375 degrees
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup lowfat milk
1/4 oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup finely chopped apples (peeled)

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar together. Mix egg, milk, oil, and molasses together. Add apples to dry mixture and mix well; then add liquid mixture and stir until well mixed. Brush muffin tins with oil and bake until slightly brown, around 20 minutes.

I had a guest over this morning and was able to whip these up in no time. The house smelled delicious and it was an appreciated alternative to the more commonly found pound cake, donuts, bagels, or cookies!

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

2012-01-01T21:29:00.001-06:00

Our family visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Center the other day for the first time. It was a really neat experience that I know we'll all remember for a long time! It's not everyday you get zebras and deer poking their faces in your car!

It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get there, so we were ready for our picnic lunch upon arrival :D The sandwiches turned out great; the chips we bought specifically for this trip sadly stayed at home in the pantry. Oh well!

This is an outdoor wildlife area where you drive along one road (one-way) and observe animals roaming in their environment. You do not get out of your car, and the animals love coming up to the cars hoping for a little snack from visitors who've bought the food from the front desk.

We chose not to buy the feed bag, so we started on the path with windows down ready to observe. We didn't need any food to attract these guys over! They're so friendly and are probably expecting some food to drop out of ever car that passes, so they are happy to mosey over to check it out. The ostriches and emu's were pretty funny to look at, and I'm sad to say that I only took video of them and not any still photos. One guy in front of us was brave enough to feed the ostrich out of his hand; and it did eat from his hand; and you could hear him screeching all over the park from the pain! (they advised to feed only giraffes and to merely drop the food for the other animals rather than have them eat from your hand)

There was no shortage of deer and zebras. There were deer of all sizes and with different antlers. There were the little Bambi-like ones:

Then there were some slightly bigger ones with fancier antlers:

Now here you can see how friendly these guys were... this one comes to see if we have any food

then he decides to head on over to the folks behind us.... lol

He's telling these guys how we didn't have any food for him!!!

And scattered around were tons of beautiful zebras. I got pretty startled when four of them wandered over and acted like they wanted to sit in my lap! Here are a few great shots of them:

This one below is when I turned around and found them coming over unexpectedly. I did panic a little, although they were perfectly nice and tame. Masha'Allah, just gorgeous animals.

Also, we saw a pretty giraffe family. They had a new baby this year. Here are two shots of them:

Masha'Allah, seeing the beautiful natural views all around me put a big smile on my face. There were some nice rolling hills in that area, and the evergreen trees and rocky slopes reminded me of the terrain in parts of Jordan. Seeing animals lounging, walking, playing, and resting out in the sunshine in vast acres of land was so neat. Its' nothing like a visit to the zoo. My kids reached out and touched the zebras and deer on their muzzles. We brushed and petted a lot of goats, too. It was a fabulous learning experience and a nice way to spend the day, alhamdulillah. All praise is due to God alone who created the heavens and the earth and all that is within. Seeing the prefect stripes on the zebras and the artistic symmetry of deer antlers made me remember our Creator even more. It is absolutely amazing.

Here are a few verses from the Quran where Allah reminds us of His power:

Surah: 40, Ayah: 62

ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ

Such is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things. There is no god except He. How then can you turn away from Him?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Surah: 6, Ayah: 102

ذَلِكُمُ اللّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ فَاعْبُدُوهُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ

That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god except He, the Creator of all things. Therefore, worship Him. He is the Guardian of all things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Surah: 35, Ayah: 3

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ هَلْ مِنْ خَالِقٍ غَيْرُ اللَّهِ يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ

People, remember the blessings of Allah to you. Except for Allah, is there any other creator who provides for you out of heaven and earth? There is no god except He. Where then do you turn?

Hey Everyone, I've been redecorating my blog; hope you like it!

I've had a tremendously busy and fun week. My mom's been in town which means more help with cooking, more things to eat, and also more out-of-the-house things to do. So it's been nonstop. I'll back post our meals since Sunday since I can't remember as far back in time as Saturday :P

Sunday: Chicken Tikka; Rice
Monday: Fried Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, French Fries
Tuesday: Meatballs baked with turnips, carrots, roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes; Rice
Wednesday: leftovers for some plus dinner at my dad's house
Thursday: Green Salad, Spaghetti and Sauce
Friday: Tenderloin, salad, veggies
Saturday: Picnic lunch

Lunches:
frozen pizza
broccoli/potato/cheese soup
leftovers
tuna sandwiches

What Brownies Taste Like at My House

2011-12-21T21:14:00.001-06:00

My sweet dreamer, my oldest daughter, has really been finding her way around the kitchen these past couple of weeks. Bless her heart, she's not very attuned to details, so I was rightfully worried when she asked to make her first batch of brownies. She did great, and it was a little more work than when my son started to bake cookies, but she is over the moon with her accomplishments, masha'Allah, and I'm so proud of her. Here is the recipe we've been making brownies with for some time. It's a toss up between this one and some other one I can't find, but we do like these a lot. They just don't taste so good after the second or third day, but they're not given that many hours to sit around in this house.

1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 eggs
2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8*8 baking pan although 9*13 will work. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bown and set aside. In a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate squares over low heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove from heat and add sugar, eggs, water, and vanilla. Stir vigorously until well mixed. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in nuts if desired. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cool and serve!

White Chili Recipe

2011-12-21T20:55:00.001-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

I tried something new this week in food. I'm the type who will eat just about anything and don't turn my nose at anything, but when I heard the words "white" and "chili" in the same sentence it made me turn "green". That was about two years ago.

Last week I read a recipe online for white chili, and I guess I had a change of heart or something because I felt like giving it a shot. I just had to make sure not to mentally categorize it with "real" chili which is red, not white, and is made with BEEF, and not with chicken.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and will make it again! One tip: it calls for a quart of cream. Since I knew I'd be eating from it over 3 days or so, I didn't add the cream on the day I made the soup. It wouldn't taste good getting heated, chilled, and reheated, so I just added a little bit of cream daily each time I took a portion out to reheat for lunch. Also, I used much less than a quart of cream... and that's a good thing, no matter how good cream is!

White Chili
1 large jar white northern beans (or 2 regular sized cans)
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celergy
1 4oz jar diced green chilies ( I didn't use these)
1 1/3 Tbsp. minced garlic ( I used about 5 cloves... who needs to count in TBSPs!)
1 1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1/2 - 1 tsp. cayenne pepper depending on how hot you like it
1 quart cream
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, celery, and garlic in 2 Tbsp oil. Add beans, stock, and spices. Simmer 1/2 hour- 1 hour. Add chicken. Add cream and heat through just before serving. Serve with shredded cheese on top if desired.

Sorry, no picture... maybe another time!

Menu's up

2011-12-18T15:43:00.001-06:00

I have a tentative idea of what we'll be eating this week:

Lunches:
~I'm making a couple of extra loaves of bread, slicing them, and putting them in the freezer so that we can get back into having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch! I know, that's not very exciting, but we haven't eaten those in months and months, so I hope they'll be a happy change.
~ Baked macaroni and cheese (new recipe I'm waiting to try)
~ leftovers or something from the freezer
~ tacos if necessary

Dinner:
Sunday: Tenderloin steak, roasted veggies
Monday: Making a pot of White Chili for the first time, some leftover steak for the skeptics
Tuesday: Probably more white chili for me, feel like frying some chicken thighs, more roasted veggies
Wednesday: Taco soup, steamed broccoli
Thursday: Soup, not sure.. I have a lot of broccoli and potatoes, so probably that.
Friday: Meatballs in a tray with veggies and tomato sauce, side of rice

Insha'Allah, that's the plan.

Home activites for your kids

2011-12-17T08:55:00.001-06:00

Does the thought of having your kids home for two weeks without school give you a little stress? Do you wonder what you'll do with them, or more specifically, what they'll do with you?? Just kidding, hopefully they'll do nothing with you but fill your heart with love :D

My philosophy is that you as a parent don't need to resort to song and dance to entertain your children, rather you just want to provide a few things to jump start their imaginations and love for play that is already there. They're kids after all! (and by song and dance I'm talking about going to places where you have to pay and pay and pay out the nose for a few hours of 'entertainment')

Here are a few ideas that have worked for me that I hope might be useful for you or might give you an idea for something else you have handy.

1. Have some art supplies handy and structure the time they can use it if the mess stresses you out. There are washable finger paints that are easy to wipe off of any table surface. I've bought some inexpensive newsprint tablets of paper that the little ones can use as much as they want. No fancy thick art paper, just a thinner type called newsprint. There is a little plastic tub (with lid) hidden in one of my kitchen cabinets full of paint brushes, washable finger paints, a couple of trays of watercolors, and reused cans that I've saved from cooking to act as water cans. Older kids know that they have to leave NO TRACE of their activity if I'm going to let them do it again, so they make sure to clean up really well.

2. Homemade Playdo (or the store bought type) We set up at the kitchen table and use rolling pins, wooden utensils (like salad mixers, wooden fork), plastic characters from other toys (we some old Dora and Diego figures), and plastic toys like trees, animals, and other things you might have already. You could make a jungle theme or any theme you want and set out the accessories that will give them a spark to work with.
Recipe for Homemade Playdo
5 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 T Alum (white spice you can find in grocery store)
1/4 cup oil
4 cups boiling water

Stir all together in a large mixing bowl. You can separate the dough into smaller bowl and add food coloring. Store in sealed plastic bags to keep fresh and moist.

3. Have a sensory box. The idea is to fill a container with dry materials that the little ones can sink their hands into and play in. At preschools I've seen them at the kids' waist level so that they can walk up to the long table that is filled with sand or pebbles, rice, or soapy water at times. Kids love to touch and move these things between their fingers. At home, I found a tub that I could reuse and filled it with dry rice and green lentils. Just yesterday I switched it out and filled it with different types of dry beans. I used large white beans, black beans, red beans, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas. Again, the big kids know to clean up completely, but for the toddler, well, I just brace myself and have the vacuum cleaner handy for when she's done. I have used a beach blanket before for them so play on so that I could more easily shake out or throw away what got scattered out of the box.

Here is the updated box I just set up today and like more:

4. Make fruit popsicles. Ok, I know it's cold enough outside, but this is a quick and easy kitchen activity if you have anyone who is itching to make his/her own treat. We poured our blend into these little containers that Nana gave us, but you can use ice cube trays if you want, too.

Recipe for fruit popsicles
1 cup frozen sliced bananas (it's ok if they're not frozen)

1 cup frozen strawberries, raspberries, sliced peaches or other fruit (we used the frozen tropical mix from Costco)

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (i'd use a little less)

¼ to ½ cup milk (dairy, soy, rice, almond, or coconut)
In a food processor, pulse fruit until coarsely chopped. I used my blender, not food processor.
Add milk a little at a time through top of processor, and puree until creamy.
Serve immediately, or freeze in individual-size containers for later.
Yield: 4 servings
Recipe is courtesy of: http://www.mothering.com/recipes/better-ice-cream

5. Free up the garage. Ours has tools and toys around the perimeter b/c my husband parks his car inside. When it's too cold or wet to play outside we just move his car out and play in there. Sure, it's not huge, but for most kids it is plenty of room to play ball, ride scooters/trikes, jump on a small trampoline, or just to run and play. I've even taken one of the space heaters to warm it up a little more in there on the really cold days.

6. Have some quiet activities on hand.
a) The most obvious one is books from the library. Why don't all of you sit on the couch with a few piles of books and just sit down and relax for an hour? Make some hot tea or hot chocolate and enjoy reading together.
b) Remember playing Mad Libs as a kid? I just ordered two books and they're a HIT!!
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Silly-Mad-Libs-Junior/dp/0843107588/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1324133457&sr=8-4
c) Latch hook kits. Definitely for ages 8 and up. Maybe even 9 or 10 and up. Don't tell anyone, but my son is really into the one I got him. It's a picture of a pirate ship. He's loving it. What a great quiet, focusing, and productive activity!
http://www.amazon.com/Caron-Wonderart-Latch-Hook-Kit/dp/B0017WEDA8/ref=sr_1_10?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1324133546&sr=1-10

I left out some big things like arts and crafts (glue, construction paper, etc..), scrapbooking, and bead activites b/c I figured those were obvious enough if you already have them at home.

Alrighty, that's about all I have for now!

something I have learned from homeschooling

2011-12-11T21:48:00.001-06:00

I've had the opportunity twice this past week to talk about why I chose to homeschool the children. (it just so happens that two people asked me why/how I do it) Now that I've been doing it a little over a year I've almost forgotton about those initial feelings that lead me to explore it in the first place! When I think back to those few weeks in the spring of 2010 when I started this journey, the initial reasons are still there and valid, but I've gained dozens more reasons to keept it going.

I couldn't believe how things were changing for the better during those first few weeks. I mean, all the little extra perks were piling up, and I was just all giddy with our new lifestyle. I'm talking about the bonus of the kids seeing their dad an extra few minutes a day b/c they're not being rushed out the door. The bonus of them occasionally eating a hot meal for lunch rather than their packed lunches. The opportunity for them to do some simple chores in the morning their not being totally exhausted by the time they get done with school for the day. We slowly shifted from our old routine to a new one that was much more laid back and kind of with a natural flow.

I get the opportunity to be there to shape their views on key character issues. I am providing them with quality literature that is well written and with good characters/stories. When tough situations arise, we are all there to talk about how we would respond.

To get to do all of this, though, it does take effort of course. Nothing can be successful without putting your all into it. You can't do something like this halfway. And that brings me to one of the more significant replies I've come to give those who question me, because they inevitabley tell me they couldn't possibly do it and that they don't have the patience that I must have. I often stop them and tell them that I, too, used to think that of others who homeschooled. I tell them that not only has it built character in the children, but that it built character in me. This change in lifestlyle has positively affected me. I wasn't expecting it, really, and it took me answering questions of curious friends to realize that I did change. I had to. I had to change in my heart how I saw my children. I prayed about it, asked for help, and put my best foot forward. Now, months later, I can say that I have changed, and I think I am a better mom for it. Alhamdulilaah, Allah is capable of all things, and He can provide for us from places we cannot imagine. And that's the other thing I like to share with moms who consider homeschooling. Make your intentions for seeking the pleasure of Allah, and He will provide for you and make you a way. (and I'm not saying that homeschooling is the only way for Allah to make a way for you to be a good mom!!! just saying how with my intentions for homeschooling along with prayer, I've come a long way)

The struggles haven't been too hard. I've managed my schedule so that I do some outings on my own once my husband is home. It's when he's travelling out of town that I feel the full force of not having any time to run errands alone. I don't even mind being home with the kids, it's when I need something from out of the house that I run into trouble. I'm used to taking my kids with me everywhere, but the older ones don't have as much patience as they used to, and that's where I'm running into the most trouble! In a year or two, though I'll be able to leave more of them home alone, insha'Allah. I'm so thankful that I'm with them while they grow up. I hope and pray that this will benefit them as they grow.

I've changed my settings

2011-12-09T22:37:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone,

I am going to try this out again where your comments will get published immediately rather than await moderation. For a while I was getting a lot of random spam comments, so I'm just going to try it out again.

So if that was ever holding you back, go ahead and leave comments!

Thanks,

Zein

Kitchen happenings and Meal Plan

2011-11-27T21:46:00.001-06:00

Assalamu alaikom, hey everyone!

As usual I've spent a big part of Sunday in the kitchen. It's kind of my thing. I like to get a lot of prep work done for the week, and I try to make stuff I can put in the freezer whether it's muffins, sauces, or soups. It really helps ease the stress during the week, and alhamdullah, I like having homemade foods available over needing to eat out or to buy packaged food.

Today I planned the main meals for the next few days, and I managed to get a huge pot of spaghetti sauce simmered and divided into two bags for the freezer. I plan to use some of that for a lasagne next week.

Using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method, I've baked four loaves of whole wheat bread and frozen two (boy, we can eat through a whole loaf fast here at breakfast). I'm trying a new recipe using flaxseed with whole wheat, so I'm excited to see how it goes over. It's so much healthier than baking bread with plain white bread.

I also tried out a tomato basil soup that is the La Madeleine recipe. Yum. We'll have some of that leftover for the next day, maybe two. So.... the rough plan for the week:

Monday: Salad, Brussels sprouts, roasted leg of lamb, roasted fingerling potatoes
Tuesday: leftovers hopefully
Wednesday: Salad, lasagne, homemade bread
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Shakrieh (rice, cooked yogurt with stewed beef cubes)

Lunches:
Tuna
Pasta
Homemade pizza
Fish Sticks

Have a great week everyone! We had a whole week off last week and enjoyed every minute of it, alhamdulillaah. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things (well, sorta)!
From a recent trip to the Dallas Arboretum:

fresh air and love

2011-11-26T09:28:00.000-06:00

Assalamu alaikom and hello everyone,

A few years ago when I lived in WA state, a dear sister in Islam who used to lead our Friday night ladies' group would joke about the classic 'what's for dinner' dilema we all faced daily. One time she joked about telling her husband something like "and what do you think we're going to have for dinner, fresh air and love?". It cracked me up so much back then and I still chuckle when I remember our conversation. It was just funny how she said it.

Well, if fresh air and love is all it took to survive, then I could've made it all last week without breakfast, lunch, or dinner. My family and I left our little home tucked in the concrete jungle here in TX and headed to visit my mom in her small town in Mississippi. I prepped for a day or two getting laundry ready, tidying up the house, and sorting through the food in the fridge. I lined up what we were going to take to Mom, did last minute shopping, and packed up the kids' clothes, shoes, jackets, and car activities (you should look at http://www.momsminivan.com/ if you ever go on a car trip with kids by the way).

What welcomed us in Oxford, MS, were sounds and sights of nature that I don't see where I live. Large, old trees are scattered here and there. Masha'Allah, birds actually sing and make noises often. Homes have different types of flowering shrubberies and other types of plants around the property, and not in little manicured designs like at our houses here. Because the town in small, we walked to many of our errands and appointments. In doing that we'd run into friends and people we knew. We spoke to other people who were also walking around. What a nice feeling! One day we walked through a wooded area for about an hour, and I was so happy breathing in fresh air, rustling the leaves that had already fallen, and walking with my kids in an area where all we could see were trees.

We picked pecans off the ground. A large pecan tree behind my mom's house sure was giving us a lot of nuts this year. My kids kept running outside to collect what new ones had fallen at least twice a day. We filled up a rather large bowl (more like a vat) full. The best part was cracking those pecans with the nutcracker that my late grandfather used at his home. My mom has it, and it is mounted on a plank of wood. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I don't have one right now. I only took one picture of my son using it, so that'll have to do to give you an idea.

Since we passed through Memphis on our way, I decided to spend the night there and take a little sightseeing boat tour on the Mississippi River the following day. The tour was about an hour and a half and we learned all about barges, tows, and life on the river in general. It was really neat.

Back in Oxford, MS, though we shared a great week with my mom and her husband not only outdoors but inside the house as well. My children played with many treasures they found in the basement (in treasure boxes as they called the old trunks stored down there). They baked with their grandmother, played cards with each other, and watched football with Dave. We had a relaxing week, alhamdulillaah, all praise to God. It felt like a relief after some long weeks of feeling closed in.

Crispy Kale!

2011-11-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've heard about how good kale is supposed to be for us with its calcium and super nutrients. It's not a leaf I buy. It's very thick and curly. I'm just scared of it, to be honest. I haven't seen it used in a recipe where I've thought it would be something we'd eat. Until now.

I was watching the show Parenthood last week, and it was in the show twice! Kale was in the show two times. I grabbed one bunch at the store yesterday, and I fixed 'em up nice and crispy just a little while ago. So so good. I'll definitely make it again, insha'Allah.

Here's a pretty straight forward recipe from allrecipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/baked-kale-chips/detail.aspx

Try it out! Tip: you don't need too much oil or too much salt!! Yikes. A little goes a long way.

Hajj Lapbook

2011-11-04T14:08:00.000-05:00

Assalamu alaikom everyone,

Note: Eid ul Adha is in two days, Hajj starts today, and we've been working on this project for two weeks. I know it won't be very useful for any Muslim families right now, but hopefully it will give you some ideas for next Eid.

In the Land of Homeschool there is something called Lapbooking. I had never heard of it before I started homeschooling, and it took quite a bit of clicking around for me to understand what it is. Once I figured it out, I figured it wasn't anything I'd be doing often. See, it's a super creative and labor intensive project involving cutting, pasting, coloring, and folding. You create a large lapbook (usually made out of two manila folders pasted together) that has smaller flipbooks, pockets, accordian books, and other media inside of it to represent a whole unit, book, or topic. You take your time building the little parts (by reading and learning about them), and finally you have a keepsake of everything you've learned.

My beef with the lapbook is that it looks like a project that older elementary kids wouldn't enjoy, but the work necessary to produce one is too advanced for a young elementary student to do independently. Enter Mom.

Well, a few weeks ago I was cruising the net, looking to some of my favorite bloggers for a good way to make a unit for Hajj and Eid. Wouldn't ya know, it was a lapbook that really drew my attention. I decided to go for it mostly b/c I wanted something fun and that would hold their attention continually for two weeks on this subject. We read from a book I have on Hajj that bought a couple of years ago. We also spent time talking about the little aspects that are represented in the lapbook. Some of them were really easy for my 4th and 5th graders. There were sections about the Animals for Slaughter and the Colors of Hajj. Not exciting for the older kids, but I had them write the names of the animals and the names of the colors in Arabic on the cut-out cards. We also added a few little speech bubbles with writing in Arabic for "Allahu Akbar", "SubhanAllah", "Alhamdulillaah", and "La Ilaaha Il Allah". That was good practice for them, and it was something they could paste on their book.

I got all the help from http://imanshomeschool.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/hajj-mini-lapbook/ and from the original source: http://ummabdulbasir.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/hajj-lapbook-updated/

Here are the finished products from my three.

You can kind of tell which one belongs to the boy, which one belongs to the youngest one, and which one is made from the artistic child! For a first attempt, I'm happy with the outcomes. The ones on the links above my pictures look much nicer, but that's ok with me :D I'm just glad we got it done.

Happy Eid!

Special Ten Days Start Today!!!

2011-10-28T21:54:00.002-05:00

The big holiday, Eid Ul Adha, is coming up on Sunday, November 6, insha'Allah. This is the Eid of sacrifice, and it falls at the same time millions of people are performing Hajj in Makkah. And by sacrifice, I mean it marks the braveness and piousness of Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, who was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail because that is what Allah ordered him to do. In the end, Allah sent a ram to be sacrificed instead, and it is part of the Eid to sacrifice an animal and distribute its meat to those who need it, to friends, and to keep some for yourself. The other Eid we have during the year is the one that follows Ramadan.

What's really neat to me is that this Eid falls on the 10th day of the Islamic month called Dhul Hijjah, and that the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are the most blessed days of the year in the sight of Allah. Not all days of the year are equal, and these days are a special time to dedicate to doing good deeds, increasing worship, and even fasting. Just silently glrorifying the Creator while you work, asking for forgiveness, and asking for His guidance are ways to increase your worship. The kids and I made a list where I asked them to think of examples of good deeds we could do during this time. I was thinking of random acts of kindness, for example, if we're out somewhere like complimenting a check out clerk, smiling at someone, or paying for someone's coffee if I were to go to a coffee shop anymore... One of the kids listed 'watching your tongue' and 'smiling'. So to keep up this good mood and feeling of joy for doing a good thing, I strung up our colorful Eid lights one of the archways downstairs and hope to get another one up tomorrow. The string of lights blew a strip and 1/3 of them don't light up anymore. Good thing all the Christmas decorations are out in full force; it's easy to find what I need! We'll also plan what goodies we'll bake for Eid and what plans insha'Allah we can make.

Please forgive me if I've offended any of you all, and I pray that my fellow Muslims have a great ten days and a great Eid.

Here's a link http://ummabdulbasir.wordpress.com/category/hajj-activities/ to a fun Lapbook you can make with your kids about Hajj. It's for younger ones, I think (with the numbers, colors, and animals) but we just added a few things to make it a little more advanced for my 4th and 5th graders like making them write the Arabic names alongside the English ones hehehe. This is the first lapbook I've ever attempted, and so far it's working out how I had hoped it would. We're reading a book that talks about Hajj and doing this project for our Islamic Studies for two weeks leading up to Eid. It's fun and I think the information is sinking in more than it has in the past.

Been in the kitchen tonight

2011-10-28T21:33:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I wonder where that strong drive comes from; the one to just get myself busy in the kitchen and bake and bake and bake. I do love it, but I HATE THE CLEANUP!!!! Not only are there the baking utensils, bowls, mixers, pans, and other paraphenalia, but the regular family dishes continue to stream in as well as they did during dinner time tonight. Grrr.... can't they all just vacate the building while I feel like baking?

I don't always have time in afternoons to bake (and my mornings are busy homeschooling), so I often wind up starting projects in the late evening. Perfect for using up every last bit of energy I might have, having it run out exactly as I face a sink full of yet another round of hand-wash dishes (inevitably around 9pm). Right, well I'm not here to complain, so I'll post a recipe of some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins we're all loving around here at the moment. I casually pass by the cute little "pie pumpkins" at the store, but I can't bring myself to bring one home to prepare for pie or muffins. I totally don't mind using Libby's canned pumpkin, but maybe I don't know what I'm missing out on. These muffins really taste so much like a pumpkin pie (which I love), just in the form of a muffin. This is the third time I make them in a month. What I love is that this recipe makes about 18 muffins, so we dont' wipe them out all at once, and if I double the recipe I can freeze a ton for snacks another day. Here is the recipe:
PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
1/2 c butter or margarine, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c canned pumpkin (without spice)
2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Add eggs, stir until smooth. Stir in pumpkin. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Stir to m ix. Pour into mixing bowl; stir until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin cups until three-fourths full. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures right now. They come up just perfect each time, though. I bake mine a full 25 minutes, if not a few minutes more.

The other thing I baked was a cookie we call Snowballs. They're also popularly known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, but my mom's husband has made these every year at Christmas time and calls them Snowballs, so I call them Snowballs, too. I'll be sharing most of those cookies with some friends to whom I've promised some homemade goodies, and now that it's not 110 degrees all over the South I feel comfortable putting food in the mail!

And now I'm craving peanut butter, so I think my next goody will have to be a new experiment of brownies with peanut butter... yummmmm.

(these are not my cookies, but yum)

Getting Friendly With My CrockPot

2011-10-27T20:18:00.001-05:00

I've been trying to get better at using my crock pot, but not many of the recipes fit into our eating style whether it be because of health or taste. (was that grammatically correct?) What I mean is most of them involve opening and dumping copious amounts of canned foods into the cooker. I'm not totally against said canned foods, but the overuse of the cream of fill-in-the-blank soups and blocks of velveeta have me turning pages in disgust. I had to laugh when a recipe for Chicken Alfredo called for chicken and a few cans of cream of mushroom soup. Ya... I don't think so!!

I checked out Fix-It and Forget-It, 5-ingredient favorites by Phyllis Good from the library to give me some ideas on how to get going. The book was pleasing and easy to look at. She lists the recipes in columns with only 3 to a page. The big font and occasional tips make it feel very easy peasy to do. And easy it is. During our breakfast time yesterday, while some kids ate and others finished up their morning routine, I boiled a box of small pasta just a few minutes, drained it, and put it in the crock pot. To that I added 2 cups of milk, half a stick of butter, and a good couple of handfuls of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Oh yeah, I learned that you have to add flavor to a lot of crock pot recipes, so I finely chopped up half an onion and threw that in along with some crushed black pepeer. (The original recipe called for a can of cheddar cheese soup, so I just didn't use it at all, put plenty of cheese and milk) It was ready in less than 2 hours, which was great for us to eat before we headed to the library for a couple of hours.

Today, with the leftovers, I added half a can of tuna and warmed it up for the kids.. they loved it!

I also decided to work mom's chicken stew recipe into a crockpot one. I started all the 'stew' parts in the cooker (tomoates, sauce, potatoes, and onions) while I cooked the chicken in the presure cooker. We were in school for the following two hours, but by lunchtime the chicken was cool enough to debone and pop into the crockpot. By then the tomotoes had gotten a good two hour lead time into cooking which is always yummy for tomatoes. It was delicious, and I plan on doing that again.

I'm getting hungry talking about this food and thinking ahead to the lazy lasagne and to the mexican food I can cook in there! Let me know if you have any favorites.

Personal note

2011-10-19T08:35:00.001-05:00

I can't seem to blog about anything recently. I feel like it's a silly waste, this blog. What is the point. I start to think of things to blog about, but I often delete it and close the laptop without posting. I just don't see the point in blogging about our details of where we went, what our schedule of homeschool is, and whatever else I did. Maybe that's because my blog isn't focused on one particular topic, so I find it irrelevant to post about just anything and everything. I might not post for a while. I just thought I'd put that out there since that's what I'm feeling. Sometimes I'd like to post our schedule, our struggles, our good times, and so on, but once I get it typed out it just seems a little frivolous.

If you have any feedback I'd be happy to hear it. See y'all later!

Toddler storytime and other activities

2011-09-27T18:18:00.002-05:00

Assalamu alaikom and hello everyone,

This is our fourth week in school, and I decided to disrupt our day on purpose with a trip to the library's toddler storytime. We did this last year on nearly every Tuesday so that Aisha could benefit from the little storytime they do there. She was in awe the first time I took her! She was just looking at all the other little kids, the moms, and especially the storytime lady with all her puppets, song, and books! We decided she needed that little weekly storytime, and the big kids would take along Math or some other subject they could do at a work table while I was in the storytime room. Maryam stayed with me, being a bit young, but the older two worked. Going back today after a long break, even the librarian noticed how far along Aisha has come as far as knowing what is going on. It was neat to see her know more stuff (animals, colors, counting, etc..)

The Story Room in one of the libraries we go to:

Our new schedule has been working out really nicely. I tried a new system this year giving each child a block of time to do a certain subject. I did that because I had to stagger the subjects they need one-on-one time with me with. Things like grammar, dictation, and other language lessons. Break times are scheduled, and that's been really better than having it be a floating break.

The second best thing I've changed this year is having everyone go for a morning jog (or walk if they're feeling lazy) at 7:30 before breakfast. This is obviously subject to change considering weather and daylight hours, but so far it's been great. I'm also taking a morning walk earlier than the kids before my husband heads out to work. I personally love spending more time outdoors, and that's not easy in many places and in many lifestyles we live today. I'm guilty of not spending a lot of time outside but I sure wish it were different; it makes us feel so much better in mind, body, and soul!

Well, I don't have much direction in today's blog. What I'm often most curious about is how other moms of many children manage their schedules and chores. I'm just so happy I've found a way that is keeping us all running smoothly. I realize this can change at any time, but for now it's awesome. I'll just describe some of the main "pegs" of our day. To me, a "peg" is something that happens each day like breakfast, lunch, dinner, prayer times. We try to tie other activites to a certain peg. So in order for school to start, the following things have to be done: walk/jog, dress, eat, morning chores. This is also my time to get out bread dough to bake later, get myself dressed, and to prep anything I might want for lunch or dinner. Then each child follows his schedule for each subject till we break for lunch. At the lunch break I switch out laundry if needed, put away morning dishes, prepare and eat lunch, and let the kids play a little. I get Aisha ready for a nap and also prep anything in the kitchen that might need my attention. We then finish our last two subjects of the day, pray Duhr, and then each go our separate ways for an hour or so :D

Once the 'rest time' is over we fold and put away laundry, play outside, snack, and get ready for any out-of-house activity. This is also another kitchen time for me when I might chop up a salad without dressing, get the rice ready, and clear the table for dinner.

Once we get back from the activity, dinner is ready to go and we just hang out at night. Usually we have to do a "ten minute pickup" where I set the timer and everyone has to clean up rooms regardless of who played with what. Preparing the bread dough in the way discussed in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day has been an awesome new discovery, too. I have loved baking bread in this easy method. No kneading and protecting from drafts. It's a very user friendly recipe, and everyone in this family is so happy with the difference. Alhamdullah, it's easy to prepare especially since I'm home for blocks of time to give the bread a chance to come to room temperature and then to bake. Here's a pic of the one I made this morning:

So that's my random outlet for today. Feel free to comment!

Homemade Granola Bars

2011-09-14T21:34:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I was curious to try this recipe for granola bars after reading good things about it from some other moms online. The main recipe is simple, and you can substitute your favorite mixings to put in it if you want something other than what's in the original recipe. Here it is:

3 cups quick cooking oats
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk (low fat or skim)
2T melted butter
3-4 cups "other" ingredients of choice such as:
     1 cup flaked coconut
     1 cup sliced almonds
     1 cup mini chocolate chips
     1/2 cup craisins
Grease a 9*13 dish. Mix all ingredients well, press firmly into the baking dish, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once you see brown around the edges you're done. Or else you'll get much crispier bars.

I'm loving these, and they serve as a good snack for my kids who seem to be hungry all the time.

Cabbage Stew

2011-09-06T20:33:00.001-05:00

So after I made a large pot of stuffed cabbage leaves I had a ton of leftover cabbage that was too wrinkly and curled up for me to stuff. (I like to use the smooth upper layers and just move on to the second head of cabbage once I start to reach the center of the first one). I didn't want to let all that slightly boiled cabbage go to waste, so I looked up some recipes and made the following. It was pretty good, although my kids complained all about it at lunch today. I told them that's all we were having for lunch, to just eat it, and that it was the same cabbage they'd be eating at dinner. Ok, so it would be with rice, beef, and spices at dinner, but that's ok. I like this kind of thing b/c it is light on calories, healthy, and actually hearty.

Stewed Cabbage (I omitted the celery)

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

2 onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium head cabbage, cut into squares

1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid I used a can of Rotel

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, or until translucent. Stir in cabbage, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

2.Pour in tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover pan and cook over medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Back to School 2011/2012

2011-09-06T16:33:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom,

I'm sitting on the couch after our first day back to homeschool. What a great day it was; I have great kids, masha'Allah. They know there is a place and time for things. They don't try to be all goofy or distracted when school starts. They don't try to sit and play video games. They know when it's time for school that they're on a schedule. MashaAllah, la quwwata illa billah ( this means there is no might or power except with God, and that what He wanted to happed did happen ). So our first day back went really well.

The funnest addition to our day is the "Jogging Club" I started (stole the idea from their public school). I used an iPhone app called iMapMyRUN (free) to see how far it was from our door to the water fountain located on the city trail by our house (and back). That is 0.86 miles and it took about 8 minutes for my son to run it. I'm going to have them do that little run/walk every morning. I spent some time figuring out a schedule so that we can all get some exercise in addition to schoolwork. It's worked great so far, as I'm on day 6 of my morning walks. I'm also going to have them record their time once a week, and then we can graph it (math lesson).

A tradition I started last year was for the kids to fill out this questionnaire on the first day and then to share it. At the end of the year we were amazed at the change in handwriting and likes/dislikes! I'm filing this sheet in their Geneology Binders (blog on that later) for a memory.

It was fun showing them new books I chose for this year. We're using a new curriculum for Science, and I'm beefing up History and syncing up their Reading with the History as is explained in The Well Trained Mind. An awesome mom made up lessons on her own that coordinated the reading with the history including questions, copywork, and other activities. Here's a link to her blog Classical House of Learning. So I'll be going with that for a few weeks and see how that works. It is completely free.

Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, everything was fine and will be fine I hope. It feels great to be into the routine; I can't go on enough about how right that feels. It felt great to be homeschooling, and I was reassured a few hours into it that I was, indeed, doing the right thing. We're incorporating Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies into our day now which is different than last year. I found a new-ish company called Ad Duha whose products are laid out similar to our other homeschool books; language easy for the student to understand, short easy lessons, and a layout that is updated. I didn't buy a whole grade level, rather I had to pick and choose b/c my children were at different levels in the different subjects. However, for my youngest one, I could easily start with their preK level and then she could move up with their program. If you're interested in something to do at home without paying for and driving to lessons (kids and I dreaded that routine), then I highly recommend you check this out.

Last night I had a good little pep talk (from a fellow homeschooling blogger) and summoned up my words of encouragement, some patience, a few prayerful words, and a good attitude for the new school year. May Allah guide me and give me the strength and knowledge to be successful in raising and educating my children!

Meal Planning September 4 2011

2011-09-04T12:06:00.001-05:00

Here's the idea for this upcoming week!

Sunday: Mujaddara (rice, lentils, topped with caramelized onions; yogurt on the side)
Monday: (Invited out for brunch/lunch) Gazpacho and homemade bread for dinner
Tuesday: (first day of school, first day hubby goes back to work) Fasuliah (green bean stew, rice)
Wednesday: Malfoof (stuffed cabbage rolls)
Thursday: Chili and baked potatoes, Salad
Friday: Soup (some wisdom teeth are coming out), leftovers

Schedules

2011-09-03T13:12:00.001-05:00

Last year I used a planner from Rainbow Resource (planner) that had blocks for me to write in what subjects each child was to complete each day. It had enough weeks for a full school year plus calendars and extra pages to log in what curriculum I used, reading logs, and field trips taken.

This year I need to take a slightly different approach and actually designate certain blocks of time to certain subjects. Rather than the child choosing what order to get his work done in, I will have to assign the order it is done in this year. The reason is that I have 3 children in school now (last year's kindy wasn't very time consuming), and some of our subjects need to be one-on-one with me. So if I organize and stagger the subjects properly, I hope to be able to get to each child at the right time! So I'm fiddling around with the planners and timers over at http://www.donnayoung.org/ such as these.

I hope you can find some of her tools useful, it's a treasure trove of freebies!

Thoughts on my first year homeschooling

2011-09-02T20:16:00.002-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah. Hello and peace everyone.

I'm really so flattered that you're reading my blog. I'm always excited to see that people have visited and viewed my blog :D

Last year brought us another shift: homeschooling. Usually, that shift would be being pregnant or having a newborn, but alhamdullah, this time I prayed about it and decided to let homeschooling be my new 'baby'. I want to share some of more significant impacts homeschooling has had on us.

To begin with, I will start with how and why the topic ever came up in the first place. I was concerned about a handful of things that my two older kids were going through at public school, grades 2 and 3. Looking at the big picture, and after researching and praying about it, I decided it would be so worth the risk to give homeschooling a shot. If it didn't work out at all, that school would still be there and they could return at any time. Thankfully, our district is pretty good in education, so that was not our main motivator for bringing them home. (some families homeschool because they live in districts with very poor public schools)

Second thing worthy of mention is the world of homeschool curriculum. I was blown away when I received my first books. The way the books and lessons are organized is nothing how it looks like in a traditional school textbook. Lessons are divided into daily portions so that the student simply goes to the next lesson the next day. Teacher portions are scripted like a play (!) so that Mom knows what to say and how to guide the student to achieve the desired result. If any mom feels she 'can't' be the teacher, I say give it a try because the books spell it out so that you can be the teacher!!

Lastly, and this is the most fun part, is reaping numerous benefits that I didn't expect just because of the nature of our lifestyle change. That routine of the old way faded away and we started a new one. This one didn't have us rushing around early in the morning, inevitably ending with some shouting or some tension to get out the door. This one didn't have that after school crankiness they all came home with when I'd have to tiptoe around them and their moods (keep in mind they were only in 2nd and 3rd grades!). This one didn't come with new words and attitudes that I had to spend time reversing. This one came with increased patience, with more relaxed attitudes, with more time spent with Dad in the mornings or if he came home early from work, with enough time to pray, and with a sense of everyone helping in the running of the home. When the 8 year old wanted to try making scrambled eggs for breakfast I could let him (and later, her). When we have some free time, we like to bake cookies from scratch. My point is that we had time and mental energy for stuff like this. They also found many ways to play together rather than grow divided because of age and grade differences.

Last year my Kindy daughter spent only about a full hour on actual work like math, writing, and phonics. She spent a lot of time reading for fun, doing crafts, coloring, or playing with her little sister. This year she will need to spend about 2 hours or so per day doing work.

My 3rd and 4th graders last year spent about 4 hours a day on work. If we didn't have any morning appointments, they could be done by lunch some days. This left after lunch for tidying up, praying, playing, and reading (or resting). My 5th grader will have a heavier load this year, and I dont' expect him to be done till closer to 3pm. My 4th grader will probably have around 4 or 4 1/2 hours. I've laid out a spreadsheet to fill in when I will do one-on-one subjects this year with each child. They don't need me for ALL of their subjects, and for others they might need me for 15 or 20 minutes. So, while last year I did not have a detailed schedule, I will have one this year because I will have 3 kids to juggle instead of 2 (my kindy was very easy and could be done after the big kids were done for the day). My sweet 2 (nearly 3) year old will have puzzles, books, markers, and blocks to play with. She will also have her own seat at the table because, well, she's just old enough to want one and will cause trouble if she doesn't! I plan to do the big subjects like history and science (alternating days) during her naptime after lunch. Insha'Allah (God willing)

Some of the challenges:

* I would lose my patience at times when they'd all be talking to me at the same time, when the toddler was going nuts writing on the walls, or when they had their own bad attitudes towards work. UPSIDE: i would apologize and we would learn how to get over bad moods like that.

* Going out to places during the day felt weird sometimes because we'd get stared at. I would limit my outings and try to consolidate trips for when my husband got home or for the weekends. Anyhow, we were usually busy doing school. And another anyhow is that more and more people do homeschool, so people guess it right away.

* I would occasionally feel like I needed to have some alone time out of the house. Thanks to my super supportive husband, all I had to do was schedule that in to the weekend. I also would sometimes sneak out after dinner and do a Target trip on my own. I had my own morning routine in my room without any kids, and I often took a nap or a lie down in my room with the door shut around 3pm. We would all kind of split up and do our own thing till dinner or at least for an hour. I expect this year will be easier than last b/c my youngest is older and more independent thus requiring less from me.

I'm so thankful for all the tricks I've learned. How to talk to the children, how to guide them, how to check my intentions, how to change in my heart how I feel about raising my children, how to keep praying for guidance, patience, and success. I've learned tricks for getting laundry done, meals cooked, and chores split. All in all, it has been a great growing experience for all of us, I think, and has been a blessing. We start our new school year next Tuesday, so if you remember, say a prayer for our success!

Meal Planning

2011-08-28T21:47:00.001-05:00

Well hello! New posts coming soon, insha'Allah.
About my meal planning: I slacked off most of the summer (being off school) and definitely during Ramadan. Now that we have a busy week ahead and school starting on the 6th, I've started up again with planning ahead. I started this by writing down what we normally ate on recipe cards (one dish per card) and trying to collect at least 30 dishes we all like to have for dinner. I even wrote down the easy peasy spaghetti and sauce b/c the method is that I go through my cards on a Thursday or Friday to plan the grocery list for the weekend for the upcoming week. (We do our grocery getting on the weekend since I try to avoid this errand with the kids as much as possible) Once you know the main dishes you're having for the week it's easy to buy accordingly and to better plan your free hours in the day.
Without further ado.... the PLAN for this week starting with today:

Sunday: Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters, Homemade French Fries, Big Green Salad

Monday: Homemade Hamburgers, More Homemade French Fries (can you tell I bought a big bag of potatoes and my husband asked for fries!!), Fresh Cut Veggies

Tuesday: Eid Day... we'll have brunch out. Main dish of pureed vegetable soup with homemade bread, cheeses, olives, veggies.

Wednesday: Crockpot Chicken with Rotel Sauce, Tomato Sauce, side of Rice and Salad

Thursday: Leftover Rotel Chicken

Friday: American Style Meatloaf, Broccoli w/ Cheese, Mashed Potatoes (wink, wink)

Pictured: Fava Bean salad

IPad Apps for Ramadan

2011-08-02T15:34:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom! Hope everyone's Ramadan is coming along nicely. The first few days sure are the hardest, for sure, as our bodies and minds get used to the fast. May Allah give us patience and endurance during this time and help us to increase our worship and good deeds.

A friend of mine has a put together a neat list of Apps you use on your iPad or iPhone. I downloaded a few of them to be used by myself and some for the kids to use. Here is the link to her site Muslimas Oasis on the page of the App Reviews. Take some time to read the rest of her site, it's really nice, masha'Allah.

We're currently playing Stack the Countries and listening to Quran on the Quran Majeed app.

Quiet Time turned into Overtime!

2011-07-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Not sure what got into me, but I cooked and baked a lot today. My legs are tired, my feet hurt, and I'm cranky from my cranky 2yr old (!) I've been working on freezing meals to have during Ramadan. It's often hard to muster up the motivation to spend hours in the kitchen cooking, so I'll be happy to have a few freezer meals ready!

I did cook a hot meal for dinner, and in the meantime I prepared a completely unrelated chicken casserole for the freezer. If I had planned ahead I would have combined and used the same meat, but I just winged it today. Then, as I've been craving CHOCOLATE, I decided to make the delicious double chocolate cake recipe I love. I happened to notice that the Hershey's cocoa box was going to expire in August, and there was just a bit left, so it was definitely the right time to make a CAKE!

Realizing the first day of Ramadan will be Monday and that my husband will be looking for something sweet to eat after Maghreb time, I knew I'd want to have his favorite on hand: pound cake. So I whipped up one of those too. (this is a picture of a previous pound cake, not the one I made today)

Add to all of this washing the dishes, serving and eating and cleaning up dinner, catching up with a good friend on the phone for 45 minutes :D (that was a good part), and then getting the girls into the shower and ready for bed. Add in a few mishaps here and there (like Aisha flooding the kitchen floor with water from the water dispenser in the fridge) As soon as I was going to get Aisha's PJ's on, I found her in her bed having just marked on herself and her doll in purple marker. So, scrap the PJ's and go to the bath. Start over. I was really on my last straw at that point and was rushing to pray Maghreb too. I got her in bed, prayed, then realized the chocolate cake needed some chocolate frosting. Whipped that up, put the whole thing in the fridge and parked it right here on the couch. Glad I had such a productive day, alhamdullah, thank God. I'm glad I have a comfy couch and laptop to chill out on after all that work!
My point was really to make food for the freezer which I did accomplish. Chicken casserole and part of the pound cake. I like to cut it in half. Keep half and freeze the other half for the freezer. That's what I'll do with this cake for Ramadan. Probably same for the chocolate cake since I know I'll be scrounging around the kitchen for chocolate after breaking my fast! Thanks for reading, have a good one!

It's quiet time on this Thursday

2011-07-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,
I'm happily enjoying some quiet time here at my house this afternoon. Each child is in his/her room reading in bed and I'm on the couch with a cup of coffee, my laptop, and a full basket of clothes waiting to be folded. But I'll just pretend that basket isn't mine for the next few minutes. The house is calm, and I hear the whirrs of the fans trying their best to cool off our rooms.

I came back from the library earlier with a few new books for each child to read over the next week or two. While I do let them pick out lots of books on their own, I also feel it is my job to select a few for them. They don't know what are 'good' books to pick a lot of the time, so I make sure they get to read the real gems for their grade level. Our library (and I'm sure most have this, too) has a few binders at the desk in the Children's Room with sections and categories full of lists. Some are arranged by awards earned, some by grade level, and some by other 'official' titles I can't remember right now. So I often go to the binder marked Young Readers and go to the grade level I'm searching for. I just go pick a few books from those lists, and the kids usually like them! Ta da. We not only cover the classics, but we find books that we otherwise wouldn't have known to look for. As for nonfiction, we do read a whole lot of those during the school year, so for now I don't mind if they hang out with fiction books till we we start back again.

A checkout lady at WalMart yesterday asked how the kids were behaving over the summer. I realized again how it doesn't differ for me anymoe. My kids and I are going about life together regardless of the school calendar. It's really neat, different, and surely challenging at times, but that's ok. The older kids have found their way. They know what chores are expected of them (and when), they have books to read, games that they play alone and together, and other things like puzzles and board games. Our day fills up nicely, alhamdullah, and we go out to the library, to friends, and to extra curricular activites most days. The biggest challenge is little 2yr old Aisha. That little monkey knows how to get into trouble before you can blink your eye. She's really enjoyed a few new activities, though, these past two weeks. One is activity is using finger paints ( I buy the Crayola brand. They do not stain at all and are a piece of cake to wipe up) She uses a brush and paper. She's like my other kids and gets grossed out at stuff touching her fingers, so she uses a brush. For the water can, I have saved some cans that's I've used for cooking. I just make sure that when I take the lid off I do it in a clean sweep so that nothing pokey is left. I give her the one that the tomato paste comes in b/c it is so small! I keep a few in our art area for the big kids to use too.

The other thing she loves to do is play in the texture box. It's a tub (a little small, but I didn't feel like buying another plastic tub so I used what I had) that I've filled with dry rice and some green split peas. She gets out my measuring cups and goes to town 'cooking'. Like I said above, she doesn't care for things to touch her fingers and hands, so she doesn't really sink her hands in there, but she does feel the rice a little. My older girls love to sink their hands in the bucket! It does feel good. You have to expect a mess, but there are ways to minimize. I use it either on a beach towel like the one she's on in the picture below, or I put it on the kitchen table which has a tablecloth that can be shaken out. Either way, I can shake most of it out when they're done. I still have to sweep or vacuum when they're done. That's ok, they really love it and it takes up a good chunk of time.

So that's what we're up to right now. WalMart has washable Crayola markers for $0.40! Their school supplies deals are irresistable!

Ramadan is days away!

2011-07-27T13:11:00.001-05:00

Ramadan will begin August 1 this year; just a few more days. This is our big time, our month, and our holiday that follows. It is one of the 4 holy months in Islam, and this one is most special because of the fasting. Fasting is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. The other four are 1) Saying the Shahada which means declaring there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger, 2) Praying at the fixed times, 3) Giving Charity, and 4) Going on Pilgrimage at least once in your lifetime to Mecca.

People long ago used to fast more often than people these days do. It was done by pious people who wished to get closer to God, to give up some of their attachment to the material world, or to sit and ponder their existence. Allah tells us in the Quran (and this is translating) that fasting in Ramadan is prescribed to us just like it was prescribed for those before us, so that we may become more pious and God conscious. (2:183) Of course whoever is ill or on a journey should not fast but make up those days later when he can. Whoever does good of his own accord, it is better for him. And that you fast is better for you if only you knew. (2:184) That last part really motivates me to push through. Allah is our creator and know us, His creation. He gave us this month of fasting as a purification, as a way, a path, to get closer to Him, and as a way to help others. If we have a hard time with it for whatever reason, then we should remember that it is still better to fast b/c we don't know. He knows. He doesn't mean hardship on us and he wants ease for us, so if we're not well or going through a hardship like travel then we can just make up those days later, and we can praise Him for his guidance and mercy.

Last year I made a little Ramadan Journal for my older kids to fill out daily. I recommend this for ages 10+ actually, because the writing prompts are a little lengthy, and if the child isn't fasting most days then it isn't very useful. Here is the link to the journal. I printed everything out and put it in a binder for each child last year. I won't do that again this year since they won't be fasting the whole month. My eldest will probably fast most of the month so I'll make one for him, but I think I'll print out as needed for the other kids.

The website is TJ Ramadan is loaded with ideas, recipes, crafts, and lessons. Oh boy! It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you see all you 'could' be doing! I remind myself to keep it simple and just let the kids understand the essence behind Ramadan. All those posters, crafts, and lessons are there if you want/need them. I have printed out several things from this site, though, and we've made a poster and used some of dua' pages. The kids made their own posters with their friends yesterday and we used some print outs from this TJ Ramadan page.

I wanted to share some of these kid-friendly links with moms out there looking for something to do with their children. In the end, I think setting a positive example is the best way to set them up for success.

I hope to have about one hour each day when we can go over our goals, read Quran, and reflect on our fasting. That's when the journal will come out, too. I'll have some coloring pages for the younger girls to do as well as some activity pages out of a cute book I bought last year called Ramadan Activities. Sorry, I forgot where I bought it from.

Have a Blessed Ramadan to my Muslim readers!

rose colored glasses?

2011-07-12T08:12:00.001-05:00

In our world of online social interactions, do we ever have to deal with life's natural ups and downs much anymore with friends? With friends now all you have to do is comment on facebook, read their blogs, or send them text messages. And those venues are all usually perky and filled with LOL's, smiley faces, and exclamation marks. Blogs are filled with pretty pictures of cute kids, loving husbands, and delicious food. You start to wonder if everyone's life is really this fantastic all the time!

On one hand it's nice to be in touch with so many more people than we were from before. However, it's made us more lazy in regards to actually fostering a relationship with people. Some might say 'why does it matter'. Maybe it doesn't, but I'm going to be an oddball and say that I think it does matter. We're slowly being conditioned to not make the effort to see people live. We don't even want to make phone calls anymore. Txt messages suffice. In the end we just see one side of a person and lose the full relationship; for better or for worse.

It's a new thing, really, the social life that Facebook has created. Blogs, too, to a certain extent. It is a one dimentional relationship. Also, you never know if the author is being comletely true in their blogs. I've recently heard of a lady who made her blog life to look one way while in fact her life was the opposite. Sad, really.

I do wish we had more down time to be friends to one another and didn't feel the need to keep it so superficial. Sure you don't want to be BFF's with everyone, but it would be nice to have a few more friends in real life, I think. Or maybe all of you do have lots of friends and I'm the only one who doesn't! Hahahaha No, I know I'm not alone. I see it and hear about it from a lot of people.

What is the point of this entry? Not sure. Just saying that what we see online is a painted picture of reality. It might even set us up for disapointment reading everyone else's online entries. If all you read is achievements, successes, vacations, weddings, parties, etc, you start to feel like life needs to be one big party! And we all know the reality of this. Our life is not meant to be a party. It's not easy. We all strive to do our best and to have some fun along the way.

Surah: 2, Ayah: 155
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوفْ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الأَمَوَالِ وَالأنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ
"We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, and decrease of goods, life and fruits. Give glad tidings to the patient,"

And this verse helps keep me grounded:

Surah: 2, Ayah: 212
زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّقَواْ فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَاللّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاء بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

"For those who disbelieve, the worldly life is decked with all manner of decorations. They scoff at those who believe, but the cautious shall be above them on the Day of Resurrection. Allah gives without count to whom He will."

May Allah keep us all content with His provisions and keep us always praising Him.

Pesto Recipe

2011-07-04T11:29:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

Basil is one herb I manage to keep alive in my garden. It's only one little plant in one pot. When it looks like I can snip enough to fill a measuring cup (pressed), then I get to it. I use this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens:
1 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley leaves ( I DON'T ADD THIS)
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 large clove garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil

In a blender or food processor combine basil, cheese, pine nuts, garlic, and salt. Cover and blend several times and scrape the sides. With the machine running slowly, gradually add the olive oil and blend to the consistency of butter.

Side Note: To keep the part I don't use, I freeze the pesto in a half cup mound on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once it's set, I put the mounds in a ziploc. This is handy if you're making a lot. When you're ready to use it, it will defrost quickly. We put it on Rigatoni, usually.

Come to Prayer; Come to Success

2011-07-03T22:44:00.002-05:00

Isn't it funny how our perspecitves change? You could be going along for years thinking one way, and then you have that "ah-ha" moment and realize there is a whole other way out there? Well, it was during a very spur of the moment and short conversation with someone dear to me (who will remain nameless here) when I had an "ah-ha" moment about prayers, praying, and worship in general.

For those who don't know, Muslims not only pray to God in personal "Dear God, cure me of my illness" type of way, but we have a presribed prayer during which we recite verses and do specific motions (bowing, kneeling, standing). This kind of prayer is done five times a day at prescribed times, and you don't have to do it right then and there but you have a couple of hours to do it in. It normally takes about 5-10 minutes tops. (if you see someone at the airport doing this, don't be alarmed, it might be me) (or in a parking lot, that would be me, too)

So this is one of those basic things you start doing as a youngster. You learn how to pray, you practice, and you try to establish the habit of doing them all, each day. Sometimes we question 'why?'. Why five times, why in this exact manner, why daily, etc.. Some of the answers are easy. We all worship in the exact same way in the exact same language. Anywhere you go in the world, you can walk into a mosque, stand shoulder to shoulder, and pray with the brother or sister next to you. But the ultimate answer is that it is Allah's wisdom as to why. He created me, so I'm going to accept His law b/c He knows what is best for me.

Back to that conversation I was talking about at the beginning of this blog. This dear person asked me how I find the discipline to pray five times a day. Said person finds it difficult, sometimes, to read from the holy book daily. That is when I thought what a blessing it is that Allah the Almighty has built in five times throughout the day when I WILL be remembering and glorifying Him. Because He knows that if it were up to me to find the time, I might not. If it were up to me to spend a good hour each day in prayer, on my own, I'd likely find a hundred excuses why I was too busy. It'd be like how I justify not exercising. Too hot, too cold, too tired, too lazy, too full, too many kids, you get the picture. Knowing how important these prayers are and having that strong faith and desire to be on that path will keep me praying, insha'Allah. And now I am more thankful than I was before that those times are set for me. If you think about it, we don't really push ourselves to continue a habit regularly unless we know it'll be worth it! I guess that's why they call it 'doing something religiously' because that is the ultimate motivator!

"Then there has succeeded them a posterity who have neglected and lost the prayers, and followed their lusts; thus, they will face devastation (on the Day of Judgment, i.e., he will face Hell)." Surat Maryam 19:59.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Prayer is the best of prescribed things, so the one who is able to do a lot of it, let him do a lot of it.” Narrated by al-Tabaraani (1/84); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb (390).

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), says: “My delight has been made in prayer.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i (3940); classed as hasan by al-Haafiz ibn Hajar in al-Talkhees al-Habeer (3/116) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.

Allaah does not want to place you in difficulty, but He wants to purify you, and to complete His Favour to you that you may be thankful" [al-Maa'idah 5:6]

First Summer in School

2011-06-25T09:22:00.002-05:00

Assalamu Alaikom; Hello dear readers,

Our first year of homeschooling is coming to an end; we have about 2 or 3 weeks left. My idea when I started was to school during part of the hot summer months and to take more breaks during more pleasant months. We did do that, and so now we are still in school while everyone else is on summer break. It feels a little funny for me since I'm so used to the traditional calendar. Summer is for being on vacation!! But not necessarily in Texas. Nope. The days are long, humid, and scorching hot. Pefect for staying in. So we're still waking up, doing morning routine, then starting school. More often than not, the older two are done around lunchtime, so there's plenty of time to play with friends and to go out if we dare, although we save that for evening.

We had two awesome days last week, masha'Allah, and these kind of days reinforce my love for this new way of living. What happened both times was that we wanted to go out early in the day (once for a library storytime, second time was to go to a farmer's market which lead us to the Heard Museum). We headed out before it got to be too hot outside and enjoyed a couple of hours in some really neat places. That day at the library, the two littler ones and I sat through a toddler storytime while the older two worked in their Language, History, and Math books at the study tables in the library. Once they finished their work they browsed for some books they were interested in finding and were ecstatic to find and check them out (!). After we got home and had lunch we sat at our school table and finished off what was left on their daily agenda while Aisha (now age 2 1/2) napped. It was perfect, masha'Allah. I was loving that day, how we had a useful morning outing and still got a full school day in.

Yesterday was similar. We were walking outside on the trail for a litlte morning exercise when I decided to go to McKinney's farmer's market to check their local veggies. We drove out there only to find NO MARKET on Friday. They're open on Saturday only. 8-12. Ok, well my oldest one knew we were in McKinney and that the Heard Museum was nearby, so he asked if we could go to the Butterfly Garden at the Heard. Ummm, YA!!! It was almost 10:00am so I figured we had about an hour left before it got too hot. We zipped on over there and had a blast looking at their outdoor wildlife sanctuary and of course the gorgeous butterflies. There are a couple of pics on my phone but I'll need to upload them to my laptop and then I'll add them to this post, insha'Allah. We got home aroun 11:30, washed up, ate lunch, and then went up to school. Musa took his math test and we did a long history lesson with Heba and Musa. Maryam did her math and phonics, too. Alhamdullah, we got everything on the agenda done and there you go! I'm so happy I didn't try to keep the summer school-free. Having something constructive to do for 4-5 hours a day is a good idea no matter what season you're in!! Thank to some of the subjects we've studies this year, the two older ones have some interests they're working on in their free time. Musa is painting and putting together a model of the solar system. Heba is searching for crafts inspired by the ancient Romans. Alhamdullah, it's really been a great year despite some of our rocky patches.

Weekly Meal Planner

2011-06-19T17:08:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah, greetings and peace to my dear readers.
Last week was not organized, meal-wise, and we payed for it (literally and figuratively!).

Today I went to get some chicken for next week and decided to ask the butcher to cut me a roast. Then I saw they had some preseasoned kabobs all packaged up. I figured that would do for today's lunch, and right next to them were packages of seasoned chicken quarters in a tikka masala sauce. Those will work great in the oven with a salad on the side. So, here's the tentative plan to use all these meats, insha'Allah, most likely with giant salads to go along since my husband alone can eat a whole big bowl of salad!

Monday: Roast the chicken masala quarters in the oven. Sides of rice and salad.
Tuesday: Pot roast in the crock pot, steamed broccoli, possible salad
Wednesday: hopefully leftovers
Thursday: Shakrieh (cooked yogurt with stewed beef in it, side of rice)
Friday: Drumsticks... in the oven, roasted. Salad and/or carrots and potatoes.
Saturday: not sure

Lunches:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on homemade bread
Tacos
Pasta with homemade pesto (basil is ready to be picked and used)
Boil some frozen ravioli with a side of veggies
Tuna sandwiches

Snacks: as always I carry those reusable bags I blogged about filled with walnuts and dried cranberries or just plain almonds. That's what you'll find in my purse, so we snack on those when we're out. At home I cut up veggies like colored peppers, cucumbers, and put the little cherry tomatoes on a plate and watch them disappear, masha'Allah. In the mornings we like to have a green smoothie or just fruits. Yes, my kids do eat junk food, don't think we're all that healthy. They are allowed a bag of Cheezits or some type of cracker/pretzel each day.

Elson Readers

2011-06-17T22:44:00.001-05:00

I'm so happy about these books that I have to put in a good word. They were originally written in the early 1900's by the same author of the well-known Dick and Jane stories, William Elson. They start at the prereading level called Primer and go through grade 8. What's so neat is the idea behind these. They are a collection of short stories, fables, poems, national songs, plays, and history. They are a collection of quality stories that, over time, foster an appreciation for good literature in the child. You won't find any pop characters or silly storylines. These are collections of old tales and well known stories. My kids have really enjoyed them so far, and we've had them for about a month or so now. What's nice is you can read in any order you like, you don't have to go in order.

In our homeschool schedule we have a mandatory 30 minutes (45 minutes for 4th grade) of "Structured Reading". This time is spent reading quality books that I've usually selected for them. They're usually tied in to our science or history lessons, but I sometimes have to read those books out loud b/c they're written on more advanced levels. Anyhow, if we're caught up on those books then I pick a couple of stories out of the Elson readers for them to read. Little Maryam loves reading them at bedtime, though!! (Don't worry, they're allowed to read "junk" books the rest of the day if they want! And they do!!)

Here's a link to the Elson Readers on amazon. (love amazon)

Bottom line, I highly recommend these for quality reading for your child of any age. It's a bunch of different styles all in one book. And somehow, the stories are just fascinating. Probably because they usually have a moral or a really interesting plot.

The ubiquitous question: "but what about socialization?"

2011-06-15T22:52:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I do think that's the first question I get when people ask about homeschooling. Funny thing is, for people who do homeschool, it is one of the last things we talk about if we even talk about it at all.

Each situation and family is different, so take what you read here with a grain of salt. For us, though, wondering how they would be 'socialized' never factored in our decision making.

Let's look at the first issue, which is the biggest reason I initially considered homeschooling. I wanted our religious beliefs to be the normal frame of reference for my children. I could see that what lay ahead of them was a double life. The one at home and the one at school. You could say that is a little pessimistic of me, but during their last year at public school I could see the influence sneaking in. Why would I have such a nagging feeling when I'd drop them off in the mornings? I seriously would feel like keeping them with me instead of watching them walk into school. They were struggling with what we had been teaching them and what they were living with 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. And by the end of the day, they'd get in the car conflicted, angry, aggressive, and we'd all take the brunt of it for a couple of hours after school. Often, I could pinpoint the problem to social issues, and it bothered me that they were so stressed out by school.

So... knowing that little bit of background, you can imagine that I wouldn't mind if my children weren't hanging out in that environment any more. Not that I have a problem with any of those kids in particular; it's the environment of all of those people together for the whole day. This is the first aspect. I don't mind that my kids aren't "socializing" in the schoolyard arena.

Secondly, it did take a few weeks for the kids to stop talking about their school friends on a daily basis, but that's normal. We all go through that when we leave college, leave a job, or move to another city. It takes times to transition from not seeing those people everyday! Thankfully, this transition went very well and quickly. Going on summer vacation helped.

Further, we entered a whole new paradigm. We literally shifted our perception of LIFE!!! While I researched and prayed about homeschooling, I started to see how we'd have to shift our perspective a little. Especially me. I had to embrace the love! Lots of kids at home most of the day with just me. Most people wonder why or how I would choose to do that. They want to know how I don't go crazy and how I get alone time. Well, I wanted to have a lifestyle with my children IN it rather than them be OUT of it except for afternoons and weekends. So I decided that instead of leading separate lives we'd go through life together.

As you know,life is BUSY! We're pretty busy, too. Schoolwork takes up our mornings up until lunch, and sometimes a little bit after lunch, but after that we're doing lots of stuff. The kids are in sports, scouts, and see relatives and friends often. They make friends on their teams, in their troops, and with loved ones of all ages. We take them to volunteer, to visit elderly relatives, and on vacations that we might not take if we were tied to the school calendar. They interact with people all the time, it's just not with the same 30 people every single day, day after day. I never doubted that their extra-curricular activites would be lacking. In fact, I wonder how I'm supposed to keep up with the driving around and with scheduling everyone without double-booking!

Since there are four of them, they always have someon to talk to or play with, masha'Allah, at home. It's a blessing, really. They play board games, put together puzzles, paint, color, dress up, and most fun: play nerf guns with darts in the house! Being together all day is pretty good training, actually. They get to practice patience, respect, and self control ALL the time with each other. There are too many 'teachable moments' related to character. What's nice, though, is that I am here to talk to them, to guide them, and to give them the chance to grow. These things take time and patience, and I'm happy they're under my supervision while they're learning these virtues rather than them being somewhere else.

On a final note, I know they won't be exposed to a lot of mainstream and common school issues, but that is fine with me. I don't think it will matter to them as adults, in the big picture. What does matter is that this works for us, and by the grace of Allah, we're doing it. For how long, for how many kids, I don't know. We're just taking it one day at a time.

CNN Student News

2011-06-15T07:11:00.001-05:00

A member on my homeschooling board talked about this link to CNN Student News today. After checking it out, I've decided to use it frequently during the week. It's a 10 minute podcast of world news that is aimed at a junior high and high school audience. However, I'm sure older elementary kids could easily benefit from watching the news clip. They have maps, quizzes, and discussion questions too!

I'm motivated to use this because our history cycle starts with Ancient History and slowly moves forward over a four year period. This means we're not covering American History or much civics during these 3rd, 4th, 5th grades. So just to make sure the kids get exposed to what is happening today, I thought this little ten minute news would help.

Even families who are not homeschoolers could use this during summer vacation! It could be a fun little activity to do at breakfast or after lunch or something. Everyone could watch the news clip and discuss for a few minutes, look at the maps (they look nice), and share their thoughts.

Thumbs up from me!

How Do I Love Thee...

2011-06-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

Iron Skillet, How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways...

I love my iron skillet. That big, heavy, black, oily pan permanently affixed on my stove top. How did I not always have one! My mom used one off and on when I was growing up, and it stayed in that little cabinet over the stove/vent thingy. I didn't get what was so special about it. I remember her using words like 'season it' and 'iron', but I didn't get why it was any different than our other skillets. That's about the end of that memory, but in recent years she's started using two skillets in her house all the time. It would come up occasionally that she'd be cooking something up in the iron skillet, and it got me thinking. I thought they were relics of days gone. Of pioneer days long ago. That it was a family treasure passed from generation to generation (after all, Mom was using her mom's skillet). Well, imagine my delight (and suprise) when right there in Target what did I find hanging right in front of me but some iron skillets!! Well I did the sensible thing and bought one! (they're not expensive either. this one was just under $20)

I went home, googled iron skillets to see what the deal was with them, and then started my seasoning process. I scoured off the factory coating of whatever-it-is they put on there. Then I heated up my oven really hot, coated the skillet with some Crisco, then put in the oven upside down (with a pan under it) for an hour or to cook that stuff in. That is what 'seasoning' your skillet means. It's the process of getting enough grease in it to let you cook on it without everything sticking.

I repeated this process a couple of times before cooking in it. Now the main ideas here is not to scour the skillet EVER again!!! Once you get that slick layer on it you can easily scrape off any bits of food, rinse with warm water, and then wipe it with a cloth or paper towel if you use them. Voila.

But what is the draw to it? It's hard to explain. I was first interested in it when I realized my favorite egg frying pan had lost its nonstick layer. Hmmm... where could that stuff have gone? Oh, what's that... into our bodies?? Ya. Most likely. K..... no thanks, I don't want to buy another one of those. I pulled out my other nonstick skillet and found that most of its stuff was missing too! Eeeek!!!

I've since quit using any of my old nonstick cookware unless I'm really pressed for a pot or pan. My first choice is the skillet, and for everything else I use my stainless steel pots I got in Jordan when I first got married (my lovely mother in law gave them to me). The steel pots aren't in the same category as the iron skillet, don't get me wrong, they're just better for me b/c they don't have chemicals on them. Iron is the way to go!!!

A few things to keep in mind:
*keep it dry once you've washed it (get droplets off) iron rusts.
*the handle gets as hot as the skillet, so don't grab it with your bare hands
*once it starts to get hot, boy it will get hotter and not cool down for a while
*use a metal spatula and not a rubber one (i don't like using wood either for some reason)
*say bye bye to your old cookware because you won't want to go back!
* wait till it is very hot before you put your food in there. hotter skillet=less sticking

Mmmm, this could be YOUR breakfast :) (actually this is not my skillet, it's my mom's)

Well, my post is just to share the love. I love love love the skillet. I use it everyday.

Interurban Railway Museum

2011-06-06T20:50:00.001-05:00

How did I not know about this well kept secret in Plano?! This railway museum is in downtown Plano which we hardly ever go to. However, I grew up just south of Plano and never heard of it. I've lived here for two years now and just recently learned of it. I took the kids for the first time a few months ago, and I was very impressed. Let me explain.

It's the same building used in the 1800's that was the substation for this Interurban Railway that ran from Denison to Downtown Dallas. It was a really big deal because it used electricity and because it connected people all across North Texas. Many parts of the original building have been preserved and are still there. Inside, you get some background on how Plano was settled and started. There are many great blown up black and white photograps all over the place. If you like to see how people dressed and what old towns looked like (cars, horses, buildings, roads) then you will be in for a treat.

It is a small building, so dont' be misled by the name 'museum'. It's just two rooms and a hallway! Also, inside, they talk to the kids about how they converted A/C power to D/C power and then they get to figure out now to put wires together to make a light bulb light up. My older ones stayed in that room for about an hour!!!

We went today for the second time to show the place to my mom. There is an old railcar sitting outside the building, but they're in the middle of renovating it and cleaning it up so we weren't able to walk inside of it. Insha'Allah next time we will.

Admission is free, donations recommended. Check it out if you're local!
Interurban Museum

A Certain Generation Gap

2011-05-31T23:02:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatulah and peace and greetings to my dear readers,

Oh boy is this on my mind today. You know that feeling you get when you feel like you have to defend your parenting choices? Or for those readers without children, this applies to any personal choice that for some reason becomes public. After about 10 years of such unsolicited advice, I've just really had enough and now feel sorry for people who cannot see past their block. I was about to jump to a conclusion that might have been unfair, so instead, after more soul searching, I've come up with a much more politically correct conclusion.

Some background info:
Since I started having little kidlets, certain women of a certain age and of a certain ethnicity have often asked me questions like: "So when will little so and so be ready for preschool?" or "So when are you putting dear so and so in nursery/daycare/preschool?"
This is me: (stunned into a moment of silence while I realize the person is asking about my youngest child who is only one year old at the time) "Oh. You're asking about THIS little so and so? Well, she's only one year old, so ummm, not really thinking about it now. I guess when she's 3 or so."
Caring Elder: "But you need time for yourself. You should put her in preschool."
Me: (still reeling that she's so concerned about me getting rid of my infant-just-turned toddler) "Oh, well maybe you mean daycare b/c they don't start actual preschool until age 3, really, so anything before that is called daycare."
Caring Elder: "Well, you know, just for a couple of hours so that you can have some time to yourself."
Me: "Well, I'm actually happy to be home with the kids right now, so alhamdullah, I dont' think they'll go anywhere till they're 3 if I feel like sending them to preschool." (this was before I started homeschooling)

These well meaning ladies don't realize that to me, getting a baby ready for a 'couple of hours' at daycare would cause more effort and stress than just dealing with having a baby in my life. I'd have to plan out outings to the hour and figure out how many hours I wanted to put the baby in daycare. Then I'd have to convince my husband that I want to give the daycare a few hundred dollars a week so that I could have " a couple of hours to myself" to get groceries or to shop or something like that? LOL Ya. I don't think so. So, however well-meaning these people are, I don't think they realize that 1) there is so much more to it than just 'dropping off baby for a couple of hours', and that 2) their suggesting such a thing actually puts a level of stress on me. Why should it? Well, it's this collective community opinion that I must need a break and that I must be stressed out and that taking care of children must be just awful. I've gotten this a lot. A LOT. And it leaves me frustrated even though I know inside what I'm doing.

What I really want from someone who has already raised her children is SUPPORT! Encouragement. Motivation. Why sit there and tell me not to have any more children??? Who are you sit there and tell me "Oh, no more, Zein, that's enough". Really?? SubhanAllah.

So now that I've taken to educating my children at home, I've heard even more comments. Yeah, it would feel nice to have a couple of quiet hours here some days, but I'm not willing to give up the advantages we're raking in for it. Yes, it's hard dealing with their feelings, moods, and complaints. It's their age. I'm here to train them to get over this stage with grace and maturity. It's ok. If I don't do it, no one else will in the way I want. We are choosing to do it this way, and it also doesn't mean it is the only way, either. Certain women of a certain age and a certain ethnicity have been the ones most likely to shake their heads ask certain questions similar to the ones I got with my one year olds. They will glance over at my children playing and say "So you're not going to put them in summer classes or something?"
Me: (silence while I figure out what she's asking me b/c we're still homeschooling through July, but she doesn't know that). Oh. No. (pause) No. Um, I'm not putting them in any classes.
Caring Elder: So no summer school.
Me: No
Caring Elder: Wow. It's hard to have them home all day everyday.
Me: Well, because we are homeschoolers we have a good routine going on and we all stay busy.... and on and on and on....

My conclusion is that the older generation just has this mentality of making it easier for you by getting rid of your kids. It's not nice to generalize, I know, and I don't mean this of everyone, but it's been overwhelming enough that I just want to get it off my chest. Why does it bother me? Two reasons:
1) The paradigm that children are just a pain and you can't wait til they're old enough to send them 'somewhere'. A year or two ago I had a change of heart. Many of us have it. It's all a drag, a pain, the mess, the whining, the dirty clothes, etc. Well, I told myself to put that away and embrace the fact that I have small children in my life right now. Love it. Live it. Naptimes ruled my schedule for a while, but that was ok and I was going to stop making it stress me out when it cramped someone else's style. All of it. I realized that to enjoy it and be good at it I needed to shift how I felt in my heart about the whole thing. Why not just sit down and let everyone do their thing?
2) Help me instead of shoot me down. As an older lady in my life, a person who has raised her children, how about support, motivation, encouragement! Share a gem instead of asking me when I'm going to get my youngest one out of my hair so that I can have some time to myself? I do hope that I can be a positive influence in someone's life instead of the person who puts a little bug in their ear that leads to self-doubt and dissatisfaction.

So to wrap up this loooong (sorry) rant tonight, I'm just saying that instead of pointing my finger at certain nationlalities, I'll say it is a generational issue. I like to remember that children are gifts from God, and that this is no light responsibility. Putting in the effort, the money, the means, and whatever you have to raise righteous children who will be contributing members of society is a win-win situation. The child will benefit from his parents' attention, upbringing, and resources. The parent will benefit from it in that his reward will be with his Lord, and what better reward is there? Let's enjoy parenting our little ones!

Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History

2011-05-31T18:33:00.002-05:00

Since we talked about space last week during our science classes, I planned on taking the kids to the Noble Planetarium to see how the Texas sky looks at night. It was a short presentation, but we were the only people in the planetarium so we got to sit back and relax all we wanted. The kids were all smiles when it was over~ they had never been to one before!! In the entryway there were meteors on display along with a real live satellite gifted to the museum from Russia!

We spent most of the day browsing different rooms at the museum. It is a great place to spend a day (or many days, to be honest). We saw a wide variety of goodies ranging from real, stuffed cattle on a recreated old cattle drive to electronic build-your-own aircraft. The kids built planes with Legos and used unusual materials inside this one room (for 3rd graders and up). We did take our own food and ate outside, although there are signs all over the museum telling us that outside food is not allowed. I brought mine in a small bag and we ate outside in plain view. No one stopped us, and I'm not sure why they wouldn't just designate an eating area for people who want to bring their own food. I get they want to make money in their own cafeteria, but hey, not everyone wants to pay museum prices for a large family lunch!

I wish I knew how to get my pictures from my iPhone onto my laptop, but I don't right now. Until I consult with my personal tech-support man, I'll just have to bore you with more words.

We had so much fun that I bought a family membership for up to 8 people. What's cool about this place is that as long as I am coming with my card, I can bring any 8 people. They don't have to be related or anything. I like that. It's flexible for bringing friends and relatives. We do hope to go back and acutally go further than the entry hall! We literally didn't even go further than the entry area and the gift shop. Those two neat rooms where the kids could've stayed all day were right there at the front, and then when we went to the planetarium upstairs, that's where we saw the cattle thing and the airplane rooms.

So after every funfilled day, a mom gets to deal with the imminent, impending meltdowns. Tears, whining, complaining, etc... sheesh. If I weren't convinced that these trips shape their minds I wouldn't bother, but hopefully once they rest and return to their cheerful selves they'll appreciate their trip. And now I will finish my cup of coffee while I wait for dinner in the oven to be done... yep Memaw's Casserole comes in handy on days like this.

Update: And now, after consulting with my tech-support man, I have a folder full of pictures... voila.

update on previous diet/health topics

2011-05-30T22:16:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

Whenever I look at who's been looking at my blog, I see that one particular entry gets a lot of views. The one about using baking soda for washing hair. Someone must be coming back over and over for some reason, so I felt like I had to update on my little trial.

I was enjoying cleaning my hair using the baking soda wash and following it with apple cider vinegar until I went for a haircut one day. My sylist told me my scalp didn't look so good. She said it is dry and flaky (although I hadn't had any signs of this), and of course she asked what shampoo I was using. Too embarassed to tell her I'd been using baking soda (lol) I told her it was a natural shampoo. She said I need a moisturizing one that will take care of the scalp.

I ditched the soda and used a shampoo that was moisturizing. I try not to wash it too often, so I usually can go 3 days without shampooing. It does feel cleaner and my scalp does feel more normal, come to think of it. Last week I bought Jason brand shampoo hoping it has changed since the first time I used it several years ago. So far, so good. Today was my 3rd wash with it and I think I'm ok with it. I've heard from some women who've been using the baking soda wash for years now and I wonder how their scalp feels. Maybe it's just not for me!

Ok, moving on. I've been drinking apple cider vinegar a lot. I dilute it in a mug of water and add a spoon of honey. I personally enjoy this drink, but everyone in my family can't stand the stink of the vinegar!! I'm told it smells like armpits and like feet. So if I do make a mug, I have to drink it in the kitchen and drink it FAST!!! It's ok. While there aren't any hard proofs that it does any one particular thing, there are many theories that this drink helps your skin, your heart, cholesterol, and weight loss. I haven't lost any weight, but maybe if you drink it in the morning it would help more than how I drink it which is at night.

My mornings are reserved for my other favorite drink: green smoothie!!! LOVE IT! I still make them, and now my kids are starting to drink them too. I put a date (always have a tub of those in the house), a banana, a cup or more of frozen fruits (we love the tropical mix), a cup or so of organic baby spinach, and enough water to make it smooth. Sometimes I add an apple or something else. We like to have it as a mid-morning snack around 10:30am. Talk about invigorating! It just gives you a CLEAN feeling like you just got a boost of energy without any of the downers of caffeine or sugar. The calories are pretty low and oh-so-good for you. You will feel the benefits right away if you start having these. Your skin will have that special glow, too, from the fruits.

Of course no one eats perfectly all the time, but I find that incorporating these little things as often as is convenient makes me feel better, more balanced, and healthier.

Meal Planning, it's that time....

2011-05-30T21:56:00.002-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

Ok, another set of meals to plan. Thank God that some days it just sorta falls into place. Today I was out (I'll post about that separately) most of the day, so the pizza my husband ordered for lunch was also eaten at dinner with a few greens and carrots added for good measure.

Tomorrow we plan to be at the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth, mostly to see a show at the planetarium, so dinner will be Memaw's Casserole (again) which I have in the freezer and should probably go pull out if we're going to eat it tomorrow. brb

That will last Wednesday as well with a salad thrown in, too, insha'Allah.

The other few meals I have lined for the week are:
Chicken that I will shred, cook with olive oil, sumac, and onions, then roll it up in tortilla. bake.
Bean enchiladas (my husband won't touch this but the rest of us hopefully can have it for lunch)
More salad.
BBQ on Sunday, Arabic style with hummos, tabbouleh, and watermelon insha'Allah.

Again, here is a template that is similar to mine. I couldn't find the one I normally use on their website anymore, but this one is very similar just without the column for children. However if you have anyone in the family who needs a special diet then this will be helpful.

Indeed, After Every Hardship There is Ease

2011-05-25T22:52:00.001-05:00

Do I ever set some high expectations.
That is not a good thing, most of the time.
There is such a thing as 'doing just fine', you know! After some reflection recently, I've somehow come to a realization that is liberating. I just need to remember it often and act on it. To put some background in this, I'm going to share a personal discovery of myself. Beginning with the first time I was at home with my newborn, I developed this crazy, adrenalin imposed, mama-bear sized drive to push through at full speed ahead. I was on such an adrenalin rush after my son was born that it took me weeks to calm down enough to realize I had a cute little baby! I was in a zone. Had to get stuff done, done right, and done often. And I did just that. I was a machine. And so began my way of going about a lot of things. I didn't mean for it to happen; it just did.

So, of course, this is how I took on homeschool. And we went for the first 14 weeks without a break, and we did great. We took a good month off and came back ready to roll. Now that we have about 6 weeks 'officially' left, I think I'm relaxing, or, rather, letting the adrenalin settle down enough that I can have that same realization that I had when I had my baby. Oh! I'm homeschooling my kids, it is working, we are happy, and we're going to keep doing it! I have been in a zone. Had to get stuff done, done right, and done daily. And we did it. And now I am able to see and feel confident in knowing that my children are, in fact, learning a lot. When they finish school by noon, I sometimes stammer out something about extra pages, extra reading, or didn't you forget something? But they've done their work. And what's great in our home is that they're almost always doing something beneficial (even in their playtime). They help with chores, laundry, and with each other (big ones helping out littler ones). They play together outside, and sometimes inside with a board game or make-believe. They put together puzzles (of continents or alphabet), help me cook, play with play-do, paint, or draw in their sketch pads. They are aware of the work it takes to get dinner on the table, to get clean clothes in their closets, and to get the chores done before we can play (me included). A precious statement uttered by my 8year old daughter tonight as I was losing my temper while loading the dishwasher, "Mom, don't be upset. You have a lot of work to do. You have little kids and a lot of kids, and you have to clean and cook. Don't think everything has to be just perfect." She was so comforting, my little sweetheart, that I thanked her so much. She was right. What a blessing she was there to comfort me and put it into perspective.
Often we are our own worst enemies.
Did I mention I set too-high expectations?
The moral of tonight's blog is this: hey, let's all take a little pressure off ourselves and enjoy the here and now.

a pink sweater

2011-05-23T09:03:00.001-05:00

I found a pretty sweater in my closet. I think I've never worn it before, or maybe just briefly before getting annoyed with it and taking it off. It is a cardigan. My problem with it is that is is 3/4 sleeve and full of big holes. I guess it's a crochet sweater with a big floral thing going therefore making big gaps between the flowers. I put in my give-away pile last month and tucked it away into the bag.

Well wouldn't you know, like a week after that I got a dress as a gift that needed a little cardigan. Gosh, couldn't believe it. Alhamdullah, the bag hadn't gone to the donation site yet, so I dug it out and stuffed in my closet. Well, for some reason I put it on tonight. Over a white tshirt and black yoga pants. It's soft pink, and it is such a sweet, soft, girly sweater! I suddenly wondered why women dont' have more feminine clothing options. I'm guilty of wearing trousers and plain tshirts often. Like daily. It's comfortable, easy, and not likely to get in the way of my work. But this sweater reminds me of the person I used to be, and of the person currently trapped inside who cant' get out! Many factors contribute to why this trapped 'me' can't get out, and I won't go into all those reasons here. But I will make a promise to myself to try to wear something that makes that inner 'me' come out more often. I even wore a loose braid today with little wispies coming out the sides. Here's to being true to yourself.

Recipe for Memaw's Casserole

2011-05-05T09:37:00.001-05:00

I remember eating this casserole at my grandmother, Memaw's, house since I was young. Now this dish is often requested at my own house from my children and husband! I sometimes make double to have an extra one in the freezer.

1 lb spaghetti, cooked according to directions
1lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 green pepper, chopped
3 pieces of garlic, chopped
1 small can mushrooms, or sautee your own fresh ones (we omit these b/c of the kids hating mushrooms)
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
3 T chili powder (not the spicy Indian kind, the mexican/american kind)
1 cup frozen peas

Sautee your onions, peppers, and garlic. Add the beef and brown. Drain. Add spices and salt and pepper to taste. Add the tomato cans and let this simmer 20 minutes or more on low heat. Add the peas, corn, and mushrooms and simmer a little longer.
Add your cooked spaghetti to the ground beef mixture.
In a long pyrex (9*13) put half the mixture down, top with 1 cup cheese, then put the other half over it. Top with remaining cheese. You can cover it and freeze it at this point or bake at 350 for 40 or so minutes until it's bubbly and the cheese is melted.

Recipe for Creamy Gazpacho Soup

2011-05-05T09:26:00.003-05:00

This is delicious and a favorite of my husband.

4 cups tomato juice
2 14 1/2oz cans diced tomatoes
1 12oz can evaporated milk (i omit this and use a large spoonful of sour cream instead)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil ( ours is straight off the family land in Palestine)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (tobasco or cholula)
3 cups peeled, seeded, chopped cucumber
1cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion

I put everything in a large bowl and blend with my immersion blender. I add more hot sauce, too.
A different way is to just blend the juice, tomatoes, lemon juice and oil then add the chopped veggies into it and have a chunky soup. We like ours smooth.
Sahtain!

Tentative Menu for next week

2011-05-01T19:32:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom everyone,
I have our main meals planned out for this week, nothing is set in stone:
Monday: Malfoof (stuffed and rolled up cabbage) Salad
Tuesday: Memaw's Casserole, Salad
Wednesday: leftovers from Monday and Tuesday plus Salad if needed
Thursday: Fasuliah (Green beans in a beef stew sauce, rice on the side)
Friday: Breaded tilapia, salad, veggies

I'll post a recipe for Memaw's Casserole b/c it's one of the top 5 with my husband and kids.
Have a great week!!! We're on a 2 week vacation from school starting now, so I'm looking forward to a laid back few days. I'll probably make some food for the freezer in addition to some baking (breads and cakes, insha'Allah).

Green Smoothie

2011-04-17T20:21:00.002-05:00

Assalamu alaikom folks,

I've been feeling too full these past two weeks, and, alhamdulilaah for all the food that I have, but I feel like I've been eating the wrong foods. I've gotten used to eating within a certain range of calories, and not only that but eating well. This means less refined and packaged foods and more fresh foods and veggies. So tonight I decided not to eat any of the leftovers in the fridge. I made a green smoothie instead. I normally make them with spinach, but tonight I didn't have any so I used some red and green leaf lettuce. All in all this is what I used:
2 dates (pitted of course)
1 banana
1 red apple, peeled
frozen peaches
frozen strawberries
1 cup of red and green leaf lettuce
1-2 cups water

I pureed these till nice and smooth. It turned out pretty good even though it was different since I'm used to spinach. There was a touch of bitterness.

I searched a little bit and found a recipe I'm curious to try with kale. Not a big fan of it. It is, however, very healthy. So I might pick some up IF it is convenient for me b/c as you know, after menu planning on Friday, we buy our weekly groceries over the weekend. Otherwise it will end up on next week's grocery list :)
Check this recipe out:

Kale Banana Smoothie:

Put 1 banana, 2 cups chopped kale, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1-2 tbsp flaxseeds (optional) and 1/2 cup brown rice milk into a blender and blend! (I like to add a few ice cubes for summertime refreshment).
It will take a few minutes for everything to puree so be patient. It ends up being a lovely vibrant green colour - very fresh and uplifting!
Taken from Here!

Let me know what you think if you try this kale one out.

Menu Planning Friday (posted Saturday)

2011-04-16T16:10:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah!

Friday was menu planning, right on time! Alhamdulillah, we didn't actually eat all the meals I had planned for last week, so some will get slotted into this upcoming week. Not sure how this is working out, but I feel like we don't have that many groceries to get this week. The template I normally use seems to have disappeared from the site I use, however this template is very similar. In fact, it is helpful if you have a child with allergies or need to make anything special for someone in the family for some reason. If you browse that site you will find a treasure trove of organization help, not only for meals but for other aspects of daily life! (handy for all of us, not just homeschoolers)

Without further ado:
Lunch options this week (now that I have basil I hope to have enough to make my own pesto this week)
* Pasta with pesto
* Cabbage Salad
* Chicken tortilla casserole (was such a big hit last week that it must be repeated this week)
* Sandwiches
* Hot dogs (if necessary :$)

Dinner:
Monday: Cooked Yogurt Dish w/ Beef Stew; Rice
Tuesday: Same as Monday
Wednesday: Baked potato and chili
Thursday: Spaghetti and Sauce, salad, garlic bread
Friday: Same as Thursday
Saturday: Skillet fried chicken strips w/ salad.

Recipes available upon request :)

My Latest Favorite Thing

2011-04-14T21:43:00.000-05:00

Ooooooh! I just love finding something new, getting it, using it, and LOVING it!!! And now I have to do the right thing and share it with you people here. A lady in Florida makes these cute reusable snack and sandwich bags. What is that, you ask? Why take a look. They look like this:

Of course, she's not the only person in the world who makes them, but I loved her choice in fabrics. Here is her Etsy store. Lots of other sellers on Etsy sell similar items.

I've recently run out of Ziploc bags, so instead of buying more, I wanted to try these reusable bags to pack our apples, goldfish, pretzels, and sandwiches. Granted, there are no more school lunches to pack, but we do take snacks when going to the park, running errands, or going to appointments. It makes me cringe when I whip out 4 little plastic bags to fill with snacks, so I'm hoping this will make snack time less painful on my conscience! Let me know if you have used this type of thing before or if you start to after reading this!

Menu Planning Friday!

2011-04-08T23:30:00.001-05:00

Here's the program for the upcoming week, insha'Allah, and as always, these don't have to be on the dates mentioned. I use this as a guide, especially for buying groceries on Saturday/Sunday.

Sat: Grilled Chicken, Salad, Garlic Bread

Sunday: Gazpacho, Meatloaf

Monday: Gazpacho, Roast Chicken

Tuesday: Salad and cooked yogurt dish w/ beef cubes, rice on the side

Wednesday: Spaghetti, Meatsauce, Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Baked potatoes and chili

Lunches planned for the week:
Cabbage Salad
Pasta Bake
Chicken Tortilla Bake
Sandwiches

Old Pic of my first attempt at scones. They were so good , but so heavy on the tummy that I had to take a nap after eating them!

Menu Planning

2011-03-11T22:30:00.003-06:00

I had gotten into the habit of making out a weekly menu including lunches and dinners and their ensuing grocery lists. This worked out great, and as I got into the habit of it I found I didn't necessarily need to write it down each week. Well, then and there began the downward spiral into chaos! Its' been a few months now since I've used my handy "menu planner template", and boy do I feel it. I've gotten so low that I've actually had to *gasp* ask my husband what he would like for dinner! We all know the answer to that question.... yep, it wasn't pretty.

So I printed out a few sheets of this menu planner and since it's Friday, it's THE day for menu planning. Why? Because we do our grocery getting over the weekend. Costco, grocery, and halal meats. Three stops. It pays to be organized. This morning I sat my kids down in front of me at the kitchen table and had them go through my stack of 'authorized family dinner meals' to pick what sounded good for the week. We made the lists, and off we went to the grocery store and to the halal meat store! All that's left now is Costco which is usually saved for my dear husband because he just loves going there (for real).

What is an 'authorized family dinner meal' you also wonder? Well, some time last year I got this idea from the blog Litte Nanny Goat to make our 30 meal plan. I now keep those 30 cards in the front of my recipe card box (yes, I'm old fashioned and have a card box), and when it's time to meal plan I can grab that stash and browse the meals I know are winners. In theory, this is fabulous, however, as the kids change, so does their taste in food. Hmmph.

Without further ado, here is next week's plan. (I've skipped breakfast b/c in our house it is either cold cereal, hot oatmeal, or eggs. Also, everyone can get their own breakfast, so I don't really need to plan that out!)

Monday: Lunch: Tacos; Dinner: Chicken Paprika
Tuesday: Lunch: Pimiento cheese sandwiches and pasta for kids; Dinner: Chili w/ fixings
Wednesday: Lunch: Mexican Chicken Skillet; Dinner: Leftovers
Thursday: Lunch: Mujaddara (rice and lentils w/ caramelized onions); Dinner: Chicken Stew
Friday: Lunch: leftovers; Dinner: Memaw's Casserole

Menu Planner Template can be found here along with dozens of other goodies.

Read, Read, Read

2011-03-06T21:29:00.002-06:00

Oh the guilt. I've been reading The Well Trained Mind the past few days to figure out what I want to do next year. I use this book as my guide for method and curriculum. It is a guide to classical education, and it is very thorough and rigorous. And full of READING. Not just the kids reading, no, parents reading TO the kids. And now I feel so delinquint!!! Do you know people actually read to their children for like a long time each day! An hour or two or three??? It's true; I read daily entries from fellow homeschoolers reassuring me that they spend some good chunk of time (45 minutes up to 3 hours) reading to their children. I mean, with all the things we have to get done in any given day, how how how do we sit down and read each day?

After giving it some thought, I realized it's just like any one of the those other things we do actually in any given day. We make time for it. If it is important enough, we fit it in. No matter what. And I think I need to do that. I need to evaluate where some of my time is spent (or wasted) and rearrange a thing or two to ensure my little ones (all of them) get a read-aloud from me. The benefits are immeasurable, apparently, and according to older children it is a highly cherished memory. I like to spend some time finishing the kitchen in the evening. It's a hectic time, but what if I just make sure that I'm all done by a certain time and go up to the littlest ones bedroom and read for 20 minutes. Or maybe after lunch? All I know is that it won't happen unless I free myself up and do it. I have done it off and on over the past school year, and they've loved it so much when I have read. I pick books they normally wouldn't read on their own, some types of classics usually, and they really like it. Insha'Allah, I can get on board with this and put it on the calendar to read out loud. These are my musings this evening, and I do hope I can get into this new habit.

Babylon and the Hanging Gardens

2011-03-02T15:16:00.001-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

Studying Ancient History has been so much fun for my two older childen (ages 10, 8) this year! The stories about the leaders, the nomads, the pyramids, and the wonders of the world have easily piqued their curiousity and sparked some creativity.

When we read about King Nebuchadnessar of Babylon and how he gathered plants, bushes, and flowers from all his land to make a beautful garden for his wife, we immediately thought of an art project. I pulled out two empty shoe boxes, and the two older kids instantly went to work depicting the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. I was really amazed at the initiative they took. I'd never seen this type of enthusiasm before, and I was even further amazed when I saw them race upstaris to the school room after dinner that night! The ideas kept rolling in until they finally felt like they had done enough to make the gardens. Here are the finished projects, masha'Allah:

Happy March Everyone!!

2011-03-02T07:40:00.001-06:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah!

Phew, February is ALL GONE!!! Not that it was so horrible, alhamdulilaah, but it's nice to have that last stretch of the winter months behind us!

I'm looking forward to an active March.

I've started with telling my kingdergartener about the saying about March "In Like a Lion, Out Like A Lamb". This old saying refers to the weather in March, so I made a small little poster (without using a normal poster board rather I used a large piece of construction paper 12*18"). I used templates from DLTK's site to make the board and chart to track the weather daily. This site has lots of nice coloring pages and other printables. They're organized by month, by topic, or season, and by holiday! Cute stuff.

This is a picture of what ours looks like. I don't have room for a large bulletin board, and that's why I made mine small. Even if you don't homeschool, this could be a fun on-going project for March that you and your children can do.

We're taking one week off towards the end of March to receive some old friends who will be visiting. Looking forward to some fun outings with them, too. Hope you have some fun things planned for the beginning of Spring and the growing season! I'm also thinking to start some bean seeds in little cups of pots to show them kids up front a personal how they sprout. My kids aren't new to gardening, as I've been doing it as long as they've been around, but it's still nice to see the bean sprout! So InshaAllah I'll get on that and make a post about it.

Have a great day!

Our Painted Lady Guests

2011-02-24T14:42:00.002-06:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

About a month ago I bought a package for raising butterflies. The plastic, netted little butterfly house comes in the mail along with a certificate you redeem when you're ready to receive brand new little butteryfly larva in the mail. Ours came around January 20, just cute teeny tiny little larva, or caterpillars. We estimated they hatched about 2 or 3 days before getting to our house.

They spent the next ten days eating and GROWING!!! They lived in the container they were sent in because all their food was in there, as well as the fact that we didn't want to introduce our bacteria into their habitat.

We observed their growth, and documented how many days they remained caterpillars before climbing to the top of the container to make cocoons. Oh how delighted the kids were when suddenly, one morning, one caterpillar was hanging from the top! Within hours all 4 were hanging and making cocoons. They stayed there another ten days or so until out came four beautiful Painted Lady butterflies.

They've been living in that big plastic butterfly garden that came with the original order. I put a fresh slice of orange for them to eat from every few days. They're so pretty to look at and fun to observe. Since the outside temps are too cold to release them, they'll live out their life cycle in our house. If we wanted to, we could have put nettle or thistle leaves to make a favorable environment for their eggs to hatch and continue the life cycle. I'm not really up for that, so we'll just let them live out their lives and call it at that. Our science curriculum had a great set of lab pages for this unit, so my kids got to observe and record all stages.

in the picture above you can see the four cocoons

in the picture above the adult butterflies are having some orange juice

in the picture above, an aerial shot of the Painted Ladies

It's a great learning tool for the whole family! I highly recommend it.

I ordered ours from Insect Lore

Notebook Page for Studying the Prophets

2011-02-17T11:29:00.000-06:00

Assalamu alaikom and peace!

During our studies of ancient history (Story of the World I), we came across the story of Prophet Musa (Moses) peace be upon him. Thanks to the fabulous blogger over at Talibiddeen Jr, I found this awesome page that we can takes notes on and save for a future book on the prophets. We can use this template for future studies of any prophet, and I'll have the kids file them in their Islamic Studies Notebook.
Here's the template: http://talibiddeenjr.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/isprophetsprophetfactfileorig.pdf

New path for my blog

2011-02-17T09:58:00.002-06:00

Assalamu alaikom and peace to everyone!

After much thought, I've decided not only to keep blogging, but to improve it. Insha'Allah, God willing, I want to continue with the home and garden blogs, and I want to add homeschooling to it, too. I started blogging in order to log my own thoughts and journeys through life. Since I don't want to start a new blog or commit to only one subject matter, I decided to make labels and categorize my entries so that you (and I ) can easily find entries of interest in the future.

I hope you enjoy reading as we move forward, and insha'Allah you'll get some benefit out of this! I especially am excited to share my 'finds' for homeschooling. After all, that's one way I got the courage and the materials to start my own homeschool :) Please follow or subscribe!

Peace and LOVE!

Zein

follow up to 'new warm drink'

2011-02-05T08:01:00.005-06:00

Alright, if the smell of vinegar has you running for the hills, then skip the 'tea'.
Just mix two tsps vinegar in a little hot water. Sweeten with a bit of honey.
Chug.
The end.

Or get the caplets of apple cider vinegar.

:)

new warm drink

2011-02-02T22:11:00.001-06:00

Ok, so if ditching your beloved shampoo routine doesn't sound appealing to you, I'll give you something else to think about :)

Apple cider vinegar has been used for ages for its health benefits. After a quick search on Mr. Google, I was so anxious to start chugging it by the gallon!

Well, for now, I'm putting 2tsps of Organic undiluted apple cider vinegar in a mug of hot water with a bit of local honey. It's quite refreshing and somehow filling. My kids even had some and liked it!!

Give it a shot. I plan on having this at least once day. Maybe twice. I read it was good to drink this half an hour before eating, but I am not that organized so I'll stick to having it in the evening after the kidlets have gone to bed.

Here are just a few health benefits of consuming apple cider vinegar courtesy of webmd.com:
reducing cholesterol
reducing weight
heart health
reduce some cancer risks
lower blood pressure
clear up acne
alleviate arthritis
... and more!

green topic: baking soda and hair

2011-01-30T08:11:00.001-06:00

I've blogged about this before; I talked about not using shampoo to try to get healthier hair and reduce toxins being absorbed in the body. I quit cold turkey at one time and washed my hair using a baking soda rinse followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse. It was really hard at first. My hair never felt clean. It stayed oily. I continued for a couple of months, and then I just had enough and felt like my scalp needed a good shampoo.

Several months later I, once again, was dissatisfied with shampoo. My hair was falling out like crazy, moreso after a wash. Tons and tons of hair. And it was getting oily and thin feeling. I decided to take another break from shampoo and got the baking soda out again. Well, this time I did something right b/c I'm getting much better results! One tablespoon to about 8oz water. I pour it carefully on my scalp then rub and massage my head to be sure it got all in there :) Of course this is followed by a good rinsing out. Sometimes I put the apple cider vinegar rinse, but recently I've tried finishing off with a bottled conditioner. I do that b/c my main complaint about using the soda wash is having dry hair. So putting conditioner has been a good compromise.

At first I decided to use my organic shampoo once a week and use the baking soda on other days when I needed washing. I did that for almost two months, and now I haven't used the shampoo in a couple of weeks. It's working out much better this time 'round so I'll be sticking with it. My hair is coming out in normal amounts, and the conditioner is keeping it soft.

Using the soda has also made me aware of how many products one could use on a baby. Considering our skin is our biggest organ and absorbs everything on it, I was motivated to clean the kids' heads/hair with soda as well. There is absolutely no need for harsh shampoos for little ones.. they don't have as much oil production and hormone issues as grown ups do! Give it a shot :)

I used to be different

2010-12-05T16:34:00.000-06:00

I used to be different. Did you know me then?
I wasn't old. I was young. I was pretty thin. I had free time. I used to feel bored, sometimes.
I loved learning French. I loved it so much I majored in it. I loved it so much I spent 5 months studying abroad soaking in everything I possibly could.
I used to listen to music really loud in my room. Sometimes the same song over and over and over. Sometimes I would write down words to my own songs in my spiral notebook. Or poems.
I used to be different. Did you know me then?
I used to rearrange my bedroom furniture at night, and if it was too late, I'd sketch out how I would do it the next day. In my spiral notebook.
I'd make cakes and brownies for my parents and brothers. I used make cakes to take to school in junior high after band competitions.
My best friend and I would take a pan of brownies to my room and eat practically the whole thing. We had an agreement. She got the outsides, I got the middle.
I used to be different. Did you know me then?
I used to ride my bike around the block, go the movies, and hang out with my friends for hours.
I didn't like crafts, I didn't like to shop, and I didn't read much for fun.
I hadn't thought much about the world, about politics, about education, or about the purpose of life.
I am thankful for where I am today. I am happy where I am today. But I used to different. I am happy there are people around who knew me then.

Beginning of December

2010-12-04T09:05:00.000-06:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

We've got one week left of our first trimester of homeschooling. It's come along really well, alhamdullah, and we're all looking forward to a break ( in a good way, not because we're sick of school). I'm still giddy each time a new perk of homeschooling comes my way. They keep rolling in! In general, the attitudes are improving, stress is decreasing, enthusiasm for learning for the sake of learning is growing. They're finding teachable moments on their own and are acting out on what they learn. Masha'Allah, it's been an eye opener for me because I had never given education this much thought before. To suddenly have taken matters into my own hands has widened my scope of knowledge about learning, about my own children, and about how things can/will work out in life. And all of that blends perfectly with something I've learned about myself in the past few years. I've learned that I enjoy questioning why we do things or follow any given trend, and I've felt liberated by realizing I don't have to follow the expected or 'normal' way. The beginning of that was when I looked into my faith and decided to start practicing. I learned about the true religion and learned how to set old cultural habits aside. The religion is pure, culture is not. And now with education, family, growing, shaping, learning. It's great. It feels more natural.

I was expecting a period of 'detoxing' from the old way we were used to doing school. Happily, we didn't have any rocky moments. I think we transitioned into homeschooling easily, and they're eager to work in the mornings, alhamdullah.

I'm also very appreciative of 'quality' toys and books that have been gifted to us over the years (many from Mom; thanks Mom!). Wooden blocks, wooden puzzles, classic readers, and hand puppets are on such a different level than the commonplace plastic out there. I can say this with confidence after 4 children and 10 years of experience.  I now refuse to get 'junk' books for the littles to read and opt for quality storylines and language. Sure, an occasional one comes home from the library, but I will not buy them.

We've added two huge items to our homeschool. The first is a set of bookcases I've been dying to have for almost 10 years. We bought three of them and lined them up in our schoolroom.  Books are organized by age level including a whole section for preschool activites (like the wooden puzzles, lacing blocks, board books, and hand puppets). There's a whole shelf for library books since we bring home about 30 each week. The Arabic reader books are visible and look more inviting than being tucked away in someone's room. Maryam has even pulled some out and started to read them! Great addition to our Arabic curriculum.

The second item is a Listening Center I set up. We've had this CD player with speakers (looks like an old fashinoned tape player, but it's not) for years, and I've used it off an on, mostly in the kitchen. Well it took up a lot of counter space so I banished it to a storage cabinet for a few months. Till yesterday! I set it up in the corner of our TV room that has the lounge seat and side table.  It is easy to use and has a remote. We brought home about 5 Audio Books (books with accompanying CD) from the library and set them up there. The girls fell in love with the idea! They can now sit down with a book and CD and follow along! It is downstairs which is away from the schoolroom in case anyone wants to use it during the day (which Maryam will). I don't forsee any conflict with having the TV in the same room b/c we only watch the TV for one hour a day. So I'm looking forward to using the Listening Center! (I wish I did school sitting on the couch under a blanket!)

Thanks for reading!

Peace and Blessings this Eid!

2010-11-15T22:28:00.000-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

Tuesday, November 16, 2010, is Eid ul Adha. It's the holiday signifying the strong faith and commitment that Prophet Abraham, peace be on him, had to our Lord. He was willing to sacrifice anything God asked him to. For his strong faith, Allah gave him a ram to slaughter, and that is one reason we do that on Eid. The meat is distributed and shared with families who need it, and only some is usually kept for the family who had it slaughtered.

At this time, millions of Muslims are in Makkah performing Hajj. It's a trip we all want to take at least once in our lifetime. It's a blessing for them to make it, as it cleanses their sins and gives them a fresh start in life.

Over here we tried to increase our worship the last few days. I shared a lot of history and stories with the kiddles about the significance of this time of year. They got some presents, I put up some festive decorations,and we all look forward to an early morning prayer service followed by BRUNCH!

Cute Muslim Mamma Images

2010-11-07T20:57:00.001-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

Some friends of mine started a website Easel And Ink where women from around the world put their graphic art on display. They've come up with cuuuute stuff! Here are a few:

Little Homeschooling Update

2010-10-29T21:31:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

End of the week :) We've settled into a nice routine here at home, alhamdulilaah (have my non Muslim readers figured out my Arabic words yet; this one means 'all praise is due to God'=thank God). Even little Aisha isn't as crazed anymore. She's taken to sitting on the floor nearby and playing with coins, that was her favorite activity this past week. She won't put them in her mouth, so I feel safe letting her fill and empty the bucket with the coins. She also moves them from one pile to another. Once I finish up my morning chores and sit down at the table is when I feel that the kids also buckle down and start their work for real. Otherwise they might be kind here and there, but not really working. And that IS my routine.. to sit down at the table by 8:30 (ok sometimes it is 8:45) and get started for the day. We normally work til 11:45 or noon (they take a little snack break in the middle). After lunch we meet back for Science/History depending on the day, and then we do our activities (tennis, football, gymnastics, Quran class).

My goals for the begining of this venture were multi-faceted:
1. to give us all time to unprogram our brains from what we thought 'school' looked like
2. to give the kids leeway in general to adjust to our new way of life
3. to focus mostly on the 'core' of education (reading, writing, arithmatic) and not to panic if I didn't get a lot more things done, at least for the first few months. i do have science and history in the plans, and so far those are going on schedule, too
4. to not let myself get carried away compaing myself to other homeschoolers b/c there really is so much you can do out there
5. to incorporate those religious elements into their lives like i had originally dreamed of doing

So I think I've done pretty good at pacing myself. I've wondered if I were doing enough, and then sometimes if it were too much, but all in all they're getting work done, retaining it, and the best part.. regurgitating it!!! Unprompted, too! Yippeee!!! It's working :)

I had to think long and hard about one little subject though, and that was Arabic language. We don't speak it much at home since my husband and I have always spoken English as our first language. The kids do read Arabic in the Quran, but they don't know its meaning nor can they have a conversation. After much thinking I am now confident that they must learn it as best as I can teach it to them. It's their heritage and it is the language of their holy book. A lot gets lost in the translation, so it will only benefit them to know it. I settled on a program to use, and have sent the company an email asking if i can get the 'teacher discount' :) (which, by the way, Staples gave me their teacher discount card b/c i'm a homeschooler.. yay Staples!) So pray for me please.. I will be adding one more subject to our curriculum.

Ok, so that leads me to the other 'religious element' I mentioned in the goals up above. After I felt confident after a couple of weeks of homeschooling I realized I didn't really have a fixed time for Islamic Studies. Okie dokie...ruffled through many old books the older kids used back in Seattle at the Islamic School. I wasn't sure which curriculum to use (there were two good ones, at least), and I wasn't sure what levels I should start the kids at. Grrr, I didn't like this. Well, subhanAllah, when you just ask your lord for help He surely won't fail you. Somehow, one morning, I had one of those books in my hand and I was at the breakfast table. Somehow we all ended up at breakfast at the same time. Somehow I opened the book and started reading from the begining, and the story was so interesting that I found 4 pairs of eyes staring at me! (ok, well, maybe not Aisha's) The older 3 loved it, and I suddenly figured out how and when we would cover our Islamic Studies. This week's breakfast time was awesome. I would read from that textbook which has verses, hadith (sayings of prophet muhammand, peace be upon him), skits, and stories from the quran. It's had a tremendous impact on them already, as I can see their awareness of their faith grow, just from talking about it for a few short minutes in the morning. Masha'Allah, what a blessing.

I've learned that 'learning' looks different now that we are free of the schedule of public school. Reading about our religion together at breakfast is an awesome way to make it a natural part of our family instead of a boring class they have to go to on the weekend. We also do some read-alouds at night (a fiction book like currently The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), and none of this could have happened during public school time. They used to come home so ready to turn their brains off that it was like pulling teeth to get them to read, to pray, or to talk about anything learning-related. And now, suddenly, we are learning ALL the time and they are happy with it! I am so so grateful to have been shown this path and to be on this adventure. Life looks different to me in regards to my children, my future, and their future.

So we're half way through our first trimester. I'm glad things are moving along well, and I am glad I didn't stress over the extra subjects that I had wanted to cover but hadn't gotten to yet. I know it'll all work out in the end, and alhamdulilaah, so far it's been great. May Allah keep us successful and guide us to please Him. Now that we're half way done we can start the countdown to our first official family roadtrip to visit my mom in Mississippi!!! We'll be taking one month off from mid December through mid January. :)

Thanks for reading and I welcome your comments!
Love
Zein

Green Smoothies!

2010-10-26T15:16:00.003-05:00

Assalamu alaikom y'all!

I stumbled across a link to green smoothies and their benefits the other day. I was hooked instantly! I ran out and bought some fresh greens, a few extra fruits, and borrowed a blender (b/c I don't have one). I'm hooked, and I can't wait to try a new combination each day :)

The ideas is to drink your greens if you're having a hard time getting enough fresh fruits and veggies each day (which I know I am). You put about 60% fruit and 40% greens. It is not very overpowering that way, especially if you include banana or avocado. Those tend to 'cream' up the smoothie. And I use water: no milk, no juice. The calories are low, the fiber is high, and the overall benefits are fantastic!

I'm going to put some of the article below with a link at the end:

Green Smoothies?

Yes – these are simply smoothies that are made with fresh organic greens blended in to them with a a fruit or two and a couple other tasty ingredients.

Green smoothies provide a concentrated amount of fresh greens in quick and convenient drink. Plus blending greens and fruits together breaks down the cells of these plants which improves digestibility and makes it easier for your body to assimilate.
What Exactly Are Greens?
“Greens” are Leafy greens, the green leaves of edible plants. Some of these leafy greens are grown specifically for the leaf itself like lettuce, spinach, kale and parsley. While found as the green leafy tops of root vegetables like carrots greens, beets and turnips.

The Most Popular Greens For Smoothies

- Baby Spinach

- Kale

- Collard greens

- Mustard greens

- Dandelion greens

- Turnip greens

- Beat greens

- Parsley

- Arugula

- Romaine lettuce

Benefits Of Green Smoothies

This is what you can expect if you drink just one smoothie a day.

1. Increased Energy
Powerful boost of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients without bogging down your digestive system. Drinking your greens in the most optimum form for your digestibility and nutrient absorption leaves you feeling more energized.

2. Mental Clarity and Focus
With a healthier foods come greater mental clarity, focus, alertness and the ability to better handle stress and reduce anxiety.

3. Increased Fiber Intake
While juicing can also give you a powerful punch, it just cannot give you the whole fruit and vegetable like green smoothies can. Fiber is essential for good colon health and keeps you regular.

4. Clearer Skin
High in fiber which allows your body to eliminate toxins the right way instead of through your skin. Plus you are getting that concentrated source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that fight the aging process!

5. Reduced Cravings
Easily fight those cravings for junk foods, unhealthy sweets, salt and fats. When your body receives adequate nutrition, you no longer feel hungry from a lack of nutrients in the typical, dead processed food. You will find that after a couple short weeks of drinking green smoothies, you will crave healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables and greens.
6. Rich With Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is like the blood of the vegetable which natural health experts state enhances the immune system, purifies the blood and rejuvenates the body.
7. Alkalizing
Fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods and many natural health experts claim that consuming these foods helps maintain a proper alkaline balance in the body. Cancer does not grow in an alkaline body. In fact, most disease grows in an acid environment.
~ Bonus Benefits ~
Green Smoothies are EASY to MAKE and are a Natural Source of Fat Loss.

Read the whole article for recipes, and more information!

http://www.getfitandyummy.com/green-smoothies-rock/

slightly deep thoughts!

2010-10-17T00:09:00.002-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I saw the following verse from the Quran in a friend's email signature the other day. I literally just stopped what I was doing and had a light bulb moment. "Oh." I think to myself. "It's been right there all along." I read it, and I reread it, and I wonder why we (rather, why "I") couldn't embody this sentiment:
And they who say: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us guides to those who guard (against evil).
( سورة الفرقان , Al-Furqan, Chapter #25, Verse #74)

Allah, our Creator, our Lord has blessed us with verses that guide our hearts. THIS is how we want to perceive our spouses. THIS is how we want to perceive our children. As a joy.

Let me start with the children part. This could be taken to mean that our children are so great that all they do is bring joy into our lives. I personally don't think this is what the verse is about. We all come with our ups and downs, so no person is going to be 100% a joy to someone all the time. My toddler got into 5 dangerous things within a minute and thirty seconds today. She is running my nerves to the wire. However, I think I could slow down and either put more things out of her reach and/or spend the time to give her direction calmly. This would establish a healthy ground of communication.

We have to change how our hearts feel towards children. This will revolutionize our lives, I think. The answer to our stress and frustration is right there, straight from God Himself. They are JOY. So that means I must be doing it wrong when I don't see them as a JOY. When I'm mad that milk spilled for the 3rd time in 24 hours all over the table, chairs, and floor, I need to turn to Allah and ask HIM to help me through it. Don't get mad at the child. Don't wish they weren't so bothersome or messy. Don't say "why can't my house look perfectly neat and clean all the time". You know how they say fashion models and fashion magazines lower teen girls' self-esteem and create unhealthy expectations in them? Today I realized that society, magazines, and stores do that to ME when it comes to my house. I feel there is a certain level of how tidy or matchy my house should be. Then along walks the family into the house and that image doesn't exist. I don't want to define my expectation by a magazine's image, but to an extent I think we all do. This materialistic disease takes us away from being thankful to Allah, from praising Him, and from seeing the 'messy' parts of our life as a joy.

So my goal is to keep reminding myself of this verse and to feel joyful with my children. Whatever is difficult is a reminder that Allah is there for me to ask, and He will run to my aid.

The part about the spouse is a good topic for a different day, but wow... look at your spouse as a person who gives you JOY, and you will see him/her in a different light. And hopefully we can be that joy for them as well.

Catching up at home, making soap and butter

2010-10-07T15:43:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I'm so grateful to have someone come do the big cleaning in my house once a week, and that helps so much especially now with homeschooling. Of course the dishes and the kids' clutter is a never ending cycle, but that is OK and comes with the territory. So today the house is clean, sheets, towels, and floors are clean too, so I decided to make a new batch of laundry soap. Thankfully, that takes all of 10 minutes, so that is done. That batch of soap will last me about 2 or 3 months, and it cost only $2 to make. I'll post the recipe below. I used the recipe on the Duggar's website, but I made half since the thought of 10 gallons of laundry soap sitting around didn't sound good. 5 gallons of laundry soap should get used up in 2 or 3 months, I think.

Right now as I type the kids are shaking jars filled with cream to make butter. I'm planning making some homemade bread after this, so insha'Allah we can enjoy some homemade bread and butter today!!!
Fun times :)

Laundry Soap Recipe:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

my favorite month!

2010-10-06T20:58:00.001-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I think I'm going to have to declare October my favorite month. It's so great. What's not to love? The weather is lovely as we start to get quite cool in the evening and early mornings. The sun still shines, and it still warms up to the 80's during the day (at least here in TX it does). The days shorten to a nice length: not too short and not too long. And then there's the shift in nature: the trees, leaves, vegetables, and general change of the cycle. I just love it. I feel like it's the perfect weather to 'live' in. I also just really got burned out this summer with the incapacitating heat. We didn't handle it well, we didn't have much to do to pass our time, and it felt like punishment from the beginning of July through the beginning of September. So, I'm truly happy to be done with Summer.

My decision to homeschool in a trimester system was partially influenced by the dread of next summer. So we will 'school' for three months and then take one month off. This way we'll have something useful to do during 2 of the summer months, and then we can do all the fun stuff in the 3rd month. Also, this way we can enjoy some of each season without having to worry about missing school days. I'd much rather go to the zoo, to trails, hikes, and lakes during December or April rather than in June/July/August. So, I do hope next summer won't be as bad.

Enjoy!

time flies.. is that a good thing?

2010-09-23T14:21:00.001-05:00

So we're getting done with our homeschool work remarkably easily and quickly. It is making me wonder if we're doing enough. After reading some homeschooling forums and comparing our curriculum with that of others, I do think we are on track. We're covering all the major subjects, so maybe just that it's only 3 of us it's getting done quickly. Today I found a nice little Writing workbook (by grade level) that I picked up for Musa. It will help him sort ideas and practice writing. I think he could use that enrichment. What I've gathered from all my reading is that it is an ongoing process. You're constantly tweaking and looking for the next thing. That sounds right to me... you do have to keep doing that. Eventually you learn how each child learns and what specific things they learn best from.
So, for any homeschoolers out there or for whoever is interested, here is what we are up to:

Musa (4th Grade): Saxon Math 5/4, Learning Language Arts Through Literature Orange Book, GUM Drops Grammar, LLATL Spelling, REAL Science (Life), The History of the World, Vol I, Quran Classes, Islamic Studies, Spectrum Writing Grade 4, Arabic language

Heba (3rd Grade): Saxon Math Grade 3, Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow Book, GUM Drops Grammar, LLATL Spelling, REAL Science (Life), The History of the World, Vol I, Quran Classes, Islamic Studies, Arabic language.

Maryam (KG): Saxon Math KG, Horizons (Alpha Omega) Phonics KG, Quran Classes, Arabic language, and lots of library books and nature study.

Finally, we do spend time outside plus in some sporting activities. The kids are already showing more eagerness in learning things on their own and in playing better together. Looking forward to a nice fall, insha'Allah.

I am sooo over gardening!

2010-09-21T16:17:00.001-05:00

Ha!
Yes, I said it.
Most of what I brought home last year is no longer alive. Some plants are, and some aren't. Was it too little water, was it the critters, was it just a bad plant from the nursery? I don't know, and frankly, I am not interested in finding out. Because of that, I am out! No more new plants, bushes, flowers, or bulbs. Whatever is here can grow, and I will water it, but I don't want to keep spending money and time on things that will just die. And to be honest, I have a million other things going on right now which deserve my time more than those plants. I might get a few mums for fall, but that is not really gardening, that's just bringing home a potted plant!

My composter is not going to die out, though. I have too few 'green' additions (meaning not much grass or leaves), so as I do collect some of that material, I will add food waste. Otherwise, the food waste is too much and makes an awful smell, creates millions of fuitflies, and attracts rats. I'll still compost, insha'Allah, because that doesn't require work (or an investment!).

So, for now, it'll be about homeschooling and other green things of interest!
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment :)

I love these!

2010-09-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I can't stop browing Etsy for resusable snack bags. The fabrics are so darn cute for kids and grown ups alike. I want to buy like a hundred of them! They're ideal for packing school lunches in, but I don't have to do that anymore. However, we do go to parks and outings. Aisha likes crackers, and we like to pack fruits, too. What do you think??? :)
Here is what some of them look like.

first week of homeschooling

2010-09-18T12:37:00.004-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

Alhamdulilaah (all praises due to God) I am so happy that we started homeschooling and that we made it through our first week so well. Musa and Heba were very ready to start school. Their time off was getting boring, finally, 3 months into it! I, too, am feeling very happy with the way things are turning out and that I am part of something called 'homeschooling'. I'm now meeting other homeschoolers, reading their blogs and discussion boards, and am feeling stronger and happier about the prospective advantages my children will have due to it.

I'm basically covering 4 core subjects: Math, Language, Science, and History. The books I have chosen for this year cover all the details included under each major subject (grammar, writing, spelling, labs, geography, timelines, etc..) We're also doing some Quran and Islamic Studies (well, I need to figure in the Islamic Studies part but they're going to a private tutor for Quran reading and memorization). They're all in some type of sport, plus we have that Gymnastics every Thursday if we want to go. All in all, I think it's a great start. I am not overwhelmed. I know I can add to our core if I want to, and I probably will sometime, just not now.

I've also decided to work in trimesters, so we'll go from mid-September through mid-December, then take one month off. I like that b/c we can enjoy the cooler months here in TX and go to the zoo and other field trips.

As I expected, I have to run now and get lunch ready... at least I got some blogging in! Thanks for reading.

Pink and Green Homeschooling

2010-08-27T14:13:00.003-05:00

Assalamu alaikom
MissPink has turned so Green that she is now a homeschooler! No, I'm not homeschooling because I think it is good for the environment haha, but I'm sure I could find some arguments for the case :)

I wish I could make an awesome blog that is organized and full of printables, links, and articles like other cool homeschoolers, but I just don't know how and don't feel like learning how right now. Any free time I have is spent poring awesome homeschooling resources, saving them, printing them, or figuring out how to use them.

I've spent Ramadan teaching Islamic Studies, Quran, and Salah (praying), to the kids. It's been a great transition for all of us. They are getting used to sitting at our table and doing work. I am getting used to my new role, and little Aisha is getting used to seeing us busy in a new way. She will be the biggest challenge, I think, because she wants me all for herself, but I hope with time she will get used to our daily routine.

Our first day of school will be Tuesday September 14, insha'Allah. I have all the books lined up and have lesson planned for a month ahead. I am impressed with how the Math books are designed to complete one lesson a day. Each lesson builds on the previous one. All the subjects have a similar logical approach. This makes it easier for the child to pick up and start rather than wait for Mom to sit and talk talk talk.

I'm learing about various local businesses who have special programs for homeschoolers. Canyon Creek Gymnastics has a 2 hour class for homeschooler every Thursday. You pay $5 per child and they get to play with an instructor. The kids loved it yesterday when we went for the first time. It was also fun to be in a room full of other homeschoolers!!! I found out about other similar places, so next Thursday we'll be going to the Heritage Farmstead Museum to learn about pioneer living!

Hopefully I'll be able to come and blog about our new adventure. I would love to link up all the resources I've been using. I'd love to talk about curriculum and stuff like that... we'll see how much time I'll have!

New adventures

2010-07-20T21:34:00.004-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

I tried something new this past weekend. I canned figs. I tried three different recipes, and they are all good. My favorite is the third one I tried, otherwise known as "Batch C". I was always afraid of the process of canning as each time I read a recipe I felt like it too much of a fuss. But somehow, this past weekend, I felt like I could handle it. Perhaps it was the 200 fresh figs sitting in my fridge that needing tending to? I don't know, but I knew I couldn't eat them all! It was fun, and I"ll do it again if the fruit and time are both right. Just not for a while, probably!

I'm trying something else 'new', and that is homeschooling my children. 3 of the 4 will be in school this year, so I have done my research, ordered my materials, and now just need to figure out the scheduling. So many things lead up to this decision, and now looking back it seems more and more reasons add up for it. And, you know, I won't go into those details here because, really, it is a very personal decision to make and those reasons I might list could easily sound petty or insignificant to some. But all together, combined, and multiplied by 4 (are you doing the math now?) it made sense for my family. And I do intend for it to go on for a long time, hopefully all the way through graduation. But.. if for some reason one or all of them ended up back in public school, I would (try) to be OK with that, too. Currently, though, I feel very strongly about teaching them in the home, together, with our values, our rhythm, and our expectations of behavior and character. They are so different when they don't go to school every day. Compared to their attitudes during the school year, their summer time selves are sooo much nicer to live with. They are more relaxed, they play together, and they don't seem as cranky or stressed. So that's about all there is to that. I feel it's just another natural extension of my philosophy of parenting, and I pray it will be beneficial to me and to them.

I'm starting to check out what is good to plant in July for a fall harvest.

What's next

2010-07-10T20:09:00.004-05:00

Assalamu alaikom
I still love my wooden garden box I got earlier this year. The crops I planted in it this spring didn't turn out well, but I think I can improve the situation for next time. For starters, I can block the air ducts where some parent birds set up house. I think they did the most damage to the new little seedlings. Secondly, I can make sure they get tons of water as I suspect I might not have given them enough at first. Third, I don't have a third. I'll just try, try again! I think July is actually a good time to put in seeds for fall crop, so I will get to researching that insha'Allah.

I also still love my wooden composting box I got earlier this year (or was it end of last year?) I filled it and it sure stank, but it finally turned into good ol' black gold. The only thing holding me back from starting it anew is that I'm afraid I don't have enough materials besides kitchen scrap, and that will cause more stink and more fruitflies. I noticed my neighbor has a lot of cut grass heaping up in piles in his yard! His grass got really long, and it looks like he had a hard time cutting it b/c he only cut some of it. And what he did cut is sitting there in piles. If I could guarantee that kind of stuff regularly I wouldn't hesitate, but I don't have that kind of grass.

Soooo.... I do have on big fat confession. Coming back from our (almost) 4 weeks in Jordan, I found it hard to cope being the sole grown-up with 4 young children. During the trip I had my mom and my husband with me at all times, and at my inlaws house I had my MIL and their maid around as well. So when I found myself alone with the kids the following Monday morning after getting back I felt like there surely was no way I could go back to doing it solo. What's the confession you ask... I buckled and let my husband buy paper towels again to make clean-ups a little easier. *gasp* I know, it's shocking. LOL I said 'yes' and then 'no', and then I said 'fine just get them'. He said to me: "You're really struggling with this aren't you". Yes!!! It's the principle of it!!!! So now I *sparingly* use the paper towels, and I hope it's something I won't buy more of in the future.

Till next time....
Z

Oh where did my garden go?

2010-07-06T15:47:00.003-05:00

Assalamu alaikom dear readers,

I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. At times I think about many topics I'd like to blog about and share. Other times I wonder why on earth I ever created this thing. That's why you don't find me updating it very often. Sometimes I feel too busy with Life, and other times I am eager to share the busy-ness of Life. So.... this afternoon I'm excited to update about my compost situation. I started it a few months ago as many of you know. We went through some tough times. Odors, fruitflies, odors, and stagnation. No progress seemed to be in the future. I finally stopped adding to the pile and prayed that it would just rot on its own. A couple of months later I was overjoyed to peek inside and find a whole bunch of dirt! I stirred it some more and decided to let it sit a few more weeks just be sure everything got all rotted out just the same. Last night I emptied the contents over most of my garden area, and I finished spreading it over the front garden this morning. The bin was hardly half way full after all was said and done, and it yielded about a whole 20gallon garbage can. I will probably try for another pile later, but I want to be sure I have more than just kitchen scraps to put in there.

We have a gorgeous sunflower growing by the front door thanks to Maryam's preK class. They put sunflower seeds in a little soil back in March. The kids brought the little plastic cups with the seedlings in them home in May. I put Maryam's in the front garden and watched it grow. We were out of town for a month and were shocked to see the growth it had made in that time! I will hopefully post a picture.

The vegetables didn't turn out so well. Most were eaten by birds as seedlings. The ones that made it were probably not watered enough and were in too much sun. I will try again for some fall crops insha'Allah.

Alright, well, it's taken me about 3 hours to type up this short entry, so I will wrap it up now. hopefully I'll get pictures up soon. Thanks for reading!

May 1st Update

2010-05-01T08:37:00.003-05:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah

Well, the garden definitely has taken some unexpected turns! First, after I planted my little seedlings, I watered them and put up supports for them to grow on. My heart sank a few days later when I peeked outside to find most of them gone! Eaten all the way down. Cucumber, tomato, peppers, and lettuces. A couple were left. Then, a few days later, half of the basil leaves were eaten off! Shoot!!! I put a little pinwheel in the garden box, but would you believe that when I went to check on it the next morning, the birds had picked out one of the 'petals' of the flower pinwheel! These birds mean business. So, I have less things growing than I had hoped for. Each time my green pepper flowers it gets eaten off, so I guess it will never grow a pepper.

It's ok. I will possibly set up some tall stakes and put netting over it. Once we get back from our summer trip I can look to making the next growing season more successful. For now I'm not starting anything new since I'm getting ready for our trip.

My peace lillies are doing exactly what I had hoped! I repotted them into smaller pots after reading they like to be slightly rootbound. I then cut off all the browned and burned-looking leaves. Very quickly after that new, healthy leaves have been growing without turning brown. Success!

Back in January I blogged about talking to my children in a softer voice and about praising them more than correcting them. I just want to bring this issue back up for myself and for my readers. Anger provokes more anger, so I'm renewing my goal to guide them and teach them in a more positive way. Praise goes a lot further than rage! LOL

Okie dokie....that's all for today.

Oops plus a parenting tangent

2010-04-13T22:32:00.008-05:00

Assalamu alaikom and peace to you lovely folks reading my blog!

I'm a bad bad blogger. I've been gardening and not taking pictures. I know. I'm sorry. Things are growing, and you're missing it. Ha! How will you ever move on? I will go find my camera and snap a few pics insha'Allah (God willing) tomorrow. I've already eaten from my green onions, and tonight use parsely in the dinner. I don't know how fast parsely grows back, so this is an experiment for me because I chopped off the entire bunch growing. No more parsley for a while! lol

I did get a pink 'knockout rose' for the front yard, but you'll get to see all that soon enough. I'm sure you drying to know what parenting topic is on my mind tonight.

Ok, so you know how people can have pretty strong opinions when it comes to how big (or small) a family should be. I've even been one of those people who has said it wouldn't be right to have a 4th child because of how the older 3 would surely not get the attention they need. (and I'm talking about families with children close in age, not spaced out like 5 years apart) I get the concern. But now that I have 4 children age 9 and under, I feel confident in this conclusion I've drawn.

I feel that everyone gets a lot more love and attention with the bigger family. There are more people for you to talk to or who will want to talk to you (not just parents, but sibling to sibling). This is great for playtime, afterschool, weekend mornings when mom and dad want to sleep in. It's perfect for after-dinner goofing off, having a helper while cooking, gardening, and folding laundry. And when you feel a little lonely, it's not long before someone will come around with something to talk about or do.

Also, a little parenting can go a long way, so you don't actually need to spend 4X the energy/effort just because you have 4 children (or 5 or 6). Actually, the trickle down theory works great here because the law of the land is already established and they often keep one another in check (except for the times they all encourage each other to be naughty!). Once the hard work is done with the first one or two, the rest of the family will follow suit. Of course, each child does still need some one on one time, but it's not as much as with the first child b/c a lot of the work has already been done.

Another nice thing is how much help you can get if you set the plan up right. I get so much help with household jobs, homework helping, and just with them playing together. Helping one child with homework is easier when the second child has a third and fourth child to play with instead of sitting there being jealous and wanting your attention. Telling 3 or 4 kids to go play outside has way more chances of happening than telling one kid to go outside and play (without you)

My point for this whole thing is not to say one way is better than the other, but to point out that having more children doesn't necessarily mean they will each lack in attention and love from the parent. They will feel all of that love because it has manifested itself into the entire structure that is called the family. They'll still get the attention they need, and maybe it is not as much as the other way, but who is to say that that is wrong or bad. And as a result they will have gained a lot of siblings!

Thanks for reading, and I didn't mean to offend anyone. Just realizing that my original fear of not having enough to go around isn't really the case. And the biggest disclaimer of all is that none of the above applies to the first year if you have a baby! But if you can survive that, then you'll be home free.

My Peace Lilly

2010-03-29T11:42:00.005-05:00

Salam,

I had a very large peace lily plant with great big green leaves, and it hasn't flowered in almost a whole year now. A few months ago, I thought to split the plant in half and make two plants out of one. I did so, successfully, and bought nice looking indoor pots to put them in. Since then, the leaves have been getting brown and crunchy. They're not dying off or anything, just looking like someone put a match to the edges. New leaves come in nice and green, then turn brown at the tips later on.

Well, I did a search on this and learned that peace lily's like to be slightly root bound! I figured that when I separted the large plant into two smaller ones that the new pots were way too big for the roots. So this weekend I put the two smaller plants into smaller pots in an effort to make the roots nice and cozy.

I'll report back in a few weeks with an update. I'm hoping the leaves will stay healthy and that I'll get some nice white flowers out of them!

Here's a picture of a plant.

After the freeze

2010-03-23T11:16:00.003-05:00

Assalamu alaikom

The average last freeze date for this city is March 15. Wouldn't ya know on March 20 we got a record 8 inches of snow in Plano! My tulips seemed to come out ok, but the little radish seedlings are all yellow now. I will see how they do this week, and either way, i will plant another row b/c it's been two weeks since the first planting.

I brought into the garage the little lettuce seedlings that just recently popped out of the dirt, and they are fine now. My onions are already well established (and almost ready to be pulled), so they're good to go.

In a couple of weeks once it's a bit warmer I will check around the nursery for my tomatoes, peppers, and cukes.

The compost bin is almost done turning. I have quit adding to it for a week or so now to give it a chance to finish up. Once I take out the current compost and distribute it in my yard I will reconsider if I want to have a pile going during the hot months (smell, fruitflies, etc..)

garden update

2010-03-04T09:02:00.005-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

Two days ago I planted some seeds. I usually garden using transplants (the plant has already been grown to a healthy 6 inches tall), but this year I want to try a few of my items from seed. I planted basil and lettuce from seed. It's so funny b/c the seed is the size of half a crumb, and it just disappears into the dirt. Insha'Allah they'll grow!

I will probably buy the rest of my garden items as transplants: tomato, pepper, cucumber. Oh yes, I have seeds for parsley and radishes, but that's it.

The daffodils are so pretty, and the tulip greens are starting to come up too. I'll try to get some pictures together.

Did it!

2010-02-03T20:06:00.003-06:00

Man, what a productive week. I'm getting the hang of things like they were in the old days. I haven't been like this since before I got pregnant with Aisha! Starting last week I keep Maryam in PreK til 3pm instead of picking her up at 11:30. Man. What a difference. I have cleaned closets, reorganzied toys and book shelves, and have cooked 5 freezer meals! Having that block of free time is amazing, and to top it off, little Aisha now sleeps for a good midday nap unlike before.

So I split a lasange recipe into two 8*8 pans and put them in the freezer today. I also just make two meatloaves (2lbs each), cooked them, sliced them, and then froze them. I have spaghetti sauce divided up for some jumbo shells and for a spaghetti dinner. Oh ya I also made a King Ranch Casserole last week :)

The toys were in a state of chaos. In the bottom of the buckets I found clothing, socks, hair accessories, gameboy games, and long lost puzzle pieces. Now that I have a toddler (sort of), I arranged a spot for those toys so that she could take advantage of 'em. For the older kids, well, they're very low on toys (which is good), so it was easy to put them into a few tubs. They don't play with 'toys' so much. They mostly 'misuse' something else in the house and make it into their latest passtime.

doing some freezer cooking

2010-02-02T20:54:00.003-06:00

I'm ready to do all sorts of cooking and freezing just for the heck of it.

I'll use ground beef. 6 pounds.

2 pounds into a spaghetti sauce. This makes a large pot. I will use 4-5 cups of the sauce for a lasagne for the freezer (instead of one large dish i will use two smaller square tins).

the other 4 pounds i will make into meatloaf, shaped into two loaves on a cookie sheet. i will cook them, then slice them into slices, and freeze those portions. i think those would be good for my husband to take to work or for me to pull out for lunches. or i can keep one in a 2lb loaf as a dinner.

and what i'm really waiting to cook and eat (same day) is my friend Cara's beef stew that i saw on her blog! Check it out on her blog http://homespunkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/beef-stew.html

Of marriage and other things

2010-01-30T21:44:00.004-06:00

I realized something today, and I am actually very happy to come to find this out. It's something I think I took for granted. Not so much because I meant to, but because it was just part of the background. It took an encounter with someone who was the complete opposite of it to make realize what 'it' was. So what is 'it'?

It is something that my husband and I have in common, and it kind of sets the tone for our life. We are both pretty laid back about most things, or at least about the same things. And our outlook on things is very similar to the other's. I know that if one of us were not like this, it would seriously complicate all major decisions in our life. If both of us were not like this, then we'd probably be fine, but my point is that I am so thankful that we are both of the same mindset. This is really a blessing, and like I said, I didn't really give it much of a second thought (well, I probably did think about it before we got married, but not since then) because it is just there and it works well.

To add, we both strongly believe that Allah's will will be, and there's not much you can do about it if it is meant to be. We pray about things and ask for guidance, and then we just go for it. Mostly I'm referring to things like having children, where to live, and similar 'big' family decisions. Alhamdulilaah, thank God, our decision making times have not been of a clashing kind. We have an idea of what we would like, we try to get it, and when we do we are thankful, and when we don't we are also thankful.

This hit me today as I remembered a conversation. The people I was talking to were surprised that we kept having children without seriously thinking it over, making lists of pro's and con's, and discussing this major life changing event. I told them we just would feel like it was time for another baby, and if I suggested it my husband would say 'Sure!'. They couldn't believe it was that easy. I couldn't believe they suggested a list of pro's and con's!!! So after that, I thought, man, am I fortunate to have a husband who is similar to me in this aspect. We believe each child brings his own sustenance/provision and not to worry about the money part of having a baby. We both felt comfortable having a large family, and we both also understood that if one of us felt it was time to say 'no' that the other would take that seriously.

So yay for finding a huge *positive* detail in my married life! It's always fun to come across those :) I know I don't normally post about my too-personal life, but this was such a big deal that I had to share it! Maybe you can find something similar to be thankful for. And if my dear husband is reading (since I caught him reading this the other day), then thank you habibi :)

garden update

2010-01-20T10:18:00.003-06:00

Assalamu alaikom

Quick update that my onions are sprouting! I just put them in the ground about 2 weeks ago (I think), and suddenly I saw tiny little green shoots coming up out of the dirt yesterday :) What an exciting feeling... I mean it's as if I wasn't expecting it to happen.

I know you can't see it, but there is a little green shoot somewhere in there. I took this yesterday, and today there are lots more and they're taller.

I planted another pot of onion sets and garlic cloves as well.

And that cedar planter garden is on its way to my house!!! I think it'll be here next week. I plan on mostly a 'salad garden' for that planter.

Tied up with a thing called Life

2010-01-19T16:07:00.003-06:00

Blogging will be on hold for a short bit. When it rains it pours.

To 'poo or not to 'poo (shampoo, that is)

2010-01-15T09:26:00.003-06:00

Assalamu alaikom friends! Peace!

A few months ago I ventured into a new world free of shampoo. I put my shampoo bottles away and pulled out some baking soda and apple cider vinegar. I wasn't so happy with my hair using my then-current shampoo, and I wondered about the effects of dousing my head with chemicals each time I went for a wash. I'm also more aware these days of the fact that we (in general) are trying to 'fix' and 'improve' things that don't really need fixing or improving! So I was willing to try a very old method of cleaning one's hair and scalp, and that was with the baking soda rinse followed by a vinegar rinse.

Well the results were really interesting. Some of the time I loved it, other times it seemed still dirty, and other times it was just fine. I kept it up, washing my hair about twice a week with the solution, for a few months. And then, I felt like my scalp was just building up with lots of gunk. My hairbrush would be caked with stuff; dead skin I presume. I waited it out a bit, but then I just felt like I needed a good, soapy washing!!! So i did. I washed with shampoo for a couple of weeks, and enjoyed the fresh feeling. But then the same issues came back of my hair getting greasy and limp.

I've now decided to compromise and alternate between the baking soda and a more natural shampoo from the JASON brand. We'll see how that goes, and I'll let you know!

small steps

2010-01-13T08:55:00.003-06:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

Thank you to those of you who pop in and read my blog. I don't know how many people view it or read, but I hope it provides something positive for those of you who do come read!

My thought for this morning is about spirituality.
Since I've moved away from my Muslim community in Seattle, I've definitely felt a void. I miss being around other women who share my deep interest in striving for the sake of Allah, to raise my children knowing Allah and wanting to live by His law. And for those of you who aren't so familiar with it, it's about worshipping One God, praying daily (for guidance, among other things), adopting healthy habits that strengthen your character and body, and being kind and merciful. Yep, sounds familiar; it's all the good things you want in life, right? :) My friends who are practicing Christians have similar goals for themselves and their families, and it's been a common interest for us.

The things is, no matter what your faith, it's not easy to find people who are fervent about practicing their religion in their day-in and day-out. And this is what I DID have back in Redmond that I have yet to find here. Being reminded about God's mercy and plan, being encouraged to start certain habits in my home, and gathering for the sake of remembering God are all things I miss. Sure, I theoretically 'know' what I 'should' be doing, but having friends nudge you along helps. And I do the same for them, too. It's a two way street.

I have a new plan that I shared with my husband and hope to start in our home. After all, you can't change the people around you, so it's best to start with yourself. I am going to start speaking in a softer voice and try to limit outbursts. I know (and can see it) that it makes my childen edgier and more nervous when I act out in anger (even just shouting). They take it more personally than I mean for it to be, and that's because they are little. Next thing is to come up with a few (2-4) short family 'rules'. These will be positive actions that we all agree on that will help us improve our character and our remembrance of God. I want short and simple. And I want it to be something easy to remember and easy to embody. Lastly, I want to praise them more each day for their good decisions, actions, and behavior.

Thanks for reading this far! If you feel the same or have started something like this, I'd love to hear how it's worked out for you.

try, try again

2010-01-12T11:48:00.003-06:00

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah,

I've been wanting to sit and blog for days now. I keep getting ideas to blog about, but things keep coming up. And now.... my sick little Maryam just woke up and popped up behind me and scared me to death. Blogging will wait... she is hungry for oatmeal.

This Week's Menu

2010-01-11T21:02:00.004-06:00

Hmmmm.... I am behind :0

I didn't really plan out this week's food, but I am pretty well stocked, alhlamdulilaah, so I just need to figure it out real quick (like right now).
Tonight: bonus* a friend took a whole meal to my dad and his wife, but they can't eat it, so voila!
Tuesday: rolled (stuffed) cabbage leaves (in arabic it's called Malfoof which means 'wrapped')
Wednesday: kafta (meatballs) with veggies in the oven in tomato sauce
Thursday: leftovers!
Friday: fattet jajj. it's a layered dish starting with fried bread pieces, topped with shredded chicken, topped with white rice, topped with broth, topped with yogurt w/ garlic, topped with browned pine nuts. YUM.

Lunches and sides:
I have a huge bag of spinach that we are enjoying as a straight-up salad w/ a bit of feta cheese, a few black olives, and a simple lemon juice/ olive oil dressing. Kids love it, so do I.

Craving a chicken salad for lunch, the kind with apples and nuts in it.

Baked homemade bread, so will have that for some sides or breakfast, or with that chicken salad.

Alhamdulilaah for our blessings and food and good health!!!!

Current Kid Activity

2010-01-07T16:49:00.004-06:00

Hey guys, assalamu alaikom

We're collecting all sorts of small drink lids. (milk, oj, soft drink)
Heba is tracing it on a paper, decorating the circle, then cutting out and pressing into the inside of the lid. Not sure if these will become necklaces or get glued onto construction paper, but it's the latest 'fun' over here.

Paper Towel - free

2009-12-13T19:54:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure when it started exactly, but one day I got a little nagging feeling that my paper towel habit was kind of wasteful and frivolous. It probably happened as I was wiping down the kitchen counter. My mind started to wander, and I tried to imagine a simpler time. A time when people had less stuff, less space, and less waste. The paper towel just wasn't fitting into that picture. I had gotten used to it being a fixture in my life. The roll even had a special stand just for it to call home! Any spill or spot, and voila, I'd just whip off a sheet faster than you could blink. But I knew I had to let it go. I started thinking of the millions of rolls of thinly wrapped paper that are produced worldwide, and we just use them quickly and throw them out. Millions and millions of sheets a day, I imagine. So I wondered if I could handle it. Could I knock the habit of reaching for the paper towel each time trouble arose? Spills did happen often in my home, after all, and they're great for finishing off the kitchen counter after all the dishes have been washed. Well, I would give it a try.

So I used my last roll, and then I decided it was now or never. "Paper Towels" didn't make it on the next week's Costco list. I was going for it. I armed the kitchen drawers with some handy white rags. They're kinda like bar rags or whatever those are called. So once I was done washing dishes, I just used the white rag to wipe down counters and the table. It was cool. I decided not to feel stingy with white rags; use 'em as much and as often as I like. I also put a few in a lower cabinet for the kids to easily reach in case they needed to clean up any spills (that happens often). And it's worked out great! I use one rag, then it goes to the laundry. I never reuse one. I can't stand that concept of the wet rag sitting around the sink. And now we're all used to it! No more paper towels!!! Every once in a while my husband will ask something like 'why don't we have any paper towels?', but honestly, he's not in the kitchen that often, so it's not a big deal! I put a white rag in his hand and tell him to use that instead.

Isn't this how diapers used to be as well? Well, I gave cloth diapering a try once, a long long time ago. It didnt' last for too long. After my 6 week trial period, I was sure it wasn't for me. I know, I do realize the long term effects of disposible diaper usage are infinitely worse than paper towel usage, but I picked a concession I could live with! It's a small step, but I do hope to continue to eliminate unhealthy habits in the home and to increase more earth-friendly ways of living.

Weekly Menu

2009-12-13T19:48:00.003-06:00

Sunday night!

Here's what's cookin' for the week, insha'Allah (God Willing)

* Broccoli Chicken Casserole
* Shakrieh (cooked yogurt with beef stew, served with rice)
* American meatloaf
* Lentil Soup
* Baked drumsticks.

Garden pic from 2007

Weekly Menu

2009-12-10T11:11:00.003-06:00

Late for the weekly menu!

This week:
Chicken dish called Tharedeh I think (I will post the recipe, I LOVED it)
Chili w/ homemade cornbread
Spaghetti w/ sauce
Broccoli , chicken, and rice casserole
Rack of Lamb

Extra:
Homemade Butternut Squash Bread
Breakfast Muffins
Baked potatoes

Garden pic of yesteryear:

Oh my poor Tilly!

2009-12-03T10:00:00.003-06:00

My brother and his wife got me a tillandsia plant (aka airplant) back when I moved to my new house. It's really neat how its roots do not go in soil, rather it lives in the air. I've been spraying it with a water mister, but apparently not often enough. I finally did more in-depth research today and I feel so bad! I've been doing my Tilly wrong. Sorry, Tilly. I promise to submerge you in water 2-3 times a week so you feel like you went through a rainfall. Here's how Tilly looks today, and I'll update you in a few weeks with an 'after' shot. I read, too, that they will grow 'pups', meaning a long, colorful bloom. (all that brown part is not supposed to be there)

~ Zein's Pink Room ~

Meals for next week

Simple White Cake

Apple Whole Wheat Muffins

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

menu

What Brownies Taste Like at My House

White Chili Recipe

Menu's up

Home activites for your kids

something *I* have learned from homeschooling

I've changed my settings

Kitchen happenings and Meal Plan

fresh air and love

Crispy Kale!

Hajj Lapbook

Special Ten Days Start Today!!!

Been in the kitchen tonight

Getting Friendly With My CrockPot

Personal note

Toddler storytime and other activities

Homemade Granola Bars

Cabbage Stew

Back to School 2011/2012

Meal Planning September 4 2011

Schedules

Thoughts on my first year homeschooling

Meal Planning

IPad Apps for Ramadan

Quiet Time turned into Overtime!

It's quiet time on this Thursday

Ramadan is days away!

rose colored glasses?

Pesto Recipe

Come to Prayer; Come to Success

First Summer in School

Weekly Meal Planner

Elson Readers

The ubiquitous question: "but what about socialization?"

CNN Student News

How Do I Love Thee...

Interurban Railway Museum

A Certain Generation Gap

Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History

update on previous diet/health topics

Meal Planning, it's that time....

Indeed, After Every Hardship There is Ease

a pink sweater

Recipe for Memaw's Casserole

Recipe for Creamy Gazpacho Soup

Tentative Menu for next week

Green Smoothie

Menu Planning Friday (posted Saturday)

My Latest Favorite Thing

Menu Planning Friday!

Menu Planning

Read, Read, Read

Babylon and the Hanging Gardens

Happy March Everyone!!

Our Painted Lady Guests

Notebook Page for Studying the Prophets

New path for my blog

follow up to 'new warm drink'

new warm drink

green topic: baking soda and hair

I used to be different

Beginning of December

Peace and Blessings this Eid!

Cute Muslim Mamma Images

Little Homeschooling Update

Green Smoothies!

slightly deep thoughts!

Catching up at home, making soap and butter

my favorite month!

time flies.. is that a good thing?

I am sooo over gardening!

I love these!

first week of homeschooling

Pink and Green Homeschooling

New adventures

something I have learned from homeschooling