Winter Warm Up

As the weather changes from sunny autumn days to colder wetter winter ones it’s time to pull out the winter clothing, drag out the heater and find those warming soup recipes. It’s important to keep the body warm during the colder months. Apart from the obvious reasons of catching a chill and common colds, cold in the body can lead to imbalances causing issues with digestion and detoxification processors. When the skin in particular is cold it becomes sluggish, and loses its vitality and function. This can cause issues like a sallow appearance, congestion and dullness. The best way to combat these issues is with warming treatments, and for the skin in particular, paprika is an excellent way to warm and detoxify. Why paprika? Not only is it a well known and beloved Hungarian ingredient, it has the ability to significantly improve sallow, dull skin in just one treatment. Yes, one treatment. The Eminence products containing paprika  invoke a major response, which you will see right away by the colour created by such a stimulating ingredient, but it offers major results. Now that I know about and use paprika in masques on my skin, I could never go back to other treatments. It’s like a mini sauna for your face. If I don’t use my paprika masque for a few weeks, I can really see the difference in my skin, so I try to do one every fortnight, if not every week. As some of the paprika masques contain an exfoliant too, I am getting a really high performance home facial for my skin that is left glowing for days. Perfect before a night out or function! If you don’t have very sensitive skin I highly recommend it, not just for sluggish skin but also for anti aging, acne, oxygenating and detoxification. Almost any skin concern you can think of! So where do you find paprika in Eminence treatment products?

Hero Products:

Lime Stimulating Masque – best for sluggish/sallow skin

Eight Greens Phyto Masque Hot – best for hormonal disrupted skin, including  hormonal acne

Hungarian Herbal Mud – best for oily/acne skin types

Stimulate and Exfoliate:

Almond and Mineral Treatment – all skin types except sensitive

Warming Chicken Soup

I found this recipe through BBC’s Grow Your Own Drugs show, but have adapted it to my own (improved Australian) version! This recipe is fantastic if you have a cold, it not only warms and comforts you, and it really helps to relieve the symptoms of cold and flu. This was my favourite thing last winter. Enjoy.

Goji Berry and Chicken Soup

2 tbsp dried Echinacea root (this is hard to find so I substitute with liquid Echinacea root)
200 ml water, freshly boiled
5 tbsp goji berries, fresh or dried
2 litres chicken stock (homemade or from stock cubes)
4 chicken thighs (preferably organic)
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
12 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
10 cm root ginger, peeled and shredded
2 fresh medium-sized chillies, finely sliced
8 garlic cloves, chopped
extra sliced ginger and chillies, to serve

Soak the dried goji berries in a little water and set aside. Combine the dried Echinacea root with the boiling water in a bowl to make an infusion, set aside. Add the chicken pieces, sliced onions, mushrooms, ginger, garlic and chillies to the stock in a large pan and simmer gently for 2 hours. Before serving, add the goji berries the echinacea infusion (or liquid substitute) and add this to the soup, reheating if necessary. Garnishing with sliced ginger and chilli for an extra kick.

Warning: Goji Berries can be disruptive to digestion and have a natural laxative effect on some people, so if you’re not sure, go easy on them! Sometimes I only put in half the amount.

For further information on our warming paprika products go to https://www.eminenceorganics.com.au/