My Favorite Free Online Cookbooks

Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook

Helping those who feel like an alien in the kitchen with

simple, basic, one pot, single serving, easy, healthy, recipes.

 

My recipes are:

• Frugal, healthy, and simple.
• Friendly for those who have difficulty trying to cook.
• Focused on those who do not have a full kitchen complement of equipment, utensils, or supplies.
• Helpful for those who do not have regular access to fresh fruits and vegetables or specific ingredients.
• Geared towards small portions or single servings.

Being frugal in the kitchen means finding free or sales on kitchen utensils, cookbooks, and food items. Other money savers including: using inexpensive food items as substitutes for more expensive items, and making your own (DIY) dressings, sauces, salsas, pesto, and more.

My Favorite Free Online Cookbooks

Including PDFs, free eBooks, Websites, and Extension sources

 

NIH/NHLBI Delicious Heart Healthy Recipes

https://healthyeating.nhlbi.nih.gov/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

 



Keep the Beat Recipes

https://healthyeating.nhlbi.nih.gov/pdfs/Dinners_Cookbook_508-compliant.pdf

 

HHS Healthy Home Cooking African American Style

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/heart/cooking.pdf

 

USDA White House Healthier US School Challenge Celebration -- October 17, 2011


https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/18677

 

The Great Little Cookbook

https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/documents/on-a-benefit/the-great-little-cookbook.pdf

 

A Cookbook by Ted

Need to login at Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/21518

 

Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Search "Cookbook" or “Cook Book” and you will get lots of choices like:

 

The Cookery Blue Book

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26374/26374-h/26374-h.htm

 

Barilla Celebrity Cookbook

https://web.stanford.edu/~rwyang/documents/cookbook.pdf

 

Cusinart Convection Oven Microwave Grill CookBook

https://www.cuisinart.com/share/pdf/manuals/cmw-200_recipe.pdf

 

Wikipedia Cookbook

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Table_of_Contents

 



Mount Vernon Recipes

https://www.mountvernon.org/inn/recipes/

 

Open Culture Cookbook Archive

http://www.openculture.com/2016/07/an-archive-of-3000-vintage-cookbooks-lets-you-travel-back-through-culinary-time.html

 

AmeriFlax Cookbook

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a0b32ce32601e57f0d4e489/t/5b75c6f3b8a045547c081622/1534445310653/Flax+Cookbook.pdf

 

Yucatan Goverment / Servicos de Salud de Yucatan

Recetario Saludable

http://salud.yucatan.gob.mx/secciones/ver/recetario-saludable

Washington State University

https://extension.wsu.edu/clark/healthwellness/nutrition/nutritioneducation/recipes/

University of Ilinois

http://extension.illinois.edu/fiesta/recipe.cfm?lang=en&id=327

Cornell Cooperative Extension

http://ccedutchess.org/nutrition/recipes

Iowa State University

https://spendsmart.extension.iastate.edu/recipe/salmon-wraps/

University of Nebraska

https://food.unl.edu/recipe-centralhttps://food.unl.edu/recipe-central

Virginia Tech

https://ext.vt.edu/food-health/family-nutrition-program/recipes.html

University of Maryland Extension

https://extension.umd.edu/allegany-county/food-nutrition/recipes

University of Florida IFAS Extension

https://efnep.ifas.ufl.edu/recipes/

BBC Food

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes

@bbcgoodfood

Budget Bytes

https://www.budgetbytes.com/

@Budget_Bytes

Cdkitchen

http://www.cdkitchen.com/

@CDKitchen.com

Chowhound

https://www.chowhound.com/

@CHOW

Cocina Vital

https://www.cocinavital.mx/

@cocinavital

Cooking on a Bootstrap / Jack Monroe

https://cookingonabootstrap.com/

@Bootstrapcook

Cooks.com

http://www.cooks.com/

Delish

http://www.delish.com/recipes/

@Delishcom

The Guardian - Recipes

http://www.theguardian.com/tone/recipes

The Incredible Egg

https://www.incredibleegg.org/

@IncredibleEggs

The Kitchn

http://www.thekitchn.com/

@theKitchn

 

My Latina Table

https://www.mylatinatable.com/

@MyLatinaTable

 

My Plate

https://www.myplate.gov/

@MyPlate

My Recipes

http://www.myrecipes.com/

@My_Recipes

 

Recipes

http://www.recipe.com/recipes/

@recipes

 

RecipeTinEats

https://www.recipetineats.com/

 

The Spruce Eats

https://www.thespruceeats.com/  

 

WW

https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/food

Wikipedia: Food

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Food

Wikipedia: Food, Cookbook, Recipes

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Category:Recipes

 

Note: Many Food Manufactures have recipes on their websites, for example:

 

Goya

https://www.goya.com/en/recipes

 

 

Highlight

A Cookbook byTed

from Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/21518

 

 

Microwave: Mug O'Denver Omelet

Mug O’Denver Omelet

(Adapted from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/denver-omelet-4160677)

Ingredients:

 

A Dab of Olive or Vegetable oil

1-2 Drops Hot sauce

1 Egg

1 Dollop Milk

1 TBspn ham or turkey, diced (or 1 slice lunchmeat, sliced), or imitation bacon bits

1/4 Bell pepper, diced or sliced or 3 TBspns Frozen mixed vegetables, cooked

1 Tspn of Canned mushrooms, drained

1/2 - 1 Tspn Onion flakes or 2 TBspns Onion, diced

2-3 TBspns Pickle juice

1 Tspn Salsa

1 Heaping TBspn Cheese, grated

 

Process:

In a mug, add dab of oil. Swirl oil around to coat bottom and sides.

Add hot sauce.

Add egg.

Add milk, stir and whip ingredients.

Add meat.

Add bell pepper, mushrooms, onion flakes, pickle juice, salsa and cheese.

Stir and mix ingredients thoroughly.

Microwave on high 2-4 minutes to cook off liquids.

 

 
Variation: Use as a toast topping. Spread mayo on toast, add layer of mixture. Refrigerate any leftover mixture.

 

Microwave: Mug O'Peanut Omelet -- An Introduction to George Washington Carver

From tragic beginnings, George Washington Carver became a noted botanist who promoted various agricultural methods and new cash crops like the peanut and sweet potato that helped save the American agricultural economy in the 1930s.

 

This is the first of several peanut recipes, I will attempt to adapt based on Carver's recipes published by Experimental Station, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, Tuskegee Institute Press in BULLETIN NO. 31 June 1925 (Revised from the original publication of April, 1918).

(Retrieved 6/2/2019 from: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/carver-peanut/)

 

 

Original Recipe

"NO. 44, PEANUT OMELET
Cream a slice of bread in half a cup of rich milk; beat the whites and yolks of two eggs separately; add the yolks to the bread crumbs and milk; to half a cup of finely ground peanuts add a dash of pepper and salt; mix thoroughly; fold in the whites, and cook as usual in a buttered pan."

My Version is below.

Mug O’Peanut Omelet (Bread Pudding)
(Adapted from: How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption Seventh Edition, January 1940, By George W. Carver, M.S. in AGR., Director, No. 44, Peanut Omelet)

 

 

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2-3 Drops Hot sauce
Ground Black pepper to taste
A Dollop Milk
1 Egg
1 Slice Bread, multigrain, torn into pieces
1 TBspn Crunchy Peanut Butter or Smooth Peanut Butter

1/2 Tspn Crushed peanuts (Optional)

 

Process:

Add oil to mug, swirl to coat bottom and sides of mug.
Add hot sauce and milk.
Add black pepper.
Add egg.
Stir and whip thoroughly.
Add bread pieces.
Stir and mix to make sure bread is soaked in liquid.
Add peanut butter.

Add crushed peanuts (optional).
Stir and mix thoroughly.
Cover and Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

 

Came out pretty good. For me, because it was a bit sweet, I think of it as a dessert.

 

 

For more information about George Washington Carver:

 

George Washington Carver -- Biography.com
https://www.biography.com/scientist/george-washington-carver

George Washington Carver
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/carver/aa_carver_subj.html

George Washington Carver -- ACS
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/carver.html

 

George Washington Carver -- The State Historical Society of Missouri

https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/c/carver/index.html#referenc

George Washington Carver -- National Agricultural Library

https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/carver/

George Washington Carver -- Peanut Products

https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/george-washington-carver/carver-peanut-products

George Washington Carver -- Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver

 

(Source: https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/george-washington-carver/carver-peanut products)

Microwave: Mug O'Apple & Mock Mincemeat Crumble

This is just one use for Mock Mincement.

 

Mircowave: Mug O’Apple & Mock Mincemeat Crumble

Ingredients:

Topping:
1-2 Tspns Sugar
2  Level Tspns Flour
2 Heaping Tspns Oats
2 Tspns Olive or vegetable oil
2 Shakes Cinnamon

Add ingredients into a cup. Stir well. Reserve.

 

Additional Ingredients:

1-2 Drops Hot sauce
1/2 Apple, washed, diced
2 Full TBspns Mock Mincemeat
2 Shakes Cinnamon


Process:

Coat bottom of a mug with oil.
Add hot sauce.
Add diced apple, mincemeat, and cinnamon.
Stir and mix well.
Top with reserved Oat Mixture.
Microwave 2 minutes on high.

Mock Mincemeat

Mock Mincemeat
(Adapted from: Mock Mincemeat, F. L. Gillette. “The Whitehouse Cookbook [1887])

 

eBook available on Project Gutenberg

 

I have always wondered about mincemeat. After perusing several recipes, I found this recipe and appreciated the meat-less variation.

 

From what I have read, mincemeat is used in pastries and cakes as a sweet treat.

Ingredients:

 
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Honey or Molasses
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Apple cider vinegar
1/3 Cup Olive Oil “Suet” (Frozen mixture of olive oil and strong vegetable broth)
1/2 Cup Raisins, chopped
1/2 Apple, peeled and diced
1/2 Cup Dried blueberries
1/2 Cup Cracker crumbs
1 Egg
1 Tspn Cinnamon
1 Tspn Cardamom
1 Tspn Nutmeg
1/2 Tspn Ground black pepper
1/2 Tspn Cumin
2-3 Drops Hot sauce
1/4 Tspn Lime zest

Garnish: Cran-Apple Juice (Optional)


Process:

 

Add water to pot.
Add sugar and molasses. Stir well.
Add fruits to pot. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
Add vinegar, suet, spices, cracker crumbs, and egg. Stir well.
Cook several minutes to reduce liquid. Stir frequently.
Refrigerate contents overnight.

Variation: Add a splash of Cranberry-Apple juice to each portion, reheat before serving.

11+ Ways to Make a PB&J

“Fun Fact: The first recipe for PB&J was published in 1901—until then, peanut butter was paired with pimento cheese.”
—Readers Digest: https://www.rd.com/list/experts-create-their-perfect-pbj/

 

11+ Ways to Make a PB&J

1. PB and mixed berries, fresh or dry
2. PB and apple slices, cinnamon & raisins
3. PB and pretzels & honey
4. PB and jelly mixed with yogurt
5. PB and jam
6. PB&J and banana slices or other fresh fruits
7. PPB&J Crepe
8. PB&J Pancake Sandwich
9. PB&J RollUp

10. PB&J Grilled
11. PB&J on various breads, plain or toast, or crackers


References:

Peanut Butter Sandwich Recipes
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peanut-butter-sandwich-recipes-exquisite_n_6527766?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

Better Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Hacks
https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/better-peanut-butter-jelly-sandwich-hacks?utm_term=.laYMvM19PJ%23

The History of Peanut Butter and Jelly
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/history-pb-jelly.htm

Who Invented Peanut Butter?
https://www.thoughtco.com/who-invented-peanut-butter-4082744

Mug O'Basic Bread Pudding

Like my post on Simmer Sardines on Toast, this recipe and others illustrate that "What is old is new again."

 

For some reason, I am always amazed to find that many of the latest food trends like Mug Recipes and Toast Toppings are not new. You can find, in several cookbooks over 100-years-old, precedent recipes for Mug Recipes (Tea Cup Bread Pudding) and Toast Toppings (Broiled Sardines on Toast) recipes.

Also, many older cookbooks refer the use of leftovers. A bread pudding often uses stale bread.

 

Mug O'Bread Pudding

(Adapted from: No. 198 Tea Cup Bread Pudding, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes by Charles Elmé Francatelli)

 

eBook available on Project Gutenberg

 

 Ingredients:

 

1 Dab Olive oil

1 Slice multi-grain bread, torn into small pieces

1 Level TBspn Sugar

1 Dollop Milk

2 Shakes of Nutmeg, powdered

1 Egg

 

 

 Process:

 

Add olive oil to a mug.

Swirl the oil over the bottom and sides of mug.

Add bread pieces.

Add sugar, milk and nutmeg.

Stir ingredients thoroughly.

Add egg.

Stir thoroughly.

Place mug in microwave, use a saucer as a cover.

Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Dump mug contents onto a plate to eat or eat straight from the mug.