Creamy Chipotle Sauce

This easy chipotle sauce is one of my favorite condiments! It's a delicious dipping sauce or topping for tacos, veggie burgers, and bowls.

This chipotle sauce will punch up any meal! It’s smoky, creamy, tangy, and easy to make with simple ingredients. I started making the recipe to put on the cauliflower tacos in my first cookbook, and now I love it on everything from burrito bowls to breakfast tacos to hearty salads. If you try it, I think you’ll fall for it too! I say this all the time, but I truly believe that the key to a great veggie meal (or any meal, really) is a great sauce. This creamy chipotle sauce is one of the best—it adds SO much flavor…

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Cilantro Lime Dressing

This tangy cilantro lime dressing is destined for your next taco salad. Enjoy it as a vinaigrette, or add avocado or Greek yogurt to make it creamy!

This cilantro lime dressing is the perfect summer salad dressing – it’s tangy, it’s herbaceous, and it’s so yummy drizzled over summer salads, grilled veggies, and more. The best part about it this dressing? It can be made 3 ways! Once you make the cilantro lime dressing, serve it as-is, add Greek yogurt to make a creamy ranch-like dressing (pictured in the middle above), or add avocado to make a thick, creamy sauce (pictured left above). Let’s get started! Cilantro Lime Dressing Ingredients I make this dressing in the food processor so that the cilantro gets finely chopped and the…

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Sesame Soba Noodles

Never cooked soba noodles? Follow the tips in this post to make a foolproof soba noodle salad that's loaded with veggies and great for weekday lunches!

Happy Monday! If you’re like me and you had a weekend full french toast, cake, and pancakes, then you’ve come to the right place! Today I have a fresh, delicious bowl of soba noodles to help start the week off in a healthy direction. The best thing about this bowl is that it’s super simple to make, yet has great zippy flavor. There’s a light sesame-ginger dressing that perfectly coats the soba noodles. On top of that, I chose to mix in a group of vibrant spring veggies, but keep reading for a few other suggestions to customize your noodle…

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Avocado Sweet Potato Tacos

Topped with creamy avocado lime sauce, these simple chili-spiced sweet potato tacos make a delicious vegetarian dinner.

This sweet potato taco recipe is an old favorite that I wanted to re-share with you. I first started making these sweet potato tacos years ago, but it’s one of those recipes that I come back to time and time again because it’s such a filling & flavorful vegetarian weeknight dinner option. The list of ingredients is short and the steps are easy – what’s not to love? Plus, I just think roasted sweet potatoes are such a cozy wintertime food, especially when they’re wrapped up into warm tortillas like a big hug. There are basically two steps to the…

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Banh Mi Sandwich

Instead of stuffing this banh mi sandwich with meat, I fill it with zesty marinated tofu. Pickled veggies and cilantro leaves take it over the top.

When I lived in Austin, I got a tofu banh mi sandwich from two different Vietnamese restaurants as often as I could. Stuffed with sweet and tangy pickles, herbs, creamy mayo, and more, the sandwiches were hearty and comforting, but still refreshing. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! Since we’ve moved, I’m still searching for a great banh mi in Chicago (let me know if any of you have suggestions!). Until I find one, I’ll be making this yummy banh mi recipe to curb my cravings at home. What is banh mi? Banh mi sandwiches are a Vietnamese…

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Roasted Vegetable Pasta

This roasted vegetable pasta is flexible, so use whatever veggies you have on hand! Garnished with fresh herbs, it's simple and delicious.

This roasted vegetable pasta dish makes me happy to cook! As the vegetables roast, they fill the kitchen with sweet, earthy, and savory aromas. When they’re golden brown and caramelized, I pull them out of the oven and toss them with a zingy dressing, warm pasta, fresh herbs, and cheese. I don’t use any measuring spoons (and you won’t have to either). Instead, I taste and adjust to find a perfect balance of late summer flavors. Hint: You’ll know it’s right when you can’t resist taking another bite. 🙂 This roasted vegetable pasta takes about 30 minutes to make, and…

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Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli

This vibrant orecchiette pasta uses 10 ingredients and takes 30 minutes to make. Pesto & a dash of white wine make it a delicious weeknight go-to.

Welcome to Day 4 of my meal plan week, where we’re making orecchiette pasta! In case you haven’t been following, here are Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. This week, I’m posting easy real-life meals where each one leads into the next, making cook/prep time a breeze. This is the way I love to cook – it’s fun, it’s flexible, and I hope it helps inspire your own meal planning. And speaking of meal planning, here’s a shameless plug for our new meal journal, The Love & Lemons Meal Record & Market List, which is a handy tool to help you…

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Crispy Butternut Squash & Poblano Tacos

I'm head over heels for these butternut squash tacos loaded with crispy baked squash cubes, simple slaw, and a to-die-for creamy poblano sauce.

Even though we all officially celebrated the first day of fall a few weeks ago, my season starts the day I roast a butternut squash. I love love love roasted butternut squash. First off, it makes my kitchen smell so warm and cozy. Second, it’s such a delicious and versatile squash that works in so many of my favorite comfort food recipes like soups, risotto, and pasta. But I’m saving comfort for another day because today is taco day! I’m so obsessed with these crispy baked butternut squash tacos. This recipe starts with a pretty darn awesome sauce, if I do say…

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Zucchini Lasagna

This zucchini lasagna recipe is packed with veggies! I blend zucchini into the creamy filling and layer zucchini planks into the lasagna itself.

Everyone loves lasagna, so I put it on my “to make for September” list. My plan was to use the last-surviving summer vegetables, particularly zucchini since it’s still growing rampant. Instead of using regular ricotta cheese as the filling, I would make a healthier ricotta mixture. Maybe I’d even blend a vegetable to make the ricotta filling. And then I realized – oh wait, I have this Zucchini Lasagna Recipe in THE COOKBOOK that is already my favorite zucchini lasagna recipe of all time. So instead of reinventing the wheel, here’s the wheel! My Favorite Zucchini Lasagna Recipe This is…

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How to Make Quesadillas

Learn how to make quesadillas with this fun mix & match quesadilla recipe! Perfect for quick meals, they're flavorful, healthy & easy to make.

We’ve been overloaded with decisions lately. “Where to live?” has been the question of the year, but I’m happy to say that we’re finally in the process of buying a new home (more on that later!). Now the decisions at hand are things like “which barstools match the new countertop? which sofas are free of VOC’s?” and “is a white sofa a really bad idea?” Suffice it to say, when I got around to this quesadilla recipe, I couldn’t make up my mind on just one option so… Mix & Match quesadillas it is! A no-brainer. Hallelujah. How to Make Quesadillas…

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Vegan Black Bean Meatball Sub

These hearty vegan meatballs are a hit with even the pickiest eaters! Their savory, smoky flavor is delicious in subs or on pasta with lots of marinara.

Lately, Jack and I have been spending a lot of time with my family in Chicago. One thing my husband especially loves about this area is all the comfort food, especially the plethora of meaty things between bread. I often shy away from the “fake meat” types of things, but when I do make something that is inspired by a meat dish, he’s the first to tell me if it’s great or if I’ve missed the mark. Well, I fed these vegan meatballs to him and my family last night, and not only did Jack wolf his down with approval,…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.