What's cooking? Tamarind - Chickpea Salad

This is a super easy and delicious salad to impress you loved ones with! A little different from the usual salads, this one brings the tanginess from the tamarind, the softness from the chickpeas and a little sweetness from the onions to create a beautiful side dish that not just easy to prepare but also really healthy!

Ingredients:

1 can cooked chickpeas

1 small onion, sliced and than soaked in salty water

1 small cucumber, diced

1 small tomato, diced

1 potato, boiled, peeled, and diced

1/2 cup of tamarind sauce

salt, pepper

Instructions:

1. Place the already cooked chickpeas into a pot with the tamarind sauce. Cook together until tamarind sauce is evaporated.
2. Slice the onion into thin slices, and dice the cucumber, tomato and already boiled and peeled potato.
3. Once the chickpeas absorbed the tamarind sauce, mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve as a side dish for around 3 - 4 people.

Serve this yummy salad with anything you like. I absolutely adore this on the BBQ table. It also pairs well with rice dishes. 

Workout Review: Les Mills Body COMBAT! ~~ LOVIN' IT ~~

Salam all,

I have just recently got the workout package of Les Mills Body Combat, and I must say after just 2 days I am soooo feeling the difference. I never thought a workout with (almost!) no equipment (all you need is a set of handle weights and maybe a yoga mat) could get you into shape so well.

Les Mills Combat, Stay with the fight, Fitness Guide

So, it was just after day ONE that my muscles in my arms, my core and my legs were sore! I mean seriously sore, i had problems doing simple household chores - now you know what I mean! And this was just the Combat 30 DVD that I am talking about, 30 minutes of kicking and boxing. Really loving the martial arts inspired workouts which make you sweat and leave you breathing heavily. You just know too well that this workout is really worth it.

Les Mills provides three 60 day exercise plans, I am just doing the simplest one - ULTIMATE WARRIOR. It gives one TWO rest days and the rest of the days you have to engage in a at least 30 minute long workout. Their longest workouts take 60 minutes. (Cannot wait to get there!) 

This is not my first time working out, so I am not sure I would suggest these workouts to complete beginners. My sleeping muscles seem to have woken up after just TWO days of Les Mills - that is what I call results :-D. 

So if you are in love with martial arts, you surely will love this workout! I believe it is pretty worth the purchase.

If you want to know more about them check them out here:  

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/les-mills-combat-workout.do 

Or what their trailer on youtube:

Have you ever done this workout? What were your results?? Please tell below in the comment section.

I will hopefully - inshaAllah keep you updated to the results I am seeing and how it is going for me!

Thanks for taking the time to read on my blog.

Much love

Salma

Why am I empty? by Yasmin Mogahed

Salam everybody!

I wanted to share a very insightful video lecture with you all... I am sure we all have this feeling sometimes, the feeling of being empty! Listen to the amazing sister Yasmin Mogahed and find out how to overcome this feeling of emptiness. 

Feel free to share your experiences or insights on this topic below in the comment section.

Masala Chai Latte - Spiced Chai Latte my way

What is better than indulging in a beautiful hot cup of Masala Chai Latte?Hmmmm.. nothing! Try this easy to make recipe to save you loads of money from spending on ready made chai! You might need to give it a few tries until it comes out perfect, but it is absolutely worth trying it. This recipe yields 2 medium servings, or one big cup just for yourself!

Ingredients

1    cup of water

1/2 cup of milk

1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons lose black tea

1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar (or according to your preference)

Spices: 

1 star anise

1 small piece of ginger

2 black peppercorns

1 green cardamom

1 clove

Instructions

1. Using a small pot or even a pan add the water and heat it a little on medium heat
2. Once the water gets warm - but not boiling yet - add in the black tea and the spices and gently bring to boil. Let it gently boil for a minute or so.
3. Now add the sugar and the milk - do not add all the milk at once but add carefully. Milk is totally according to your preference. If you like it less milky add less, prefer a more milky chai - add more milk. 
4. Let all the ingredients simmer gently to infuse all the aromas.
5. Using a sieve, place the ready Masala Chai into cup(s). ENJOY :) Tip: Leave the star anise in your cup as a cute garnish!

Dessert of the Day ~ Lemon Cardamom Rice-Pudding ~ Kheer

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of rice
• 1    cup of water
• 4    cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 5 green cardamom pods
• zest of 1 lemon

Yields: 4 servings

Instructions

1. Boil the rice and the water in a small pan until the water has evaporated completely.
2. Now, using a big pot put in the milk, cardamom pots and the lemon zest. Bring to a boil and remember to keep stirring the milk to prevent it from burning. 
3. When the milk start simmering add in the sugar.
4. Once the milk is boiling add the cooked rice to the milk, and keep on stirring. Continue cooking on medium heat.
5. Before the milk start thickening remove the lemon zest and the cardamom pods. Do not forget to stir the milk, otherwise your Kheer is going to burn on the bottom. 
6. It will take about 30 minutes for the milk to thicken, once it is thick remove from the heat and place the rice pudding either in a big bowl or into small serving bowls. 
7. You can either eat the kheer hot or refrigerate it at least for 3 hours before serving. Garnish with chopped almonds or pistachio if desired. 
8. Enjoy!

3 Tips for super gorgeous Hair

Beautiful hair is something we all dream of... Try those hair masks and see how easy it is to make your hair look amazing the natural way, no chmical stuff involved here!\

1) Egg mask

eggs

I know, nobody likes a raw e
gg. But believe me if you want super shiney hair than apply one egg (mixed up) on your hair and scalp for about 15-20 minutes and than shower as usual, you might not want to condition thou, because the egg serves as a conditioner. Super shiney hair for a good price :)

2) Yoghurt mask

Having rough hair? Apply some plain (not sweetend!) yoghurt on your hair and let sit for about 20 minutes before showering. This mask has an absolutely amazing mosturizing effect! Make sure you go for full fat yoghurt and not the skinny version, happy no rough hair day!

Infused Oil

3) Oil mask

Not fancying the egg or the yoghurt? Go for a oil mask, u can either use one oil of your choice (olive oil, mustard oil, coconut oil, almond oil) or make a mix. Choose the oil that suits your hair, if you did never try a oil mask before go for my favorite mix and try it out, My favorite mixture consisnts of 1:1 of Olive Oil and Castor Oil, slightly heat the oil up in the microwave. Apply to your sclap and hair, wrap up with an old towel or plastic wrap. Let the magic unfold for about 30 minutes. You will LOVE your hair once you do this mask on a regular basis.

Hope this masks will give you gorgeous hair :) 

Picture Sources:

http://www.teacher-chef.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/7-19-rosemary-infused-olive-oil.jpg 

http://thejoyfuleater.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/half-egg-on-top-of-eggs.jpg 

A reflection on.... Anger

I often used to wonder what anger is, why do people get angry? And more important what is the purpose if getting angry? Ever since i started the studies of my beloved religion - Islam - there was this one Hadith i kept on stumbling upon again and again.

Narated By Abu Huraira : A man said to the Prophet , “Advise me! “The Prophet said, “Do not become angry and furious.” The man asked (the same) again and again, and the Prophet said in each case, “Do not become angry and furious.” - Sahih Bukhari 

WHY did the Prophet (pbuh) repeated this words three times? What is it about anger that makes it.... maybe "dangerous" ? The Prophet (pbuh) could have given the man three different advises, but he did not. Instead he repeated " Do not become angry and furious".
Anger is something we show as a response when something unpleasant or negatively unexpected happens to us. BUT it is not that we cannot control this response, as the Prophet (pbuh) defines a strong person:

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The strong-man is not one who wrestles well but the strong man is one who controls himself when he is in a fit of rage. - Sahih Muslim

So why do people express anger? Even often in a way, that the whole neighbourhood will be listening to the shouting. Anger happens when we let our emotions take over. Remember a situation when you got angry at someone! What happened? How did you handle the situation? Or maybe you did not handle the situation at all and instead just "got angry" to get over with it.
Expressing anger is actually a way to avoid dealing with either a person or a situation. Because when someone gets angry they shout and maybe trash some glassware and then finally smash the door and hide in a room, case closed - and most times never talked about again... sounds weird but that is actually what happens most of the times when people get angry. It's total avoidance. There is firstly nothing intelligent about it and secondly and more importantly the situation is not dealt with, If we rather stay calm and think about how to tackle our problem, we could maybe even find a solution instead of scaring other people with our behaviour.

Another interesting aspect here is: Whom do we get angry with? Would we get angry with our boss? Our teacher? Shout at our parents? NO! We get angry with people who are WEAKER or YOUNGER than us! Now why would we do that? To show how "powerful" we are and that it US to decide what happens and what not? To tell everybody that it is our law that rules?
Let's think here.. is that even according to the Islamic teachings? Did the Prophet (pbuh) teach us to mistreat the weaker ones and to shout as loud as we can to terrify them?
You know the answer... No.

So why was it the prophetic advise to not get angry.... Let's see a few points of what anger does to us:

1) Anger effects our whole body, out heart rate increases and our blood pressure goes higher which is not good for our health
2) In anger people say things they do not mean. They abuse each other, say nasty stuff - words that they can never take back and which always cause a certain kind of distance between them.
3) Innocent bystanders are getting involved. People who are absolutely not related to the fight get involved because angry people do not speak softly, but the SHOUT. Making everything they say very audible to other people in their surrounding.

So what can we do when we get angry?

Narated By Atiyyah as-Sa’di : AbuWa’il al-Qass said: We entered upon Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sa’di. A man spoke to him and made him angry. So he stood and performed ablution; he then returned and performed ablution, and said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather Atiyyah who reported the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) as saying: Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution. -Abu Dawud

Narated By Sulaiman bin Surd : While I was sitting in the company of the Prophet, two men abused each other and the face of one of them became red with anger, and his jugular veins swelled (i.e. he became furious). On that the Prophet said, “I know a word, the saying of which will cause him to relax, if he does say it. If he says: ‘I seek Refuge with Allah from Satan.’ then all is anger will go away.” Some body said to him, “The Prophet has said, ‘Seek refuge with Allah from Satan.”‘ The angry man said, “Am I mad?” - Sahih Bukhari

SO here are two Hadiths which give us an advise on how to behave when we get angry. Do ablution and say " I seek refuge with Allah from Satan".

Now tell me, what is your valid proof for justifying your anger???

Do not let Shaytan take over, and stay calm when in a difficult situtation. Work on your Iman and know that it is Allah who has control over everything and that anger is not an answer to a problem but rather makes it worse. 

Jazak Allah Khairan and Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Salma