I wanted to share a few books that I have loved over the years! These are books that I have been going to for years, and keep enjoying them every time. They go right in line with my forthcoming book, The Kitchen Witch, and will inspire you in ritual and cooking alike! 

Healthy Teas
This book gives many specific recipes and instructions on how to make a wide variety of teas, for health and pleasure. I mean who doesn't love tea? (Dude, if you are saying "me," then it might be hard to be friends!)

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​Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford
This encyclopedic book on healing is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. Okay, it may not really have an "inspiring" feel - it's a bit of a tome, but it is SO full of useful information and is like an intro course to healing with whole foods based on the philosophies of health in Chinese Medicine. 

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The Language of Flowers
This is a very small book, but lists the traditional European meanings of various flowers and plants. It is so fun to read and get inspiration on what the flowers say when you pick them or give them! 

The Herbal Healing Deck
I'm obsessed with this deck of oracle cards! I LOVE the artwork and the insights are always helpful. It's been a powerful way for me to connect with plant energy and think about plant spirits and just connect with plants! I'm not much of a green thumb, so I'd rather think of them in their wild habitat! Haha. 

The Aromatherapy Handbook
This is the best resource I have found on uses for essential oils.  The book details various ways to use essential oils for therapeutic aromatherapy, as well health, cleaning, and gift giving, among others. It is an awesome reference book and makes it so easy to make healthy oils and beauty products. 

Alegra Loewenstein is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. By generating these funds - at no cost to you - she can continue to offer free and fun content on her site! 

I've been thinking about the fact that my signature program with my clients is called "Love Every Bite" and yet I have never really told you what kind of bites that I LOVE! 

Now, when the Kitchen Witch comes out you'll find out a lot more about that, since there is a whole section of sort-of recipes :)  

But in the mean time I thought I'd share my all time favorite cookbooks and why I love them so much!!! 

First, though, a caveat. Several of these cookbooks are vegetarian, but I thought you should know... I'm not actually vegetarian. I was vegetarian for many years, so partly I have cookbooks from that time period, but the truth is that I like to eat mostly vegetarian at home, and when I do add meat, it's usually salmon that I cook in a pan or tuna our of a can.

This is because I'm used to cooking vegetarian, my husband eats fish but not meat, and I'm super weird about germs from fish and meat in my kitchen.  Also, it's always easy to ADD a bit of meat to a dish, if that is your preference. 

So, without further ado...

My favorite cookbook at the moment is a new addition to my shelf...

However, I also almost never follow a recipe, and with 4 versions of the same recipe it is very easy to mash them up and make my own unique version, and still have it turn out great!! 

Also, the recipes so far have been easy to follow, not too time consuming or complicated, delicious and nutritious!!!

​Another fairly new addition to my cookbook collection is...

It really makes on the fly cooking way less stressful.

Also, I know that the recipes will be easy to shop for - I won't have to hunt around wondering if the store carries certain ingredients. 

This is really a great solution for a busy person like me (or you) to have on hand. The recipes are pretty no nonsense, a great selection of sandwiches, some casseroles, lots of quick things. It's not a dinner party kind of cookbook, but it is amazing at weeknight dinners, fast lunches, and making the empty pantry seem not that empty!

Now to some of my old standbys that have bee used and loved for many years. 

This is my go to book for dinner parties!!! The recipes are not hard to make, but they are delicious and turn out well every time. That is a rare combination!!! 

One of the show stoppers was the vegetable, feta, and pesto parcels...delicious vegetables packed into filo pastry. (I didn't exactly follow the recipe of course... but they were delicious none the less!) 

This cookbook is truly international in its dishes, but it does them well. The meals are light, flavorful, and present well on the table. A mainstay in my kitchen!!! 

​My favorite book for fast weeknight dinners...

Plus... you can always grate some cheese on top if it would improve the meal ;)

Vegan Express was a passed on cookbook fro ma friend who ended up with two copies, and I'm SO grateful! Both to her aunt for giving her the same book twice, and to her for passing it on to me! 

You'll notice a theme here: The recipes here come together quickly, are fresh and flavorful. The contents are organized by major ingredient just as much as type of food: protein (tofu, tempeh, seitan), grains, beans, noodles, pizza/quesadillas/wraps, salads, soups, sauces, and sweets. The way she breaks this down and clusters the recipes also makes it easy when you haven't been to the store to find something yummy to cook in a pinch. 

The pizzas/quesadillas/wraps section is particularly helpful, since she explains that these methods are interchangeable, so you can use the toppings/filling from one recipe with a different kind of bread to hold it, if that's what you prefer (or have on hand).

She also includes a "recipe not required" section and just gives a whole bunch more ideas!! Now that is what I call inspiration! 

​The last  cookbook is also one I go to for inspiration just as much as actual recipes...

For example, The Sneaky Chef hides a bunch of zucchini and cauliflower in her mac and cheese. So if I'm making mac and cheese, I'll go look up her recipe and figure out if I can either quickly grate some extra veggies in or use some puree. Since I don't tend to follow recipes anyway, I might not use cauliflower, but opt for some cooked butternut squash or whatever I have on hand. The idea is to get inspiration. 

Well, that's the review of the most used cookbooks in my kitchen in the past few years. I'd love to know what you think or what YOUR favorite cookbooks are!!!! 

​Alegra Loewenstein & www.healthyfamilyharmony.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Clicking these or any other links to amazon from my site provides me with income so I can continue to create free and fun content on my site! 

I'm so excited to have my book be featured in some Holiday Gift Guides this year!!! 

Last year I attended the San Diego Mompreneurs Sip & Shop event and had a great time. I bought some fun acupressure crystals to put on acupressure points on my ears. The practice of placing them and massaging them was very grounding, and they looked fabulous, too!!!  I also found these cool little boxes with sticky insides for holding itty bitty things - it sounds weird, but I bought one to hold my beads for making jewelry and I gave one to my husband for holding little nuts and bolts and screws and stuff for his garage projects. 

I had such a good time, and because my book was just released, I decided to sign up as vendor this year! I was a little worried my books would not come in time because the delivery date was only the day before... but bless the publisher (CreateSpace), they came WAY early and I've had to house that box of books in my living room leading up to the event!!! 

So I'll be there with my books in person this year!! TOMORROW December 7, 2017.

​I've also been featured in this online gift guide! 
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