Black Bean Tacos with Zucchini Salsa

Healthy beans & greens tacos and a creamy avocado-zucchini salsa make a crowd-pleasing spring or summer dinner. Vegan. Gluten-free option.

It’s funny when inspiration strikes, or where a good idea finds you…The other day I was sitting at the Discount Tire store, waiting on my car…bored out of my mind. Just me and my phone. After every last email had been replied to and every last tweet read, I went to my go-to time-passing app, Epicurious. They aren’t paying me to write this, but I love this app. It saves me every time… dentist offices, bad movies, you name it… I stopped on this zucchini salsa recipe which completely intrigued me. How could zucchini possibly become a replacement for tomatillos?…

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BBQ Portobello Sliders

Add some veggies to your next summer cookout with these little sandwiches! BBQ-marinated mushrooms make a delicious meal for meat-eaters and vegans alike.

Summer makes me happy… long sunny days, warm nights, flip flops, juicy watermelons, waffle cones, and food with ketchup. Or in this case, BBQ sauce. A few weeks ago, I was drooling over this post. So last weekend, for my dad and Jack, I decided to made a mushroom version. The only change I really made to the sauce was adding dijon mustard. I love ketchup… Jack hates it… so the mustard added a nice kick and kept the overall tomato-y factor in balance.

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Veggie Sushi with Sunflower Miso Paste

Raw vegan sushi filled with crisp vegetables, creamy avocado, and a tangy, salty sunflower miso paste. A light gluten free meal for spring or summer.

We eat a lot of sushi… probably similar to the rate normal americans consume pizza. I don’t want to make this blog about weight loss, but sushi is my skinny secret. I don’t crave breads like I used to, I crave nori. Sushi at home might seem intimidating, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really not hard. I’m no Jiro or anything: it just takes a bit of a steady hand and some focus (which gets harder with the more sake you consume)… but honestly, if it comes out a little sloppy looking, it’ll still taste good. Don’t…

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Spring Green Lemon & Basil Pasta

spring / pasta / vegetarian

This is the pasta we made for my sister and her husband on this unintentionally-late-cooking night. We actually handmade these pasta noodles, which I’ll have to show in another post. Between messy flour, sticky noodles, and it being 11pm… we failed to get photographs of any part of that process. Despite starting this meal way too late, it comes together super fast. The lemon and olive oil highlight the crunchy spring vegetables in a bright but simple way. And especially if you’re using homemade pasta, the flavors don’t overwhelm the taste of the fresh noodles. I was pleasantly surprised that this…

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Poblano “Crema” Enchiladas

Healthy, veggie-packed green enchiladas make a delicious spring or summer weekend dinner. Vegan & gluten-free with tomatillo sauce & poblano cashew crema.

summer / vegan / tomatillo

Nothing like a five o’clock Friday post the day before Cinco de Mayo… I’m sure everyone’s off on a patio with a margarita in hand by now, but I just had to get this one last recipe out before I go pour my first happy hour drink. We made this last night (hence the late post). I’ve posted cashew cream before, but I have to say that this roasted poblano version really takes the cake. If you make only one component here, make that. It’s a wonderful creamy sauce on these vegan enchiladas, but it would be delicious dolloped onto…

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Mango & Black Bean Quesadillas

Chard, mango, and jalapeño make sweet & spicy quesadillas for a fun and healthy spring or summer appetizer, lunch, or weeknight dinner. Vegan option.

I’ve been living in Austin for nine years now, and I find myself continually surprised and in awe of what grows here. Actually, let me start over…. For the first 5 years, all our food grew from restaurants. The next 3 years, it grew from Whole Foods. Now, (much) of our food grows from Rainlily Farm, Springdale Farm, Boggy Creek Farm, and most recently… wait for it… our front yard. In a million years, I never thought I’d get excited about gardening. And growing up where I did (a suburb of Chicago), I’m fascinated by the possibilities of what I can plant…

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Green Garbanzo & Leek Soup

Herbs & leeks make a bright, zippy chilled soup for hot summer days. This easy vegan soup is filled with protein from garbanzos and a lemon yogurt sauce.

We really should have called this site The Basil Blog. I just realized that the last 7 of 8 savory recipes I’ve posted all include basil. And even as I was reflecting on that, the most prominent thought that came to mind was wondering how delicious a basil brownie might be. (Strawberry basil sauce – yes?) So I make no apologies… it’s one of my favorite things, especially when my basil plant is flourishing like it is. This is my attempt at contributing to The Food Matters project today. It’s white bean and asparagus soup day. However, it’s been in…

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Basil White Bean Puree

An easy creamy vegan spread made with pureed white beans and basil + a collection of vegetarian recipes for toasts topped with spring produce.

This is one of those things that we’ve been eating a lot lately and not writing about because it just seemed too simple for one whole post. But I get really excited when one recipe becomes a 2-fer, so I wanted to share… It started with the leftover basil-parsley dressing from this salad (about 1/4 cup). I tossed it in the food processor with a can of white beans, adjusted just a few seasonings (salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon), and served it on a crostini. I reserved just a bit of the original vinaigrette and drizzled it on top with some…

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Raspberry & Goat Cheese Brownies

Healthy brownies baked with a raspberry-cream cheese swirl. These oat flour based treats are naturally gluten- and refined-sugar free. Vegan option.

This might be somewhat of a surprising thing to see here, considering I’m not a fan of goat cheese. But Jack is (that’s an understatement)… and literally this is all of his favorite things packed into one decadent dessert. Months ago, I saw this recipe on The Kitchn, and I immediately knew I’d surprise him with it for his birthday. Of course I’m not going to sit by and watch him eat a pan of brownies all by himself. So I made two versions, a (non-dairy) cream cheese version for me, and this goat cheese version for him. (This was easy to…

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Carrot & Oat Cranberry Cookies

Healthy carrot cookies made with almond flour, coconut oil & maple syrup. Loaded with chocolate, cranberries, and nuts of your choice! Vegan & gluten free.

Warning: these are super addictive. A great healthy snack… but if you work from home like I do, they will call to you more often than a nagging client. They call me at breakfast time for a sweet pick me up with my morning coffee. Around 2pm for a post-lunch treat. Maybe again around 4pm for a post-post lunch treat… And since you’ll have eaten them all day long, you might want a change of pace for dessert that night. Warm one (or two) of them and crumble over your ice cream.

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Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

Crisp on the outside and moist in the middle, this sweet potato burger has a wonderful earthy flavor from rosemary & paprika.

I couldn’t wait to make this sweet potato burger after seeing this recipe. I made a few alterations based on the ingredients I had (or rather, didn’t have) in my kitchen. I ended up making them with tofu instead of beans, which worked out great. I flavored them with rosemary and paprika, which was a nice earthy balance to the maple syrup. Sometimes veggie burgers can be too starchy and brick-heavy, but this one was moist in the center and crispy on the edges. Because there are just 2 of us, I made half the recipe that I listed below.…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.