Being Busy Being Just a Mom

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

  A neglected blog this is. And I am unapologetic about it; somehow it just got put in the back burner but I knew I wanted to come back here to this space and for that reason I did not delete it altogether, I just left it alone since what? September 2011!

  So, what's been happening around here...? I have been super busy being just a mom, oh not just a mom, a stay at home mom, ok in all honesty... the title is a homeschooler stay at home mom. A title I never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought nine years ago. But here I am raising four children, home educating them, striving to provide them with nourishing meals and good memories. I must say I am very happy life took this turn and made me a mama of four darlings (the last sweetling came into our lives in the summer of 2012, and I'll refer to him as Soofer to continue with the tradition of giving my babes nicknames in this space)

  I am not going to pretend life is all sweet and my days are full of joy and laughter and well-behaved children who do as they're told. But I'm going to let you know that I'm going to spare you those details, most of the time. I want to come here to 'talk' about the things that bring calm and peace to my soul, things that I dream of doing, things that are relevant to homemakers and moms; I want to share new things I learn, keep a sort of journal of the various things I got going in the kitchen, the sewing corner, the learning corner, etc.

  Right now I should go and start a batch of sourdough, my second attempt this winter. If it goes well I will share the results here.

  So follow along and share your thoughts.

A New Beginning...

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

Autumn's here.

I love the rain, the wind, and the coolness in the air, ahh... and the colours too. I have to admit that I love that this season is here already. I enjoyed my summer and did a lot of fun-outdoor activities with my husband and children: We visited countless parks in our city, visited the capital city (Ottawa), went camping right after Ramadhan when one could already feel the slight coolness in the air, oh we had some fun this summer.

But time has come for us to spend more time indoors, which means more cooking and baking, more sewing and reading, more family-centred time. Don't we all love that?

:: Finally, I might just have the time to bind off that quilt I started ages ago but hat to put away for sometime when I was suffering allergies.

:: Finally, I might just get on track with my home-made bread that I stopped baking during Ramadhan and took me weeks to make a new batch.

::Finally, I might just give a second glance to my abandoned sewing machine, my sweet stash of fabric and my lovely patterns that have been very neglected.

:: Finally, I am back here in this little corner of mine sharing about the things I love and wish had the time to do more often.

How is the arrival of Autumn (or the season you're in) affecting your life?

My Banana Bread Recipe

Bismillah,

Today I want to share a treasure of mine: my banana bread recipe. I call it 'mine' because I got ideas from here and there and customized it to suit my family's needs and likings.

I make this banana bread with the same flour I talked about before and it's delicious! You can customize it to your liking, it's a very flexible recipe. I've made it with walnuts as well and it adds a touch of crunchiness that's irresistible. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup of sugar but I use between 1/2 to 3/4 cup and nobody has complained so far. The one thing that my family can't do without is chocolate chips. I use 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. 

The best part is that making this bread is a family joint adventure.

Enlarge to read recipe:

Enjoy with your favourite beverage or alone.

Two More Days

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

Only two more days till winter is officially over,of course that doesn't mean that it actually is but it does bring one some hope for warmth and sunshine. We've been opening our windows more and the children are asking if the geese are back. I did enjoy the winter and I'm sure I'll be looking forward to the snow and the whole winter gear by the end of November but for now I'm excited about what's to come.

I'd like to leave you with a few glimpses of what went on in this past winter in my house:

Happy Spring to all....

Sourdough Bread, yum!

Bismillah (in the name of Allah)

So, baking bread with regular store-bought yeast was not cutting it for me. I decided I would give one more try at sourdough (last time I did, about 2 years ago, I ended up with two rocks instead of bread) MashAllah this time with Allah's help and the informative details from Mike I'm succesfully baking sourdough bread. Smells heavenly, tastes deliciously sour and apparently is good to our health.

This is my culture

And this is my first loaf fresh out of the oven

If anyone is interested in details about this ancient art of sourdough making, I would gladly share; otherwise head over to Mike's website, he has an amazing amount of information on anything sourdough related.

It feels so good to eat bread the way it was eaten by our ancestors, whom without any knowledge of healthy bacteria and lactobacillious managed to master this method by trial and error, I imagine. It definately involves some work and time but I believe that anything that is wholesome and beneficial to us does.

I hope you all are enjoying these winter days and take advantage of it to learn the art of homemaking and while you're at it some sourdough making :o)

What Happens in my Kitchen Doesn't Stay in my Kitchen

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

Some time ago I found a simple yet delicious apple sauce recipe when visiting Muslim Hippie and I got my hands on some apples, which were given the honour of becoming part of this sweet treat for my munchkins.

I am not a measurer thus you might want to head over to her blog if you need more specific measurements; I peeled, cored and chopped 7-8 apples.

Next I put them in a pot with just a bit of water, about 1/4 cup of honey and sprinkled cinnamon on top. I think next time I might want to put less cinnamon, but that really would be up to your individual taste.

And, after simmering this for about half hour you can mash this into whatever texture and consistency you prefer. It was a hit in my house and even my littlest picky eater had no trouble devouring a cup of this yummy treat.

Oh, and I can't describe the beautiful aroma that spread all over my house, I would do it again just for that, mashAllah.

As for my bread baking season, I have a lot to share in my upcoming post. I have taken the whole thing to a new level and am very satisfied with the results I have obtained so far :o) It's been time-consuming but I'm very thankful to Allah that he's allowed me to put my time and attention to it. I believe and hope that this will become a tradition of my family that will be passed down to the coming generations.

Home-made Bread

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

Since the bread baking bug got in my kitchen I've been very busy. The first night, without having the necessary supplies, I could not wait and decided that I was going to make bread with what I had at hand. And, this came out of the spur of the moment:


          

It was good but, of course, I could not stop there. It was only the beginning of a very satisfying new season of my life: The bread making season.

Next day I went on a mission to stock up my kitchen with what I needed to make bread from scratch. Fresh organic wheat, more yeast, some spelt and rye, amongst other things. And, without hesitation I moved onto making whole wheat bread from freshly milled wheat.

           

It has been an amazing experience; not only baking these breads but feeding them to my family as well. They love it and I love giving them something so nutritious. Especially because I'm milling my own wheat, so it's fresh and it isn't stripped off anything; all the goodness of wheat goes into my loaves of bread.

Have you ever heard of Ezekiel bread? It's a recipe that has been interpreted from the bible. I made my own version of this bread as follows:

3 1/2 cup of hard wheat, 1/2 cup of (kidney beans, lentils, chick peas and spelt) and I'm planning on interchanging the legumes that I add to this mix, and possibly making it 1 cup instead of just 1/2. Will update when that happens, and at this rate it could be anytime within the next few days :o)

 Let me get back to my recipe. All gets milled and it yields approximately 6 cups of flour which I mixed with 2 1/2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of oil, 1/4 cup of honey, 1tbs of instant yeast, 1 tbs of wheat gluten, 1 tbs of salt. I kneaded this till smooth, by

hand I would guesstimate it could take 10 min approximately. I let my machine do the work, I know I'm spoiled! It should be ready when you can stretch a piece of it, without tearing it, and see light through it. Then I formed into loaves, placed in a warm place till they about doubled in size and baked at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 1/2 hour. I skipped one rise that typically takes place when making bread, but it worked for me and it saved me time.

This is what I've been doing in these cold days. Perhaps this is yet one more blessing that Allah brings along with winter; we spend more time indoors and become more creative and even take up on new interests.

I Name you....

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

A lot has been going on in this house lately; a lot of planning, baking, some more planning, and of course winter fun outside with the kids.

Meanwhile, I thought of a more suitable title for this blog and came up with something I liked. So as of today 'Profession: Mom & Wife' gets replaced by tatata.... 'The Art of Learning' which I believe suits more the reality of the author of this blog, that is me :o) It suits me better from every angle I look at it since I find myself learning every single day in every aspect of my life as a Muslim, wife, mom, homekeeper, etc. And I believe/hope it's never going to change; I am destined to learn for the remaining of my life InshAllah and am very pleased with this notion.
I want to leave you with this:

And will share more about baking on my next post inshAllah (God willing)