The Moon Cycle Cookbook

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Liz Bevilacqua and Sarah Guare

Art direction and book design by Alethea Morrison

Indexed by Christine R. Lindemer, Boston Road Communications

Cover and interior photography by © Poppi Photography, except for page 74, Jazmin Quaynor/Unsplash

Text © 2021 by Devon Loftus and Jenna Radomski

Ebook production by Slavica A. Walzl

Ebook version 1.0

October 12, 2021

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To those in search of empowerment through self-love and good food — this is for you.

Contents

Foreword by Katie Lemons

For Your Support and Nourishment

Here's to You

Creating Your Own Rituals

Cooking Tips and Tricks

1. Hear the Call of the Wise Woman (The Menstrual Phase)

Lavender + Rose Bath Soak

Sweet Potato and Beef Breakfast Bites

Avocado Toast Three Ways

Coconut-Quinoa Porridge with Earl Grey Poached Pears

Adobo Tofu Breakfast Tacos

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Beet Lentil Hash

Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs and Lentils

Vegan Mac and Cheese with Roasted Broccoli

Teriyaki Salmon Bowl with Carrots and Bok Choy

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili

Steak and Zucchini Noodle Bowl

Cucumber-Sesame Seaweed Salad

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Pecans

Roasted Beet Hummus

Pumpkin and Flax Pesto

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse with Raspberry Compote

Hazelnut Brownies

Triple Berry Chia Pudding

Vanilla-Cacao Elixir

Garlic Thyme Chicken Bone Broth

2. Welcome Your Creative Bloom (The Follicular Phase)

Buckwheat–Almond Banana Muffins

Savory Millet Breakfast Bowl with Lemon-Garlic Tahini Sauce

Dark Chocolate and Cherry Grain-Free Granola with Sprouted Walnuts

Rosemary Sausage Quiche with Apple Crust

Vanilla Chai Overnight Oats

Cinnamon Pear–Almond Butter Parfait with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Quinoa–Black Bean Beet Burger

Spring Mix Salad with Roasted Chickpeas and Miso Pesto

Chicken Fajitas with Honey-Chipotle Yogurt Sauce

Zucchini and Kimchi Frittata

Garlic Tempeh Tacos with Pineapple-Jalapeño Salsa

Baked Salmon Cakes with Lemon-Dill Aioli

Miso-Ginger Noodle Soup with Beef

Oatmeal–Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Bites

Sauerkraut

Chili and Lime Kale Chips

Salt and Pepper Sprouted Almond Crackers

Cranberry-Walnut Yogurt Cookies

Coconut-Ashwagandha Fudge

Honey-Cinnamon Latte

3. Nurture Sensual Abundance (The Ovulation Phase)

Orange Sunrise Smoothie

Spinach-Tomato-Quinoa Breakfast Bites

Citrus Breakfast Salad with Honey-Lime Yogurt and Mint

Avocado Green Smoothie

Matcha Mango-Peach Smoothie Bowl

Kale, Black Bean, and Scrambled Egg Breakfast Burritos with Romesco Sauce

Lemongrass-Coconut Chickpea Curry

Southwest Chicken Salad with Avocado-Jalapeño Dressing

Veggie Hummus Collard Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

BBQ Cauliflower Bites

Lemon-Garlic Asparagus

Shredded Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Toasted Walnuts and Grapefruit Vinaigrette

Strawberry-Coconut-Lime Ice Pops

Maple-Tarragon Trail Mix with Brazil Nuts

Popped Amaranth–Tahini Chocolate Bars

Broiled Cinnamon Peaches with Coconut Whipped Cream

Banana Bites with Dark Chocolate, Toasted Coconut, and Hazelnuts

Orange Ginger Fizz

Cilantro-Cucumber Mocktail

4. Honor Your Inner Landscape (The Luteal Phase)

Maple-Apple Breakfast Crisp

Raspberry-Lavender-Lemon Chia Jam

Spinach and Cheddar Quiche with Brown Rice Crust

Cornmeal Waffles with Lemon-Blueberry Compote

"Everything" Sweet Potato Toast with Poached Eggs

Pumpkin–Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

Chili-Mango Fried Brown Rice Bowl with Sesame Seeds

Sausage with Apples and Bok Choy

Beef Burger with Mushrooms and Caramelized Red Onions

Chipotle–Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Crunchy Thai Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger–Cashew Butter Sauce

Turmeric-Ginger Parsnip Bowl

Creamed Spinach

White Bean and Sage Dip

Nacho Popcorn

Almond Butter–Dark Chocolate Cups

Pumpkin–Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Dark Chocolate Cashew Bark with Fresh Mint

Red Raspberry–Mint Tea

Vanilla-Rose-Chasteberry Tea

Gratitudes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Metric Conversion Chart

Index

Nourishing Your Body and Spirit with More Books from Storey

Share Your Experience!

Foreword Traversing the Seasons of Womanhood Together

By Katie Lemons, Twist of Lemons

I first met Devon after traversing my way through a blustery yet picturesque snowy New England blizzard. We tucked ourselves in cozily at a café on one of Boston's cobblestone streets. The whole afternoon was idyllic—big fluffy snowflakes falling outside the window, bottomless cups of piping-hot coffee, and easy conversation with someone I felt I'd known for a lifetime.

I've now known Devon—her words, passions, and big ideas—not only in winters but in many seasons of life. Each season of my own life has brought different challenges—learning, living, loving, but also failing, floundering, fumbling. The one constant that has held me together through it all is nourishing myself with nutrient-dense foods and intentional compassion.

Devon's Moon Cycle Bakery helped me to glue together the pieces of my own life's mosaic. What most thrills me about The Moon Cycle Cookbook is the wholesome and expansive definition of femininity. It treasures all parts of womanhood, whatever that looks like—not simply the physical aches and pains of a menstrual or uterine experience. It's about learning to take care and self-nourish during the crampy parts of life, the unexpected and the unknown, the joyful parts, and the sorrow-filled parts, too. It's about listening and leaning into intuitive repletion. These tenets are embodied in Moon Cycle Bakery and this book.

I often think back to that first afternoon Devon and I spent with one another—just being, just together. That sense of warmth and community is etched into every fiber of The Moon Cycle Cookbook. This book embraces and emphasizes community in a scrumptious way. Have you ever noticed the word community contains the letters and sound of a little "yum" in there? After experiencing this book, I think that's definitely on purpose!

This book is like tucking yourself into your favorite café on a snowy day—bursting with comfort and delicious joy—and having a conversation with a forever friend.

May you traverse the seasons of womanhood within these pages.

For Your Support and Nourishment

Hi there. My name is Devon and I'm the founder of Moon Cycle Bakery, a baked goods delivery service. We specialize in making delicious treats with hormone-supportive ingredients that are designed to nourish women from the inside out. My business is built on a foundation of seeing, hearing, and acknowledging others. We believe that when we embrace ourselves and our individualized needs, we can make empowered choices for our health and well-being.

The story of my business — and this book — began many years ago, when I was in college. It was there that I found depression. Or perhaps it found me. Either way, soon I felt like I was drowning. It was hard and scary, and there were moments when I wasn't sure I wanted to go on, but seeing the fear on my mom's face while she watched her daughter suffer was enough for me to choose to receive help.

During therapy, I learned a lot. I healed a lot. I fell in love with myself. I learned how to have my own back.

I had thought for so long that my pain came solely from not feeling heard or seen by others, but through therapy I realized that it actually sprang from self-neglect. I was suffering because I wasn't taking the time to care what I thought about myself, to physically listen to my body and give it what it needs, or to celebrate myself in all my imperfect, quirky, loving ways.

I decided to commit to these four acts for the rest of my life: hearing, listening, acknowledging, and empowering. Through a move across the country, ruptured ovarian cysts and ER visits, a wedding, a kitchen fire, reactions from birth control, lifeless work environments, a business start-up, departure from the West Coast, pregnancy and birth and postpartum depression — through it all, I practiced these four acts.

During my bachelorette party, a comment from a friend awoke me to the fact that other women want to be held, seen, and acknowledged as well. Near the end of the night, my fiancé arrived with a homemade cake decked out with chocolate ganache, which was welcomed warmly. A friend said to me, "I don't know if it's because I'm about to get my period, but I almost cried, this cake is so good." What started as a passing joke became a much bigger conversation. My friends and I wondered: Where is the support during our periods? What do we really know about what happens in our bodies and spirits during each phase of the menstrual cycle? How can we best support and celebrate ourselves?

The questions we pondered that night led me to start a business that commits to seeing and hearing others during their challenging moments. In this same spirit, my coauthor, Jenna, a nutritionist, and I came together to make the book you hold now. Our greatest goal is to see and hear others, share knowledge and soul, and leave women feeling empowered to support themselves in the ways they find they need.

And because so many good, magical things involve nourishing, delicious food, we chose to start there.

Welcome to Moon Cycle Bakery.

The Moon and Its Phases

In ancient times, it was believed that women bled on a new moon and ovulated on a full moon (an occurrence likely due to the lack of the artificial light that we experience today). Because of this, women of years past believed that the energy of the moon was in direct proportion to the energy of their spirit — hence the term moon cycle. Today, many women, including ourselves, find that they don't follow this lunar pattern and bleed at different moon phases throughout the year. Our company's name, Moon Cycle Bakery, is an homage to the romance and power that lives within natural rhythms and a reminder of how powerful we are as a result of being connected to a cycle each month.

Whether your period aligns with the moon phases is neither here nor there, and it is not something we'll be covering in this book. What matters most to us is that you feel empowered to reclaim your cycle, however that looks and feels, and add warmth and inspiration to your own rituals of each phase. Whether you bleed with or without the moon, you're still as powerful, bright, and alluring as she is.

Here's to YOU

Before you read further, pause for a moment. Close your eyes. Take a breath. Listen. Wait. That feeling of calm, of certainty, of presence — that's what this book is about.

Of course, life isn't always calm and steady, and perhaps you are juggling chaos and stress right now. The truth is that change and uncertainty walk ever beside us. Change can feel scary. Change can feel heavy. Change can feel wrong and odd.

But change is good, too, for with change comes growth, and with growth comes life. The goal is not to avoid change, but to learn to walk beside it with compassion and love for our incredibly humbling human experience. This book is about the calm and presence we sense when we fully embrace change — when we embrace the seasons of womanhood, seasons of life, seasons within ourselves, and seasons within the menstrual cycle. It's about learning how to live with trust and gratitude, whether we are feeling chaotic and dense or light and full of ease.

In order to meet every corner of ourselves without judgment and with a grounded heart, we must nourish ourselves. No one else can do it for us. Nourishment is what sustains us during those dark, speechless nights when we're in the thick of a storm, relying solely on ourselves to put one foot in front of the other.

We believe in soul-deep nourishment — the kind we experience from a hearty bowl of soup or the familiar sound of our mother's voice. It's the kind of nourishment we receive from having the strength to know what we need and the courage to choose just that. It's important to us that this book offers you a grounded feeling each time you hold it in your hands and peruse its pages. We've poured intention into every mark, every photo, and every word so that this book may provide you with a sense of home within yourself. That's the gift we're given when we learn to embrace our cycles and choose integrity.

Each of the four chapters in this book focuses on a phase of the menstrual cycle. Our goal is to share the science of what happens physiologically during this time and give you choices for how to respond, so that you are empowered to choose the best ways to nourish yourself. We also suggest rituals to support you emotionally and spiritually, helping you adapt and thrive during each particular phase (see Creating Your Own Rituals). Whole body. Whole self.

We've connected each of the four phases of the menstrual cycle with one of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall), based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concepts and our own interpretations (see The Seasons of Your Cycle). Just as each season is marked with distinct characteristics, each phase of the menstrual cycle embodies a unique temperament based on hormonal fluctuations that affect everything from energy levels to cravings. Because these changes happen quickly over the course of a month, it can sometimes feel jarring to be riding the high of summer (the ovulation phase), then find yourself vulnerable and raw during autumn (the luteal phase). We believe that the seasonal associations provide a very helpful and beautiful way of viewing the menstrual cycle, and we hope you feel empowered and emboldened to explore the seasonal associations for yourself and embrace each season with patience and curiosity.

And then there's the food. Oh, the food! Each chapter contains recipes ranging from breakfast to elixirs and desserts — each recipe crafted with intention to support your body and the hormonal, mental, and emotional shifts it is undergoing. These recipes are warm, inviting, joyful, simple, and satisfying. They're meant to lift you up, ground you down, fill you, and release you. You will discover a plethora of tastes, colors, and textures that hold you and celebrate you fully.

We don't believe in dogmatic ways. There are no hard-and-fast rules here. For example, while we recommend eating foods rich in vitamin B₁₂ during the menstrual phase, that does not mean the menstrual phase is the only time you should consume these foods. None of what we share is a prescribed way of living. We give recommendations for nutrients and practices that we have found best support our bodies and those of the women we work with, but take them as just that: recommendations. We encourage you to explore what it is you need, and we offer you a space to do so vibrantly.

Beyond addressing your cycle, this book was created to celebrate you and the beauty you contain in all your dynamic phases. Our hope is that this book is timeless and that you find yourself pulling it out, again and again, each time you need to fill your soul and your belly, and that you pass it on to friends, family, children, and grandchildren. We're connected to our ancestors through our blood, and this book is meant to pay homage to them while paying homage to you and those you nurture in return.

So, here's to you: the woman who shows up for others, nourishes the collective, spreads warmth, reignites flames, holds space, loves deeply, and accepts others in all their shapes and forms. We see you in your fullness, and you're as radiant as mama moon herself.

Time to rise.

The Seasons of Your Cycle

While Jenna was studying for her master's degree in holistic nutrition, she was introduced to the TCM concept of viewing the phases of the menstrual cycle as the four seasons. This framework deeply resonated with her as a way to view how the ebbs and flows of our mood, our desires, and even our cravings mirror nature's seasons — so much so that she wanted to integrate her interpretation of this framework into these pages. TCM suggests choosing certain cooking methods during each phase and adjusting your lifestyle to fit hormonal fluctuations, and you will see this concept explained in each chapter. Please note that we are not Chinese medicine practitioners and only skim the surface of this nuanced practice. For a deeper dive, turn to Further Reading.

In each of the four chapters that follow, we also convey our individual beliefs about the seasons of life. As a writer, Devon has always found herself intrigued by the poetic nature of life's seasons — the fact that we all experience "winter, spring, summer, and fall" within our own lives. This concept is universal, tying us ever closer to one another and to the natural world that is in and around us.

We hope that both the TCM outlook and our own interpretations of the seasons of the menstrual cycle are helpful to you. We invite you to reflect on your own seasons during your menstrual cycle and what your seasons show you.

Creating Your Own Rituals

The term ritual was first used to describe religious ceremonies, and some folks may still associate the word only with religious teachings. The rituals throughout this book could be deemed religious, but in a very different way than the conventional sense.

Our religion is one to ourselves. We worship our health, our bodies, our minds, and our emotions. We have faith in our wisdom and in our strength as women, and we seek and integrate rituals that fully support us — mind, body, and spirit. These rituals differ from season to season and from phase to phase, and they are consistently open to reinterpretation and fluid movement — much like how we, as creatures, evolve.

We prefer to think of rituals as rhythms; we find that "rhythms" feels grounding and on par for exactly what our rituals give us — rhythms that we honor, sink into, and hold sacred; rhythms that ebb and flow with our growth and transformation. Rituals are a way of honoring and celebrating being instead of doing. Rituals help you create space for yourself in a busy world that asks a lot of you. And when you hold this space sacred, which can be challenging to do, no one (including yourself!) can manipulate you.

You may need to complete a ritual many times before it becomes a part of your regular routine. This is why many of the rituals in our wellness guide are quiet, simple, and small — inclusive, accessible, and real. We believe that the rituals, systems, and moments you create are never there to make you "fuller," because the ultimate truth is that you are already whole. Rather, they are there to help you pause and acknowledge yourself — see what's working, what's not, and how to better honor yourself in a celebratory way. That said, if a ritual does not give you clarity or if you are not able to integrate it into your life, it doesn't mean you've failed or you are less than. These practices are for you, never against you, and your willingness and ability to do them will change through time. Let's embrace that.