About Us

Welcome to Love and Lemons! My name is Jeanine, and I created Love and Lemons to celebrate how nourishing, fun, and delicious cooking with seasonal fruits and vegetables can be. I hope that the recipes here inspire you to try cooking a new vegetable, or try cooking a familiar vegetable in a new way. You’ll find a host of inventive vegetarian recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I also want Love and Lemons to be a resource for you. We have guides to working with vegetables ranging from spaghetti squash to asparagus and tips for cooking plant-based basics like quinoa, rice, and lentils.

And after all those veggies, I always save room for dessert! In my opinion, healthy eating is all about balance, so you’ll find recipes for brownies, cakes, cookies, and more here too.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I have to be vegetarian to enjoy the recipes?
Nope! My meat-eating husband Jack is my #1 taste tester, and he gives each recipe his stamp of approval before I share it. In addition, many of my friends, family, and recipe testers are not vegetarian, and they all try these recipes. Everything you see here is 100% omnivore-approved! When you’re cooking with good-quality seasonal ingredients, the results are going to taste great, whether you’re vegetarian or not.

There are so many recipes on your site! Where do I start?
First, sign up for our email list. Our newest recipes (and no spam!) will go straight to your inbox, and you’ll also get our free 5-part guide to Healthy Vegetarian Eating. Otherwise, start by checking out our favorite dinner recipes, breakfast ideas, salads, and soups!

What if I’m vegan or gluten-free?
Many of our recipes are vegan, gluten-free, or both, and if they’re not, we often offer vegan or gluten-free variations. Get started with these 85+ Vegan Dinner Recipes and 30 Vegan Desserts. You’ll find lots of gluten-free options there as well!

Do you have a cookbook?
Yes! You can pre-order my newest cookbook Love & Lemons Simple Feel Good Food now! Click here for more about the new book and my first two cookbooks, Love & Lemons Every Day and The Love & Lemons Cookbook.

Are you on social media?
You betcha! Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.

Where do you grocery shop?
I live in Chicago, and in the summertime, we have fantastic local farmers markets and CSA options here. My favorites are the Lincoln Park and Logan Square markets. But because of Chicago’s cold climate, these markets aren’t open year-round. In the winter, I shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Marianos, or Jewel.

What’s your favorite food?
Juicy summer peaches are my all-time favorite food. (If you’re lucky enough to have some right now, try them in my peach cobbler or peach salsa. Sweet Corn is a close second.

The Team

Jeanine Donofrio, Creator & Recipe Developer

Jeanine Donofrio is a recipe developer and author of two bestselling cookbooks, The Love & Lemons Cookbook and Love & Lemons Every Day. Her passion is creating healthy yet approachable recipes that all types of eaters enjoy.

Jeanine has also developed recipes for KitchenAid, Whole Foods, and Le Creuset, among others. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, People, Oprah, and Bon Appétit, and more.

Phoebe Moore, Senior Editor & Recipe Developer
@phoebeelmoore

Phoebe Moore is the Senior Editor and Recipe Developer for Love & Lemons. Depending on the day, she might be writing, copyediting, testing/developing recipes, or shooting blog photos with Jeanine. Phoebe loves finding new ways to cook with seasonal vegetables, a passion she discovered during a summer she spent as a farmhand on Two Onion Farm in Belmont, Wisconsin. In her spare time, Phoebe writes recipes for a local CSA and volunteers with her neighborhood food pantry and community kitchen.

Sophia Simota, Social Media Manager
@kilnandkitchen

Sophia Simota is the Social Media Manager for Love & Lemons. Her love for cooking stems from long days in the kitchen making traditional Filipino food with her mom, and long nights on the couch binge watching the latest Food Network special. Driven by her fascination for all things food and her passion for storytelling, Sophia keeps her finger on the pulse of the social space in order to create engaging content for Love and Lemons’ slice of the internet.

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.