What’s better than a good cookbook? Our favorites these days are half art reference, half instructions for life — even if those instructions are how to make chia gel.

From Malibu to New York, garden-based cocktails to how to make a ginormous salad, here are a few warm weather cookbooks that have us ready for the newly emerging season…

6 Warm Weather Cookbooks Made For Spring + Beyond

Body Harmony | We’ve featured Nicole Berrie, aka Bonberi for years now. Her new book Body Harmony: Nourishing, Plant-Based Recipes For Intuitive Eating is both a lifestyle guide and a healthful cookbook filled with tons of inspiring takeaway. Everything is vegan from juices and smoothies to salads and grain-based dishes.

Saladish | Ilene Rosen may have been responsible for the very first kale salad 20 years ago when she added one to the menu at her NYC restaurant City Bakery(!). Expect to be delighted by innovation with her book Saladish: A Crunchier, Grainier, Herbier, Heartier, Tastier Way with Vegetables. With unexpected ingredients and inspiring tablescapes, your lunchtime salad will never be the same.

Our Kindred Home |  Alyson Morgan shares her own personal experience and homesteading methods in Our Kindred Home: Herbal Recipes, Plant Wisdom, and Seasonal Rituals . Her journey to reconnect with the natural world around her was inspired by growing up as a second-generation Haitian American and feeling disconnected from her roots, while also suffering the trauma of racism. The beautiful and nurturing book details tips on how to reconnect to nature and employ it as a pathway for healing, including tuning in to subtle body energies and regenerative ways of living and eating.

Lush Life | California-based blogger Valerie Rice expands on her gardening, cooking, and cocktail-ing philosophy in Lush Life: Food & Drinks From The Garden. With over 150 recipes, this book will surely inspire you to garden, cook, and happy hour with a deep connection to the plants and flowers around you. Stay tuned to our feature on her Lilac cocktails.

Salad Seasons | Sheela Prakash has an impressive list of credentials: registered dietitian, master’s degree from the University of Gastronomic Sciences, food writer and editor, recipe developer, and author. Her latest book Salad Seasons: Vegetable-Forward Dishes All Year might just have recipes that are a true culmination of her experiences by making vegetables the star of the show.

Malibu Farm Sunrise to Sunset | Helene Henderson is the founder of the beloved Malibu Farm restaurant, bringing SoCal farm-to-table style around the world. Her book Malibu Farm Sunrise To Sunset: Simple Recipes All Day captures the essence of simple, delicious and sun-soaked meals, alongside inspiring notes from her journey as a self-taught chef.

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