Energy balls with dates

Dates are a blessed food, more than 20 times mentioned in the Qur’an, and were very recommended by prophet Mohammed (sas).
Especially for breasfeeding woman they are a great source of milk-producing energy.

Mixed together with some other wholesome incredients, they make a wonderful nutritious snack.

“From the fruits of date palms and grapes you take sweet juice and wholesome provisions. There truly is a sign in this for people who use their reason.” (16:67) 

Energy Balls

Mix together with your hands (at your choice and taste):

juicy dates,
different nuts (grounded),
oats,
flaxseed, fennel- and fenugreek-seeds (grounded),
raisins, other dried fruits,
spices as you like (cinnamon, vanilla, anis,…),
cocoa powder or dark chocolate (grounded),
optinal: honey or other sweetener (I don’t put it in, because the dried fruits and dates are already very sweet)

while mixing, add slowly coconutoil, melted butter or another oily liquid to get a dough that forms well into cherry-sized-balls.

store in the fridge.
yumm! bismillah.

 

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More than just eating…

In Ramadan, eating becomes something very special, since we do not eat from dawn to sunset.

And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. (2:187)

when the call to the evening prayer can be heard, it is just soooo good to finally fill an empty (starving) stomach after a whole day of fasting.
Our senses are much finer then, and it is incredible, how well tastes then the very first bite of a date, a fresh orange, a glass of water,… subhanallah.

But in Ramadan,  it’s not only the pleasure of taste and filling ourselves up that becomes a blessing, eating itself becomes a real act of worship, alhamdulillah.
We eat an drink then with much more conciousness and responsability, because we know, that the possibility to eat  is limited and that our bodies absolutely need certain things to feel well, to have a good energy-level throughout the day and not to feel overacidified, heavy or uncomfortable before going to pray or to sleep.

We get much more aware of the God-given duty we have to pay attention to our health and to our body as an entrusted good of which we are dependent. What agift, subhanallah!

O you who have believed, eat from the good things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah if it is [indeed] Him that you worship. (2:172) 

I still breastfeed the baby during nights, so I have to make sure that I drink lots and eat enough milk-producing things like dates, oats, herbal teas, fenugreek, fennel, water.

And I make sure that the things we all eat on Iftar (breaking the fast meal in the evening) and at Suhoor (breakfast in the very early morning, long before sunrise) are healthy, nutritious, most natural, fresh and local as possible, inchaallah.

This year I try to concentrade again a bit more on sugar-free- , wholesome things and also on the Ayurveda-path Bismillah!

 

Striving for righteousness

 

Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous.

(Quran 2:177)

Tune in for Ramadan

… half an hour before the kids wake up for breakfast…

planifying Ramadan,
how to detox, physically and spiritually…
making plans for Iftar and Suhoor meals, choosing relgious books to read (beside the Quran), getting ideas for the Ramadan calendar and how to beautify our home to welcome the blessed month, inchaallah.

I’ve upated our book list and now wish you all a very blessed month full of peace, faith, love and enlightment !
Ramadan moubarak said!

The M`Goun Valley

Just a jump over the huge mountain chain from where we live, there lies the valley of Roses – near to Kelaa M’Gouna, at the south bottom of the snowy summits of the High Atlas Mountains.

… Beautiful canyons and river beds, lush green valleys and traditional rammed earth houses, plus the Roses that blossom from mid-April to end of May – A beautiful region great for trekking, even in hot summer months, when you can walk through the clear water of Oued M´goun.

We stayed at this simple yet beautiful guest house of a long ti,e friend: Abdou`s Gîte du Mount M’goun https://www.valleedesroses.com/ 

 

 

On the road again… towards Morocco’s South

ready for a little family trip… heading towards south of Morocco

   

the road of the thousand Kasbahs, Ouarzazate, to Skoura and direction Tinghir

and into the Saghro-Djebel, between High Atlas and Sahara Desert

 

enough breaks for the kids, to play and to run around…
before we hit the road again… towards the beautiful valley of Roses…

weekend blues salvation

Alhamdulillah, of course, some days are not as perfect as shown in the last post…
or maybe parts of a day are great and other parts just a mess… mashaallah;

this up and down-thing often happens to me on weekends, especialy when my husband is on travel
and when the rhythm and structure of the every-work-day isn’t given.
Then I have all the five kids to care for and also want myself to calm down and have a rest…
and that’s exactly the challenge… the pressure of knowing that there are only two days to relax, …
feeling sometimes stressed by the limitation of two days and lack of alone-time, astaghfirullah.

Maybe you know these kind of days, also called weekend-blues or Sunday-depression.

After having had a very bad and sad weekend about two weeks ago, mashaallah, I decided to stablish a “save the weekend”-list,
some strategies and things to do when depression, agression or overtaxaion are getting me:

• get out, go into nature!
• writing a gratitude-list
• taking pictures of beautyful things
• cleaning out my wardrobe
• working in the garden
• writing in my diary
• drinking herbal tea (especially yarrow/Schafgarbe)
• reading Quran or self-help books
• enjoying the sun (if there is some)
• listening to the birds singing
• cooking or baking with the kids
• gettings some inspiration on Pinterest
• dreaming and creating (e.g. a treasure map)
• eating chocolate
• hugging the baby / kids
• meeting with someone
• imroving something at home
• accepting the sadness, indulge and cry
• taking a shower, caring for myself
• sleep, knowing that this too will pass…
• after sadness comes joy
• pray!

what strategies do you have for those days?
wishing you many perfect days! salam aleikoum and happy spring!