31 Easy Chickpea Recipes

Got garbanzo beans? Put them to work in these easy chickpea recipes! They include fresh salads, flavorful curries, the BEST hummus, and more.

We LOVE chickpea recipes! Also called garbanzo beans, chickpeas are healthy, packed with fiber and plant-based protein. Even better, they’re delicious and versatile. Keep a few cans in your pantry, and you won’t get stuck making the same old chickpea recipes on repeat. Nope—you can blend these legumes into hummus, form them into falafel, or roast them up for a crispy snack. You can toss them into a salad or a pot of soup or stuff them into a sandwich. If you want more specific ideas, check out the chickpea recipes below. They’re some of my favorites. I hope you…

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25 Healthy Rice Recipes

These easy recipes will make you excited to cook (and excited to eat) rice! With curries, sushi, bowls, and more, we've got rice recipes for everyone.

In all the hype around cauliflower rice and quinoa, it’s easy to forget the magic in good old rice. It may not be as trendy as other whole grains (or “grains,” as the case may be), but I’ve always really loved rice recipes. Soft, fluffy, and hot off the stove, this humble pantry staple could become almost anything. Maybe it’ll be rolled into sushi or added to a comforting soup. It might be stuffed into a burrito one day and transformed into fried rice the next. Still, there’s a whole world of rice recipes to explore – Indian curries, Italian…

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25 Best Bean Recipes

Not sure how to use that can of beans? You're in the right place. These easy bean recipes include something for everyone - chilis, tacos, and more!

If the grocery store shelves are any indication, we’re all on the hunt for good bean recipes right now. I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but in Chicago, it’s hard to find canned or dried beans anywhere. Jack and I may have had to visit a few extra grocery stores as a result, but at the same time, I’ve been happy to see that people are buying beans. They’re a fantastic source of plant-based protein, fiber, and other nutrients, they keep for weeks, and they’re delicious! What’s more, they’re incredibly versatile. Heat them on the stove with…

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How to Cook Beans

Once you know how to cook dried beans, you'll always have them on hand. They're cheap, nutritious, easy to make, and - most importantly - delicious!

Canned beans are convenient, but in terms of affordability, taste, and texture, dried beans have them beat. If you’ve never cooked dried beans before, don’t let it intimidate you! My method for how to cook beans is an easy, hands-off process with a huge payoff. They come out soft and creamy, with a rich, aromatic broth surrounding them. Hot from the stove with a ladle of cooking liquid, they’re good enough to enjoy as a meal on their own! Of course, you can also use dried beans anytime you’d use canned – in bowls, soups, tacos, and more. Cook a…

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Vegan Mac and Cheese

The BEST vegan mac and cheese recipe! With a creamy, cheesy sauce made from sweet potatoes and nutritional yeast, it's just as good as the real thing.

When I’m craving comfort food, this vegan mac and cheese recipe is the first thing I make. It calls for a handful of ingredients that I almost always have on hand, it’s quick and easy, and it’s absolutely delicious. The creamy sauce is rich, luscious, and filled with nutty, tangy cheddar cheese flavor. Even Jack, who LOVES classic mac and cheese, will happily devour a bowl (or two) of this plant-based pasta any day. In the past, I’ve made dairy-free mac and cheese with coconut milk, cauliflower, or a big scoop of cashews, but this recipe is my favorite by…

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25 Super Fun Baking Recipes

Have an afternoon at home? Bake! With breads, cakes, muffins, and more, these 25 easy baking recipes include something for everyone.

There’s no more joyful way to spend an afternoon than baking. I do most of the cooking in our house, but baking recipes are the ones that bring Jack and me together. He might stretch a batch of pizza dough while I prep the toppings, or we’ll work together to make a jumbo tray of cinnamon rolls to devour the next morning. If you have kids, easy baking recipes are a great way to get them into the kitchen. Let them stir together brownies and lick the spoon or decorate a batch of cookies with bright sprinkles and frosting. The process…

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30+ Healthy Pantry Recipes

These pantry recipes use simple ingredients, but they're still fun to make and fun to eat! Find easy, delicious ideas for soups, tacos, pastas, and more.

There’s nothing I love more than making a delicious meal out of what I have on hand. It’s thrilling to reach into the cupboard and pull out a can of tomatoes and a bag of dried lentils and imagine what pantry recipes I can make. Flash forward thirty minutes, and they’ve transformed into a creamy curried soup that’s flavorful, comforting, and nourishing. It’s certainly been a stressful week for us here in Chicago, and I’m sure it has been for many of you too. When I’m faced with stressful situations, cooking is the first thing I turn to. It’s soothing…

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Citrus Salad with Fennel & Avocado

This citrus salad will brighten up any winter day! It's refreshing, light, and filled with flavor from fennel, fresh mint, avocado, and more.

If a tomato salad is the best part of summer, a citrus salad is surely its winter counterpart. When tender greens and bursty berries are still months away, citrus season is at its peak. Good tomatoes may be scarce, but satsumas, grapefruit, oranges, and mandarins are sweet and acidic, juicy, and vibrant. So if I’m in the mood for something fresh, light, and bright in the winter months, a citrus salad is the first thing I turn to. This recipe is my favorite citrus salad yet! It uses a mix of fruit to show off the season’s best, and it’s…

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What is Fennel? (And How to Cook It)

Welcome to fennel 101! This underrated veggie deserves a place on everyone's table. Read on to learn how to cut it, how to cook it, and more!

Everyone goes crazy for kale, but if I had my way, fennel would be all the rage too. It’s one of the most underrated vegetables, and if you’re not already cooking with it, you absolutely should be. It has a fresh, aromatic anise flavor, and it can be eaten raw, sautéed, roasted, or even added to soups and sauces. If you’ve never worked with it before, this funky-looking veggie might be intimidating from the outside, but don’t let it scare you. Once you know how to approach it, it’s easy to work with. What is fennel? Fennel is a member…

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Bibimbap

This bibimbap recipe is bowl food at its best! Topped with gochujang sauce and seasoned veggies, it's fresh, healthy, and packed with bold flavor.

This bibimbap recipe will make anyone fall in love with bowl food. When I talk about bowl food, I mean any recipe that consists of a base, such as noodles or rice, a protein, vegetables, and a flavorful sauce. I’ve had my fair share of grain bowls and noodle bowls over the years, but without question, bibimbap is bowl food at its best. If you’ve never heard of bibimbap, it’s a Korean rice bowl topped with assorted vegetables, spicy gochujang, and an egg and/or meat. It’s one of the most well-known Korean dishes, and once you try it, you’ll see…

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Gochujang Sauce

Gochujang sauce is most often used in Korean recipes, but its sweet, spicy umami flavor is so delicious that you'll want to drizzle it over everything!

As far as flavor goes, there’s nothing like gochujang sauce. I first made it to drizzle over homemade bibimbap, but once I had it on hand, I began topping it onto everything from roasted veggies to avocado toast! A traditional Korean sauce, it has a bold sweet/spicy/umami flavor with an underlying funk. This delicious, distinctive taste comes from gochujang, a fermented Korean chili paste made from glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, red chili pepper flakes, and salt. It’s pretty assertive on its own – even small amounts add intense flavor to whatever you’re cooking. That’s where this gochujang sauce comes in.…

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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.