The Green Queen // Books for Every Lady on Your List // Holiday Gift Guide // 2014

The Green Queen

This is your healthiest, activist type of friend. She's probably a vegan, if she isn't she's a vegetarian. If she isn't any of those things she might have a homestead (or want to start one). She's the one who shops at the farmer's market, makes her own cleaners, and reads product labels (and knows what she's reading!). She might even drive a hybrid or enjoy camping. Her windowsills are filled with plants, she often has a yummy soy candle burning, her sheets are organic cotton. Her Instagram is filled with nature shots, her pet, environmental statistics, and healthy breakfasts.

1) Eat Pretty: Nutrition for Beauty, Inside and Out

Many believe that the start of beauty is what you put inside your body. This book explores the relationships between nutrition and beauty, and gives tips for practical application. Including an explanation of buzzwords, 20 recipes, charts, lists, a guide of what benefits different foods have. This book is beautiful, and would be greatly appreciated by the green queen as well as the Girly Girl, and the Foodie!

2) No More Dirty Looks: The Truth about Your Beauty Products--and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics

What you put on your body is also important to your health! The ingredients in your products are soaked into your skin and ultimately enter your bloodstream. This book is the ultimate guide to beauty products that work and are entirely non-toxic and healthy! There is no reason to sacrifice beauty while going greener! Also great for the Girly Girl!

3) Keep it Vegan: 100 Simple, Healthy & Delicious Dishes

Eating vegan or vegetarian even just once a week relieves a lot of stress on the environment and on your body! This book is relatively new, but quickly climbing in popularity among vegan cookbooks. The author Áine Carlin is a blogger who approaches vegan cooking in an attainable, yet creative way. This book won't leave you combing specialty markets for obscure ingredients or have you feeling like you are eating cardboard. This collection of 100 recipes includes cocoa and almond butter overnight oats, Hole Mole Black Bean Chili, Thick Crust Mushroom Pizza, No-bake Strawberry Cheesecake & Rosemary and Pear Stuffed French Toast. (YUM!) Not to mention, Carlin is the cutest blogger with such a sweet and relateable writing style, and GORGEOUS photos (link here). Fun fact: Áine Carlin's sister is the lovely Mairead Carlin, the newest member of Celtic Woman. :) - Also great for the Foodie!

4) Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills

Raleigh Briggs is an expert on home cleaners, how to make them, how to grow the ingredients, and how to keep yourself, your family, and pets safe from harm! This book is a highly rated guide to altering your lifestyle to be greener at home, without hassle, and confusion! Also great for the Homebody and the Momma!

5) The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You  (Enhanced Edition)

You might remember my love letter of a post about this book... well now Jessica Alba's first book has an enhanced edition! This book is an all around resource for having a cleaner, greener, healthier life. As a mom she approaches a lot of the topics from the standpoint of keeping them safe and healthy! This is not just a whim of a book, Alba knows her statistics! I found this book extremely clear, inspiring, helpful and eye-opening. I am so glad to have read it before starting a family! This book would be excellent for anyone, but especially good for The Momma! 

6) The Working Class Foodies Cookbook: 100 Delicious Seasonal and Organic Recipes for Under $8 perPerson 

This book has everything you need to know about eating greener on a budget. It is a seasonal guide to eating and cooking with organic foods. This is better for the earth, better for your health, and now explained and executed in a budget friendly way! This book would also be great for the Foodie!

7) Joyous Health: Eat and Live Well Without Dieting

This book is for the health nut or the health nut to be. Joy McCarthy, a holistic nutritionist created this book to help people live a healthier and more joyful life. This book's ratings are off the chart! Check out her blog of the same name!

8) The Forest Feast: Simple Vegetarian Recipes from My Cabin in the Woods

This sweet cookbook is a testament to the author, Erin Gleeson's love of nature. She moved from the city to the forest to pursue a new lifestyle. The recipes in this book are based around seasonal and wholesome ingredients, many of which are very simple! Along with the recipe you get Gleeson's signature illustrations, beautiful water color designs! This book would also be a lovely addition to any Foodie's collection!

9 & 10) Gorgeously Green & Do it Green

Sophie Uliano's highly rated, extremely inclusive guides to greening your entire life. From beauty to home fitness, and food to shopping, she leaves nothing out. But if she wanted to expand you could find that information in her other book Do it Green. Do it green is all about making your own cleaners and products. I will add that these books are not small! They really do contain so much information! She has also released The Gorgeously Green Diet! - Three great resources for anyone!

11) The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

For your friend who has been talking about starting a homestead, this is a great guide to beekeeping, gardening, farming, raising animals, tending to fruit trees etc. For even more details you can also look into these related books, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals and The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects.

I hope that this list has given you some book ideas for the greenest lady in your life!

Interested in more?  Check out this post to view my book recommendations for other 'types'.

Happy Gifting!

Alexandra