Recipes for your face!

A lot of the ingredients in skincare products come from foods. Right in your own kitchen, you probably have the makings of the freshest, most bioactive facial masks, eye treatments, and exfoliators.

Fruit acids are wonderful at gently removing dead skin and brightening skin. Oatmeal calms, yogurt tightens pores, and cucumbers soothe eyes.

Stick with organics to avoid pesticides, and peel fruits and vegetables anyway -- even organics are allowed to have natural waxes.

Some ideas:

- For oily skin, grated apple and honey, or a puree of cucumber and yogurt;

- For exfoliation, wheat germ and warm honey; sea salt and extra virgin olive oil; or a simple paste of oatmeal and water;

- Avocado, honey, and almond flour make a moisturizing mask;

- Mashed peach and extra virgin olive oil work for dry skin;

- Cool, wet tea bags or cucumber slices de-puff eyes;

- Seaweed detoxifies;

- For enzymatic exfoliation, mix strawberries, papaya, honey, and oatmeal.

Recipe: Quick Cinnamon-Chocolate Mousse (vegan!)

We had some friends over for watercress and radish salad (dressed with verjus and extra virgin olive oil and topped with sliced boiled egg), fish tacos, and Mexican corn.  I made this quick (and vegan!) cinnamon-chocolate mousse the day before so we'd have a little chocolatey bite for afterwards!

Quick Cinnamon-Chocolate Mousse for 4

1 ¼ cups chilled MimicCreme
1/8 teaspoon (generous) ground cinnamon
4 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate (at least 65% cocoa content), chopped

Combine ¼ cup MimicCreme and cinnamon in small saucepan; bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer chocolate mixture to large bowl and add remaining MimicCreme. Using electric mixer, beat until chocolate is completely incorporated. Divide mousse among 4 glasses / bowls / ramekins and cover with plastic wrap. Chill until set, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

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In Korean, noo roong ji is the toasted crust of rice that forms at the bottom of the traditional Korean stone rice pot (people in Seoul love the taste of toasted rice -- it's even an ice cream flavor there).

In Japan, where toasted rice is considered overcooked and undesirable, it's called okoge -- also slang for a single woman who spends a lot of time with gay men.

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Quotable

"When poor Southern families created 'soul food,' all they had was produce from their humble backyard gardens. Soul food started as local, organic, and sustainable—terms we’re now more likely to associate with Trader Joe’s than Amy Ruth’s. Vegan food activist Bryant Terry wants to change those associations; to bring the growing movement of health and eco-conscious food back to its (low-income) roots."

- Heather McGhee