This recipe book offers recipes for each month of the year as well as possibilities of recipes for Sabbats and the Wheel of the Year. It is definitely written for a British audience but I appreciate that she includes some imperial measurements for the US market.

Reading a cookbook is nothing unusual for me. Reading a cookbook written by a witch is not highly unusual for me. But reading about a witch from the UK making biscuits and gravy Southern style is unusual. Loved this book, loved the recipes and the look into her life that she gives the readers. I have tried some of the recipes and will try some more. Every month has different recipes. I recommend this book. I received this book from Net Galley and John Hunt Publishing for a honest review.

Straight forward guide to seasonal cooking with very straight forward enjoyment recipes. Not enough photos for me but maybe thats just because it's an ARC? The formatting seemed unfinished. Overall I enjoyed a lot, though.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I had fun looking through the recipes of this book that were broken down by month. I enjoyed that hot chocolate was included in each month. The dishes things you can make everyday of the week. I am doing my best to learn to make bread and there are a lot of options in this book that I am going to try. There are something things in this book I have tried and want to see if I can recreate with my own spin on them. I am looking forward to those new adventures.

I like the approach of this book; focusing on seasonal ingredients, minimal waste etc. There are some recipes that I am interested to try also. A good book.

As the title would suggest, this is a cookery book, but it focuses on working with practicality; getting the most out of your food supplies to minimise waste and working with the fruits and vegetables in season rather than shipping stuff all over the planet. It's written in a fairly engaging style with just a touch of woo and the recipes are clear and would be easy to follow.

The author states her love of baking in the introduction and that is shown in some very original baked goods. While a lot of these are too 'busy' for my personal taste (adding fruits, nuts, etc) there are some I will certainly give a try. She gives equal space to meat, vegetarian and vegan recipes and they are set out by the month for what is in season or suitable for the climate. For example, hot, filling foods in winter and lighter foods for summer.

My only issue is that I'm the world's fussiest eater and suggesting I would ever touch things like parsnips or chickpeas is optimistic and dependent on a serious famine, but I won't hold that against the author as I suspect I'm not her ideal target audience. For someone with broader taste and a desire to eat healthy, it's a great resource.

There is definite originality in the recipes and thinking outside the box. For example, Bubble and Squeak put in a soup. For the non-English, Bubble and Squeak is basically mashed potato mixed with leftover vegetables, usually cabbage, and fried as a pancake. The idea of putting it in a soup sounds soggy to me, but it might just work.

I enjoyed the segments at the beginning of each month, talking about the seasons. The majority of the recipes are too healthy for my blood, but I enjoyed reading the book and would definitely recommend it to those who want healthy recipes to fit the seasons.

I'm a fan of Rachel Patterson and was happy to read this ARC.
It's an informative, engrossing and entertaining read with a lot of interesting recipes and food for thought.
I loved it and I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Some really nice recipes. I have started to really like her writing. Goes month by month and a selection of recipes for that month. Some food information and how cooking and paganism can relate.

Nice Seasonal Cookbook with Vegetarian and Vegan Options

I am not quite sure why this is called “an alternative guide to cooking” as it is about cooking! Specifically, the author focuses on cooking with the seasons—so much so she divides the book into chapters for each month of the year, highlighting the typical fresh ingredients that can be found seasonally at that time.

The recipes are often vegetarian and sometimes vegan, but a few contain meat or other animal products. On the whole, I thought the recipes looked interesting, particularly the soups (as I love soup) and the vegetarian and vegan dishes (as I don’t eat meat). I liked that the author included variations for just about every dish, so you could make and remake these in different ways. Sometimes the recipes are spins on traditional British dishes, like a bubble and squeak soup. Some have ways to use up leftovers, which I always love. Many are good explorations of what you can do with seasonal produce. I did enjoy thumbing through this collection of recipes that was often different from what I eat here in the US.

The author is English, so some of the measures are given only in metric not in imperial the most measures are given in both. She also uses some UK ingredient names, although for most she does give the US equivalent. (Although she did miss a swede is called a rutabaga in the US.) She did sometimes forget to share the can/tin size of some mentioned canned products. She uses a few imprecise measures, like 1 wine glass. I have multiple wine glasses, and they are all different ounce/mL sizes!

If you like the idea of cooking seasonally with some inventive recipes, you may very well like this book, as I did.

Practically Pagan - An Alternative Guide to Cooking by Rachel Patterson
This book is expected to be published on 29 May 2020. I had an advance copy to review.

I love cooking and am always looking for original ideas. I like the concept of cooking produce when it is seasonal. That is at the heart of this book. What Mother Nature intended us to eat ‘… to nourish the body, spirit, and soul.’ It was an interesting idea to include Pagan in the title and I was willing to investigate it, even though the title sounded a little spooky.

Each chapter begins with a list of the recipes for that month and a charming introduction telling the reader about special pagan festivals coming up, like Solstice and the Equinoxes. Then she mentions the fruits and vegetables to look out for. Every chapter ends with a delicious drink, like March, and her Red velvet hot chocolate.

These recipes are for vegan, vegetarian and meat eaters, though not too many meat meals, and not many main courses either. Most of the recipes use seasonal vegetables. I eat a fair amount of fresh vegetables myself and loved her Cauliflower Burger, which does not use soya products.

There is nothing for a low carbs diet, keto, or gluten-free, that most people are acutely aware of these days. There are no photos or illustrations. She does give hints about using gluten-free products at the end of the book.

There was little in the book that was about paganism or an alternative lifestyle. Though her bio reveals she is a High Priestess of the Kitchen Witch Coven and an Elder at the online Kitchen Witch School of Natural Witchcraft. She also writes regularly for the Pagan Dawn, Magical Times, and Fate & Fortune magazines. She has also written many books on a variety of topics from Witchcraft to Plants and Herbs in the Witches Kitchen. I guess her large following will love her book and I wish her well with this and many more on her favorite subjects. She sounds like a loving family mum feeding a family of five, good fresh food.

I was given an e-copy of this book by John Hunt Publishing Ltd via Netgalley. This is my own honest opinion.

Practically Pagan An Alternative Guide to Cooking by Rachel Patterson
Book Review by Dawn Thomas

288 Pages
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing / Moon Books
Release Date: May 29, 2020

Nonfiction, Cooking, Seasonal

The book is divided by seasons each containing foods that are available for the specific time of year. She lists the food that are generally found fresh for her area. I love that she talks about using everything with little waste.

In January, she has a recipe for chili with minced beef that doesn’t have tomatoes in it. I cannot wait to try it. The corn muffin recipe sounds so simple to make. For February, there is a recipe for Colcannon. My husband has been wanting to try it and I was looking for a good recipe. I cannot wait to make it. I also love the recipe for sticky toffee pudding. The recipe calls for muscovado sugar and I had to look for substitutes but easily found some. The Depression Cake is a great recipe for now since some groceries are getting hard to find. There is a leek, potato and sage soup for March. There is a Greek custard pie and anise cookies for dessert.

In April, the recipe for Cottage or Shepherd’s pie sounds better than any recipe I have made before. The recipe for cheese, bacon and rosemary loaf is on my list of things to make this month. I love the variations for the potato salad she included in May. I just bought three pounds of bananas and cannot wait to make the banana tarte-tatin. The spinach and broccoli soup along with the scones for June sound amazing. The chocolate cream cake is calling my name!

This is only a sampling of the recipes offered in this book. The directions are easy to follow, and the ingredients were not hard to find. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in eating closer to the seasons and cooking at home.

I was beyond excited for this book and it didn't disappoint. I have been wanting to learn more about using seasonal produce. This book is full of great recipes, all using what's in season.

It's so much more though. It's a great addition to any kitchen witch's shelf

This was a great guide to cooking for each month! It has wonderful recipes and is very inclusive as it has options for meat, vegetarian, and vegan (even for baking!).

I’m not sure what is exactly Pagan or Alternative about this book. To me it’s a straight up seasonal home cooking cook book. Recipes are divided by the months. There is some food history written for some recipes such as Soul Cakes etc, just a few sentences though. Good for those who do not wish to wade through a history lesson and just get to the recipe. I did like it the recipes and the fact that the author took the time to include vegan recipes. Well done!

*eARC kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley

Practically Pagan - An Alternative Guide to Cooking by Rachel Patterson is the type of cookbook I really enjoy. Although there are no pictures, at least not in the version I read, the recipes are straightforward and pictures aren't as necessary as in some more elaborate books.

As I mentioned, the recipes are straightforward, both in how to make them and in what they are. While there are a few that were unusual to my norm, there was not really the feeling of any recipe being included strictly to show how advanced the writer is. This is about making good, seasonal food that can feed a family. Far less about show and more about sustenance. I appreciate that.

I highly recommend this to cooks who want to serve hearty meals using in season ingredients when possible. This is about day-to-day and month-to month, maybe better season-to-season, cooking and living rather than the periodic "look what I made" special dinners. I love those kinds of cookbooks too, but I find myself using them once in a great while, while I can see myself referencing this book regularly.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

I really liked this book, as it had lots of recipes I wanted to try, both some more basic and some with a fun twist. It's also arranged by month, which I found really fun, as there's some pagen info for each month in addition to focusing on what produce is in season at that time.

I love reading cookbooks of all kinds. Even if this does not jump out to you or it may not seem for you this is a very good cookbook. It focuses on eating seasonally, being mindful, and reducing waste. Patterson divided the book by month to ensure the freshest ingredients. Additionally the desserts all sound really yummy. I just wish that there were pictures of the dishes.

Besides reading, my other main interest is cooking. Although there are no pictures in this recipe book, it didn't really matter to me. I enjoyed reading the comments as to what Rachel Patterson thought about each recipe. Whether it was a favourite or as to why she had slightly varied a recipe. Several of the recipes i'm already familiar with, having cooked them over the years. I've not had bacon roly poly for years, but the idea of baking rather than steaming, now has me wanting to try. The chocolate puddle pudding is something that i aim to make soon, as well as the Florentine rice tart. There are not many recipes containing meat, but then i don't eat as much meat as i used to. Whether one is Pagan or not (I'm not), this recipe book is worth a read.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review which i have voluntarily given.

Very interesting approach to cooking. The chapters are set up by months and indicate what produce is generally available at that time.
Several of the recipes sounded great and I made Chans and Spinach Curry. It contained easy to find ingredients (most I had at home) and it was easy to make. Very good and will be a nice addition to my menu rotation.

I'm not pagan but I was interested in this seasonal cookbook and love any good cookbook, so I was happy to preview a digital ARC. It was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

The good -- each month gets its own chapter, with an introduction that covers a paragraph or two about any special dates (Beltane, solstice...) and what's in season in grocery stores in the UK and US. The author makes an effort to include vegan and vegetarian recipes. One of my favorite elements was that she includes a hot drink recipe for each month and some were tasty and creative sounding riffs on hot chocolate and things like that.

The bad -- there are no photos and no nutritional information. The recipes tend towards breads and desserts, with only 2 or 3 main dish meals for each month. These are pretty standard, like soups or egg dishes. There is very little about this cookbook that has to do with paganism or Wicca. There are no recipes that seem spiritual, magical, pagan, etc. They're just her favorite recipes, like she discovered that she likes our American biscuits and sausage gravy so she has a recipe for that. Shrug. It really felt more like a simple seasonal English cookbook for her family, but with not a lot of variety and pretty standard recipes. As mentioned, there are lots of breads and desserts, especially simple cakes and cookies.

From the sounds of it, this author has a large following in her community and they're likely to enjoy the book. The recipes are fine, though the vast majority won't work for my family as they are very heavy on gluten. At the end, she gives tips about using gluten free flour and converting recipes, but she gives these as someone just learning about this herself. These are also not good recipes for anyone following a keto, paleo or low-carb diet, though as mentioned there is a good assortment for vegans and vegetarians.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.