A Recipe for More: Ingredients for a Life of Abundance and Ease

“This is more than a book: It’s a way of being.”—J . Wortham, staff writer for the New York Times Magazine and cohost of the New York Times podcast

“Deeply honest, compassionate, and wise . . . A Recipe for More is a generous book about breaking cycles of suffering, but also choosing pleasure, offering kindness to self, cultivating an electric network of friendships, and embracing this sweet life. I treasured every page.”—Janelle Monáe, singer, actor, artist, and New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Librarian

 "Each new day is a singular moment, a singular opportunity. No day is like the last and no day is like what’s to come. We have arrived, and we are simultaneously arriving.”  

In this expansive debut, A Recipe for More: Choosing a Life of Pleasure and Abundance, creative, host, and "pleasure doula" Sara Elise offers a profound and challenging inquiry into the forces that keep us in a state of survival and limitation and asks us to consider a new way to live. Sara Elise leaves us with what it means to be present to what’s unfolding around us and open to the change that is possible in that empty space.

A Recipe for More is a quest to examine the ingredients of our lives, those essential components that make up our days. Have we chosen rest, breath, movement, agency, visibility, play, and pleasure? Or are we trapped in the numbing and violent pattern of self-inflicted suffering? Do we celebrate the unique and precious wiring of our brains? Are our relationships a garden of ever-growing and evolving roots? Do we nourish our bodies with what it requires to sense and receive? Are we liberated, awakened, and alive? In the tradition of Adrienne Maree Brown and Sonya Renee Taylor, A Recipe for More is a radical argument for dismantling the systems that oppress us. But it begins with the individual, and the simple recipe of our every day. 

Groundbreaking, persuasive, inclusive, and warm, A Recipe for More brings the ingredients of an abundant life to all readers so that we might honor ourselves, deepen our communities, and finally be present in each miraculous and life-giving singular moment.

With contributions by Fariha Róisín, Tourmaline, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Ryann Holmes (bklyn boihood), Naima Green, J Wortham, and more.

This transformative guide for community care is your invitation to:

• Burnout Recovery: Trade hustle culture for intentional rest. Sara Elise shares her journey from a demanding Wall Street career to a life of ease and creative fulfillment.
• Radical Honesty: Learn to question everything, especially the stories you tell yourself. Embrace the unique wiring of your brain and find freedom in radical self-acceptance.
• Queering Friendships: Go beyond traditional roles to build a chosen family rooted in intimacy, trust, and collective care, creating an electric network of support.
• Embodied Presence: Get used to feeling good. This is your guide to choosing pleasure, cultivating joy, and connecting with your senses in each singular, miraculous moment.

"Sara Elise has much to share about leaning into the sensate pleasures of aliveness, the fecund richness of possibility that blooms when mapping out desire paths towards a Black queer futurity that prioritizes self-worth, collectivity, non-hierarchical mindsets, access needs, care, healing and ecological harmony. She does all of this with grace and transparency, seeding the ground for anyone who wishes to take inspiration and turn it into action. This is more than a book: It’s a way of being." - J. Wortham, culture writer for the New York Times Magazine and co-host of the New York Times podcast, Still Processing

"Deeply honest, compassionate, and wise...A Recipe for More is a generous book about breaking cycles of suffering, but also, choosing pleasure, offering kindness to self, cultivating an electric network of friendships, and embracing this sweet life. I treasured every page.” - JANELLE MONÁE, singer, actor, artist, and New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Librarian

"Sara Elise's words are going to help so many people feel seen, because this book is soaked with conversations that feel like the most engaging coffee or tea date with someone who you know and can trust. By sharing her truth unapologetically, she centers experiences that invite us all to choose a more abundant life in ways the matter to us. Approachable, deep, and powerful - this book will help so many choose ease in their everyday lives." - Yasmine Cheyenne, author of The Sugar Jar

“This is perfect for those seeking to make a change but need a bit of a kick in the pants to get started.” - Publishers Weekly