Monday 31 March 2014

Mini Cheesecake Recipe

mini cheesecake recipe

My children helped make these yummy mini cheesecakes - That is why they are all in vibrant colours!

I will share with you the recipe and instructions of how we made these cakes in 10 easy steps:

Ingredients:
  • 1 tub of Cream Cheese (300g)
  • 1 packet of Chocolate Digestive Biscuits (300g)
  • Various Food colourings
  • Butter (100g)
  • A few drops of Vanilla Essence and lemon Flavouring
  • Chocolate chips or other decorations
mini cheesecake recipe

Method:

Step 1) Crush the chocolate biscuits (my method is placing inside a large bag and crushing with the rolling pin!)
Step 2) Melt the butter (I used microwave for quickness!)
Step 3) Mix the butter with the crushed biscuits with your hands
Step 4) Place the biscuit mixture into the moulds and press down firmly
Step 5) Optional - Place the moulds with the biscuit mixture into the fridge to make the base set a little!
Step 6) Mix the cream cheese up with a fork and add a few drops of vanilla essence and lemon juice to the cream cheese
Step 7) Divide the cheese and add the colouring to the cheese.
Step 8) Place this mixture onto the top of the biscuit base you just made
Step 9) Then decorate the top of the cheesecake with some chocolate chips or other decorations.
Step 10) Place in the fridge for about 1 hour to let it set



Saturday 22 March 2014

Book Review - Boy vs Girl

book review boy vs girl na'ima robert

I bought this book recently for my daughter to read, there isn't a lot of choice for the Muslima Girls these days, so it is nice to find some books aimed at the Muslima Teenage Girl market! This book review is written by my 11 year old daughter.

BOOK REVIEW:

Boy vs Girl is a book about Farhana and Faraz who are twins born 6 minutes apart and their fight to be good Muslims at Ramadan.  They were born in the UK but have Pakistan origins. Will they have the courage to do the right thing or will everything they have learnt about their religion go to waste!

I really love this book as it shows being a Muslim is not just a walk in the park and it shows how you need to sacrifice a lot for Allah and Islam.  This story also shows that you cannot always rely on your parents especially if they go against Islam.

Boy vs Girl
Author: Na'ima B. Robert
ISBN: 978-1-84780-005-3






Monday 17 March 2014

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner Recipe


I have wanted to make a cleaner for what seams like forever but never got around to making one until now. I have just started a new healthy regime which involves drinking natural lemon juice daily so this means I have a large supply of lemon skins going to waste! I knew this was the perfect opportunity to make my cleaner with all those peels going spare!

There are so many recipes online on how to make these cleaners, including using orange peels as an alternative too!  Here is how I made my recipe:

Requirements:
  • Lemon Peels (cut up)
  • Large glass Jar with lid (I used an old olives jar)
  • White Vinegar
  • Spray Bottle (I used an old empty spray bottle I already had)
Instructions:

Step 1: Cut up the lemon peels and place them into a large jar.
Step 2: Fill the jar with white vinegar.
Step 3: Keep adding your peels to the jar daily or whenever you get more peels.
Step 4: Allow the lemon peels to steep in the jar for 2 weeks, keep swishing the lemons and vinegar in the jar.
Step 5: After a few weeks strain the liquid into another container (making sure any skin and pulp is removed). Dilute the liquid with water 50/50.
Step 6: Place the diluted liquid into a spray bottle - it is now ready to use!

Some people like to use the liquid neat to clean glass and other things, some prefer it diluted 50/50 and others prefer to dilute it with 2/3 water. It really depends on what you are wanting to clean.  Some people also like to add bicarbonate to their mixture.  

Here is an online link I found that shows some really good tutorials on making a variety of different citrus cleaners: http://www.theyummylife.com/Natural_Citrus_Vinegar_Cleaners







Tuesday 11 March 2014

Fun Marzipan Crafts

fun marzipan crafts fruit veg

My 6 year old wanted to make some edible crafts, so we decided on making some marzipan figures! We used the normal shop bought marzipan and just added food colouring to small pieces to make different colours. The photograph above shows watermelon, apple, orange, strawberry, carrot, broccoli, corn on the cob, cherries, grapes and a banana.

My daughter just had a quick look on the internet to get some inspiration and then made her own designs. She used a black food colouring pen to make the marks on the watermelon!

I even had a go at some designing myself - an elephant, after learning Surah Al Fil! Here is the video tutorial that I followed to make the elephant: Youtube Elephant

fun marzipan crafts elephant






Friday 7 March 2014

Book Review - From Somalia with Love



I recently bought this book for my eldest daughter after seeing some good reviews online. She really enjoyed reading this and she decided to do a review about this great read. I haven't personally read this book but I might do so at a later date, Insha'Allah.

Book Review - By my 11 year old daughter

From Somalia, with Love is about Safia Dirie a Somalian teenage girl who has been living with her mum and her two brothers in East London in England almost all her life.  When suddenly her supposedly dead father comes home. Can she deal with his demands and temper and still be a good Muslim girl?  Read the book to find out.

I can relate to Safia in this book as I too am a young Muslim girl living in England who has to deal with the traditions of a foreign dad! I really enjoyed this book and would recommend you reading it.


From Somalia, with love
Author: Na'ima B. Robert
ISBN: 978-1-84507-832-4




Tuesday 4 March 2014

DIY Istinja Bottles - Great Ideas



I saw some bottle top waterers for sale and immediately thought - WOW these would be great for Istinja Bottles. You could use them permanently in the bathroom on standard bottles or you could even place one in your purse and use as emergency Istinja cleaner with a normal bottle of water!

I had a standard large watering style can but this can be difficult for young children. These work great for young children and my 6 year old loves the idea as no more spills now!

The photo below shows what it is exactly that I used to make these bottles.  Bottle Top Waterers which are available on Ebay and Amazon too!




Monday 3 March 2014

Adding Sleeves Sewing Tutorial


adding sleeves sewing tutorial modest islamic clothes muslim blog

This week I have been busy adding some sleeves to one of my daughter's tops.  She used to wear a top underneath this one, but as the warmer weather is coming, I thought it would be easier to have just one layer instead of two layers of clothing! I have done this previously with clothes especially for my eldest to make sure her clothes are modest but still fashionable enough for her age!

I thought I would take some photos this time to show you how easy it is to do this! I used an old top which the sleeves were too short so instead of using the sleeves I used the body part of the top to make some sleeves. I made sure I use the bottom part of the top so that I keep the neat hem and saves me having to sew a new hem on the bottom of each sleeve! If you have some sleeves long enough then that would be even simpler to do!

adding sleeves sewing tutorial modest islamic clothes muslim blog

Instructions:

Step 1: I found some spare fabric and also some sleeves to use for measurement . I used the spare short sleeve as a template to cut out a similar width sleeve for my project. Make sure that the length of the sleeve will be the right side by measuring the difference on the arm of the person needing this top. (pics 1,2,3)

Step 2:  Cut out 2 identical pieces of fabric to use for the sleeve. Making sure that you have enough space to sew the side hems. (I apologise for the bad photos!) (pic 4)

adding sleeves sewing tutorial modest islamic clothes muslim blog

Step 3: Fold the Rectangle piece of cut fabric lengthways (correct side up). Then attach the sleeve to the inside of the arm of the main top. Pin the sleeve to the arm. The arm hole was a little larger for me so I just made sure I pinned it evenly to leave a small space on the underneath of the arm which I can sew up at the end! (Pic 5)

Step 4:  I then used the sewing machine to attach the sleeve to the arm of the top. I also added an extra row of stitching to make it more secure and also to add a nice design to it! (Pic 7)

adding sleeves sewing tutorial modest islamic clothes muslim blog

Step 5: Once you have attached the top part of the sleeve, you then need to turn the top inside out. Then straighten the sleeve and pin the edge of the sleeve lengthways. (Pic 8)

Step 6: Then sew along the edge of the sleeve until you reach the arm. Then make sure that there is no spaces in stitching at armhole area, if there is then secure with the sewing machine. My armhole was larger than the sleeve so I had to sew up part of the armhole to make the sleeve sit neatly! Turn the top back from inside out and you now have your completed long sleeve! (Pic 9)

Step 7: Now repeat the process of adding the sleeve to the other arm and you then have your completed long sleeved top! (Pic 10,11)

adding sleeves sewing tutorial modest islamic clothes muslim blog


My daughter loves her new top! And is happy now not to have to wear several layers of clothes!  This is ideal for older daughters who are wanting to wear long sleeved modest clothing and not wanting to wear several layers of clothing to do so!

I first attempted to do this in 2011 with some spare sleeves! I was really happy with the outcome and have done this several times since. Here is the photograph of the original one I did! http://www.karimascrafts.com/2011/04/adding-sleeves-to-dress-or-top.html