Free Cookbooks

Like new recipes?  Then you’re going to love Encore Book Club.  I signed up for Encore’s book club at their website.  You can find the link here.  Want to know more details?  No problem, I bet your wondering what you’ll get if you sign up for their newsletter.  Typically, they send out their newsletter every Friday and it typically includes six free cooking Kindle Books.  The free eBooks are normally available all weekend, but then return to normal pricing on Mondays. Today’s free ebooks included the following free titles: Pickled, Cucumber Recipes, Pineapple Recipes, Raw Food, Quinoa Recipes, Oreo Recipes.  You can choose as few or as many titles as you wish.

Don’t have a Kindle book reader?  No problem!  Amazon makes an app for your android device, has downloadable software for your computer, and if none of the above methods work, you can choose to send the free books to your “Kindle Cloud Reader” which is accessible to you from any internet connected web browser, or purchase a Kindle Book reader.   I have the free Kindle book reader on my tablet and enjoy being able to take wonderful recipes to the kitchen with me while I’m cooking.

Lemon Chicken

One neat source for new recipes is SparkPeople. It has a place for everyone to upload their favorite recipes, as well as a collection of existing recipes, with more chef-added recipes added regularly.  There are special diets (diabetic, gluten free, low-carb, paleo, etc.), standard fare, as well as entertaining and treat ideas too.  Signing up is absolutely free and it gives you access to making your own recipe cookbook collections, as well as the ability to track your daily calories too.  Here is an example of one of their great chef-created recipes.  Click through to find this recipe, nutritional data, and surf around to find other tasty treats.

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• leaves from 2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp real salt

Instructions:

1. Mix everything together in a glass bowl.
2. Cover and refrigerate.
3. Allow flavors to blend for at least 30 minutes.
4. Use as a garnish or dip with tortilla chips.

Tortilla Strips (for Tortilla Soup)

Have you ever been to those restaurants, like Chilis, who serve their soups with those fancy tortilla strips atop and ever wonder how to make those?  The cool part of this recipe is you can make your own tortillas, using the ingredients which work for your body/allergies and still enjoy an old favorite without the issues associated with eating things outside of your optimal eating plan.

1.  Begin my preheating your  oven to 400 F.
2.  Brush both sides of tortillas with oil.
3.  Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4.  Bake in preheated oven until crisp. Ovens vary, watch closely but this should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
5.  Use to top soup or store in an air tight container.

This method can be made low-carb by using HEB Carb Control tortillas or Mission Low Carb tortillas in place of regular tortillas.  You can also use the same method with home-made (gluten-free, AIP friendly, low carb, keto, flour, or corn) tortillas.

Another great option?  Use “dorito dust”, lime, lemon-lime or other flavorings.  Just add them along with the oil before baking.  These can be made in a toaster oven.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 tsp Organic Cornstarch
1 container orange juice frozen concentrate, undiluted
4 TBSP Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
3 TBSP Organic Ketchup (MSG-free, high fructose free)
2 TBSP Soy Sauce or Liquid Coconut Aminos (Soy Sauce Alternative)
2 TBSP Honey
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
1 each: green, red, orange, yellow bell pepper (sliced)

Instructions:

1. Begin by chopping the raw chicken breasts into cubes.
2. Place chicken cubes either in a ziplock freezer bag or in the bottom of your slow cooker.
3. Sprinkle cornstarch over chicken cubes and stir to coat.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken cubes.
5. Add the entire container of undiluted orange juice concentrate, honey, soy sauce (or alternative), ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar.
6. If desired, add up to 1 tsp red pepper flakes.
7. Add sliced bell peppers and stir.

To use as a freezer meal: remove air from zip lock and seal and freeze until ready to cook. On the day you wish to cook this meal, remove it from the freezer, open the bag and place contents into your slow cooker, and follow the directions below.

To enjoy now: cook on low 8 hours.

Serving suggestions: Tastes great over rice, with or without chopped green onions or fresh orange slices as a garnish.

Probiotic Fruit Drink

 

One of the blogs I like to follow is Primally Inspired because Kelly is upbeat and shares a lot of great recipes and ideas.  This video highlights one of them–her yummy, easy to make, fermented probiotic fruit drink.  She happens to use strawberries but other fruits are equally delicious.  Give your favorite a try.  One of the great things about this drink is there aren’t any strange chemicals or bugs making it red, and there isn’t any high fructose corn syrup.

Bourbon BBQ Sauce and Brisket Video

Thanks Avi for the juicy brisket recipe and great video.  This BBQ Sauce from Avi’s brisket also works well on other items too and is worth making all on its own.

For the Bourbon BBQ Sauce:

12 oz organic tomato paste

10 oz white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

8 oz of pure maple syrup

½ tsp salt

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. arrow root

1 or 2 shots of fine bourbon

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend well for about thirty seconds. Now you’re done. That was easy. However, you should taste it. If it’s not quite sweet enough or bourbon enough for you, adjust to your taste. Please remember though that you will not be eating this sauce by itself, it will combine with the fats, juices and strong flavors of the meat. The sugars and the bourbon will also caramelize while cooking, so it will just get better. I put the left over sauce in a plastic squeeze bottle and use it on burgers, fries, roasts etc.

Enchilada Sauce

Here is an EASY, delicious sauce, I use for making soups, enchiladas and more, all without added sugars, MSG or other chemicals.

Ingredients

3 TBSP Butter
1 TBSP Organic Corn Starch
1/4 Cup chili powder
2 Cups homemade chicken stock
10 ounces tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp Redmond real salt

Instructions:

1. Heat butter and cornstarch in a medium saucepan.
2. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. Stir to combine.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.

Makes about 2.5 cups of sauce.  Go ahead and make more, this recipe freezes well in individual serving sizes for quick meals from the freezer.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Making your own homemade seasonings is a great way to avoid common allergens, various unwanted chemical additives, MSG, dyes, sugar, preservatives, and potentially other nasty ingredients leaving your foods as fresh tasting and delicious as possible without compromising nutrition.  Also, you can make as large of quantity as needed or as small as quantity so your spices are always fresh and ready to go.  Aim at mixing up a fresh batch each time you cook, or for convenience increase the recipe size to equal what you would typically use in a six-month to one-year time frame.  Spices are best used within a year.  If you find your spices are clumping, you can shake them to break them up, use a utensil to break the clumps, or use a few grains of rice inside your jar to absorb moisture and prevent clumping without additives.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

Mix the ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.  Be sure to label the container.

Suggestions:

1. Suggested use is 2 TBSP of this mix per pound of meat.  Adjust according to your tastes.
2. Can be made in larger batches, if desired. Simply double the recipe.
3. Recycle a washed old taco seasoning bottle to store your recipe!

 

3-Ingredient Chicken

Whenever boneless, skinless, chicken breasts go on sale, here is a tasty and easy recipe to use your bulk purchases wisely.

Ingredients:

• 4 Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
• 1 Cup Kirkland Organic Salsa (or your favorite brand)
• 1 TBSP (Homemade) Taco Seasoning

Instructions:

1. Toss the chicken into the bottom of your slow cooker or crockpot.
2. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with Taco Seasoning.
3. Top seasoned chicken breasts with salsa.
4. Cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Suggested Uses:

• Shred meat.  Use to make Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Chicken Tacos
• Chicken Taco Salad (lunches or main dish)
• Freezer batch cooking friendly

Batch Cooking/Freezer Cooking:
If you make this recipe up in large batches, you can freeze then in single serving sizes using a muffin tin to first freeze the shredded chicken and then transferring to a labeled, dated freezer bag to use as needed.

Alternatively, using zip-lock bags place 4 raw chicken breasts, 1 cup of salsa, and 1 TBSP of taco seasoning mix into a bag, label, freeze until ready to use.  On cooking day, remove bag and place frozen seasoned chicken and 1/4 cup water into slow cooker and cook as previously directed.