Roasted Carrots

Ready in under 30 minutes, these oven roasted carrots are an easy, healthy, and delicious side dish! A little honey brings out their natural sweetness.

To me, roasted carrots are the perfect veggie side dish. They’re easy to make, but they’re also amazingly flavorful. The hot oven intensifies the carrots’ natural sweetness, and it makes them soft and tender, with lightly crisp, caramelized edges. I can never resist eating some straight off the baking sheet! You’ll find my favorite roasted carrots recipe below. In addition to the olive oil, salt, and pepper I’d toss with any roasted vegetable, I use some honey here. It lightly glazes the carrots and helps them brown and caramelize in the oven. Make this recipe to round out a weeknight dinner,…

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50 Best Easter Side Dishes

These Easter side dishes include our best recipes for potatoes, spring salads, seasonal veggies, and more. Choose some to complete your holiday meal!

Easter is right around the corner, and I’m busy picking out which side dishes to make for our holiday feast. No offense to ham or lamb, but the side dishes are always my favorite part of Easter dinner. If you ask me, they’re what make the meal memorable. Seasonal vegetables like carrots and asparagus add a pop of color to the table. Hearty potato recipes keep guests coming back for more. And spring salads like my strawberry salad or carrot salad offer bright, fresh flavor. I’ve rounded up my 50 best Easter side dishes below. If you’re still figuring out your…

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Deviled Eggs

Learn how to make deviled eggs with this easy recipe! Made with basic ingredients like mayo and mustard, they're creamy, tangy, and always a hit.

The best deviled eggs are easy to make. You just need 6 basic ingredients: hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. If you like, you can add a dash of hot sauce or a pinch of paprika to kick the flavors up a notch. But without them, your deviled eggs will still be delicious. Because classic deviled eggs are so tasty AND so simple, they’re a perfect appetizer for Easter, the holidays, parties…any occasion, really. I’m sharing my favorite deviled eggs recipe below, plus tips and variations so that you can make it your own. I can’t…

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21 Best Cabbage Recipes

Have a hunk of cabbage you need to use up? Put it to work in these delicious cabbage recipes! They include simple sides, slaws, sandwiches, and more.

Choosing to make a cabbage recipe can feel like a commitment. You’re going to buy a whole entire cabbage in order to add a tiny bit of it to some tacos? What on earth are you going to do with the rest?! My hope is that the cabbage recipes below offer an answer to that question. There are SO MANY ways to cook cabbage—this humble veggie is nothing if not versatile. It can complete a sandwich with a pop of color and crunch. It can transform into a crisp, refreshing slaw or a silky, sweet sauté. You can add it to soup or…

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Cabbage Soup

This cabbage soup recipe is deeply flavorful, thanks to aromatic veggies and fire-roasted tomatoes. Pair it with good bread for a simple, nourishing meal.

This cabbage soup recipe does the impossible: it uses an entire head of cabbage in one go! Nearly every time I buy a cabbage, I whittle away at it for weeks, adding some to a slaw, some to a bowl, more to a taco, and so on. So the first time I made this cabbage soup recipe, I was shocked. I started by adding half of my cabbage. As it wilted down, it melted into the soup with the aromatic veggies and herbs. I didn’t want it to disappear – I was making cabbage soup, after all – so I…

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Cream Cheese Frosting

Learn how to make cream cheese frosting with just 4 ingredients! Sweet, creamy, rich, and tangy, it's delicious on cakes, cupcakes, and more.

Who doesn’t love cream cheese frosting?! This sweet, tangy topping is the perfect complement to just about any cake or cupcake, not to mention cookies, bars, and quick breads. I have it on repeat around here in the spring, when we have carrot cake cupcakes for Easter, an actual carrot cake for Jack’s birthday, and then carrot cake cookies, well, just because I like them. 🙂 My cream cheese frosting recipe calls for 4 basic ingredients, and it comes together in less than 10 minutes. The next time you want to make a homemade baked good taste extra-decadent and special,…

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Breakfast Casserole

This breakfast casserole recipe is perfect for feeding a crowd. Filled with potatoes and veggies, it's hearty, delicious, and easy to make ahead!

A breakfast casserole is the best way to feed a crowd first thing in the morning. Just ask my mom! She’s been making her famous breakfast casserole recipe on Easter and Christmas morning for as long as I can remember. The rest of my family loves it because it’s hearty and flavorful, packed with potatoes, veggies, eggs, and cheese. My mom loves it because it’s easy to make and—even better—make ahead. She can prep the whole thing the night before and pop it in the oven when guests arrive the next day. I adapted this breakfast casserole recipe from hers, and…

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Cabbage Steaks

These roasted cabbage steaks are meltingly tender in the middle with crisp, browned edges. They're an easy, delicious side dish or vegetarian main!

This cabbage steaks recipe will be a game changer for anyone who’s used to eating cabbage raw. Don’t get me wrong—I love raw cabbage’s refreshing crunch. But when you roast cabbage, it takes on a totally different texture and richer flavor. These cabbage steaks are meltingly tender in the middle, with a ruffly ring of crisp, browned leaves around the edges. A simple garlic oil infuses them with savory flavor, while the hot oven brings out their natural sweetness. These roasted cabbage steaks are an easy, healthy side dish (the oven takes care of most of the work!), but with the…

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Vegan Enchiladas

These vegan enchiladas are a hearty, flavorful plant-based dinner! They're smothered with red enchilada sauce and filled with veggies and black beans.

These vegan enchiladas are seriously delicious. Whenever I make them, my husband Jack and I fight over the last one. For context, Jack might be the world’s biggest cheese lover. If he’s going after cheese-less enchiladas, you know they have to be good. The filling here is a hearty mixture of mushrooms, peppers, and black beans. I roll it up in corn tortillas and then smother them with red enchilada sauce and homemade vegan nacho cheese. Before serving, I sprinkle garnishes like jalapeños, radishes, and avocado on top. This vegan enchiladas recipe is comforting, but also fresh. The rich enchilada…

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Best Bean Dip

This refried bean dip is creamy, cheesy, and easy to make! Serve it warm with tortilla chips for a delicious party appetizer or game day snack.

This bean dip recipe is the ultimate party appetizer! It’s creamy, it’s cheesy, and it’s perfect for scooping up with tortilla chips. Just make sure to hit up the snack table right after it comes out of the oven. This bean dip disappears QUICK! And I haven’t told you the best part yet: this bean dip recipe is easy to make. It calls for refried beans (you can use canned or homemade), so instead of blending the dip in a food processor, you can simply stir it together in a bowl. Spread it in a baking dish, sprinkle it with cheese,…

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Refried Beans

Learn how to make refried beans! This easy recipe works with dried or canned beans. Creamy and flavorful, it's a delicious, healthy side dish.

Refried beans recipe

This homemade refried beans recipe is delicious and easy to make. It calls for just 10 basic ingredients, and it’s creamy, flavorful, and bright. If you’re used to eating canned refried beans, get ready—these homemade ones are SO much better! Refried beans, or frijoles refritos, are a staple of Mexican and Tex Mex cuisine. Their English name is a bit misleading, because they’re not re-fried at all. Instead, cooked beans are added to a skillet with onion, garlic, and spices and then mashed until thick and creamy. Packed with fiber and protein, they’re a delicious, healthy side dish for tacos, enchiladas,…

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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.