Raspberry Vegan Cheesecake

A tart raspberry layer, a creamy "cheesecake" layer, and a gluten-free walnut crust make this easy vegan cheesecake recipe tangy, rich & delicious.

Happy early Valentine’s day… or Galentines Day… or whatever holiday you like to celebrate with heart-shaped treats and little paper cards. As I’ve written about many times before, Jack and I have this Chocolate Molten Cake Valentine’s tradition. This year I switched things up a bit and made this decadent yet mostly raw raspberry vegan cheesecake. How cute are those layers!? Vegan Cheesecake Recipe Variations I have two versions below – one version uses raw cashews for the white “cheesecake” layer and the other version uses vegan cream cheese. I wanted to offer these two options because one requires a fancy…

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Creamy Polenta Recipe with Roasted Beets

Top creamy polenta with lemony raw & roasted beets, and you have a healthy, comforting, delicious dinner. Great for date nights!

We celebrated Valentine’s day early this year with this creamy polenta recipe. We actually celebrate most holidays early around here… at least food-wise. Christmas cookies in October, Thanksgiving food in late August and so on.  I’m not sure what we’re doing for “real” Valentine’s yet – but once I got this recipe just right and the pictures were done, Jack and I sat down to a romantic (albeit reheated) meal for two. The only caveat – Jack doesn’t like beets. He’s not a picky eater but beets are on his short list of foods he usually won’t touch. I originally tried…

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Sustenance Sweet Potato Soup

This hearty sweet potato soup is exactly what you need to power through the winter. With a scoop of almond butter for richness, it's vegan & gluten-free.

Crazy weather we’ve been having here lately… one day we’re eating a sunny lunch on a patio and the next five nights we’re curled up at home trying to stay warm during torrential downpours. I SO wish I was one of those people who finds rainstorms to be cozy and calming, but I’m quite the opposite. Storms may get me a little edgy and nervous, but what does calm me down is making a stew like this one. This recipe comes from my friend Tess (a.k.a. The Blender Girl)’s new cookbook The Perfect Blend. This stew is everything you want on a cold January night…

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Buckwheat, Apple, Cranberry Avocado Salad

A healthy, hearty, lemon-ey salad from the cookbook Blissful Basil. Vegan and gluten free.

Oh hi – long time no post. Last week, I was a bit sick and down for the count, to say the least. This week, I’m on a healing bender. I have my blender working overtime with crazy green smoothies made with ginger, turmeric and every herb that I’ve read about that contains immune-building qualities. I’m trying to eat lighter and brighter as well because I really do believe that plants can heal. Which brings me to this recipe from Blissful Basil, a cookbook that couldn’t have arrived at a better time. If you don’t follow Ashley’s blog of the same name, you…

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Winter Spiced Moscow Mule

A fun and festive holiday spin on a Moscow Mule - perfect for New Years Eve! This healthier version uses ginger kombucha instead of ginger beer.

Hello from Holiday Vacation-land… aka, my parents house where Jack and I have been spending the week. We flew in just in time to have a white Christmas before the snow melted. Other than spending time with family, we’ve been spending time in the house because we’re really not winter people. I binge-watched Shirley Temple movies; Jack fixed my parents computer. We’ve been eating my mom’s Christmas cookies, and I’ve been working on a few new recipes – spending time in front of the stove is the best way to stay warm around here! All in all, it’s been a much-needed…

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Carrot Soup + our Amazon Echo recipe skill

Check out our new Love & Lemons Amazon Echo Recipe skill where you can search and cook recipes while Alexa reads the ingredients and instructions OUT LOUD. It's really handy because it'll keep your phone screen from getting messy while you're trying to cook!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! Christmas came a little early for us – a few months ago “Santa Amazon” sent us an Amazon Echo and my techy husband Jack could not have been more excited. While he was playing around with its features, he decided that it would be neat if it could read our recipes aloud. So he got to work and here it is: a Love & Lemons skill where you can search and cook our recipes while Alexa reads the ingredients and instructions OUT LOUD. It’s really handy because it’ll keep your phone screen from getting messy while…

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Brussels Sprout Salad Avocado Toast

This smashed avocado toast is topped with a tangy Brussels Sprouts salad. Great for breakfast, a snack, or to serve to family.

There’s a shaved Brussels sprout salad in our Cookbook (page 68) that’s one of my go-to salads in the fall and/or winter. It has a tangy citrusy dressing and it’s tossed with cranberries and pine nuts. A few weeks ago while I was planning to make that salad for Thanksgiving, I saw a sprout and ricotta toast recipe on Epicurious and got the idea that my favorite little salad would make a bright festive appetizer. Instead of using ricotta cheese to hold the filling onto the toast I used smashed avocado – because I can never resist yet another seasonal avocado toast. This…

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Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas

We love to cozy up with these vegetarian enchiladas on fall nights. Their filling is a sweet & spicy mix of butternut squash, black beans & scallions.

To me, it seems like there’s always a shortage of good vegetarian enchiladas on restaurant menus. So often, you find chicken enchiladas only, or the vegetarian enchiladas look a like cheese bomb on a plate. Now, rather than going out, I make this vegetarian enchilada recipe from the “Winter Squash” section of our first cookbook when an enchilada craving strikes. It’s lighter than most restaurant enchiladas, but it’s still spicy & satisfying. Let’s cook! Lately, these vegetarian black bean enchiladas have become one of our favorite dinners for cold nights. The spicy, gooey tortillas and hearty veggie filling are the ultimate form of comfort…

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Healthy Hot Chocolate

This healthy hot chocolate recipe is the perfect cold weather treat! It's totally vegan and dairy-free, but it's still rich, chocolatey, and delicious.

Lately, Jack and I have been guzzling mugs of this healthy hot chocolate for breakfast. If you’re thinking, “Hot chocolate for breakfast?!”, you have to hear me out. This healthy hot chocolate recipe is a far cry from the Swiss Miss hot cocoa I drank as a kid. It’s naturally sweetened, and nutrient-rich cacao powder takes the place of processed cocoa. Plus, I make it with almond milk, so it’s totally vegan and dairy-free. Fair game for breakfast? 100% yes. Now, if you think “healthy” is code for “watery” or “bland,” think again. This healthier hot chocolate is rich, creamy,…

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Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Topped with a sweet and savory rosemary cashew cream and a lemony broccoli salad, these twice baked sweet potatoes are totally irresistible.

These twice baked sweet potatoes are a complete departure from the sweet potatoes I ate growing up. Then, I only had them once a year at Thanksgiving, where they were layered into a casserole loaded with mini marshmallows. For years, I thought I didn’t like sweet potatoes. It turns out, that casserole was just too sweet for me! I actually love sweet potatoes, but not when they’re loaded with brown sugar and marshmallows. These twice baked sweet potatoes are a perfect balance of sweet and savory. They take the potatoes’ natural sweetness and offset it with cozy, bright, and tangy flavors.…

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Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider

Sweet Tea Sparkling Apple Cider is the best fall/Thanksgiving cocktail! With just 6 ingredients, it's easy to make and full of festive fall flavors!

Happy almost-Thanksgiving week! Do you have your menu set? Are you getting together with family or having a Friendsgiving? Either way – here’s a sweet and oh-so-pretty cocktail that would be lovely for your turkey day. This one couldn’t be easier: mix apple cider with iced tea, let it chill for about 2 hours with diced apples, cinnamon sticks and star anise. When your guests arrive, pull it out of the fridge and serve with sparkling wine. That’s it!

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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.