“Little House Living”- My New Favorite Cookbook

What do you do when one of your friends is destined to become a best-selling author?  You ask for an advance copy of her book.

What do you do when it’s as amazing as you thought it would be?  You write a blog post about it.

Farther back then I want to remember I met Merissa Alink at a blogging conference.  We couldn’t have been (or be) more different.  Her life in a rural town in South Dakota (who knew people even lived there?) was completely fascinating to me.  My life in the city seemed odd and noisy to her.  I would run to the grocery store to pick up three ingredients- it took her two hours to get to Walmart so she ordered her groceries in bulk and kept them in a root cellar.  I’m not sure I have ever BEEN in a root cellar.

As I have watched over the past years Merissa’s life has bloomed into something beautiful.  She has adopted two wonderful little boys who fill my newsfeed with cuteness.  She has gone from living in an RV (and not the kind designed to be lived in) to having a home with the land and animals she always craved. And she learned to cook.  She has posted pictures on social media that make me gain weight just looking at them.  And all the while they are free of all the stuff we put in food that poisons us.

So I was absolutely thrilled when I found out she was going to do a cook book.  And now she has done it: Little House Living: The Make-Your-Own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life.

I have to be honest my plan was to look at the book, maybe take one or two recipes and hand it over to one of my friends who actually cooks.  I expected it to be very complicated and more than a single girl without children needed.

No way am I letting it out of my sight now.  First of all the book is beautiful- I want to eat everything in it.  I swear you can smell the pictures.  And the bulk of the recipes are SO easy with few ingredients.  It turns out the word “simple” in the title isn’t a trick.

There are so many recipes in here the table of contents is 3 pages long and FULL.  The whole first section is body and beauty items and household cleaners.  When I showed the book to my doctor she was super excited about the recipe for natural dry shampoo.  She said people who go through surgery or have conditions where they can’t take a shower have a hard time finding the dry shampoo without a ton of chemicals.  There are recipes for hand sanitizer, aftershave, sunblock, zit zappers and more.  In the household section are recipes for cooking spray, oven cleaner, laundry detergent and cleaning wipes.

The next section is children and pets.  Bubble bath, baby lotion, pet treats and outdoor bubbles- all with safe ingredients.  I confess I want to try to cat treat mix with Bella.

The last section is make ahead mixes.  I LOVE this idea.  It’s all mixes that you make ahead, store and then make when it’s convenient.  Cookies, pudding, oatmeal, cake, brownies, soups, seasonings… the list goes on and one.

She also includes a list of everything she keeps in her pantry (the list is shorter than you would think) and appendices with even more uses for those ingredients.

But I think my favorite thing about the book is the lack of the guilt factor.  As someone who buys my spaghetti sauce in the jar many times when I read these books I feel guilty about my chemical filled sun tan lotion.  “Little House Living” is giving me the steps to make my life simpler without feeling guilty for the things I can’t do.  It’s a chance to be healthier and  experience foods (and other things) in a way that is better for me and my household.

I am so proud of Merissa and shouldn’t be surprised her book is so amazing.  This would make a great gift for someone or maybe is something you want to try for yourself.  You can pre-order Little House Living: The Make-Your-Own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life and have it at your door when it’s released October 20.  Or you can head to your bookstore and check it out yourself- you won’t be disappointed.