Classic Caprese Salad

Grab a ball of fresh mozzarella, a handful of basil, and the best tomatoes you can find, and make this Caprese salad recipe before summer slips away!

I’ve posted a few Caprese salad recipes over the years. If you look through the recipe index, you’ll find one with strawberries, one with plums, one with a drizzle of mint pesto, and even cute little Caprese skewers with peaches! What you won’t find, though, is this: a classic Caprese salad with soft, creamy fresh mozzarella, juicy seasonal tomatoes, and a generous amount of basil leaves. It’s a salad that’s been near and dear to my heart ever since we visited the island of Capri, years ago, just after Jack proposed. It was a magical trip where we ate Caprese salads…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Grilled Zucchini with Lemon Yogurt, Feta & Mint

This simple grilled zucchini recipe is an essential summer side dish! I serve the veggies over a bright, lemony yogurt with a shower of feta & mint on top.

If your fridge is stuffed with zucchini but it’s too hot to make zucchini bread, crispy baked summer squash, or stuffed zucchini boats, what should you cook? Grilled zucchini, of course! A lot of the time, I grill zucchini along with a mix of other rainbow veggies, but lately, we’ve had so much of it on hand that I’ve been grilling it up on its own. Luckily for us, it’s a delicious summer side dish. While a lot of grilled zucchini recipes call for slicing the squash into thin slabs, I like to cut it into wedges. This way, the…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Grilled Vegetables

Learn how to make the best grilled vegetables! Serve them as a side dish at your next cookout, or top them with a yummy sauce and call them dinner.

Once July rolls around, we make this grilled vegetables recipe just about every week. It’s perfect for mid-late summer, when all sorts of veggies are coming into season, and it’s too hot to turn on the oven. In my opinion, peppers, summer squash, onions, mushrooms, and corn are the best vegetables to grill. Cut into similar-sized pieces and skewered, they all cook at about the same rate. And when you slide them off the skewer, you get a mouthwatering mix of textures and flavors – the mushrooms are meaty, the corn is crisp, the squash is soft, and the peppers…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Tzatziki

This fresh tzatziki recipe will liven up any summer meal! Rich, creamy & full of fresh herbs, it's delicious on pita, grilled veggies, sandwiches, and more!

Break out the pita, it’s tzatziki time! On Monday, I posted my favorite Greek salad, and now I’m following it up with another Greek essential: this cool, refreshing cucumber tzatziki sauce. One of the best parts of summer is that dinner suddenly becomes easy. My favorite ingredients – fresh fruits and veggies – are at their peak. Tomatoes are sweeter and juicier, berries are plumper, peppers are snappier, and our backyard herbs are at their most potent.  Sometimes, when I want to put these peak-season veggies front and center, making dinner just means prepping a sauce to dress them up. This tzatziki…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Greek Salad

This easy Greek salad recipe is our new favorite summer side dish! Just 7 ingredients + a simple Greek salad dressing make it refreshing & delicious.

I love a good green salad – mixed greens, romaine, and kale are some of my favorite starting points for fresh, healthy meals. But summer is a time when all vegetables are at their peak. Sweet, juicy tomatoes, snappy bell peppers, and crisp cucumbers abound. This Greek salad recipe showcases these veggies, without any greens to get in the way. And the best past? Because the vegetables are in their prime, this Greek salad recipe is flavorful and refreshing with just a few ingredients. You only need 7 ingredients + an easy homemade Greek salad dressing to make it! It’s been a hit…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Greek Salad Dressing

Say goodbye to sad salads forever! This Greek salad dressing recipe is zingy and bright, and you likely have all the ingredients in your pantry already.

I first made this Greek salad dressing recipe to toss with a traditional Greek Salad, but once I had it on hand, I discovered that it tastes fantastic on so much more! It’s zingy, tangy, and bright – perfect for livening up side salads or making roasted veggies more exciting. The recipe calls for a handful of simple ingredients, so it’s easy to whip up at a moment’s notice. And once you’ve made it, it keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge! If you ask me, everyone should have this Greek salad dressing recipe in their back pocket.…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Basil Pesto Recipe

Pesto is one of my favorite condiments to keep on hand. Try these easy, fun pesto recipe variations to brighten pasta, salads, roasted veggies & more!

One of my favorite things about summer is the bounty of fresh herbs that are just outside my doorstep. Fresh herbs make any meal instantly more flavorful and beautiful. My favorite thing to do with all of those fresh herbs (aside from sprinkle them on everything) is to make pesto! It’s especially great for lazy summertime cooking. I like to dollop it on grilled vegetables, pasta, spaghetti squash, salads, eggs, toasted bread, pizza, sandwiches… you get the idea. With just a few easy steps, it makes anything an instant tasty meal, whether you feel like cooking or not. What is…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Pineapple Salsa

Move over, tomatoes! This fresh, easy pineapple salsa recipe adds the perfect sweet & spicy finish to tacos, salads, burritos, and more.

When I moved to Austin, I discovered how fantastic fresh salsa could be. Whether made with tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, or fruit, fresh salsas were always tangier, juicier, and more flavorful than their jarred counterparts. Of course, it wasn’t long before I started making my own at home, and this easy pineapple salsa recipe is one of my favorites. With just 7 ingredients, it couldn’t be simpler to make. Delectably sweet, spicy & juicy, it’s the perfect topping for grilled veggies (or grilled meats, if you’re not vegetarian) and all sorts of Mexican-inspired dishes. I hope you love it as much…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Vegan Tacos

Jerk-spiced jackfruit and mango avocado salsa pack these vegan tacos with a big punch of flavor! They're bright, fresh, and fun to eat.

When I flipped through the Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook by Nisha Vora, these jerk-spiced vegan tacos caught my attention right away. Combining jerk seasoning with ginger, tamari, and meaty jackfruit isn’t something I would have thought of myself. But wow, wow, wow, were these delicious! In the past, I’ve made vegan taco recipes with roasted sweet potato, black beans, a ground beef-like mushroom taco “meat,” and more, but this jackfruit filling is one of my new favorites. It has a fantastic hearty texture and bold, spicy flavor that’s perfectly accented by a sweet and juicy mango avocado salsa. I’m obsessed with…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

How to Cook Corn on the Cob

Learn how to cook corn on the cob with this easy recipe! Hot, sweet, and juicy, it's the best summer side dish. Seasoning variations included!

It finally feels like summer around here, and for me there’s nothing more summery than corn on the cob! When I was a little kid, I remember my mom covering the stoop on the back patio with ripped-open paper bags, and my sister and I would spend hours removing the husks. I love sweet corn so many ways – I top it onto pizza, mix it into cornbread and cornbread stuffing, stuff it into tacos, blend it into hummus, add it to soups, chowder, and chili, or top it onto salad. You get the picture: I’m a corn addict! But my favorite…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Pickled Jalapeños

Make these pickled jalapeños once, and you'll be hooked. Sweet & spicy, they're great on tacos, burgers & more, or on their own straight from the jar!

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of pickled onions. They’re tangy, they’re sweet, they’re salty – really, they’re just darn good. For the longest time, they’ve been my favorite way to add a bright pop of color and flavor to salads, tacos, sandwiches, and more. But lately, pickled onions have been playing second fiddle to a new quick-pickle favorite: pickled jalapeños! These guys are the perfect blend of spicy, salty, and sweet. And if you’re not a fan of spicy foods, they’re still worth a try. The longer you leave…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>
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.