Carrot Facial Mask

Carrots are good to eat and great for your skin.  Known to be packed with antioxidants, especially rich in Vitamin A, and have been linked in various research to cancer prevention, vision improvement and lower risk of heart disease.

What about carrots and skin care? Rich in Beta Carotene, carrots are a natural source of vitamin A which has numerous benefits for our skin:

Rich in antioxidants - slows down the skin’s aging process and a natural anti aging factor. Helps maintain skin’s moisture. Contributes to skin cells renewal process. Effective for acne treatment - helps heal wounds and pimples and restore the skin. Antiseptic - strengthens the immune system and prevents infections.

I love juicing and one of my favorite juice is Carrot Milk. What about the pulp that has been left over? I decided to use the leftover pulp to treat myself with a Homemade Carrot Mask. Since it has all the goodness, why put it to waste.

 

Homemade Carrot Mask for Glowing Skin'

This recipe works to even out skin tone and give dull skin some much needed glow:

 

2 peeled, carrots.

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon olive oil - do not add this ingredient if you have oily skin

Grate carrots until you obtained a fine pulp. Or use leftover carrot pulp from your carrot juice.

Mix all ingredients together to an even mixture - consistency should be like a good mashed potato recipe - not lumpy and not too mushy.  Apply to clean facial skin and leave on for 30 minutes.  Wash away with lukewarm water.

~ Homemade Tomato Soup ~ Refreshing & Energizing

Tomato Soup

It has been raining these last few weeks and the cold weather calls for a warming soup. Tomato soup came to mind as I had a dozen of them lying around the fridge plus other vegetables and I thought this would be a good time to whip something easy and tasty. Plus, this is a great way to eat a lot of vegetables and it makes a great snack in between meals without going overboard on the calories.

Tomato Soup recipe:
4 medium ripped tomatoes
3 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 large red onion
1/2 clove of garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
500ml water
Salt, Pepper, Sugar - To taste

Method:
1. Firstly, prepare your vegetables. Wash and cut your tomatoes and cut them into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they won't soften during cooking and you'd get hard bits in the soup at the end). Chopped celery and carrots into small pieces to allow even cooking. Peel and chopped onions and garlic and set aside.

2. Pour 2 tablespoon olive oil into a deep pot and heat it over low fire. Once the oil is heated up, add in onions and garlic and give it a quick stir. Add in tomatoes, celery and carrots and mix them with a wooden spoon. Still on low fire, cook the vegetables until they're soft and translucent in colour. This should take you around 10 to 15 minutes and you should stir them occasionally to cook them evenly.

3. Pour in water to the vegetables. Sprinkle a good pinch of salt, pepper and sugar according to your taste buds and dried basil leaves. Give it a good stir so all the flavour are well mixed. Put a lid over the pot and allow it to stew for a good 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the end of the cooking, the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.

4. At this point, I used my hand immersion blender to grind. If you are using a blender, allow the soup to cool down and blend. Once the soup is blended nicely to a smooth purée consistency, return the pot to the stove and reheat the soup. Taste a spoonful  and add a pinch of salt, pepper or sugar if you think the soup needs it.

5. Ladle into bowls and serve.

My Mother's Day weekend project- DIY Self pampering

This weekend is Mother's Day, and I thought what would be better than to share with you guys one of my latest craze. Self made pampering spa beauty products. To be honest, I have spend a lot a lot of money on beauty products throughout my 30's years of life and why shouldn't I? All the craze for skin whitening, pore tightening, acne free, oil free, anti-aging, wrinkle free, look 20 years kinda products, plus all the promise in the world to make a woman look 20 or 30 years younger. Okay okay, maybe I got a lil carried away, but who doesn't at least have 1 beauty product excluding the facial wash? I'm talking about the stuff that sits nicely on your table top. Yup. The toner, moisturizer, serum, SPF, mask, eye cream... You get the whole idea.

Today, I'm gonna share with you some of my latest favorite DIY mask, and scrubs that have so far worked for me and no adverse effect but all the healthy goodness of pure food for the skin.  The saying goes "you are what you eat" and why shouldn't what you eat be good enough to be applied....

Today, for my first entry of my DIY spa and beauty care, I'm gonna share with you guys an awesome 2 ingredient cleanser that will remove all dirt and all the goop that is stuck to your face... You read that right. A 2 ingredient face cleanser. This cleanser is especially so good to use in the morning, whereby you just have a slight amount of oil on your face from waking up and you don't feel like using your harsh cleanser? Well, I got good news. This 2 ingredient cleanser will remove all that. So enough of jibber jabber, below is the recipe.

2 ingredient face cleanser

2 tablespoon of rolled oats (you can read all the benefits of rolled oats here) Pic 1

2 tablespoon of gram flour (you can read what is gram flour and its benefits here) Pic 2 & 2a

A small plastic container for storage Pic 3

Method:

- In a blender, pour the rolled oats and blend finely until it resembles a flour consistency. The finer, the better. You now have what is called Oat Flour.

- Take your now oat flour and pour into the plastic container and add the gram flour to the mixture. Close it tight and give it a good shake so the ingredients blend and mix well.

- Let this plastic container sit nicely in your shower.

Usage:

- You can use this cleanser on wet or dry face but make sure no water drips in the container.

- Pour a small amount and mix with a little bit of water and using your fingers, slowly mix it until it resembles a paste.

- Apply the paste on your whole face and leave for 5 or 10 minutes while you get on your shower business. (You know I know what we are doing).

- Wet hands a little and scrub of the paste with Luke warm water.

NOTE:

If you leave it longer on your face, it acts like a mask. If you apply and wash off immediately, it acts like an instant cleanser. Either way, it still removes all the dirt and oil from your face without leaving a dry, flaky, redness to your face.