French Toast

This French toast recipe is a delicious, easy breakfast. The thick slices are fluffy, tender, and warmly spiced with cinnamon. Serve with maple syrup!

This French toast recipe is one of my favorite things to make for brunch. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a holiday or a regular old lazy weekend morning: just thinking about French toast makes my mouth start watering. What could be more crave-worthy than thick slices of bread with tender, fluffy middles, crisp edges, and a mound of fresh fruit on top? This French toast recipe is delightfully quick and easy, so I make it whenever we have day-old bread in the house. Still, it has the flavor of a special occasion treat. An egg batter makes it nice and rich,…

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Mulled Wine

This mulled wine recipe is perfect for the holidays! Simmered with citrus, apple cider, and warming spices, it's cozy, festive, and delicious.

Jack and I love to make this mulled wine recipe during the holiday season. Packed with notes of citrus, apple, and aromatic spices, it’s cozy, flavorful, and festive. Sipping a steaming mug of it is the best way to warm up on a cold winter night. This mulled wine is the perfect drink for holiday parties. For one, the recipe is easy to scale up or down depending on the size of your group. It also makes your kitchen smell amazing. The heady, spiced aroma on its own is reason enough to try it! Mulled Wine Ingredients Here’s what you’ll need…

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45 Christmas Breakfast Ideas

With recipes for cinnamon rolls, breakfast casseroles, French toast, waffles, and more, these Christmas breakfast ideas include something for everyone.

All our best Christmas breakfast ideas, all in one place! In case you’re still figuring out your menu for the holiday morning (don’t worry, I’m right there with you…), I thought I’d share some of my favorite festive brunch recipes today. They include Christmas breakfast ideas of every size and style—sweet ones, savory ones, ones you can make ahead, and ones you can whip up at the last minute. Some are great for a group, while others are meant for smaller celebrations. I hope you find some you love! Christmas Breakfast Ideas for a Crowd Serving a crowd on Christmas…

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Popovers Recipe

Made with a simple 5-ingredient batter, these popovers are light, airy, buttery, and delicious! Enjoy them plain or top them butter, honey, or jam.

I love pulling a pan of popovers out of the oven. In that moment, they’re beautifully puffed, almost lifting out of the pan. They have crisp, golden brown exteriors, and they smell like melted butter. Freshly baked popovers are pure delight. I’m sharing my favorite popover recipe below. It’s super simple (just 5 ingredients!) and SO delicious. The popovers’ crisp, golden outsides give way to airy, custardy interiors. I’m happy eating them plain, but they’re also wonderful with butter, honey, or jam. What are popovers? Popovers are light, custardy rolls. They’re made with a simple batter of eggs, milk, flour, melted butter,…

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Creamy Mushroom Soup

This mushroom soup recipe is creamy, comforting, and bursting with savory mushroom flavor. Make it with or without cream—it's delicious either way!

This mushroom soup recipe has become one of Jack’s favorite comfort foods. He loves anything and everything with fresh mushrooms, and this creamy, savory soup is positively packed with them. One and a half pounds of mushrooms cook down with onion, garlic, and tamari to create the soup’s umami base. Fresh thyme brings out the mushrooms’ earthy flavor, and white wine adds a nice tang to brighten it all up. I puree part of this mushroom soup, so it’s creamy with or without heavy cream. Jack likes the rich flavor of the cream version—it tastes like a classic cream of mushroom…

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Caesar Salad

This classic Caesar salad recipe features crisp romaine, crunchy croutons, and Parmesan cheese. A creamy, tangy homemade dressing ties it together.

This Caesar salad recipe is classic and delicious. It features a base of crisp romaine lettuce topped with crunchy croutons and plenty of shaved Parmesan cheese. A creamy, tangy homemade Caesar dressing ties it all together. I’ve shared Caesar salad recipes with extra add-ins and other twists in the past (looking at you, kale Caesar), but this classic Caesar salad is the one I make most often. I love it because the ingredients are SO simple and the creamy dressing is easy to stir together (no raw egg yolk here!). It’s the perfect side salad for dinner parties or holiday gatherings. Even…

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Homemade Caesar Dressing

This homemade Caesar dressing recipe beats any store-bought salad dressing I've tried. With a mayo base, it's creamy, tangy, and easy to make.

A great Caesar dressing is the secret to a great Caesar salad! This Caesar dressing recipe is my favorite. I love it because it’s easy and delicious. Unlike a traditional Caesar dressing, which is made with an emulsion of raw egg yolk and oil, this one has a mayo base. It’s super simple to stir together (and it doesn’t contain raw eggs!). Still, it’s rich, creamy, and packed with tangy, savory, umami flavor. Try it on your next Caesar salad, and you’ll never get a store-bought Caesar dressing again! Trust me, this homemade version is so much better. Caesar Salad Dressing…

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23 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes

Celebrate the holiday season with these easy Christmas cookies! Find recipes for gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread, and more.

Let’s make Christmas cookies! The holiday season is here, and I’m ready to bake. Every year, I make Christmas cookies to share with friends and family. These sweet treats are my favorite way to spread holiday cheer. They look so festive—cut into seasonal shapes, decorated with icing, or dusted with powdered sugar—and they taste delicious. If you want to make someone smile this season, gift them a Christmas cookie tray. Just be sure to save some cookies for yourself too! I’ve rounded up my best Christmas cookie recipes below. They range from classics like gingerbread and sugar cookies to unique treats…

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Best Sugar Cookies Recipe

These easy sugar cookies have crisp edges and soft middles. Cut out into shapes and decorated with icing, they're a delicious treat for any occasion.

Meet my best sugar cookie recipe! It’s an updated version of one I shared a few years ago, with streamlined steps, simple ingredients, and absolutely delicious results. These cut out sugar cookies have crisp edges, soft middles, and a warm, buttery flavor. Decorated with icing, candies, and/or sprinkles, they’re a festive treat for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or any occasion. Heads up that this recipe requires chilling the dough, so plan to mix it up at least 2 hours before you roll out and bake the cookies. If you’d like to space out the steps of this recipe even more, you can…

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Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes

Got leftover mashed potatoes? Make these mashed potato pancakes to use them up! Crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, they're easy and delicious.

These mashed potato pancakes are the BEST way to use up leftover mashed potatoes! I don’t know about you, but I’m happy eating leftover mashed potatoes for exactly one day after a holiday meal. Beyond that, I have to transform them into something new if I have any hope of polishing them off. That’s why I started making these mashed potato pancakes. The recipe takes smooth, creamy mashed potatoes and turns them into delicious, golden little cakes. They’re crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle, and packed with savory, oniony flavor. Make a batch, and your holiday leftovers will be…

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Waldorf Salad

This Waldorf salad recipe is simple, refreshing, and delicious! A tangy, creamy dressing coats crisp apples, celery, walnuts, and grapes.

When was the last time you made a Waldorf salad? Up until recently, this classic fruit and nut salad wasn’t in my rotation, but this fall, I started making it on repeat. A friend of a friend brought a Waldorf salad to a dinner party I attended, and I couldn’t resist going back for seconds…and then thirds. The combination of crisp apples, juicy grapes, crunchy celery, and walnuts was sweet, savory, and surprisingly refreshing. Halfway through my last helping, I was already looking forward to making my own version at home. This Waldorf salad recipe is simple and delicious. It stays…

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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.