Passing Through This Life

Assalamu Alaikum Life changes and so does the weather ... their have been some cold days and some really cold days but for me i have really felt it but i do miss that time of the year in ireland ... sitting beside the fire and drinking a cup of tea ...  of a nice hot bowl of soup and being irish it must come with some butter bread  my daughter made this wonderful soup it was hot a spicy and really warms the body ...she likes to try out new recipes this one has fennel and potato as well as chilli flakes and cream  on the days that are not so cold then something light is good  A nice light egg omelette filled with salad .. this has become a favourite of ours  and so easy to make ... it goes good with some home made pitta bread too  whats your favourite dish ???

Assalamu Alakium So its been nearly a month since the birth of my second grandchild  and wow has it been hectic ... his big sister is nearly 2 and such a handful , i find this generation of kids are different to when i grew up or even to when i had my kids ....  So far what we have dealt with is the boy having to have numerous blood test done due to jaundice , its amazing as to the level it gets to in order to have these tests done ... alhamdu lilah everything was fine but still as the yellow is still in he eyes he had to go for a prolong jaundice test to make sure its nothing to do with the liver so now we wait for the results Im in such awe with this little fellow to the point that when he cries and does this special thing with his bottom lip i find my heart breaks and all i want to do is pick him up and cuddle him and then he does it a second time and  find tears coming into my eyes ,,,,ive become one of those soppy grandmothers lol,,, But r...

Asalamu alikum  I'm back and ready to go ... things have changed and i started to learn some new recipes so i think it is a great time to start posting again  so what have i learned well the first thing is algerian bread called motula Ingredients 3 bowl of flour 1 bowl of seomlina 3 tbsp yeast 6 tbsp of sugar 3 tbsp of salt  and around 2 bowls or warm water ..you may need more  my next post i will take pics of every stage of making the dough  the bread above is made on the tajinn but you call also make it in the oven your oven must be very hot 

Asalamu alikum alot has happen this last year we moved into our new home and even tho we moved it isnt finished but alhamdu lilah i love it .. we have all turn a year older and my daughter seems to have gotten the baking bug and love making caked this is one of hers .. it is a simple sponge cake in fact it is 3 cut in to half and a coloring added to each ..she made a cream to place between each and then when assembled she covered it with cream and then place  fondant over  it and decorate it she did this when we held the monthly meeting in my home and it went down a treat since then she has been experimenting in the kitchen .... and i will hopefully post some of her creations here to show you  OPEN PIE The crusty is  2 cups of flour  10grms of baking powder  a picnch of salt and sugar  half cup of oil  and water to bring it together  the dough can be placed into the fridge for about a half hour ...

Asalamu Alikum For months my oven hasn't worked and all of a sudden it was working again so the first thing i made was pizza roll ... while doing this i was teaching my daughter my 13 year old how to do this as my 15 year old already knows how to this is basically the samr as the homemade pizza i make only the sauce is a little different ... all i do is use tomato puree and add spices of my choice and then i thin it out to make it easier to spread it is roll out like normal pizza here is my recipe for that you can add any topping and then just take the side and roll the dough till it's like a log ... then cut into rounds and place on tray ... i will add cheese on top as well as the cheese that is inside and then bake for about 15 to 20 mins

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  

Asalamu alikum Well it sure has been a long time since i posted so i thought let me share this Pocasi recipe with you while i remember This soup is made from split green peas first i wash the peas and then add them to my pot (i used a pressure cooker) i added onion ... garlic..... i diced up carrots ...courgettes...and potato into  really small bits and added to the pot i also added black pepper....salt ...cumin...and razel hanut.... fill with water and placed lid on  and allowed to cook about 30 to 40 mins in total ... then let the pressure out and open then  stir.... if you need more water add and allow to cook towards the end add some tomato puree and allow to thicken up a little .... when i make this i do not use oil and i should say that this type of soup will continue to thicken and even the next day you will need to add more water to thin out ... but masha`allah is a really nice soup

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 ...

So as you know kids are well and truly back in school and home life has gotten quieter .... in my house this is a change and the biggest change is having the kids come home for their lunch everyday ...as before their were in private school and got fed their I must admit i like it ... it keeps me on my toes and gives me bak the routine i use to have so it`s all good For lunch i do like to give them something lite as i do like the idea of them going back to school and feeling heavy and not giving their full attention to the teacher  So i made these sweetcorn fritters ... these i had last year in my friends house and loved them ... and i had made them a few times and then stopped ...and really forgot about them till just now .... their easy and tasty 1 tin of sweetcorn small onion diced really small some parsely black  pepper and salt 2 eggs take small spoon fulls and drop in to hot oil and dont press them down then once cooked eat as you please ....

So yes once again another djuezzes .... one of the thing i love about algeria that one name can mean so many things So what djuezzes did i make ... well it`s a mince meat balls in a red sauce with carrots and peas ... the carrots are diced and the spices used are black pepper , cumin, salt . and paprika ... i also use carwia  and garlic then i cut some potatoes in rounds and fried them and that`s it i was first introduced to this by a friend and in her husband family they would put chilli in it to make it hot ... now masha`allah i love it that way ... but my kids aren't too fond of it  In my husband family they make something similar but the carrots are cut in circles and they dont but chilli or paprika in it or even carwia ... but when i make it i do  they also dont use garlic but i do .. this is how it looks

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 it has come to it ... Back to menu Planning and tightening the purse string a bit  especially with the kids back to school on sunday and they will now be coming home for lunch so i need to be more orgnaised .. So over the last few day thats what i have been doing i made my menu plan for the week and masha`allah so far so good i have stayed on track I was told about this dish form my friend Being Kate and masha`allah i could believe ow simple and tasty it was and also how one piece of a chicken breast could be stretched and still everybody have some so yes it is a pasta dish .... made in a bachemal sauce but without the butter and the chicken is poached in some chicken stock and then shredded it went down a treat masha`allah so this will be used again ... jazak`allah khair umm z

So now with the kids back to school i have to try to make extra things so as to fill their tums and one of those things is Msmem now i have made these a few time but always had a little problem with them ... so i started to research them and found a youtube video on them and masha`allah was a difference it is measurement are totally up to each person for what i made today ... i used 1 bowl of semolina fine and 1 bowl of flour and salt and mixed with water but i followed some of the ways of this video  http://youtu.be/d9yC9Nf1FHs ‫

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 ...

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 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 i thought that i should every so often do a review on something that i have tried form other blogs and their recipes .... i think it`s a great way to let other know that it does work and tastes great so here`s one for you .... this recipe come form a very good friend of mine and her blog Being Kate Masha`allah we always make this type of food in out house but never thought to do it the way kate makes it so i thought lets try it and see Well masha`allah it was excellent  and looks so much better than the way most algerians do it ...which is by mixing in the eggg and keep mixing which by the end doesnt look very appealing here`s how it turned out for me I would defiantly recommend this  recipe and tell you to pop by kates blog and let her know weither you liked it too