Honey Almond Facial Soap

So I've recently been reading all about the skin healing benefits of raw honey on the skin. Not only is it great for you to eat, but it has amaaazing effects on practically every skin type. This article lays out all the benefits, but to surmise it is:

-Antibacterial and antimicrobial
-Can be drying or moisturizing, depending on your skin
-Contains tons of good-for-you enzymes
-Helps repair sores and scars
-No additives!

Be careful what you use though...only Raw or wild honey works. Other normal types of honey will often contain additives or only be a certain percentage actual honey. I got this stuff from Trader Joe's (also goes wonderfully in tea)

What I did for the cleanser was:

2 Parts raw honey

2 parts liquid almond castile soap (though any would work, I just like the idea of honey-almond)

1 Part warm water

I just added the honey and warm water and stirred it up, then added the castile soap and stirred again until everything was mixed well together into one liquid. I tried it for the first time tonight..its amazing! My skin was literally glowing..incredible what nature can do! 

Here's the final product

Followed by some ACV toner this makes the perfect nightly skin care routine!

Winter Squash, Kale & Red Onion Pasta with Sage Goat Cheese Sauce

So...goat cheese. Possibly one of the more heavenly substances on earth. I could pretty much eat it in any way, shape, or form. I was having a friend over for dinner tonight and upon seeing a half-consumed log of it in my fridge, I decided I should figure out a way to use it, and on a cold winter day what could be better than  Winter squash..or pasta..or both? Both won. Here's my little concoction from this evening that turned out absolutely delectable! 

Butternut Roasted Vegetable Stew

Today was one of those days where I could feel my body feinding for nutrition. Having not eaten too particularly well over the past few days (happens to the best of us) I could feel my body needed a big fat dosage of vegetables- stat! So I thought that a nice, hearty and filling veggie stew would be perfect. After a quite indecisive trip to the store, I came home with a plethora of vegetables. But, better to eat your rainbow than stick to one color! So here it is, my recipe for (rainbow) butternut and roasted veggie stew. 

Homemade Tinctures and Body Lotion

Today one of my best friends and I decided to take a mental health day and go get a reiki session and spend some time shopping for herbs. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in a while. After the absolutely extraordinary and enlightening reiki session, we bought a huge number of herbs to make tinctures with. I decided to make a women's health tincture, a liver detox tincture, and a quit smoking tincture. We'll see how they turn out in 3-6 weeks!

Here are the fledgling tinctures..updates to come soon!

We also made a lavender, bees wax and almond oil body lotion. It works phenomenally. Can't wait to experiment with more essential oils/ body oil combinations. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Facial Toner

The benefits of apple cider vinegar have really been coming to the forefront as of late. After stumbling across this post a few days ago, I decided I'd give it a whirl.

I used about a 1:3 ratio of ACV to water for this. Only time will tell how what effects it will have. I'll report back.

***And check out this link for a ton more health benefits and uses for ACV. It's crazy how much stuff this smelly liquid can do. 

Improv Night (Cont): Red Cabbage, Chickpea and Parsnip Soup

I don't know if this sounds appealing to you all or not, but, trust me..its DELICIOUS! Today was the first snow of the year, and I felt I needed a warm, hearty stew-like dinner. The red cabbage in this recipe almost gives it a sort of meaty texture which I never would have thought possible, while the slightly pureed chickpeas give it a hearty, creamy texture. So much goodness for the taste buds and the body! Ya just gotta try it. (If you like hot foods add some hot sauce, gives the perfect kick to it)

Improv Night: Edamame Spinach Pesto!

So tonight was one of those nights where I felt like making something, came home and found out that I was missing a few key ingredients...kind of a bummer. But luckily there's usually a fridge (and freezer) full of veggies to play with, so options are always available. We had a whole bunch of red cabbage, and parsnips from the farm share this week so I decided to use those up in a soup. And unfortunately it seems like my basil plant is on its way out, so I thought I'd whip up some kale-basil pesto as well. But alas, no kale this week! I then looked in the freezer and found frozen spinach and frozen edamame, and thought that'd all be good together..why not? Spinach, edamame, and basil pesto. Cool, and surprisingly absolutely delicious (with an extra protein kick). See the next post for soup recipe.