Our first book, Photo Idea Book, centered around just that—tons and tons of ideas to photograph you life and create crafty projects with the photos you take. We adored writing this book and it’s been amazing to watch people take the ideas from it and create their own beautiful photo shoots! We also were proud when this book was translated into German. How fun is that?!
Our second book, Happy Handmade Home, centered around our personal homes and projects anyone can create for their space. If you read our blog you know we LOVE home decor so this book was really special to write.
And our third book, Weekday Weekend, is an everyday cookbook! Our goal was not to write just any old cookbook. We really wanted to create something that reflects the overall message of our brand, A Beautiful Mess. So we wanted the book to be brimming with positivity and inspiration, with a message aligned with living a happy and healthy (balanced!) life, and if it would somehow have a sprinkle of goal-setting thrown in, that would be a big plus (obviously we packed it full of recipes and beautiful food photography as well).
The book really has two components: First, there’s a challenge you can take. We call it the Weekday Weekend challenge, which is how the book got its name. For 4-6 weeks, you eat according to five rules for five consecutive days (your weekdays) and then on the weekend you kick back and enjoy a few treats you’ve been craving all week. It’s simple but, hopefully, still challenges many of you. It’s a lifestyle that we both feel really good about living, or you can use the challenge as a kind of reset button after you may have gotten a bit off track (hello holiday season, am I right?). What are the five weekday rules?
Eat a variety of foods.
No refined or artificial sugars or sweeteners.
No refined white flour or white rice.
No dairy.
No alcohol.
It’s basically four no’s and one BIG yes. And the cookbook is also based on a mostly plant-based diet as basically every recipe is vegetarian-friendly and many are vegan-friendly as well. But there is a LOT more information about the rules, the challenge, and what it all means in the book.
And speaking of information, we developed this cookbook along with two dietitians’ who also provide lots of additional information throughout the book. You will LOVE learning from Lindsey and Sarah, I have learned so much from them already. And I hope many of you will get to know them through this cookbook as well as through a small series we are going to begin on the blog later this month called “Ask a Dietitian.” I don’t know about you but I’ve found that eating healthy can become really challenging when you’re presented with lots of different, and often conflicting, information. So it was really important to us to work alongside our experts, Lindsey and Sarah, so that we can all learn more together and feel empowered to make the best choices we can. 🙂
We’ve also added a tag to our recipes called “Weekday Approved” to indicate recipes from the blog that can also work well with the challenge.
And if you are wondering if every single recipe in the cookbook is based on the weekday rules, the answer is no. A large portion of the cookbook is dedicated to recipes that fit within the challenge, but we’ve also included recipes for your weekend too, including desserts and cocktails. We believe the good life is a balanced life.
And if taking the challenge just doesn’t sound like your thing, that’s cool. No pressure! But if you enjoy beautiful cookbooks that are filled with a blend of healthy and indulgent recipes, then you’re already gonna love this cookbook anyway.
We are based in USA so the cookbook is written with standard USA measurements as well as grams so our international readers will (hopefully) be able to follow along as well—we didn’t forget about you all! See below for some international options for ordering our cookbook.
Here are just a few of the folks who have already gotten their copy. Thank you!!!! We love writing books and we’re so proud of these—please check them out! xo. Emma + Elsie