About

In the Name of God, the Most Benevolent, the Most Merciful

Thank you for visiting My Halal Kitchen!

Welcome to all things related to halal cooking, eating, and of course the halal kitchen itself. I hope you will join me in sharing and exchanging delicious halal recipes for all seasons and all meals you can prepare any day of the week.  

About Me

Although I was born and raised in the U.S., I claim a Sicilian and Puerto-Rican ethnic heritage, while following the religion of Islam.  I was a Spanish and English (Language Arts) teacher for nearly 10 years before recently deciding to pursue food writing and the culinary arts on a full-time basis. I’m passionate about wholesome food, nutrition, gardening, and learning about fascinating culinary traditions of people all over the globe. It helps that I love to cook and the kitchen is my favorite part of the house.

I  live in Chicago with my Mexican/Italian husband. Together we frequently scope out ways to eat the same kinds of food we were raised on, as long as that food is halal.

Why Halal?

Being a Muslim mandates that a Muslim eat halal: pure foods ordained for mankind by Allah (God) in the Holy Qur’an and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). That being said, a Muslim doesn’t drink alcohol or eat pork or foods with their by-products or derivatives. For example, boxed jello and marshmallows usually contain gelatin, which is often derived from pork and therefore not halal. 

Why I created the My Halal Kitchen blog

I wanted to open up a forum where I could share with readers (Muslim or not) the tasty recipes I’ve been fortunate enough to gather from our family and friends around the globe. I also wanted to share kitchen tips, stories about cooking, my thoughts on food, and where you can find all the same things I do to create my halal meals.

Over the last several years, I’ve tried fervently to educate myself on the source of food by-products so that my husband and I could avoid ingesting anything impermissible, but also so that we could enjoy our favorite traditional and ethnic foods, only now with halal (permissible) substitutions. For example, I’ve had to master my own chicken parmesan, beef tacos and veal stew because there isn’t a halal restaurant I know of who will serve it up the way I’m used to eating it.

I have also gathered a small collection of trusted companies and stores that offer not only halal products, but ones that are also healthy for us. This has proven to be a challenge when it comes to things like sausages or veal meat because not only are they rare fare finds at halal restaurants, but few grocers provide a good variety of raw and/or deli meats from which to buy and make the dishes myself.

My journey has taken me on a mission to re-create our family favorites of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Sicilian and all other types of Mediterranean dishes, while avoiding as much pre-packaged and low quality food items as possible. I’ve also gained the desire to make more foods from scratch, simply because then I am guaranteed to know exactly what’s inside.  The result has been simply delicious, simply pure, simply… halal.

I hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy creating it for you. May it be of benefit to all, insha’allah, God willing.

Peace to everyone (salaams)…

Author Bio

Yvonne Maffei, M.A., is a food writer, recipe developer, culinary consultant and the Editor of My Halal Kitchen, a halal food and cooking blog showcasing culinary tips and healthy halal recipes. The mission of My Halal Kitchen is to provide home cooks with the tools to prepare halal meals, including those with the necessary substitutions to make every dish halal. It aims to make the lives of readers better by expanding the list of available recipes that are healthy, delicious, economical and halal. She is currently working on a cookbook and continues to write and develop recipes for her blog. She resides in Chicago, IL with her husband.