Things have gotten a little quiet around here and I wanted a way to still be able to share all the amazing things I come across, from products to recipes and anything else interesting along the way, hence the start of a monthly favourites post. My hope is that these monthly posts will let me have a space to share some of my ideas and finds with you without me having to go through the effort of writing full-length blog posts, which I don’t have time for these days. I’ll also include links to recipes, where to purchase or just for viewing where necessary. Some of these links may be affiliate links.
Cakes and cupcakes
I had gone a little cupcake crazy in April. The month started with a woodland themed baby shower for my cousin in law, I made lilac coloured blueberry cream cheese vanilla cupcakes and chocolate mint cupcakes. The mint was an absolute hit. I used a few drops of peppermint oil (I used Oil Garden Aromatherapy from Go Vita Myer Centre, Brisbane) in the buttercream instead of essence which contains alcohol. The mint themed continued with mint cupcakes for my sister in law and my in-laws as they have birthdays close together in April. The cupcake theme was rounded off early May with my mum’s birthday, again another lot of choc mint cupcakes with a rose buttercream piped top. It was the first time I used this rose piping technique. The effect is so beautiful yet so easy to achieve
It didn’t stop there, my in laws offical birthday cake was a piece of luggage since they travel often and for Mr Munchies I made a chocolate covered superman logo cake filled with coffee cheesecake and a surprise inside. April is a seriously crazy month with baking, way too many birthdays!
My favourite chocolate cupcake recipe is a one bowl wonder by Sweetapolita.
Muslim Kids Guide
One of the reasons I’ve been so busy lately is because of my work on Muslim Kids Guide. It’s a new site founded by Peter Gould, co-edited by myself and Razeena of READ Little Muslims. It really is a one-stop shop for finding all the great things out there for Muslim Kids (or at least it will be insha Allah). It’s only in the beginning stages but we’ll get there.
Books
I have been reading a little more than I should lately, I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed reading. I’ve been using an app called Borrow Box which allows you to borrow books via the app using your library membership. There are different types of apps used with library memberships, Borrow Box is just one of them, you might have to check with your local library to see they type they use. I also use the Kindle App on my iPhone to read books I’ve purchased on Amazon.
Not everything is digital around here though, the kids do get real books read to them, our favourites this month have been The Very Cranky Bear series (http://amzn.to/1T3z9ym), Yasmine’s Belly Button (http://amzn.to/1T5lWIc) and the kids have also been having a lot of fun with the My First Wudu Book (http://shade7publishing.com/) in the bath. My sister in law enjoyed Aisha Dean The Istanbul Intrigue (http://amzn.to/1q4WrJG), and so did I. I also enjoyed Big Magic (http://amzn.to/1T3zl0r) and Sofia Khan is Not Obliged (http://amzn.to/1T5m3Ul).
Ramadan Preps
I have yet to start any preparing in terms of food for Ramadan, but I have been preparing in other ways. I have started making up my missed fasts, I’m really hoping to tackle them all by the end of this year insha Allah. I dug up my 49 ways to Kids Involved in Ramadan post from last year and have started circulating it again, I need to sit down and give it a good read so I can make sure the kids are well prepared too. My first plan will be to start reading Ramadan books to the kids.
-
- 49 Ways to get Kids involved in Ramadan
I hope you enjoyed the first post in my monthly favourites series. What were you up to in April?
Loved the well written blog