I have two daughters, so many of these books tend to lean more girly, but some of them are just right for boys and girls alike. I read these books aloud to my daughter some starting when she was almost three. Now she reads them all by herself. I'd say these books are great from age 3-8. I'll share them in order of when I would introduce them from easiest or lowest grade level to more advanced. I hope you love these books as much as I do.

Mercy Watson | I love the Mercy Watson books. There are six of them and they are delightful stories about a pet pig and his adventures living in a subdivision with Mr. and Mrs. Watson. I have read these books so many times with my daughter. We have laughed together at the silliness. I remember the summer we got these books my daughter was almost three and we were driving across the country for a family reunion. We read these books over and over again in the car during those 72 hours. It kept us both quite entertained. Highly recommend this book when you want to read something in between picture books and chapter books. The chapters are short and colorfully illustrated.

The Adventures of Sophie Mouse Books 1-4 | Books 5-8 | These books I read aloud to my daughter just before she turned three as well. The main character Sophie Mouse has lots of adventures in Pine Needle Grove with her best friends Hattie and Owen. The characters are kind and always seem to be able to solve their problems and overcome their challenges. I love this series and am always looking forward to the next book since the author is continuing to write for this series.

Anne Arrives & Anne's Kindred Spirits | Since Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books, I knew this adaptation of the book for young readers would be something I would love to share with my daughter. It is lovely. These books share the first part of the story of Anne of Green Gables in a child friendly way. Other books are sure to come.

Wellie Wishers | I have been very impressed with the American Girl Wellie Wishers books. These books are about a group of friends that work together to create lovely experiences in Aunt Mirandas garden. I love that these girls support one another and do their best to be good friends to each other. I was thankful for this recommendation to add to our home library.

Violet Mackerel | I especially love Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat, but the whole series is good. I love this little girl because she thinks deeply about the world around her. I think it is a great example to share with my girls, to show them to think a little deeper, to discover more, to understand more. 

Zoey and Sassafras | Zoey is a young scientist with the ability to see magical creatures. Along with her sidekick cat Sassafras she is able to help magical animals in need. I love how this book teaches my daughter about scientific principles while being fun. I also love how Zoey has to try multiple things before she gets it right. It is a great example of perseverance as well as not needing to get everything right the first time.

Mouse Scouts | I love these books about a little mouse scout troop. There are six mice with very different personalities and I love being able to see how they each individually react and overcome when faced with the same challenges and experiences.

Heartwood Hotel | This adorable story about Mona Mouse who finds herself working at the amazing Heartwood hotel in the middle of the forest is probably one of my favorite books to read aloud. I dream of being able to stay in the Heartwood Hotel someday, it is that magical. This place really comes to life. I love each of these four books and all of the characters inside of them.

The Magical Animal Adoption Agency | Another great series book about a little girl named Clover who volunteers to help at the Magical Animal Adoption Agency. I love this book because it highlights a girl who feels quite ordinary but actually has a special skill of being able to work with these magical animals. It is lovely to watch her come to understand that about herself.

The Magic Tree House | My daughters have both been obsessed with The Magic Tree House series at some point in their lives. I feel like it is such a good series because kids are able to explore different places in time and space, while following a simple structure and storyline. 

There you have it. These first chapter books and series books are all so good. We have almost all of them in our personal library and read them time and time again. I have loved sharing them all with my first daughter and look forward to the day I get to do it again with my second. 

If you are interested in some of my other favorite book lists you can find more below!

8 Book Club Recommendations For Adults

Halloween Books For Kids | Thanksgiving Books for Kids

What books do you love to share with your children? I am always looking for good books with good stories and good morals to share, so I'd love it if you left your recommendations below!

Mallory

*Links in this post are part of the Amazon Associates Program, which means if you purchase from this link, I get a tiny bit of money, but it all adds up so thank you for supporting my family. It means a lot to me!

I love reading affirmations. I love taking affirmations into my meditation. I love the feeling a good affirmations gives me. Today I want to share some of my favorite affirmations. These affirmations feel good to me when I say them. I think that is the most important part of choosing affirmations, do they feel good, do they feel like something you want to be true or can in some way (even a small way) believe to be true. If so they are going to be so much more effective in your life. I hope some of these affirmations will resonate with you and you can use them to elevate your own life.

Health & Wellness

I accept health as the natural state of my being.

Each cell in my body has divine intelligence. I recognize my body as a wondrous and magnificent machine, and I feel privileged to live in it.

Changes can begin in this moment.

I rejoice in who I am. I am a beautiful expression of life, flowing perfectly at all times. I am both powerful and desirable. It is wonderful to be a woman. I love myself and I am fulfilled.

I choose to love life. I am filled with life, energy, and the joy of living!

I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, happy, and unlimited.

I choose to be healthy and free.

I am loved. I am safe. I love my life.

I declare peace and harmony within my and all around me. All is well.

I allow my mind to relax and be at peace.

I easily release that which I no longer need. The past is over and I am free.

Success | Work | Prosperity

My unique creative talents and abilities flow through me and are express in deeply satisfying ways. There are people out there who are always looking for what I have to offer. They find me with ease.

I share what and who I am for I know we are all one in spirit.

Divine intelligence gives me all the ideas I can use. I move forward right now.

Whatever I am guided to do will be a success. I am blessed beyond my fondest dreams.

I am totally open to the abundant flow of prosperity that the universe has to offer. Abundance flows into my life with ease.

My good comes from everywhere and everyone. The world is a safe place. Love is everywhere, people are so friendly, and I always have what I need.

Family

Harmony, joy, beauty, and safety surround me and my family.

Spirituality

I am one with the power that created me, and this power has given me the power to create my own circumstances. The universe totally supports me.

I accept divine guidance and am always safe.

Personal

I welcome miracles into my life. God works miracles everyday.

I trust that something wonderful will happen to me today.

I am expecting to have an amazing year. I expect the miraculous.

In the infinity of life where I am all is perfect, whole and complete.

(Insert your name), I love and accept you exactly as you are.

Mallory

While affirmations are so good on their own, taking affirmations into meditation makes them even more powerful in your life. When you meditate you give yourself the time to truly focus and live in the good feelings that positive affirmations can create. If you want to learn how to make your own amazing meditation practice, I invite you to take my Introduction to Meditation course on youtube. Here you will learn how to take affirmations you love and create a positive and powerful meditation practice perfect for you.

We love a good bowl of soup. This recipe for Tortilla Soup is so easy and so delicious! It is a great way to use up leftover rice. It is quick to put together and easy to double. You can freeze it and warm it up for a later time. It feels like there is nothing you can't do with this delicious soup. 

Eating a healthy whole-food, plant-based and vegan diet means that traveling can be difficult. I love to make this soup when we are traveling or are going to someone else's home. It is easy to put together if we are using someone else's kitchen, or we can make it ahead of time and freeze it to take with us for an easy, filling meal.

Try it out for yourself and let me know if you like it in the comments below!

Tortilla Soup

Serves 4

1 Onion

4 Cups Vegetable Broth

2 Cups Mild Salsa

2 Cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed

20 oz Canned Jackfruit

10 oz Frozen Corn

2 Cups Brown Rice

1-2 t. Cumin

1-2 t. Chili Powder

Toppings

Cilantro

Lime

Avocado

Toasted Corn Torilla Strips

1. Begin by cooking 2 cups of brown rice in a rice cooker or on the stove according to package directions. 

2. Preheat the oven to 400. Thinly slice corn tortillas into strips and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, tossing half way through and watching closely at the end to prevent burning. Remove from oven when nicely browned and set aside.

3. When rice is finished cooking, place a large pot over medium heat on the stove. Chop onion and add to the hot pot. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring sparingly, until the onion starts to become translucent. Add water 1 T at a time as needed to prevent sticking. 

4. Drain the jackfruit and cut off the core. Shred the jackfruit.

5. Add vegetable broth, salsa, black beans, shredded jackfruit, frozen corn, cooked brown rice and spices to the soup. Cook over medium heat until warmed through.

6. Prepare the toppings: dice the avocado, cut a lime in half for juicing, and chop the cilantro.

7. Fill bowls with the soup and enjoy with desired toppings.

If you are looking for more delicious plant based meals to enjoy, I'm sure you will love my Ebooks Earth Fed Family and Whole Plant Foods. Each cookbook is filled with healthy whole-food, plant-based, oil free and vegan recipes that our family loves. 

It is just starting to turn seasons from summer to fall. We have had a full day or two that have given us a preview to the glorious weather that comes with the changing of colors. Each day it gets just a bit cooler, with the final heat of summer hitting us in the middle of the day, but everything fall is becoming more and more attractive to me.

One taste of fall that I love is apples. One autumn when we were living in Pittsburgh we went to a little farm and they had samples of apples of all sorts of varieties. It was just what my dreams are made of. One of my favorite things to do with apples is put them in oatmeal. I like to cook them down with the oatmeal so they are nice and soft. Add some cinnamon and raisins, and it is the coziest breakfast or dessert. 

Here is how I make one of my favorite oatmeal bowls!

Have you ever tried chia seed pudding? It is incredibly tasty and simple to make, just make sure you make it ahead of time so it has the full amount of time to set up. 

When we want to have people over for a meal, we love to make this cherry chocolate chia seed pudding for dessert. It is incredibly easy to put together beforehand, and then when dinner is finished all you need to do is pull it out of the fridge and enjoy.

Give this pudding a try today and let me know what you think about it in the comments below!

Cherry Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

1/2 Cup Chia Seeds

1 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

3 T. Cacao Powder

6 Medjool Dates, pitted and stems removed

1 1/2 Cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen

1 t. Vanilla Extract

1. Add almond milk, cacao powder, Medjool dates, cherries, and vanilla extract to a blender. Blend until everything is combined nicely and dates are chopped very finely.

2. Measure 1/2 cup of chia seeds into a bowl and mix with blended ingredients. Place in the fridge for 8+ hours to allow the chia seeds to set up like pudding. Enjoy!

If you are looking for more delicious plant based meals to enjoy, I'm sure you will love my Ebooks Earth Fed Family and Whole Plant Foods. Each cookbook is filled with healthy whole-food, plant-based, oil free and vegan recipes that our family loves. 

I've shared my favorite Halloween Books, and Thanksgiving Books, so now it is time to share my very favorite Christmas books. One part of Christmas I so look forward to is pulling all of our Christmas books off the shelf and finding a cozy spot to read them together. They are some of my favorite books to read with my little ones.

And there you have it. Each of these books completes Christmas for us. Am I missing any? I know there are some many out there and new ones each year. Let me know if there are any others that are a must have! 

Although lunch is sometimes difficult, it doesn't have to be. We love making these quick and simple fajita quesadillas for lunch for the whole family. If you want to make it super simple you don't even have to make quesadillas, you can just put the refried beans and veggies topping on some cooked brown rice. Either way it is so delicious and satisfying.

Just like in October where I shared a few of my very favorite Halloween children's books, I wanted to take a moment in November to share my favorite Thanksgiving children's books!

I love these Thanksgiving books. There are not as many Thanksgiving children's books as other holidays, but they are so good. I have loved finding new ones and love sharing the ones I remember reading as a kid. So here we go!

I love sweet potatoes. I love them in every way. One kind of unique way to eat sweet potatoes is to make sweet potato toast with them. It is quite simple to do, and there are so many different ways you can top them. Today I want to share one of my favorite versions - Avocado & Mango Sweet Potato Toast.

Avocado & Mango Sweet Potato Toast

3 Large Sweet Potatoes

1-2 Avocados

1 Lime

2 Mangoes

Black Beans

Green Salsa

I love reading Halloween books (and really all holiday books) with my girls. It is so fun to pull out a stack of books and read them all month in preparation for the upcoming holiday. When we lived in Maryland I use to sit down in mid September and reserve all the Halloween books I could find. When they came through I would come home with a huge stack of books to read. Occasionally there was one we had to add to our library. So I thought I would share my very favorite Halloween books today.

Around the time my first baby was due, a new flood of baby books were created by a company called BabyLit. They were taking classic books like Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Jungle Book, and more and creating board books out of them. They looked so cute, I wanted to get them all. I started slowly collecting the books, which were cute, but also gave me the sense that I was being a good mom by exposing my child to great literature from the beginning. So yes their marketing got me.

As I collected more and more books I realized that I enjoyed some books much much more than others. So today I want to share with you my top 8 favorite BabyLit Books. 

Each Babylit book is a primer to something we typically teach children early on. I think this stack has a wide variety of primers.

Truth be told, I don't have every Babylit Book. Although they are great, I'm not sure if anyone needs the whole collection. But if you are looking to get some to add to your library, I would recommend the following.

1 | All Aboard - I have two of these books, All Aboard National Parks - A Wildlife Primer and All Aboard New York - A City Primer. I have also read through All Aboard Washington D.C. I really like these books. It is basically a train ride through whatever place the book is about. They are fun to read an have great illustrations. These are probably my favorite books from the BabyLit collection.

2 | The Secret Garden - A Flowers Primer - The Secret Garden is a beautiful flowers primer. The illustrations are fun and colorful. One thing I love about this book is how simple it is. Each page highlights a different flower and has a simple quote from the secret garden book. As a lover of all flowers, I love teaching my daughters about different flowers, and I guess this is the perfect way to start early.

3 | The Jungle Book - An Animals Primer - Like The Secret Garden, one of my favorite parts of this book is how absolutely simple it is. Each page highlights a different animal and has a simple quote from the book. I love the illustrations of this book, and I find I enjoy reading through this book.

4 | Emma - An Emotions Primer - This book makes me happy because it makes my girls happy. Each page is a picture of a different character and an emotion they are feeling. It is fun to read because you can read it with the expression of the emotion on the page. It is bright and colorful and my kids seems to especially enjoy this one.

5 | Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles - A Sounds Primer - This book basically just has a variety of sounds in it. I like this book because I like reading it, I like making the different sounds. I think it is an interesting book for children because of the emphasis on sounds instead of just words. It is kind of fun!

6 | Sense & Sensibility - An Opposites Primer - This book is a simple way to explore opposites. I love the illustrations and femininity of this book. I love that it makes sense to me. I love that it explores a few opposites that are unique to the book Sense and Sensibility (single & married). It is just a lovely one all around.

7 | Wuthering Heights - A Weather Primer - I don't have many weather books for my children but I think this is a good one. What I really love about this book is that the scene is exactly the same on each page, a large house and a tree, but the weather makes the scene look drastically different. It is neat to see just how much the weather changes our environment.

8 | Pride & Prejudice - A Counting Primer - There are a few counting primers, but I think this one is my favorite. I do love Pride and Prejudice though, so I may be biased. My favorite page is the 4 marriage proposals which includes two marriage proposals from Darcy to Elizabeth. I think it is a fun one to have in our collection.

As I was writing through some of these, I realized that a common theme was that I loved the books that made sense to me. I think some of the books I own are just a bit of a stretch for me, or I find it hard to make the connection between the concept (like colors or counting) being highlighted and the illustrations. But each of these books does a good job.

A few of the books that I don't have yet but would love to get include Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. Have you read any of these? Would you recommend them? Let me know what your favorite Baby Lit Books are in the comments below!

Mallory

If you love this book list, I'm sure you would love my Ultimate Children's Book List filled with my favorite board books, picture books, first chapter books & holiday books!

*Some links in this post are part of the Amazon Associates Program. Thank you for supporting my family.

We don’t make sushi very often, but when we do I always wonder why we don’t make it more often. It is fairly simple to compile and tasty. We like to serve this sushi with vegan spring rolls for a more satisfying meal.

Dipping these sushi rolls in some soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos really brings it all together for me. We all love coconut aminos the most. They are pretty easy to find at health food stores or online. I even see them popping up more often in grocery stores. They can be a little pricey though, so when we go to Trader Joe’s we always stock up since they are reasonably priced there.

Have you ever made sushi at home? Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Sushi

1 pkg. Sushi Nori (Roasted Seaweed)

2 Cups Short Grain Brown Rice

2 T. White or Rice Vinegar

2 T. Coconut Sugar

VEGGIES

Bell Pepper, thinly sliced

Cucumber, julienned

Carrots, julienned

Sprouts

Avocado

Soy Sauce, Coconut Aminos, or Tamari for Dipping

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on a stove according to package instructions. Mix the vinegar and coconut sugar together until the sugar dissolves.

2. While the rice cooks, thinly slice or julienne the vegetables. 

3. When the rice is finished cooking, add the vinegar-sugar mixture to the rice and stir to combine.

4. Assemble the sushi. Take one sheet of nori and fill it with a thin layer of rice. Start from the bottom leaving about 1/3 of the nori uncovered.  Add vegetables and avocado at the bottom of the nori roll. Roll the sheet carefully from bottom to top. Wet the top with a bit of water to seal the roll.

5. Allow to sit for a few minutes to allow the roll to seal, then cut the sushi into 1” rounds. 

6. Enjoy these dipped in soy sauce, coconut aminos, or tamari.

If you are looking for more delicious plant-based meals to enjoy, I'm sure you will love my E-books Earth Fed Family and Whole Plant Foods. Each cookbook is filled with healthy whole-food, plant-based, oil-free and vegan recipes that our family loves.