oooh ouch.....

Last night I caught up with an old friend who is back in town for a bit. It was great to chat and have an evening out where I could let my hair down. The part I forgot about going out (it's been a while!) is the horrendous hangover the next day. Normal painkillers just haven't made a dent so I've headed over to the old faithful books of Kate West and found the following:

"The Morning after the Night before"
3 Drops Rosemary
3 Drops Rosewood
3 Drops Rose



Add to bath and relax

Now feeling almost human again I look at my texts and find that I have an invite for a night out next week, think a trip to the shop for more oils might be needed in the next few days..

We got the dreaded sniffles

And we’ve got some rather sore throats, so I thought I’d make a “Kill or Cure” soup to try and recover some sanity. The following is a recipe for Chilli Soup, from Kate West’s Real Witches Kitchen and is really rather yummy. Just mind you wash your hand after chopping the chillies or your eyes will water for all the wrong reasons as I found out.

Similar to Chilli-con-carne, this helps to clear congestion and drive away colds and flu.

½lb beef mince
2 sliced onions
2 small finely chopped chilli peppers
2 sliced cloves of garlic
1 large sliced red pepper
3tsps paprika powder
1 tin of kidney beans
1 tin of tomatoes (the last of our summer crop, boohoo!)
1 pint of water

Fry the mince and the onions without any added fat until the mince is fully cooked. Add the chilli peppers, garlic and red pepper and cook gently for a further 5 minutes. Add the paprika, kidney beans, tomatoes and water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with warm homemade bread.

After Exercise Oil

I have been told for various health reasons that I have to lose weight and soon. So I have been going for lengthy walks, some swimming and today I started at the local gym who very kindly said I could have, till March, free use with guidance to get me started. Ouch! I had really forgotten about most of those muscles and it showed. So I thought as Littleun was at nursery I’d have a relaxing bath with some oil to ease the aches. I remembered one in the first Kitchen Witches book I read, by Kate West.

You’ll need the following:
1tsp of base oil
3 drops of camomile oil
3 drops of lavender oil
2 drops of lemongrass oil
2 drops of rosemary oil

This was the first ever oil I’ve made and I am quite chuffed with the results. I only wish we had a supplier of true essential oils locally, I have to drive or take the train to the biggest town in the county which is 50ish miles away each time I want anything.

Btw in my first 6 weeks I’ve lost 16lbs, yippee!

A nearby Lavender farm we visited in the summer