I’ve been following Andrea Butje for a couple years now, and thoroughly enjoy her short, information packed videos. I recently decided to look more into what she offers, and signed up for her Free Introduction to Essential Oils course and I am enjoying that very much, learning more about essential oils and their uses.
Today I’m going to tell you what I think about her book Essential Living: Aromatherapy Recipes for Health and Home. I’m always looking for recipes to share with you, and Andrea was nice enough to share her book with me. Let me tell you: this book is packed with great recipes that are easy to make. I recommend it to everyone, but especially to newbies: it’s very practical and has recipes for just about everything you need.
I love how Andrea starts out by a quick introduction to aromatherapy, and then very methodically presents the necessary tools to use essential oils efficiently. She has a small section on staying organized with your oils (and I can tell you form experience, you need to start out organized, because doing it later is a lot harder), aromatherapy applications, such as blending techniques, working with carrier oils, application methods, and so much more.
After that, she has a section for each part of the home, a section for kids, the office, the outdoors and even travel. Essential living is not a long book: it’s short and to the point, with lots of recipes and quick tips.
Each chapter is beautifully illustrated and organized for easy access any time you need quick recipe.
This book is NOT about essential oil benefits and uses, and it doesn’t give you information about which oil is good for what. Neither does it talk about how to calculate dilution of the oils. What it does talk about is how to use essential oils in your daily life, in recipes that everyone can enjoy.
Here are some of my favorite recipes from the book:
Tension Headache Relief Oil
- 1 oz (30 ml) jojoba oil
- 5 drops Peppermint essential oil
- 10 drops Orange essential oil
- One 1 oz (30 ml) glass or PET plastic bottle with a flip top
I suffer with headaches, so every time I have a chance to learn about a new essential oil combination that might help me, I’m all ears. I knew and used peppermint, but didn’t think to pair it up with orange oil: now I’m going to try it next time I have a headache and see how well it works for me.
Ant and Pest Spray
- 4 oz (120 ml) water
- 20 drops Peppermint essential oil
- 15 drops Eucalyptus citriodora essential oil
- One 4 oz (120 ml) PET plastic spray bottle
Ants are always a problem for us in the spring, so this will come in handy in just a few weeks. And my kitchen will smell delicious too!
Calm and Focus Diffuser Blend
- 25 drops Orange essential oil
- 25 drops Lavender essential oil
- 5 ml dark colored glass bottle with orifice reducer cap
Keep this blend ready for those days when your child needs to focus on homework rather than the beautiful weather outside, or for the hours before bed time to create a calming atmosphere after a crazy busy day. Add 10 drops to your diffuser and enjoy!
I think ever household should, have a copy of this book: get yours at Amazon.
