Good and Cheap: A Cookbook by Leanne Brown. Print your own copy FREE! Follow the link in the blog post.
I found these great free cookbooks a while ago. But I just discovered the author’s website and the links to print PDF copies of both books FREE! The photography is absolutely gorgeous. The recipes look delicious and seem quite easy overall. It is refreshing to find this resource for inexpensive meals and snacks using fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Let’s get inspired to try something new this week that is good for OURSELVES and good for our WALLETS, too!
Good and Cheap is a cookbook written by Leanne Brown for people with very tight budgets, particularly those on SNAP/Food Stamp benefits. It is also a great resource for anyone wanting to eat healthy meals without spending a fortune. The PDF is free and has been downloaded more than 800,000 times.
Is the PDF really free? Can I print some recipes?
Yes it’s really free. Sharing the power of cooking is the whole point of the Good and Cheap project. Because the 1st edition is under a Creative Commons license, you are free to use the recipes however you like so long as you give Leanne Brown credit and you don’t make money off her work. Enjoy it!
Can I save the PDF to my computer?
Yep! To save a copy of Good and Cheap on your computer, right-click this download link instead of left-clicking. You should see a menu with an option like “Save Link As…” or “Save File As…”. If you select that option, you’ll be able to save the PDF to your computer. If that link doesn’t work, try this one.
From Scratch: A Cookbook by Leanne Brown. Print your own copy FREE! Follow the link in the blog post.
Leanne Brown’s first cookbook! From Scratch is a vegetarian cookbook intended for people just becoming comfortable in their own kitchens. Download a FREE pdf copy HERE.
These books are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 license. For more information, visit http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/4.0.
Heat the olive oil in 3 to 4 quart pan. Saute the onion until it softens and turns translucent. Toss in the garlic and saute for another minute or so, watching carefully so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the salt, the petite diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and the rest of the herbs and spices. Heat to boiling, then lower the heat to simmer. Add in the artichoke hearts and olives. Cook the cheese tortellini (or any kind of pasta) according to package directions. Simmer the sauce until the pasta or cheese tortellini is ready. Serve topped with parmesan cheese. VERY GOOD!
Artichoke Hearts, marinated and quartered
I revised this recipe from “Herbed Artichoke Cheese Tortellini” that I found on Taste of Home’s recipe web site. I like the fact that it is made with mostly canned ingredients which is great when you live in Wisconsin and winter lasts about 9 months a year. Using the fresh parsley along with the canned artichokes and olives adds enough brightness to the flavor to make the effort of minimal effort of making the sauce well worth it.
Cheese Tortellini; Image by Laurent, via Flickr CC License. Tortellini aux chèvre et capres.
The sauce tastes great on cheese tortellini, but it also tastes great on any kind of pasta.
If you are really in a great hurry, I suppose you could use onion powder and garlic powder (or some sort of pre-chopped garlic in a jar) to speed the process even more. But seriously, this sauce is very quick to make even with chopping an onion and a couple cloves of garlic.
I hope you try this and please let me know how much you like it!
image via Flickr CC by cookbookman17; Fresh Parsley — A bunch of fresh hand picked parsley. This parsley is bursting with flavor and ready for use.
I am fortunate to live near a Half-Price Books bookstore. I love books, stationery, music, cards, CDS and LPs — you name it — this store seems to have it.
I tend to browse the cookbooks at this store, even though I already have a HUGE collection of cookbooks at home. (I also have a really good Goodwill store nearby, too. Hardback books, including cookbooks, are only $1.79.)
I have a combination of three part-time jobs right now, so cooking dinner has become a somewhat rarer activity than it was previously.
I decided to try this recipe because you can only eat out so many times in a week before you get tired of
food that involves deep-frying
food that involves a drive through
food that begins to all taste the same
food that has no vegetables in it
Ingredients: *I tweaked a few ingredients and amounts so this isn’t exactly like the recipe in the book
1 pound of spaghetti noodles (or Chinese egg noodles if you can find them) 2 T. toasted sesame oil
1 whole roasted deli chicken
1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced 4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts) 1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic 1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine) 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari 2 T brown sugar 1 T rice vinegar 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain and toss with sesame oil
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the garnishes and sauce.
Also de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken. Cut the meat off the bones; save the “runnin’ gears”– the bones, skin and carcass — to make some quick chicken stock for future use. Keep the meat warm until the pasta is ready.
Garnishes: 1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced 4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts) 1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts cilantro, chopped
Mix the ingredients (listed below) in a blender and blend thoroughly. Toss this mixture with the pasta. 1 clove garlic 1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine) 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari 2 T brown sugar 1 T rice vinegar 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain. Put it in a large bowl and toss it with the 2 T of sesame oil.
While the pasta is cooking, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a blender. Blend. Add this mix to the sesame oiled pasta.
Also while the pasta cooks, de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken. Prepare the garnishes.
To serve: Put pasta on a plate. Top with desired amount of chicken plus generous garnishes of cilantro, peanuts, scallions, and cucumber.
Image by Madeleine via Flickr CC license This image is not the actual recipe I’m posting. It looks very similar to this, though.
REVIEW: This recipe was quick to fix. It has very good flavor and was delicious. I happened to have nearly all the sauce ingredients on hand, so it was not a huge amount of items to buy at the grocery store — basically just a deli chicken, a cucumber and maybe some spaghetti, cilantro and scallions if you happen to have none of those things at the moment. I liked the fact that it tasted a little Thai and a little Chinese — but that it wasn’t overly spiced in either direction. You could definitely bump up the crushed red pepper if you need more heat or add Siracha sauce at the table.
This could easily be made vegetarian if you leave out the chicken. You could add tofu.
I think it would be good with grilled shrimp instead of the chicken. If you have them, fresh bean sprouts would give a nice crunch as well. You could use honey instead of brown sugar in the sauce. I grated my ginger into the blender because I didn’t want to chomp down on an unblended chunk of ginger. I would add more garlic next time, too.
It would be nice to add some toasted sesame seeds. I didn’t have time or energy for that, but it would be good.
FULL FORKS for this one! FIVE FORKS! Go fo it! Please let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it.
The best Falafel sandwich I have ever had was near the British Museum in London. There was a little sandwich shop just around the corner from the main entrance. The falafel was declicious, but the “fixins” were wonderfully fresh, crisp and flavourful. (Spelled it the British way for good measure, there!)
I looked at Google maps in that area around the British Museum and the best possibilities are Salt and Pepper (5 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE, England) or Bimbimbab Cafe (37 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LP, England). The menu and reviews at Salt and Pepper remind me more of the cafe, but the photo of Bimbimbab’s interior also looks familiar. It was not a Korean restaurant at the time if that is indeed the place we had falafel. It was 2008, so it is not likely I can solve this mystery now (unless someone in London can shed light on my memory!)
I’ve looked for a good recipe to try to recreate this memorable sandwich. The closest so far is a recipe from Rachael Ray.
My daughter and I made Rachael Ray’s Falafel Burgers recipe for dinner tonight.
We tweaked the recipe a bit so I thought I’d share our results and thoughts here.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. We used about 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. black pepper.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for frying.
Combine these ingredients (above) in a large food processor. You might need to do 1 can of chickpeas and 1/2 the other ingredients at a time, then blend it all together in a bowl. We found the full amount to be too much for my Cuisinart. If the mixture seems too dry to hold together, add a little more olive oil. If it seems too wet — don’t even add the olive oil and/or add more flour.
Divide the chickpea mixture into 8 parts. Form into patties. Dredge lightly in flour.
Heat plenty of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet. You need 1/4 c. or so of oil or sometimes more depending on how large your skillet is.
Fry the falafel patties about 3-4 min. on each side or until lightly browned and heated through. You can use more oil and completely deep fry them, but I think pan frying tastes good and uses so much less oil
To make the sauce combine the following in a small bowl:
1/4 cup tahini paste
2 tablespoons water (or more if needed)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Prepare the “fixins” for serving:
4 sandwich-size whole wheat pita pockets (cut in half, warm in oven or toast lightly)
1-1 1/2 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber; peel, de-seed, quarter, slice and dice
chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; a large handful
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, sliced or garden fresh cherry tomatoes (cut into halves or fourths)
(In the street falafel photo below, I see he is offering radishes, jalapeno slices and lemon wedges, and possibly baby spinach, too. It is difficult to see — but I think the idea is toppings galore and whatever you crave!)
To serve:
Fill 1/2 a warmed pita with fixins, sauce and falafel. Have plenty of napkins ready. Sometimes I end up eating it with a fork.
image by Daniel Roy, via Flickr CC; falafel stand in Aleppo, Syria.
REVIEW:
I’ve made this recipe several times. The biggest issue is getting the consistency right so the falafel doesn’t fall apart in the skillet.
The fixings are important. Use fresh and local if possible; organic always tastes better to me, too. Maybe that is just in my head, though.
The original recipe calls for twice as many spices and several quite expensive ones. I have used 1/2 the amounts in the RR recipe and it was good. This is the first time we used the Sweet Curry instead of all the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Feel free, of course, to adjust the spice levels to your taste.
OVERALL: FIVE OUT OF FIVE FORKS!!
Highly recommended.
Please let me know if you try this recipe, how it turned out, and if you enjoyed it.
I had no idea what to make for dinner this evening.
Every piece of meat I have is in the freezer. I am too weary to go to the grocery store.
I’ve eaten out too many times in the last couple of weeks and am craving something home-made, with lots of flavor and healthy ingredients.
I came up with something pretty delicious with stuff I have in my pantry, and am very pleased with how it came out! I hope you’ll try this recipe sometime soon when you are tired and hungry.
remolata.net photo credit, via Flickr CC
Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast
Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cans black beans, drained
1 can regular original Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies
A large squirt of lime juice
Spices — I used Arizona Dreaming and Forward from Penzeys, several dashes of each.
Cooked rice (white or brown)
Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top
Cook rice: I usually use 3 c. of water to 1 1/2 cups of rice and add about 1/2 t. salt (or maybe a little more). Heat the salted water to boiling then add the rice. Stir, cover, lower the heat to simmer and set the timer for about 14 minutes. You can also use 4 c. water to 2 c. rice if you want more rice. When the timer goes off, give it a stir and you are ready to go!
Heat olive oil in a pan. Brown the chicken. Slice and dice it on a nearby cutting board when it is nearly cooked through. I had a frozen chicken breast so I cooked it whole until it was soft enough to dice, removed it from the pan, chopped it up, then returned it to the pan to finish cooking. If your chicken is thawed, you can dice it raw if you prefer.
When the chicken is nearly done, add the chopped onion to the pan. Sprinkle the spices on. If you don’t have the Penzeys spice mixes try using cumin, oregano and a little chili powder. I was going for Mexican-ish flavors. Squirt a liberal dose of lime juice all over the pan. (I used lime in a bottle, such as Real-lime)
To the chicken and onion, add the Ro-Tel (drained) and the black beans (drained). Heat through.
When the rice is finished, combine it with the chicken mixture in whichever pan will hold it all.
Salt and pepper to taste. Add more spice if needed, too. (Crushed red chilies, chili powder, cayenne — whatever you please).
Sprinkle with the shredded sharp cheddar. Cover and let sit til the cheese melts.
SERVE! Makes 5 or 6 large servings
This would taste good with sliced avocados, cilantro, and/or sour cream. You could serve it with tortilla chips and guacamole, too.
This could be a vegetarian recipe quite easily if you leave out the chicken.
(Please note that the photo above is not of the dish I created. We ate it all! This is the closest thing that I could find on Flickr. It is similar, and I included it to give you an idea of what the finished dish could look like.)
This is the bowl I used to make the rivels. Flour, salt and pepper, then make a well. Stir an egg around til it gathers enough flour to hold together. Scrape fork fulls off into the simmering soup pot. Cook through. Rivels will be chewy even when done.
Finished! Garnished w/ crispy bacon and freshly ground black pepper. This is the actual soup I made. TTQ cc
I have been craving my mom’s potato soup. I wasn’t going to make it a blog post, but I am not in the mood to try something new (or even cook at all for that matter) so I reconsidered. In keeping with my minimal effort attitude today, I decided to look online for some photos so I don’t have to actually MAKE the soup before I write this post (since I have time to write right now but there isn’t a meal coming for several more hours yet).
Well, in the end, I couldn’t find any images that closely resemble my mom’s soup so now I think I MUST write it up and photograph it for my recipe blog as soon as possible!
The potato soup gauntlet has been thrown down.
Last Christmas I created a cookbook of my mom’s family recipes using Shutterfly. I was quite happy with the finished product, and I think she was surprised and pleased as punch. This soup recipe is included in that book, and I’m happy to share it with you!
4 to 6 potatoes (my mom likes Idaho)
water to cover the potatoes and vegs (or chicken broth)
1 T. butter (or more to taste)
a little onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped (include all the leaves if you have them)
1 carrot, shredded or very finely chopped (opt.)
parsley, opt. (I don’t think my mom used this very often. If you use parsley fresh would be better; add it near the end of the cooking time)
flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper
milk (or half and half)
garnish with crispy bacon and/or thinly sliced green onions
some people like grated cheddar cheese on top, or stirred in
Image by Kristin (beautyredefined) via Flickr CC
Peel and dice the taties. Boil them in water (or broth) to cover. Season the water with plenty of salt and pepper.
Meanwhile in a small skillet melt the 1 T. butter, and add the onion, celery (and carrots, any other vegs if using). After they get softened and get a little color, add the vegs to the boiling potato pot. The taties will take about 20 min. to cook. (Note — you can skip this step of cooking the vegs in a skillet with butter and just toss them in with the potatoes at the start. I think it tastes better to cook them a little separately first. But you are in charge!)
Keep poking the taties with a fork as they boil. When taties are nearly done, begin to make the rivels. Put 1 C. flour and a little salt and pepper in a bowl and make a well in the center of the flour. Stir two eggs up and pour them into the well with a fork, pulling bits of flour in as you stir gently. Scrape the small blobs onto the simmering soup until all the egg is gone. All the flour will not be used. Use as many or as few blobs as you like. As it boils, the rivels will cook but will still be pretty chewy.
Turn the heat way down. Add milk or half and half to get the consistency you want for your soup. Heat gently but don’t boil it at this point or it will curdle.
Serve steaming hot garnished with some crispy bacon and slivers of green onions on top.
I sometimes add leftover ham to this soup. Home made buttermilk or baking soda biscuits go great to eat with this hearty, satisfying soup. A fresh salad with lots of crunchy vegetables would be nice, too.
For a vegetarian version, you would obviously leave off the bacon and use water or vegetable stock.
Finished! Garnished w/ crispy bacon and freshly ground black pepper. This is the actual soup I made. TTQ cc
I’m guessing this recipe is a combination of recipes from my mom’s and my dad’s families. They both grew up in the same small town and were grade school sweethearts, graduating from HS together in 1949. Dad went into the Army and then they got married in 1952.
Dad was the youngest of eight children, living on a farm in central Indiana during the Depression. Their lives were not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Dad’s dad died on his 13th birthday, so his mom was a single Mom through most of the Depression years. Dad’s favorite foods included mashed potatoes, noodles, homemade bread, potato soup — inexpensive and filling foods that could be made with very simple ingredients. Flour, eggs, milk, potatoes, butter, broth — I assume they grew or made most of these things on their farm.
My mom’s family was a “town” family. Her dad was a mechanic, a fireman and town councilman. My mom’s family probably had more income, but my grandparents on that side were extremely frugal. They saved EVERYTHING, and though my grandma on that side was also a very good cook, she didn’t make the same buttery, starchy foods my dad’s family made.
I’ll share more family recipes in the future.
I looked for a video to show how to make the rivels, and I found this little gem. The music is very fun. I have never heard of garnishing with boiled eggs! Proceed at your own risk. I will add photos to this post of rivels when I actually make the soup next time, okay?
Here are several potato soup recipes similar to mine: It is interesting to me that several mention Indiana, Amish, German heritage and/or Grandmothers.
I’ve been blogging for about a year now. My original blog is called “The Tromp Queen” and if you haven’t visited that blog, I’d love to have you stop by for a visit.
I posted several recipes there, and in the interest of trying to keep everything food and recipe related in one place — I want to share the links to those posts here for any of my new followers who might have missed those posts.
Aunt Ruthie’s Terrific Toffee is a family recipe that we dearly love. I encourage you to try this recipe when you need something sweet and delicious.
Craving Curry? gives two of my favorite, quick and easy curry recipes. (These can easily be made as vegetarian recipes).
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is popular in my family as a birthday cake choice. It is absolutely decadent and worth EVERY calorie.
Another family favorite is Spinach Börek. My sister-in-law is a Turkish woman, and she graciously taught me how to make this many years ago when we first met. This is my son’s favorite meal to eat for special occasions. This recipe is also vegetarian, but not vegan. (It has dairy and eggs).
Chocolate Chip Scones!!! This recipe is my most famous! It still gets the most views on my blog regularly. It is a pin on Pinterest, and I get a lot of traffic from there, too. This is the recipe that got me thinking I should start a recipe blog.
The last post (and the oldest recipe post on the Tromp Queen) is about my trusty recipe notebook (pictured above). I lost it for a few months and thought it was gone forever. When I found it (finally!), I wrote this post and shared a simple family recipe for my Mom’s macaroni salad. Enjoy!
This quick and easy soup tastes like you spent all day cooking. I love it because it starts with cans of black beans so you can be eating soup in just about 1/2 an hour.
Ingredients:
2 T. of olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 1/2 t. cumin
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 or 2 chopped canned chipotles in adobo sauce (freeze the rest for another day)
3 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste)
1 to 1 1/2 t. salt
3 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 to 4 cups broth (vegetarians use veggie broth or water; others can use chicken or beef broth)
1 T. lime juice (can use lemon)
cilantro
crushed red pepper flakes
black pepper
sour cream
How to:
1. Turn the heat on! 🙂 In a dutch oven or other large pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cumin. Stir. Cook til onion gets soft (a few minutes).
2. Add the chopped carrot, garlic and salt. Cook about 5 or so more min. until vegs are well on the way to being done.
3. While that stuff is cooking in the pot, open the cans of beans and drain them. I use a colander over the sick and then rinse them well with cold water.
4. Add the beans and the broth to the pot. Add the chipotle chilies if you are using them. Add just a couple, and be sure to remove the seeds or you will get a LOT of heat! (unless that is what you like, then go for it of course!) Simmer all this for about 10 or even 15 minutes (if you are hungry then go for the lower time).
5. When things are smelling so good you can’t wait much longer, get out your potato masher or immersion blender and squish up some of the beans to thicken the soup up a bit. I don’t like my black bean soup completely smooth, but you can suit yourself on the squish factor.
6. Now for the magic! Add the lime juice (fresh squeezed is fabulous, but I live in WI so I often use the bottle stuff). Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper, freshly ground black pepper to taste (about 15 grinds for me), and chop up a pretty large handful of cilantro and throw it in the pot. Let that simmer just a few more minutes while you get out bowls, spoons and such.
7. You can taste it to check for seasonings, but I’m sure it’ll be fine! You are an excellent cook! Serve it up with your lovely stainless steel soup ladle and sprinkle a bit more cilantro on top. I like it with a small spoonful of really good sour cream (which I stir into the soup so it gets creamy looking). OH MY GOSH it is GOOOD!
If you want to fill out a meal add a salad and maybe some crispy cheese quesadillas.
Or blue corn chips with guacamole.
Or cornbread muffins.
Margaritas would be excellent.
Enjoy!
Please let me know how you like this recipe. Really. I want to know.
This soup freezes well. Not that there will be any left over.
Note: This is inspired by a recipe of Mollie Katzen’s in her book “get cooking” but I’ve changed so many things it isn’t the same as that recipe anymore.
The Tromp Queen COOKS! 