Free Kindle Books

So, this morning I made some muffins. Blackberry ones. I think I even bought the blackberries from an organic source. Then I went one step further to making my muffins super healthy, I forgot the sugar! Well, after pouring honey all over our muffins, I started thinking of recipes and that lead me to remember I wanted to share this great website with you!
It's called Hundred Zeros and it's a gathering of free Kindle Books. (I don't have a Kindle, but use the app on my iPad)These are books that you'd find on Amazon if you knew where to look. I signed up for the emails and I get an email every time new books are available. This is just some of the recipe books available, but they have all sorts of categories to choose from. 

Look Lynn, a Kale recipe book! Won't your kids be happy!
Happy reading!

Strawberry Shortcake ATK



Strawberries are on sale right now.....and whipping cream was in the clearance section at Safeway! Time to make some strawberry shortcake!




I found this recipe in my America's Test Kitchen's Baking cookbook.




It calls for 8 cups of strawberries, that's the same as one 2lb package.



Take 3 cups out of the 8 cups you sliced up.

Mash them up with a potato masher(it's not as easy as you'd think!).



Fold the mashed strawberries into the sliced and add 6 Tbsp of sugar. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.



Next I whipped my cream up. As you can see my bowl and beater are all frosty from being in the freezer to chill. I whipped up all this cream and froze several containers full.

In the food processor pulse about 3 times
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

The recipe calls you to chill 1/2 cup of unsalted butter cut into 1 inch pieces.
My butter was in the freezer, so I just sawed off 1/2 cup(salted, it's all I had) and cut it into pieces! It worked well, I just had to pulse more than 15 times.
Pulse 15 times until the mixture resembles cornmeal.



Whisk one room temperature egg and 2/3 cup half and half.

Then stir into flour mixture with a rubber spatula until large clumps form.


Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until dough comes together, about 30 secs.




The recipe says to pat into a 9X6 inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. I used my rolling pin, gently.



Cut into circles and place on parchment paper. Brush with egg white from one egg and 2 Tbsp sugar.

Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes turning the sheet half way through cooking time.

Let cool on sheet for 15 minutes. Cut in half.

Top with berries and whip cream.

Try to eat just one.......

I've Got Lots of Oranges and Orange Juice

As you know oranges and orange juice have been on sale. It got me thinking about these
easy, tasty, orange muffins my friend Louisa passed onto me years ago.

Orange Blender Muffins
1 Orange with the peel left on(just wash it really good) cut into 14 pieces
1/2 cup orange juice
Put these in the blender and puree.

1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins(optional)
Add these to the blender also and blend

In a separate bowl add
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Add the blended orange mix to the flour mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400
Let sit for 5 minutes.

These are not only tasty, but they smell divine! Enjoy!

Brown Butter Parmesan Chicken Linguine

I found this recipe on How Sweet It Is. It's a food blog that I really enjoy reading, but I haven't actually ever made any of the recipes. This one looked easy enough for me to try. 
I think a good idea for next time would be to precook the chicken the day before and then just warm it in the frying pan, as this was the most time consuming of the steps. As well, I could have precut the onions, mushrooms and garlic ahead of time.
I altered it in the following ways. I used WAY more chicken as I was having my brother and his kids for supper.

Browning the chicken after seasoning with paprika, salt and pepper.

I didn't have any white wine, so I substituted apple juice(thanks for this tip Linda!) I didn't have fresh Parmesan so I used Kraft's.

I didn't have any butter(I know how pathetic is that!)so I used margarine!

I didn't have any linguine so I used spagettini.

So, in the end the result was MAGNIFICENT.....imagine if I had, had 
all the correct ingredients! You gotta try this!

Sweet and Sour Pork in the Crock pot

This is one of our favorite meals. It's a great way to feel like you have the night off
from cooking by using your crock pot.
Often at the grocery store they have cubed pork
discounted, watch for it.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
2 cups cold water
4 Tbsp corn starch
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 1/3 cup ketchup
Mix all these ingredients together. Put in
the crock pot. Add cubed pork, or chicken.
I added some raw broccoli after about 4 hours.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

These instant noodles are in the ethnic aisle. They are usually .99.
We use about a fourth of this package for this meal.
You can just throw them in just a few minutes before you are
ready to eat. No boiling required, just soften them in your
crock pot sweet and sour sauce.
You can also serve this meal over rice if or pasta if you
prefer.

Sweet and Sour Pork and Noodles

Peanut Chicken or Thai Peanut Chicken

Look Linda! I won't ask you where I put this recipe again! This is a HUGE favorite at our house! M said she'd be happy if I just made the sauce(mushroom soup, milk and peanut butter) anytime we have rice so she can pour it all over!!! Very yummy!

Peanut Chicken or Thai Peanut Chicken

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tsp garlic minced
2Tbsp lemon or lie juice
2Tbsp fresh cilantro(my family has boycotted cilantro so I don't use this)
2Tbsp oil
1 large onion sliced thin
2 medium peppers sliced long(Linda uses broccoli instead)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1/4 cup of peanut butter
1 can chestnuts(optional, but a nice crunchy addition!)

Cut up chicken in small pieces and toss with garlic, juice and cilantro.
Cook chicken in oil to brown. Remove.

Add onions and peppers and cook until tender crisp. Remove.
Add milk, soup and peanut butter, whisk together and bring to a boil.

Add chicken, peppers, and onions back and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour over rice or noodles.
To make it Thai substitute coconut milk and add 1 Tbsp
curry paste.
I often substitute coconut milk for the water in my rice cooker
to make a yummy coconut rice!

We were so excited to eat it that I didn't take a picture!
This is the sad leftovers that I had for lunch the next day!

I've got lots of Apricots!

Everyday Foods....a wonderful cookbook/magazine!

Apricots thawing. 

I cut into it to test it....should have taken the picture first!

Thanks to my smart daughter, we used a plate to cover the cake for flipping it to this position.

It is soooo yummy! What a wonderful use for all those wonderful apricots!