People send me free stuff. Sometimes it’s food items, like Health Warrior‘s Chia Bars, which make for a tasty, but healthful snacks, or Kate Farm’s organic, soy, gluten and dairy-free protein drinks, Komplete meal replacement shakes. They’re okay, and Darling Son liked them. But they’re something I’d drink of necessity rather than choice. Of the flavors, the chocolate coffee one was best.

Most of what people send me is books. Mostly, they’re cookbooks. I’ve got a half dozen from the last two publishing quarters sitting here. I’ve asked friends and family to choose a recipe from each and in the next couple posts, I’ll show you how a good recipe from a book can be a jumping off point for your creativity in the kitchen.

First up is Slimming World’s first foray from Britain to the USA with Fast and Filling Family Food, available on the weight-loss organization’s website. It’s a lovely little book with beautiful pictures. Darling Son chose Chicken Italiana. Start with a medium red onion and a couple cloves of garlic, finely minced, sauteed in cooking spray in a non-skit skillet. Add  a chopped tomato and 6 oz. of sliced mushrooms (I use crimini usually, but make yourself happy). When softened, pour the mix over about a pound and a half of chicken breasts and a can or package of artichoke hearts that you’ve arranged in an oven-proof container. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes if you like a little heat. Cover and bake it in a 400 oven for 45 minutes. The recipe calls for serving it on a bed of lightly boiled cabbage. It’s a freezer friendly recipe.

That was my starting point. From there, I substituted some tofu for Mr. Right Now, who was being vegan in penance for an overindulgent 50th birthday. I cooked his separately. I used a jar of fire roasted artichoke hearts because I love them. I added some capers, because I love them. And I added some olives, because it seemed to go. And because I haven’t been able to eat garlic since I was pregnant with Darling Son more than 16 years ago, I used shallots in place of both onion and garlic. A great success all around, but one we forgot to photograph. Well, we remembered, but only after we decimated the results. Trust me, it was good. And it’s a lesson about how some ingredients just beg for others. Capers and olives and tomatoes. Artichokes and mushrooms. And all by themselves, the mix of veggies would be amazing over some pasta. Add some white beans for protein. Spoon it all over a spud if you don’t like pasta. Or polenta. Seriously, it’s a ragout with a lot of potential and you need to have it in your repertoire.

A book that I read cover to cover was the Complete Arthritis Health, Diet Guide and Cookbook. Being a Rheumatoid Arthritis patient, I like to keep up on what doctors are saying to their patients about how diet and other non-prescription methods can help ease symptoms. The book is a good basic primer. I did find the section on anti-inflammatory supplements wanting. While what authors Kim Arrey, RD, and Michael Starr, MD, report is true and informative, they don’t give any idea of how to mix and match these. Some supplements — think turmeric, ginger, CoQ10, fish oil — are contraindicated when taken with other supplements or medicines. If you’re already addled by pain and fatigue, it would be hard to slog through the information and come up with a diet plan on your own. I’d want to take a dose of everything anti-inflammatory in the book, but the book implies that would be a bad idea.

That said, they have a great diet plan in the book, complete with meal suggestions based on gender and whether you eat animal products or are a vegan.

I chose a vegan recipe mostly because I had a bunch of almonds and a bunch of garbanzo beans and the appetizer I chose, Seasoned Chickpeas and Almonds, would use them both up and give me something healthy to munch on when I suffer from pre-dinner peckishness. It’s a simple recipe: a couple cups of whole raw almonds, a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, two tablespoons of olive oil and three chopped cloves of garlic. It calls for a tablespoon of lime juice, a tablespoon of garam masala (an Indian spice mix available in most supermarket spice aisles or freshly mixed from a spice merchant) and a teaspoon of hot pepper flakes. Mix it all in a bowl and dump onto a baking sheet. Add some salt and fresh ground pepper and pop into a 400 degree oven.

After about 10-15 minutes, stir the mix around. Watch closely, because while the book calls for a half hour of total cook time, it’s possible to burn your almonds if you leave them in that long. Mine were close to charring at about minute 22, but they were smallish almonds. Size does matter, I guess. If I was making this again, I’d lower the temp by about 25 degrees and stir every 10 minutes until the almonds are brown and you can smell that almond scent. You can store these in an airtight container for a couple weeks.

I changed up the spices, using coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, black and red pepper and salt. You could really make the spice mix of your choice for this. Go back to this post and you can find some basic information on herbs and spices that might give you ideas on what to mix with what. A trip to Market Spice in Pike Place Market is another way to learn about some flavorful spice mixes.

The upshot: It was a tasty snack, but it makes a lot. Either have a party or plan on eating this for a good few days.