Passing Through This Life

Asalamu Alikum  Yay a new post  In the time i wa away ... i had made a few things and took picture so as to when i had internet again i could blog and post the pics ... then the stupid phone played up and i lost everything so i have had to start off again  my eldest daughter has become a dab hand in baking and really enjoys it more than i do ... so as she does something for the home i will share with you ... the picture above is a spongecake with cinnamon added and she made homemade custard ... this was her second attempt at making custard and she finally got it and was so happy ... i dont help her inthe kitchen she just gets an idea and goes with it  recipe for sponge is here with some cinnamon added  and the custard is made with  3 cups of milk  4 egg yolks 3 tbsp of cornstarch half tsp of salt or none whatever you like  half cup of sugar /100grams 2tbsp of butter pinch of vanilla  

Asalam wa alikum So as you know i`m not really one for baking ... but when a good recipe comes my way i must tell you about it I have had this recipe for a while and never got around to trying it so as i was making my muffin bread i thought let me try this one ... Its a french loaf and so simple and easy 2 cups of water (warm) 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp of yeast instant 2 tbsp of salt ... i felt it was a bit too much so i reduced it to 1 2 tbsp of oil (veg) 5 cups of flour mix well and knead dough then allow to rise punch back the dough then place on a tray allow to rise again and place in a hot oven it takes about 20 mins or so and masha`allah what a lovely bread we toasted it and had butter and jam for breakfeast enjoy and let me know how it works out

Asalam wa alikum so every so often i will try out a recipe that has been posted so this time  i have tried this one  Being Kate  ( Muffin Bread ) and masha`allah what a hit .... easy to make and easy to bake the only thing for me was the size of my tin and the bread didnt come up over the top when rising   so i would need to add maybe a little more flour and liquid but over all masha allah this will become a favorite i think so go try it and let her know how you got on

Asalam wa alikum So whats for afternoon tea ...well let me tell you .... after 9 years of living here i still dont know the names of a few thing and this is one of them .... what i call it is Algeria`a version of french toast with sugar.... even to say french toast might be wrong but when i was growing up and was doing cooking in school that was one of the things we were taught but not with the sugar so all you need is some stale bread i try not to buy to much bread these days as it doesnt get eaten to much ... my family seems to prefer when i make pitta bread anyway what you needis stale bread (we use french stick) eggs sugar oil to fry it in and thats it ...easy huh!!! just cut the french stick into rounds as big as you like dip it in the eggs that also has a little milk in it then fry once finished ... dip straight into sugar and presto chango!!!! enjoy with what ever takes your fancy

Masha`allah today i had a really good afternoon ....and it brighten my day as dh is away and i was feeling a little low Thanks to my friends Being Kate and kazzy and even better than that was the learning of something new to give my kids for their breaks  for school so what did i learn well Croissant brioche  masha`allah they were wonderful so soft and light and before they were gone cos believe me they didn't last very long i remembered to take a photo it was the last 2 that were left but better than nothing 4 1/2 cups of flour 2 tbsp of yeast 2tbsp of sugar 2 tsp of salt 2 eggs mixed 1/4 a cup of butter (melted) 1 and 1/4 cups of milk (warm) mix both butter and milk together and then temper the eggs to it 1 bar of chocolate dark then add wet ingredients to dry and mix and knead you may need to add xtra flour till the dough is soft and not sticky allow to rise for about 45mins then punch out .. half the dough into 2 balls and then roll out into a ...

Being on a budget mean i have to think of way to feed my kids and now that they go to public school i now have to start to give them something for break time ... i`m not much of a baker and i hold my hand up to that ... so i try to find things that are simple enough and dont cost too much money to make and the kids will like so broiche is what i thought i would try today .... i have been wanting to try this for a long time and finally i did i got the recipe form my friend  but what i did is join two of them together  so from this one  and this one and this is what i came up with so what do you think ?

So this is oe of the cakes i made for eid .... now i`ll let you in a secret this is the second time i made them The first time they didnt have the fullness like these one do ... but according to my dh and kids they tasted great The problem the first time was i added to much egg white to the nut mixture and they to help firm it i kept adding sugar well that was all wrong so this time around masha`allah i`m so pleased that it worked out ... and even better their my dh favorite type of cake ... so i can see him come home every so often with almonds for making them The recipe for this was given to me by my neighbour Nut Mixture 3 bowls of almonds (this works out about 1/2 kilo of almonds) and these were place in machine to powder them down 1 bowl of icing sugar vanilla/lemon egg whites .( it will depend on the mixture as to how much you use ... i ended up using a little over two) Pastry 3 bowls of flour 1 bowl of melted butter/margarine vanilla/lemon mazhar ...

Masha`allah .... allah has blessed me with the husband i have and the family i have so i bet your wondering why i`m saying this a.... well let me tell you .... at the beginning or ramadan i tolad my dh i wasnt going down the same ramadan road of cooking ..cooking.... cooking that ramadan iant about that and masha`allah he agreed.... so i tld him that things will be simple and not too much well masha`allah thats how it has happened .... usually on my table we would have borak  and pizza as well as other things like the chourba ... and if it wasnt borak then some sort of pies .... well this year i have done one item every day so one day borak ...one day pizza.... one day pies ... you see how it goes so a few days ago i had no cooking and decided that i would treat everybody and thats what i did ... i made apple tart some biscuits and these wonderful stuffed bread rolls    I started by making the apple tart and found that i had messed up the ingredients by ad...

So here`s another one for you using the same recipe as my stuffed bread and bread rolls i made pitta bread Now this is the second time i made them .... the first time was with just brown flour ...but i found that it was too heavy so this time around i mixed both brown and white together and masha`allah it was defiantly much better and lighter I`m defiantly liking the way they turned out and will be making them alot more even when the kids go back to school as they can be used for everything I aslo think that us buying bread form out side will be reduced alot too.... which is good as i hate waste ans sometimes depending on whats cooked the bread doesnt get eaten So what do you think...... Enjoy your Ifter today and may allah accept all of your fast

So with ramdan in full swing and everything is going to plan masha`allah i though that  it was time to learn to make a few new things one o those was bread rolls so i took the recipe form here which is my stuffed bread and increased the amount .... which is you can double of triple the amount it`s really  up to you ... i actually just eye balled it i also added some brown flour to it to  and masha`allah i was impressed by how well they turned out .... i would imagine that you could stuffed these too So what do you think... not bad looking ... and masha`allah they taste real good too

So i want to be able to try new things this ramadan .... so sitting here and trying to think what i could make for iftar ..... then i remembered i needed to make some bread .... but what to do ... then i also remembered my Friend  stuffed bread  and always wanted to try it so that what i have done here`s how mine turned out     so what do you think .......and now the inside Right i think i should have written the recipe fo you so here it is but you can also get it from the link which is coloured under the name friend 150ml tepid water 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1tsp oil 259g flour 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast as for the amount of water i just eyed it till it came together just knead together and allow it to rise and then poll it out to your require amount ... but if you go to the blog of my friend you will even see pics their 

So yesterday was a lovely afternoon ...we had a lovely visit from my friend and her daughter which made it even more pleasant ... so it was time to think what i could put on the table with a cuppa and being that i was at the end of my shopping i decided to go with scones ...simple .... but easy 8oz of flour 1and 1/2 oz of butter 1 tsp bio carb 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbsp sugar 1 pkt of baking powder (10g) about 185ml of milk ( i just pour till dough comes together ) place all ingredients in a bowl  then melt butter and pour over and mix till like bread crumbs then add milk till dough comes together  and knead place on a floured surface and roll out and cut into shapes of your choice place on a floured baking sheet and bake it takes about 15 / 20 mins serve with butter and jam Note : i will also add either raisins or currants  or with the batch i made i cut up some dates into small pieces and mixed it in

with kids in the house and summer holidays  the kids always seem to be hungry  and like i`ve said before i`m not really a baker but when a simple recpie comes your way and can be made different ways ,..... why not .... so as you know my dd 12 may a sponge one day and made her version    ........  but i always make it with jam and coconut and i`m hoping one day to dress it up ... but thats only if i can get the nerve to do so and then that will be one for the books but here is what i made and the recipe is still the same as my daughter version 

as a child i use to love when my mum would make apple tart ..... and she never made just one ... it was a;ways 2 or 3 ... but by the next morning their would never be any left the years have passed and i have always wanted to make for my kids but i`m not a baker ... but masha`allah since coming to algeria and joining a few forums i have picked up a few tips form ppl .... so i was given this website which is the same web site i used to make the cheese wedges and i have grown very found of it oh this really did bring back memories ... and especially  with ice-cream beside it so why not give it a try ...... yummmmmyy

This has become a favorite in my house and even to the extent that my dd12 makes it now by herself it`s a very simple recipe but i always double the recipe to make more as i find the original to small INGREDIENTS 4 1/2 oz of flour 4 1/2 oz of sugar 2 eggs 3 1/2 floz of oil 1 tblsp of baking powder about 3 carrots (depending on the size) remember i always double the recipe METHOD put sugar and oil in bowl and mix well then add eggs and baking powder and mix grated caroots and add then add flour little by little till all is mixed well you can add cinnamon to it if you wish ... we also add either raisins or coconut  to the mixture place mixture in greased tin and place in oven as my oven only goes by numbers and my highest is 4 this is what i usually bake on

 So last year i was introduced to these turkish pies and we love them ... especially in ramadan as it`s a nice change to borak all the time ..... now i`m not sure where my friend got her recipe form but masha`allah it is great this can be made many ways and the filling can be different to it can be savory or sweet it`s really up to you POGACA/TURKISH PIES Makes 24 POGACA Ingredients: * white of 1 egg * 3/4 up of vegetable oil * 1 cup of plain yogurt * 1/3 tsp of baking soda * 1 tsp of salt * 3 cups of all purpose flour (approx ) Filling: * feta or cream cheese Glaze: * yolk of 1 egg   Method In a big mixing bowl, take egg white and whisk. Add vegetable oil, yogurt, baking soda, nigella seeds, salt and mix. Add flour slowly and knead. Continue adding flour until the dough reaches soft consistency. Take a small piece of dough ( about the size of a walnut ) and make it flat with your palms. Place 1 tsp of feta cheese or cream cheese in t...

this is a very simple cake ... i found the recipe on facebook for some sisters and i like the look of it so i gave it a try ....but it has been a long time since i made it and now with my daughter wanting to learn to make cakes i thought what a good chance to teach her this  now one thing i will say is i have made this two ways ... the first time i just added extra flour as i found the amount to small ..... and today i just doubled up on the ingredients .... so my verdict ....todays was much better .... the only thing i wouldn`t do is double up on the salt and bio crab as i think it would be too much Recipe  2 cups of peeled/ finely chopped apples  1 egg 3/4 cup of sugar (you could add less esp if your doubling the recipe ) 1 tsp cinnamon  1/4 cup of oil 1 cup of flour 1/2 tsp of bio carb vanilla 1 tblsp of baking powder  and if need being add some extra liquid   i added some raisins to mine as well Method mix apple ...

so after many months of saying insha`allah i will make ..... i finally got around to making a banana cake ......and it was the easiest thing ever ..... the only thing is i dont know where i got the recipe form ... i have searched every where and still haven`t found out who it`s belonging to .... so if your a reader of my blog and it`s your recipe .... thank you so much .... it was really delicious   recipe    2 cups of flour  1/4 tsp of bio carb 1/2 cup of sugar 2 eggs pinch of cinnamon    banana`s mashed  takes 45 to 60 mins on a low heat Method mix butter ans sugar together first then add eggs ... after this add flour and bio carb and mix then add the cinnamon   place in a grease oven dish and bake ......

a few days ago i had a friend visit me for afternoon tea ......so i decided to make something for this ....my eldest daughter(12) asked if she could so i said yes but i watched her all the time ....she made a lovely jam and coconut sponge which masha`allah was really tasty ...but as usual i forgot to take a photo till it was nearly finished so today i asked her to make it again but this time i let her alone to see how she would cope and what we would end up with as i believe it`s the best way to teach them ......well can you imagine what we got .....neither could i ....i`m going to post the pic and leave you decide on it   so i have been asked to put up the recipe .... this became a shock for me as .... i didnt think ppl would be interested ...so here you are  2 mugs of flour 1 mug of sugar 1 mug of oil 3 eggs tsp of vanilla 2 pks of baking powder and a few drops of milk 1 bar of chocolate and 1 banana place all ingredients in to your blender and wizz up then add som...

so it`s been a while since my last post  ... well what has happened ..... i`ll tell you.....   the kids are on holidays from school with today being the last day of them ... so we will be back to a school time routine .... yayyy for me ... not ....   well while we had the holidays my dad came to visit for 6 days which really wasnt enough but that was all the holiday tome he had left .... so how did it go ..... it was great and he loved it over here  .... he could speak no arabic  but ppl understood him and really liked him ... even enough to give him some free things ... believe me that made his day ....... he loved the country and insha`allah will come back next year for two weeks   but one of the great things was for me being able to cook some home cooking things that i grew up with as the rest of my family dont like it as it is to do with gravy  .... so what did i make well it`s mince with carrots and peas and onion .. black pepper ..salt ....and thyme and a stock cube...