Easy Facial Scrub

My daughter is obsessed with making her own facial scrubs and masks.  She has dealt with skin problems and is looking for better alternatives to store bought skin care products.

One of the things she makes, and this is wonderful, is a scrub that leaves your skin moisturized and soft.  The scrub isn’t too harsh and can be used anywhere on your body.

I have to admit it gets a bit expensive when she uses my GRAPE SEED oil, and ALL OF MY COOKING oils.  Every now and then she clogs the shower drain with oatmeal.  That one stopped.  I was like “Really VAL?!!  The tub does not have a garbage disposal!”  But other than that it makes her happy, and really who could ask for more than a happy teen??

Here’s her scrub.

Take about 1/3 of a cup of brown sugar

add some honey

add some vitamin E

add some grape seed oil

Mix it all up and wash over your face or body.  Remember..you MAY want to do this over your kitchen sink.

You will have soft freshly polished skin.  She used this right after having a light treatment and it didn’t hurt her at all.  This is nice considering the light treatment leaves you feeling burned, and looking burned for about a week.  It was the alternative to Accutane, which we are not ok with at all.

Here’s to happy kids, and clear faces.  It smells good too.  Probably make a good marinade of some kind..BEFORE you put it all over your face.

See this face?  This is why I don’t lock her in the closet when the drain get’s clogged..I love her so much!  I’m still hiding the oatmeal.

Apples!

Ok, this recipe may seem totally lame, but it’s REALLY good!

I swear I’m not trying to get out of a recipe post.  It’s just easy.

The pic is weird..I know, but it was creative.

Take an apple, any kind

Slice in half and core

Put some butter on it

Put some brown sugar on it

Put some cinnamon and fresh nutmeg on it (if you have fresh nutmeg, I don’t..just made that up)

Repeat with other half

Stick the apple halves in the microwave for about 30 seconds, check the apple a few times.

It will come out tasting like apple pie.

I know, bake it if microwaving an apple sounds sketchy, but in a hurry this tastes great.  I won’t say it’s extremely good for you..but hey..it’s not deep fried..wait..wait a minute, just kidding.

Em

Mustard Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

My husband loves this.  My daughter likes to make it also.  I like it when SHE makes it too!  It’s actually pretty simple, you can omit the ginger and just use some black pepper.  I don’t use the ginger that often.

3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
Vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 salmon fillets, 6 ounces eachDirections

Melt the brown sugar, honey and butter in a small pan over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil and ginger. Let cool.Preheat grill to medium heat. Brush salmon with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the salmon skin side down on the grill. Coat the flesh of the salmon fillets with the brown sugar mixture.

Grill for 6 to 8 minutes until medium done, turning once after 5 to 6 minutes.

I have also made this in the oven.  I marinated the salmon for about 15 minutes.  You don’t need to marinate salmon very long at all, as the meat is tender  and sucks up the marinade really fast, especially at room temp.

350 in the oven until salmon flakes.  I like to serve this with simple sides like asparagus and roasted potatoes, or a salad and jasmine rice.  My daughter likes it when I slice garlic really fine and fry the garlic in grape seed oil mixed with a little toasted sesame oil until crispy, then I fry cilantro until crispy after I remove the garlic.  Drain the oil off on a paper towel and sprinkle it over the rice.  Crispy fried garlic and cilantro..it can go on anything!

Enjoy!

Em