You're scrolling on Pinterest (or my Instagram feed 😉) and you found this amazing dessert that you want to make, like right now! You excitedly sprint to your kitchen to begin making it... Until you realize you don't even have some of the most basic ingredients on the list! How annoyed do you get? Very! It's literally the worst.

This post is dedicated to all the essentials you should always have stocked in your pantry and refrigerator, that way whenever you want to bake spontaneously, you have practically everything at your fingertips!

Let's get started, bakers!
​(Feelin' like I'm on Holiday Baking!)

There are a list of things that you should always have stocked in your pantry or spice rack if you want to be ahead of the game!

​All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar
Brown sugar
Baking powder
Baking soda
Corn starch
Dry active yeast
Vanilla extract
Variety of nuts
Semolina
Chocolate chips
​Instant coffee
Cocoa powder
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
​Salt
Pumpkin spice
​Cookie spices

Most of these refrigerator essentials you should have in your refrigerator right now! However, if you don't, you must!

Milk
Eggs
​Sour cream
Unsalted butter
Cream cheese
​Fresh fruit

Now that you have all the essentials stocked in your refrigerator and pantry, you need to make sure you have the basic baking supplies! Without these, how would you even use the ingredients?!

Electric handmixer
Stand mixer (great investment)
Whisks
Silicone spatulas
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups
Mixing bowls
Sifter
Variety of baking pans
Wire rack
Baking sheets
Disposable piping bags
Rolling pin
Wooden spoons
Pastry cutter
Food processor
​Muffin liners

Congratulations! - Now that you have all the essentials every baker needs, you are prepared to bake almost anything you want! Even if you don't call yourself a "baker," these are things almost everyone should keep stored in their home! You'll end up needing them at some point!

Well, I hope this helped! Now, go explore my desserts and get baking!

​
Sabreen Said

Alhamdulillah, Ramadan is approaching faster than ever! Each year, it appears to go by quicker and quicker, subhanAllah. It is my absolute favorite time of year for many reasons, which I will discuss. With this year's Ramadan being very unique, it is a good idea to prepare yourself and what your Ramadan will look like, inshAllah.

Before I begin, I pray that Allah swt blesses you and your family with a beautiful, healthy, and beneficial Ramadan. Now, let's get started!

Growing up, you don't necessarily see the true benefits of Ramadan. Sometimes, it's easy as a young child or teenager to view Ramadan as a headache, inconvenience, or a burden - it's sort of normal. It's okay to feel this way if you haven't truly learned the benefits you get from Ramadan and how important it really is. Ramadan is a cleanse for our mind, soul, and bodies. It is to teach lessons and to purify our hearts. It is to guide us closer to our Creator and to practice being better Muslims while the whispers of shaytan are no longer guiding our actions. It gives us the chance to ask Allah swt for His forgiveness of all sins and protection of all evils and immoralities. If we truly take advantage of each Ramadan that Allah swt gives us the chance to be here for, we will then have a successful Ramadan, inshAllah.

My goal for week 9 is to simply get back into routine. Even though I’ve been going to the gym 5 days a week, most of my workouts are just 500 calories — I want to start reaching higher calorie goals more often! With eating, I really just need to shape up. I cut myself some slack here and there and I don’t want it to turn into breaking my habit. So I’m going to try to limit more. However, I am allowing myself to eat a small amount of carbs everyday so I can get my energy back.

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• ​Lunch — 12 diwali, 1 egg roll
• Dinner — steak taco salad w a little bit of the fried tortilla
• Snacks — iced coffee, dark chocolate covered almonds

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 10 m
• Treadmill — 10 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 10 m
• Squats — 10 m

​Total calories burned:​

Well, last week was horrible. I didn’t do great in the gym at all and my eating habits weren’t the greatest. I honestly felt like I was slipping at one point! But I can’t — I’ve come way too far! My goals for this week is to get back into routine. Burning at least 500-600 calories minimum in the gym and eating a small amount of carbs every other or every two days. I need to lose at least 1-2 pounds this week. I’ve been stalling!

145.8

⭐️ = I met my workout goal or I did well with eating that day!

Exercise ⭐️

• Stairs — 20 m
• Treadmill — 25 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 10 m

Total calories burned: 800 🔥

Food ⭐️ / CARB DAY

• ​Breakfast — coffee, oatmeal bar
• Lunch — chicken panini w 1/2 greek soup
• Dinner — homemade chipotle w cauliflower rice
• ​Snacks — iced coffee, 3 shortbread girl scout cookies

Exercise

• Stairs --
• Treadmill --
• Elliptical --
• Arc trainer --

Total calories burned:

Food / CHEAT MEAL

• ​Breakfast — coffee, oatmeal bar
• Lunch — steak taco salad w a little of the fried shell
• Dinner — cheat meal, dessert
• Snacks — iced coffee

I got really busy and couldn’t keep up with my online fitness and health journal, so from 2/22 - 3/1 I did not post. I did eat healthy for the most part and worked out 5 days each week. I just got so out of the loop with posting and needed a mental break. So, I will be continuing with 3/2 as “week 9.”

My goal for this week is to reach 142. I’ve been stuck around 145 for a couple weeks and it’s getting annoying! I finally reached 144, so I’m hoping to go hard this week and do more. I want to go to the gym for 6 days and only eat carbs two days of the week: on Friday and Sunday.

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 30 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Squats — 95 lb / 4 sets / 10 reps
• Legs — 10 m
  
• Abs — 5 m
  

Total calories burned: 510 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 1/2 banana
• Lunch — chicken breast
• Dinner — pesto chickpea pasta
• Snacks — coffee, 1 sugar-free pb cup, cashews, kind bar

Exercise

• Stairs — 20 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Treadmill — 30 m
• Arc trainer — 15 m

Total calories burned: 500 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 1 chocolate covered strawberry
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — valentines day cheat meal / dessert
• Snacks — coffee, blue corn chips w artichoke dip, chocolate cupcake

Note: I did not do well AT ALL the last two days. I need to get back on track with perfect eating and no more days off the gym for the next 5 days!

Exercise

• ​Treadmill — 30 m
• Stairs — 20 m
• Elliptical — 20 m

Total calories burned: 420 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 2 boiled eggs
• Lunch — 1/2 protein shake
• Dinner — greek chicken, veggies, soup
• Snacks — pink drink, sunflower seeds, coffee

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 10 m
• Treadmill — 20 m
• Elliptical — 10 m

Total calories burned: 250 🔥
Worst workout ever 😭
​
Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, kind bar
• Lunch — greek chicken salad
• Dinner — mansaf w cauliflower rice
• Snacks — coffee, tea, cheese/crackers, blue corn chips w guacamole, spinach artichoke, & salsa, 2 small gluten-free pumpkin bars

Exercise

• ​1st workout — 440
• 2nd workout — 300

Total calories burned: 740 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — iced coffee, labna, olives, cucumber, 1 small pita bread, 1/4 cheese bread
• Lunch — 1 small meat pie
• Dinner — diwali and ribs (had to, lol)
• Snacks — a handful of popcorn, blue corn chips and artichoke dip

​Horrible eating day 😭

Since it seems that my body is slowing the weight loss down, I hope to lose two pounds this week. Usually, people lose 1-2 pounds per week! This last week, I only lost a pound, so hopefully I lose two this week. In addition, I would like to go to the gym six days again this week and only eat heavy carbs two days.

Exercise

• Elliptical — 25 m
• Stair master — 30 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Ab cycle — 10 m

Total calories burned: 780 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 1/2 g.f. banana bread
• Lunch — greek chicken salad
• Dinner — creamy mushroom spinach chickpea pasta
• Snacks — 2 coffees, 1/2 skinny brownie brittle, protein shake

Exercise

• ​Stair master —15 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Elliptical — 10 m
• Arc trainer — 20 m

Total calories burned: 400 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — small bowl of mushroom spinach chickpea pasta
• Dinner — cheat meal, dessert
• Snacks — coffee, 5 protein bear bites, rice cake w bananas, almond butter, and cool whip, gluten-free blueberry muffin

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 30 m
• Elliptical — 20 m
• Legs — 10 m
• Abs — 10 m

Total calories burned: 580 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, gluten-free blueberry muffin
• Lunch — protein shake
• Dinner — cheeseburger, fries, and 3 onion rings 🤦🏻‍♀️
• Snacks — coffee, blue corn organic chips w spinach dip, chocolate birthday cake 🤦🏻‍♀️​ ​

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 30 m
• Treadmill — 20 m
• Elliptical — 10 m
• Squats — 10 m
• Triceps — 5 m
  
• Abs — 15 m

Total calories burned: 700 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 2 gluten-free choc chip pancakes
• Lunch — chicken salad
• Dinner — zucchini lasagna, creamy chicken breast
• Snacks — coffee

Exercise

• ​Stairs — 40 m
• Treadmill — 20 m
• Elliptical — 10 m

​Total calories burned: 620 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — small piece of zucchini lasagna
• Dinner — stuffed greek chicken breast w mushroom, spinach, & cheese w cauliflower rice
• Snacks — kind bar, protein shake

My goal for week five is to simply get back on track! Being on vacation in week four set me back a little bit since I ate whatever I wanted to actually enjoy myself, which is okay with me because you need to live a little once in a while! The important thing is that I didn’t break my habit and just give up — I’m ready to take on week five! My goal is to go to the gym for six straight days and to ONLY eat major carbs on Super Bowl Sunday. Let’s get it!

146
​
*Gained back a few pounds from my vacation and not working out consistently! Whoops. 🤭 I have to get back down to 143, hopefully by the end of the week.*

Exercise

• Stair master — 30 m
• Treadmill — 20 m
• Elliptical — 30 m

Total calories burned: 750 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — coffee, 4 pineapple chunks
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — 1.5 filet mignons, salad w ranch, sautéed spinach, & 1/2 cup cauliflower rice
• Snacks — 2 baby tootsie rolls, 1/2 cup grapes, crackers, and cashews, 1 gluten-free chocolate cookie, coffee

Exercise

• ​Fitness Thursday — jogging, sprinting, stairs, suicides, wall sits, planks, leg lifts, and shuffles / 50 m / 360 calories 🔥
• Gym — 300 calories

Total calories burned: 660 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, protein shake
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — small cream of potato soup, sautéed chicken breast, roasted potatoes, & eggplant parmigiana w a Diet Pepsi and a few slices of caramelized bananas
• Snacks — a small assortment of grapes, cheese & crackers, cashews, dark chocolate covered almonds, organic blue corn tortilla chips, and one parfait bite, coffee

I ATE WAY TOO MUCH TODAY!!! 😩 I have to eat super clean the next two days and limit myself much more.

Exercise

• ​Treadmill — 12 m
• Stair master — 12 m
• Elliptical — 20 m
• Squats — 4 sets / 10-15 reps / 95 lb
• Legs — 15 m
• Abs — 5 m

I forgot my watch, so I’m guessing I burned at least 600 calories since I worked out for an hour and a half! 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — coffee, banana
• Lunch — small bowl of the lemon chicken chickpea pasta
• Dinner — greek salad, greek lemon soup
• Snacks — coffee, cheese & crackers, grapes, & 1.5 gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

Exercise

• ​Treadmill — 15 m
• Stair master — 20 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 15 m

Total calories burned: 500 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — caramel latte, half steak hash bowl w easy fried onions from The White Sheep
• Lunch — none
• Dinner — cheat meal, dessert
• Snacks — coffee, organic blue corn chips & salsa, spinach & artichoke dip

Exercise

• Stair master — 20 m
• Treadmill — 10 m
• Elliptical — 20 m
• Arc trainer — 10 m

Total calories burned: 425 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — chicken salad, pineapple
• Dinner — skinny steak stir fry w cauliflower fried rice
• ​Snacks — coffee, crackers & cheese, grapes

Exercise

• Stair master — 25 m
• Treadmill — 25 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 10 m

​Total calories burned: 680 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 1/2 gluten-free banana bread
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — pot roast, carrots, & chicken noodle soup
• Snacks — coffee, tea, protein shake

I want to say I’m so proud of myself for making it to four whole weeks!! Super excited about passing the big 21 days! This means I should’ve created a habit and I truly feel like I did. At this point, I feel like there’s no stopping now! I’m loving my progress so far, but I’m sure it’ll slow down a bit since most of the weight I’ve lost already was water weight. But whatever it is! I’m proud. In week three, I went to the gym 6/7 days!! My eating is pretty good for the most part — sometimes I eat too many healthy snacks, lol. But inshallah that’ll change!

I’m hoping to lose a pound this week, at the very least. I won’t be able to go to the gym Saturday — Tuesday since I won’t be in town, but I’ll be getting some exercise on my trip for sure inshallah! So I guess my goal is to burn at least 400 calories each of those four days I’m away. I’m going to try my best not to let go of myself those days either!! Going to try and stay away from carbs and limit myself as needed. I don’t want to break my habit!

Exercise:

• ​Stair master — 22 m
• Treadmill — 20 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 15 m

Total calories burned: 650 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — homemade chipotle w cauliflower rice & blue corn tortilla chips
• Snacks — coffee, cauliflower cheddar crackers, 2 gluten-free cookies

Exercise

• ​Stair master — 20 m
• Treadmill — 20 m

Total calories burned: 350 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — mansaf w cauliflower rice
• ​Snacks — organic blue corn chips, spinach & artichoke dip, 3 tea biscuits, tea

Ah, my favorite time of the week! I absolutely love a cheat meal. It’s what keeps me going all week — just the thought of devouring some greasy pizza or deliciously fried-to-crisp buffalo wings with a large glass of refreshing Pepsi! Not to mention the dessert afterwards filled with tons of sugar and calories! 😍 It’s a moment to look forward to, I know! Cheat meals are good for you, too — which we’ll talk more about. ☺️

First, I want to declare something. There’s a huge difference between a cheat meal and a cheat day. You shouldn’t dedicate one whole entire day to cheating — this is what will cause you to crave more of the bad food for the next 6 days that follow. It could take you out of habit and on top of that, you’re taking in way too many calories — setting yourself back a few days. What’s the use? You’re only going to make the next week hard af for yourself. So quit trying to make the cheat “day” thing happen — it’s not going to happen! Just take one meal of one day where you eat anything you want! Make it good... But prepare yourself for it.

What I like to do is prepare my belly for my cheat meal. I don’t want to feel bloated going into it and I don’t want to eat a ton of calories before or after it, either. So it’s smart to plan around your cheat meal! This is what I do:

My cheat meal is always on a Friday. So, the day before it, I do not touch any carbs (rice, bread, or pasta). I try to limit my snacks and eat simply. The day of my cheat meal, I won’t have any breakfast — just coffee. I’ll have a very light lunch without any carbs and then I’ll have my cheat meal with a dessert without limits, but that’s all I’ll eat for the rest of the day. Ideally, I’ll try to go to the gym after my cheat meal if I could instead of before... Also, try to plan to go to the gym the day before and day after your cheat meal! Then, the day after my cheat meal, I also do not eat any carbs. This way I eliminated heavy foods the day before, on, and after, and the cheat meal basically fills those spots and I don’t feel like I put myself back a couple days. It works great! The morning after my cheat meal, I was my lowest weight in this journey: 145.8! If you prepare yourself like this, you won’t fall short.

You should be like me and be very particular in what you're going to eat as your cheat meal! Come on, this meal only comes ONCE each week! You have to make it good. If you tend to stay off major carbs throughout the week, be sure to have a ton of carbs in that one meal so that you get that satisfaction you were missing out on! I also love to drink a big glass of soda, have fried food, and a dessert with tons of sugar! Why not — make the most of your cheat meal! You've worked hard all week and this is your reward... Just make sure you are preparing for the cheat meal so you aren't doing much damage and you still feel good about yourself the next day!

All in all, just remember: cheat meals are important. They give us the opportunity to take a break from the strict eating habits we've been accustomed to all week. In addition to that, cheat meals help reset our hormones responsible for metabolism and insulin regulation. They also help replenish glycogen for increased energy and keep calories brining and fat torching mechanisms high (www.ligestylefitness.co.uk). This is all good news!

So, DO NOT SKIP your cheat meal! No matter how on a roll you're feeling or how good you're feeling... It's what’s best for you as long as you prepare and plan around it!

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!
Email: sabreensaideat@gmail.com
IG: @sabreensaideat

Xoxo,
Sabreen

I’m really proud of myself for going to the gym 5 days last week! My goal is to go another 5 days this week. I also would like to not eat any heavy carbs 4 days this week! The goal is to shed another 2 pounds by next Wednesday. Fingers crossed! 🤞🏼

Exercise

• ​Stair master — 15 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Elliptical — 20 m
• Arc trainer — 10 m

Total calories burned: 450 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — coffee, 2 parfait bites
• Lunch — 3 falafel, 4 tbsp hummus, and 1/4 cup tabooleh
• Dinner — 2 filet mignon, celery, and ranch
• Snacks — coffee, 2 dark chocolate almonds, grapes/apple/cheese/crackers, and strawberry w cool whip, granola, and almonds.

Morning weight: 145!!!!!! 9 pounds away from my wedding weight! And 5 days away from creating a habit iA!

​Exercise

• Treadmill
• Stair master
• Rope
• Squats
• Legs

Total calories burned: 480 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — chipotle bowl w/o rice
• Dinner — 2 skinny stuffed bell peppers
• Snacks — coffee

Exercise

• ​Squats — 4 sets of 85 lb / 10-15 reps
• Stair master — 15 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Elliptical — 20 m
• Rope — 4 sets of 30 reps
• Abs — 10 m

Total calories burned: 650 🔥

Food

• Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — 1/2 Greek salad, 1/2 Greek soup
• Dinner — cheat meal w dessert 🤪
• Snacks — coffee

Exercise

• ​Stair master — 15 m
• Treadmill — 15 m
• Elliptical — 15 m
• Arc trainer — 15 m

Total calories burned: 550 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, 2 boiled eggs
• Lunch — 4 kufta balls with olives
• Dinner — 1 baked chicken breast w carrots and cauliflower rice
• Snacks — 1.5 gluten-free cookies, coffee, gluten-free crackers w white cheddar cheese & grapes

Exercise

• Elliptical — 125 cals
• Stair master — 125 cals
• Treadmill — 125 cals
• Arc trainer — 125 cals

Total calories burned: 550 🔥

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee, hummus w meat, 1 falafel, Syrian cheese, olives, 1 piece of cut da carb bread (9 g carbs)
• Lunch — skinny pizza
• Dinner — chicken vegetable w cauliflower rice
• Snacks — coffee, gluten-free banana nut bread, cheese & gluten-free crackers, fruit

Exercise

• ​Treadmill — 10 m
• Stair master — 10 m
• Arc trainer — 15 m

Total calories burned: 370 🔥
​
Note: Proud of myself bc this was supposed to be my second off day, but I pushed myself to go. Went 6 days this week!!

Food

• ​Breakfast — coffee
• Lunch — 1/2 Greek soup, Greek lemon soup
• Dinner — 2 filet mignon, asparagus w cheese, & a couple bites of cauliflower mash
• Snacks — coffee, 2 gluten-free fudge brownies, fruit, cheese, & crackers