Check out these free vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free ebooks over at Amazon!

Prices tend to change quickly over there, so make sure to head to Amazon soon if you want to grab any these while they are free.

You can click on any of the links below to visit that books page and download it for free.

Remember - you can get the free Kindle Reading App on Amazon as well, which allows you to enjoy free Kindle books on your phone, tablet or computer.

I can't believe all of the vegan, vegetarian and organic awesomeness we can find for free on Amazon!

There were so many free e-books related to plant-based eating on Amazon today, that I am only going to include the links to the ones that I actually downloaded. That will still give you a bunch of new reading material, and you can check out all of the other free vegan cookbooks and vegetarian cookbooks while you are there!

Remember -- these can go back to their regular price at any time, so get over there soon to grab them!

So here are your links...

Amazon, once again, has a bunch of healthy cookbooks available for free!

Now, when Amazon does this, the prices can change at any time, so if you see something below that interests you, click on the link and grab it before the price goes up!

This time around, I found free ebooks for quinoa recipes, vegan dinner recipes, vegan chili recipes, hummus recipes, vegetarian pressure cooker recipes, low-fat recipes, Bulgarian veg recipes and more - plus three free ebooks about going vegan or vegetarian for folks looking for more info on how to go veg.

Remember -- you don't have to have a Kindle to enjoy free ebooks from Amazon. You can also read them on your smartphone, tablet or computer.

Here is the link to the free app:

And here are the links to the 13 free ebooks I found today...

I'm so excited about getting moved in after the remodel and finally having a real kitchen to cook in again that I have been spending WAY too much time over at Amazon finding free vegan, raw and gluten-free cookbooks for some new ideas and recipes.

That's why y'all have been seeing so many posts about free ebooks, since I can't just keep that kind of information to myself when there are so many cool resources to share to help folks eat cleaner and live better!

This time around, I found 14 free ebooks that I thought might interest some of you - just click on the links below to go directly to the page, if you find one that sounds too awesome to pass up.

Now, keep in mind that when Amazon offers up their ebooks for free, the price can change at any time, so get on over there to grab these before the price goes up!

Also -- you do not have to have a Kindle to enjoy free Kindle books; there is a free kindle reader app available on Amazon that allows you to read them on your tablet, smartphone or computer as well.

Here is the link to the free app:

If you do not have some sort of Kindle or other tablet and are interested in getting one, you might also be interested in reading my blog post about how I got my Kindle Fire for free using easy point-earning programs from my Make Money page.

Here are the links to the free ebooks I found today:

The following are vegetarian cookbooks and books that are free on Amazon right now. Since most of these look like they might include dairy and such, vegans will need to do a little tweaking, but you should still be able to find some great ideas and recipes that are easy to veganize!

I will be posting links to a bunch of free vegan, vegetarian and raw cookbooks in a little bit, but I thought this one was too cool to not get its own post!

If you head over to Amazon, you can grab Vegan Cook Book for Kids: Everyday Easy Recipes for Kids for FREE!

When Amazon offers free eBooks, the price can change at any time, so hurry over to get this one.

Remember - you don't have to have a Kindle to read Kindle books. There is a free app available on Amazon that lets you read them on your smartphone or tablet.

Here is the link for this free vegan cookbook for kids...

In a recent post, I talked about my super-sneaky way to get more greens into my daily diet. While I will keep using my fave vegan greens powder to add more greens on the cheap, I have now found another cheap trick with which I am quickly falling in love: frozen spinach.

Fresh spinach is a pretty common ingredient for green juices, since it is quite the nutritional powerhouse, but not everyone can afford to buy organic fresh spinach for their daily juicing needs.

Conventional spinach just has way too many pesticides -- landing it on the Dirty Dozen list of foods to buy organic -- so I really can't recommend saving money by going non-organic on this one.

But I can recommend going frozen. Sure, fresh is better when you can, but frozen can be cheaper and way more convenient, and I'm all about making it easy and affordable to eat as healthy as possible.

I picked up the organic frozen spinach pictured below for $2.49. The conventional store-brand option was $1.99. I am more than happy to pay an additional 50 cents to go organic here.

I've been throwing a handful in my daily smoothies -- like this one and this one -- and loving it!

I dig how I easily upped the nutritional value of each smoothie, and they still taste fantastic.

Here is the recipe for the Spinach-Strawberry-Pineapple smoothie I whipped up today:

Spinach-Strawberry Smoothie Recipe

11 ounces of coconut water (juice or regular water can substitute for this)
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1/2 cup frozen spinach

You can stop there, but I also added:

1 tablespoon flax seed meal
2 teaspoons chia seeds (pre-soaked)

If you don't have a powerful blender, you may need to add a bit more liquid.

Here's what it looked like in the blender...

On a side note, this entire vegan smoothie was pretty cheap to make. I found the frozen strawberries, frozen pineapple, flax seed meal and coconut water at the dollar store. The bananas came from my fave roadside produce stand where I get them six for a buck, and the chia seeds came from the bulk bin at Winco -- where they are about half the price I've seen them selling for elsewhere.

Do you have cheap tricks for adding more greens to your juicing? If so, let us know in the comments below!

I've already talked a bit about why I'm always on the lookout for easy ways to increase my potassium intake and why most people probably need more potassium in their diets.
You can read about that (and get another potassium-rich smoothie recipe, a list of potassium-rich foods and some more info) here:

Vegan Juicing: Potassium Power Smoothie with Coconut Water

But don't go running off just yet, since I have a recipe for you here too! Plus, the other blog post doesn't tell you about how I cheat to get more nutrients from greens.

So let's get right down to it...

I'm not really one to measure as I'm adding ingredients to my blender, so these measurements are estimates, and you may want to add a little more or less of the frozen stuff to get your fave smoothie texture.

Here's what I am currently doing for my daily potassium-rich smoothie:

11 ounces of coconut water (I got these single-serving packs at the dollar store.)

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen strawberries (from the dollar store)

3/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks (from the dollar store)

2 teaspoons chia seeds (optional)

1 scoop of vegan greens powder (This is optional. I use Greens Today Vegan that I get cheap from Vitacost.)

Let me sneak in here with a quick tip: Your chia seeds need to soak and get all gooey before you blend them up in your smoothie. To have one less cup or bowl to wash, just put them in your blender with your coconut water about 10 minutes before you plan to whip up this delish drink.

Of course, this vegan smoothie offers much more than just potassium and is packed with other vitamins and minerals. This is particularly true is you opt for adding a scoop of something like Greens Today to seriously up the nutritional value.

As I'm sure you have guessed by now, that is how I'm sneaking more greens into my diet. I throw one scoop of vegan greens powder in the blender and instantly add 1500mg of organic spirulina, 1000mg broccoli powder, and a seriously respectable amount of iron, vitamin E, B1, B6, B12, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin D2 and much more.

What happened was...I was looking for cheap maca root and some kind of probiotic to add to the supplements I take each day. While I was searching on my favorite site for discount health foods and supplements I came across Greens Today, which has both a probiotic blend and maca root, as well as a ton of other good-for-you stuff.

Do I feel like I'm cheating when I use a powder instead of fresh greens?

Yes.

Am I going to keep right on doing it?

Yes.

Here's the deal: I am both busy and cheap. While I recognize that fresh, whole foods are the way to go whenever possible, there are lots of days when I will miss out on green goodness simply because I don't have time to sit there and wash and prepare a bunch of fresh produce when I'm working against tight deadlines. I do, however, have time to toss some frozen fruit and a scoop of greens powder in a blender.

I know that most of you are super busy too, and I think relying on this sort of backup is definitely better than just going without greens completely when we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to healthy eating.

Folks (like me) who can't always afford to purchase all of the organic produce their heart desires can also use this as an affordable way to keep working towards good health, even when you don't have fresh greens in the house.

There are several such products available, but Greens Today was significantly cheaper and looked just as good when I compared the lists of ingredients and supplement facts. I have been using it for about two weeks now, and I love it. I will get around to putting up a full review with more information, but I at least wanted to mention it now, since it is helping me easily increase my nutrient intake.

This is what the package looks like:

You may be able to find this locally. If not, you can definitely get it online. I buy mine from Vitacost, which is an awesome website where you can find all sorts of vegan supplements, hair and beauty products, organic and gluten-free foods, spices and more. You do have to sign up for a free membership, but that only takes a minute and is SO worth it.

Now, if you want, you can go right over to www.vitacost.com and sign up, but you can get a $10.00 credit to use on your first order if you sign up via an invitation link from a current member.

So, because I love y'all (and because you and I both get a $10.00 credit if you do it this way), here is an invitation link for Vitacost.

If you are mostly just interested in how to get free cookbooks and whatnot from Amazon, scroll to the bottom of the post. 

Whether you are in the process of going veg or have been vegan (or raw) for years, cookbooks can make all the difference in transitioning to a healthier, more compassionate lifestyle -- and in successfully maintaining that transition.

Of course, you can find tons of free recipes online (including on this blog), so that is always something to keep in mind before seeking out cookbooks to buy. I find tons of online vegan recipes to try out, which I either save in a folder on my computer or print out and add to my recipe binder. I also try to be greener and download veg cookbooks from Amazon, but I'm still old school enough to really prefer an actual cookbook that I can hold in my hands and fill with notes along the margins for all of the changes I inevitably make to every recipe I ever use.

I'm actually terrible about following recipes...when I want to make something that I've never made before, I usually find three or four different vegan and non-vegan recipes for it, get the basic idea of what is involved in making it, pick and choose what I like from each recipe, veganize my new list of ingredients, change the measurements in relation to how much I like each ingredient -- or from previous experience veganizing recipes --  and end up with something that looks only remotely like the recipes I looked at in the beginning. This is one reason I need multiple cookbooks!

There are lots of places to find vegan cookbooks, vegetarian cookbooks and raw food cookbooks, both online and locally, so you should have no problem finding veg recipes that are as cheap and easy, or as fancy and highfalutin, as you want them to be.

Here are just a few of the places you can find cheap vegan cookbooks and affordable raw food cookbooks:

1. The Library -- No surprise here. The cheapest place, of course, is the library. At your local library, you should be able to find at least a few vegan, raw, organic or vegetarian cookbooks to get you started or give you some fresh ideas. You can just copy your favorite recipes, or you can check out the cookbook to take it home and practice creating some fantastic meals. If you are considering buying a vegan cookbook, and you don't really have extra cash to waste, this is also a great way to fully check out the book to help you determine whether or not it is worth buying.

2. Your Friends -- Borrow cookbooks from friends and make copies of the recipes that you like. If your friends are also cookbook poor, a group of you can get together to create an awesome collection by each purchasing one or two cheap cookbooks and sharing them amongst yourselves.

3.  The Clearance Section -- Check out the clearance section at your local bookstore, health food store or co-op. It is pretty common to find some cookbooks hanging out just waiting to go home with someone.

4. Used Book Stores -- Do you have a Half Price Books in your area? If not, I sincerely hope that you have a similar independent bookstore that sells used books at awesome prices. If not, some of the bigger chain bookstores sometimes have a used book section and, since you might be there checking out their clearance section anyways, you might as well hit up their used section as well. If you happen to have a Half Price Books near you, don't forget that they have some kick-ass coupons on their website.

5. Online Book Swapping Sites -- I haven't used one of these in a while, but I had a lot of fun with this when I was trying to clean out my library a bit a couple of years ago. Just Google "online book swapping", and you will get several sites from which to choose. Once you decide which one you like, you just sign up and start posting things that you have or that you want. Then, the site makes magical chain-reaction connections where you all ship one of your books to another member and receive one that you want. It's pretty awesome and a lot greener than everyone running around buying new books.

6.  Garage Sales, Thrift Stores and Online Classifieds -- I always find a ton of books at garage sales, and some of them are usually cookbooks. The same goes for thrift stores and online classified ad sites (like Craig's List). Here's the not-so-secret deal with finding cheap vegan cookbooks this way: Every year, loads of people make the decision to eat healthier, and go out and buy cookbooks and kitchen gadgets for their new lifestyle. Some of these folks stick to these changes long term (yay!), while others, inevitably, stick to their new eating plan for a month or so, and then slip back into old habits. At some point, those new cookbooks are either sitting there mocking them or just gathering dust, and they decide it's time to clean out their bookshelf. So they either donate them to thrift stores, list them for sale online or toss them in their garage sale pile. The result? An abundance of barely used cookbooks for folks to scoop up at huge discounts!

7. eBay -- Auction sites, like eBay, are great places to find good prices on new and used cookbooks. Now, I have found that eBay sometimes has the best prices for vegan cookbooks online, but don't just assume that they always will -- I often find new or used cookbooks even cheaper on Amazon. So I always look both places before buying.

8. Amazon -- Amazon sells both new and used print cookbooks, as well as eBooks in the Kindle store. If you prefer print books, you can do a simple search on the general topic, such as "raw cookbooks", "vegan cookbooks", "organic cookbooks", "gluten-free cookbooks" or "vegetarian cookbooks", or you can search for a specific title or author.

Here are three links where you will find tons of awesome vegan and raw food cookbooks (new and used):

Okay, here is the part I think most of you really want to read...

How to Get Free Vegan Cookbooks on Amazon (or Anything Else)

There's more than one way to get free stuff on Amazon, so let's start with the easiest one first: free Kindle books.

Don't worry if you don't have a Kindle, you can download free software from Amazon that allows you to read eBooks on your desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet or mobile phone. So you're good to go, as long as you have one of those devices.

Amazon always has free eBooks for you to download. Some are classics that are always free, and some are short-term freebies on a vast array of topics. I have seen short-term free eBook downloads for books and cookbooks on the topics of vegan living, green living, homesteading, home organizing, vegan recipes, gluten-free recipes, vegetarian recipes and tons of other topics.

Whenever I see something on the free Kindle book list that I think might be of interest to eco-conscious or frugal vegan folks, I post a link here on the blog. But you can also check for free Kindle books any time by simply doing a quick search on Amazon.

Okay, now for how to get non-Kindle vegan cookbooks and other stuff for free on Amazon.

I've talked a bit about point-earning programs in previous posts, but usually I'm talking about how you can make money by trading those points for cash delivered through PayPal and such. You can also turn them in for gift cards, and it just so happens that Amazon participates in just about all of the point-earning programs I know. This is awesome, because it makes it so much easier to quickly earn Amazon gift cards that you can use on cookbooks, vegan groceries or anything else you find on Amazon.

Depending on the point-earning programs you choose to participate in, you can earn points for really simple things, like searching for stuff online, opening emails or taking a daily poll. There are lots of cash and prize options from which to choose once you have accumulated enough points. You can always get several different gift cards to different stores, but what I have chosen to do is to focus my efforts on earning gift cards for just one or two stores where I know I can either find something I want to indulge on or stuff that I use everyday.

If you want free or cheap vegan cookbooks, then earning Amazon gift cards is the way to go.

I have been focusing on collecting Amazon cards over the last few months and am currently at $270.00 and counting. I use multiple point-earning programs (some of which you can read about on the Make Money page or previous blog posts), but the best two (in my opinion) for earning Amazon gifts cards are SwagBucks and MyPoints.

SwagBucks is my current favorite, and I'm super excited about how quickly I am racking up $5.00 gift cards over there. They also offer gift cards in higher dollar amounts, but if you go over there and do the math, you will see that the $5.00 cards are a better deal overall. I earn my SwagBucks points by printing coupons on the site, doing online searches and taking daily polls (when I remember to). Mostly, I earn points from simply searching online for stuff for this blog or for my freelance writing work. Even I still can't believe how easy it is.

So, rack up those gift cards and start getting free stuff on Amazon!

Well, wait...not yet...there's more!

Did you know you can actually earn cash back when you buy stuff from Amazon.com? Yep, you can. All you have to do is sign up for a free membership over at Ebates. Then, whenever you shop online at Amazon (or more than 1,500 other stores), you simply sign in to Ebates first, and then go through Ebates to get to the store's website. Seriously, it's that easy. You do your regular shopping, and Ebates cuts you a check for some online shopping cash back goodness. The percentage you receive back varies by store, but it's usually between 3% and 6%. Ebates also does Double Cash Back events where you earn double the percentage back when shopping at certain stores during the event.

How cool is that?

So, yeah, you read all of this right...you can get free stuff on Amazon by downloading free Kindle books or earning gift cards online for just a couple of minutes of effort each day -- plus, you can earn cash back on what you buy on Amazon, if you shop through Ebates!

Stay tuned for a post about what I'm going to buy with all the Amazon gift cards I've been collecting...

This is a veganized version of an Irish sausage plait recipe that was stashed in a friend's recipe binder. It took me a couple of tries to get it just right in its vegan form, but it quickly became a favorite in our house after I started making it a few years ago.

Between the vegan sausage and the pastry sheets, it has little chance of being chosen as the poster dish for a healthy, plant-based diet, but it sure makes one hell of an occasional treat -- particularly when you are in the mood for a hearty meal. It's awesome served with mashed potatoes, and we usually add a green vegetable to the plate so we don't feel quite so guilty about indulging in this savory bit of goodness.

This is a very simple dish to make and has just a few ingredients.

Vegan Irish Sausage Plait Recipe
(Printer-friendly print button at bottom of post)

Here's what you need:

1 package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (or make your own, if you are all fancy like that)
1 package of GimmeLean vegan sausage (or, again, you can get all fancy and make your own)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 to 3 tablespoons of basil (depending on how much you like basil - I use three)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

You might feel like you need to add salt to this mix, but if you are using a commercial vegan sausage, that will add enough of a salty flavor -- and we don't really need to add even more sodium.

And here is what you do:

1. Thaw puff pastry sheets. This usually takes about 40 minutes. If you cheat and use the microwave, be very careful not to thaw them too much and too quickly. It's not pretty. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Chop your onion, and mince your garlic.

4. Combine the vegan sausage substitute, onion, garlic, basil and black pepper in a mixing bowl. You can use your hands or a fork, but it's a bit sticky and difficult to effectively mix, so I like using my trusty hand-held pastry blender, which I use for just about everything except -- of course -- blending pastry dough.

5. Lightly flour a baking sheet, or place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

6. Place your puff pastry sheets on the baking sheet, open them (they will come out of the package folded in thirds) and cut the two sides into slits that are about one inch wide. If you plan to make a more intricate design, you can cut them thinner. If the seams start to separate a bit, just wet your fingers with a bit of water, and you can push the dough back together.

7. Divide your vegan sausage mixture in half, and place each half in the center section of one of the vegan puff pastry sheets. Like so...

8. Fold the strips on each side to cover the mixture, which will end up looking a bit like a braid. As you overlap each piece, push the dough together a bit to make it stick. You can also use a bit of water for this, but I have never found this necessary.

9. Once you have finished creating both vegan sausage plait pastries, place them in the oven for approximately 55 minutes (until the puff pastry gets to its perfect browning, flaking goodness).

10. Remove from the oven, slice and serve them up with potatoes or your side dish of choice.

The leftovers are fantastic the next day!

If you try this easy vegan sausage pastry recipe, come back and tell me how it went!