I don't like bacon anymore.

Muslims, like Jewish people, aren't allowed to eat pig or pig products in any form.

I happened to be obsessed with it. When I accidentally ate baked beans with bacon bits in it, I attributed the good taste to the bacon bits. Some Muslims are shaking their head at me, thinking I shouldn't be so obsessed. God said don't eat pig, He didn't say I had to abhor it. I've never intentionally tried pig/pig products. Ever. I don't even eat meat that isn't Zabiha or kosher {Muslims can eat meat from Jews and Christians}.

I'm just a curious cat.

Anyways, my obsession ended the other day.

We have a KFC here that serves Zabiha meat. Zabiha = meat that is prepared in the Islamic way. Like Kosher for Jews. I'm not sure what Christians call their method, but I will look into this. Basically I can eat all the sandwiches and fried chick'n I want. It's finger licking good. And it feels finger licking good, too.

One of us ordered the Doublicious. We didn't know bacon was involved. I don't know how we did not know, but we obviously didn't look at the picture or read the description. Short story shorter, it stank & KFC is responsible for killing my curiosity. And it looked gross, too. Maybe because it was fast food. Maybe it tastes better than it's appearance. This was an important milestone in my life. And I was met with disappointment. I guess it's a good thing, from a religious perspective.

We returned the sandwich, telling them we didn't know about the bacon strips and they kindly replaced it with a new one, which smelled completely different. And it was yummy.

The house near the school I went to swimming classes for as a child had a dog. 

And a pet pig. And we weren't even in the boonies. 

I hope they didn't eat it. Eating your pets is a no-no.

Easy Stuffed Mushrooms

I made these recently for a party and I got a few requests to make them again as well as requests for the recipe, so I thought it blog worthy and have decided to share the recipe with you today.

When I think of stuffed anything I think a lot of work. I don't know why. I've made polenta stuffed peppers before and spinach and mushroom stuffed chicken, both which have turned out DELICIOUS. But I tend to shy away for recipes with the word "stuffed" it its title. I'm glad I made these. Make these and you will, too. :)

I really shouldn't blog about food while I'm fasting but I thought I'd post this before I forgot. And I haven't posted in months so it's about time.

These are quick and simple. Recipe at the bottom.

1. Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel or cloth. Remove stems. I prefer you NOT throw them away and there are recipes that reuse the stems but this one doesn't/ Make a fritatta or omlette or quiche with the stems.

2. We will be grilling the mushrooms and they can get very dry if you do, so take a brush an coat each mushroom with olive oil or if you need to make a million like I did, put the mushrooms in a plastic bag and throw in oil. Toss it aside and make sure they all get coated with oil. They'll look dry, but they soak up a LOT of the oil. A light coat is enough.

3. Mix equal amounts of cream cheese and parmesan cheese. For about 80 mushrooms I used 3 cups of each. Flavored cream cheese is better. I used fresh chives. Add salt, pepper and garlic/garlic powder to taste.

4. Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms. Just enough to fill them is fine. If it looks like it's too little, don't worry. The mushrooms will shrink on the grill. I sprinkled the tops of my mushrooms with breadcrumbs and red pepper powder, to give it a little kick.

5. Heat a grill. You can use a stove-top one. If you don't have a grill just use a regular pan. It should be ok.  DO NOT bake these. See how some of them are burned in the pic? Those ones went in the oven and the tops burned. I was in a hurry and we were trying to expedite the last batch, since my grill was tiny.

6. Grill them, covered, until they are not firm anymore. But don't wait too long or else they'll become mushy. 5-10 minutes? And these are best served hot off the grill. Enjoy!!

7. Ps - I preferred the brown baby bellas over the big white button mushrooms in terms of aesthetics. I have no idea how the white ones tasted. But since the white ones are bigger I'd probably have used rice or spinach in the stuffing. The smaller ones become even smaller after cooking so filling them with nothing but cheese isn't as bad. :)

peep peep

Since Muslims do not eat piggies or pig products, I've never tasted peeps. There are halal marshmallows out there, but I haven't come across halal peeps. I went to an Islamic school when I was younger and this girl would show up with peeps around Easter every year. She was Muslim, too, but I think her parents didn't want her and her sister to feel left out or something because they celebrated all religious holidays.

So she would come in with her yellow, fluffy, cutie pie peeps and the rest of us would watch as she stuffed them in her mouth. Of course, she offered, but none of us ate it. I'm surprised, now that I think of it. I mean, we were kids after all. I could've taken a bite and no one would know. But I was a goody goody and just gloomily watched. So her and the non-Muslim girl would bond over peeps while the rest of us would only dream of what they tasted like. But then we'd forget by recess. Until the next day.

I'm still curious. Do they taste like regular marshmallows? Someone enlighten me. I'm dying here.

I think these are cute. And check out some more at the peeps show II over here. :)

Speaking of marshmallows, I advise everyone against playing Chubby Bunny. Especially while intoxicated. You CAN die. And wikipedia only states two deaths due to the game, but trust me, more people have actually died. I think some marshmallow companies tell you to eat one at a time, too. 

I was going to blog about other, more serious things going on in the world. But after seeing what happened in Japan and viewing photos and watching videos of the quake, I decided I couldn't do it. 

Is it just me or does med school/grad school {even though I'm out} make people super depressed in general. And to hear about depressing things everywhere you turn has a super additive effect and I get into super depression. Then all I want to do is drink tea and sit in the corner and not talk to anyone forever.

But to me, ignorance would be worse. The only good thing about being depressed about world issues is that at least I still care. At least I'm not desensitized to everything other than myself. Even though I feel like it since I haven't been out of the house in days, in front of the computer studying. Like CC said in her post below in number 8, I think people might hate me. Or maybe they think I hate them. {So, to my friends, I heart you all. I'm just busy with studying.  And other junk you know about anyways.}

Peace {somewhere out there}

Ham burger please! Sorry, our menu is halal-only.

Wearing a veil in public places may be banned in France, however that didn't stop the second largest retailer in the country from starting a new line of 22 halal-only restaurants.

Halal Digest reports The Quick company, which owns 362 restaurants in France, can be compared to McDonald's going halal in the U.S.

Read more: http://www.ifanca.org/newsletter/2010_10.htm

Halal I'm lovin' it T-Shirt
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nuhsarche/t-shirts/1623478-4-halal-im-lovin-it

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