Quinoa Taco Salad

Enjoy this salad for a summer lunch or weeknight dinner. Corn, poblanos, cilantro, and plenty of lime give this hearty vegan salad crunch and zest.

I eat a lot of tacos. Here in Austin, you can’t walk 10 feet without tripping over another taco truck or Mexican restaurant. But my favorite thing is actually the taco in its deconstructed form: the taco salad. You can take this in as many different directions as there are taco fillings, but I especially like this with red quinoa (although if you had non-red quinoa it would taste pretty much the same). The chewy little red kernels sort of take on the essence of taco meat. The rest of the ingredients came together from what I happened to have on…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Strawberry Quinoa & Feta Salad

Strawberries, feta, greens, and mint make a bright, sweet, and salty spring or summer salad. A healthy gluten free & vegetarian weekday lunch or dinner!

I’m excited to be guest posting at Anthology Magazine this month with a 4-part summer salad series! If you can’t tell by now, I live on salads all summer long, so I’m excited to share some of my favorites. First up, today, is this savory-with-a punch-of-sweet strawberry & feta quinoa salad.  

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Green Bean, Potato & Corn Salad

This Mediterranean summer salad is brightened with a lemon-Dijon vinaigrette & fresh herbs. Serve as a vegan main dish or as a side for your next cookout.

These kinds of salads have been on our table a lot lately. I’ve been craving vegetables with Dijon dressing and capers… mediterranean sorts of flavors with vegetables I happen to have around. Bonus points if I don’t have to go to the store! That’s the kind of lazy summer we’ve been having. So I’m going to keep this short. Get off the internet, go do something fun outside (or not if you live where I do and it’s way too hot). And make salad.

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Peach Salsa with Mint

Make this sweet, tangy, and spicy peach & mint salsa as an appetizer for your summer party! Also delicious on tacos, grilled fish, or in a summer salad.

I’ve been binge eating peaches lately. Usually I’m pretty disciplined about buying only a few peaches at a time. I’ll even stagger my peach buying… 2 one day, 2 a few days later, so that every few days (during peach season) I have a manageable amount of peaches to consume on that one day when they’re perfectly ripe. So when my bi-weekly Farmhouse Delivery started sending me 12 peaches at a time (for the last 3 bushels in a row) my summer “peach system” was, needless to say, wrecked. (I know, it’s rough… my life… they’re really awesome peaches too).…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Thai Coconut Cucumber Salad

Chilled crunchy summer veggies are tossed with herbs and a spicy, tangy curry coconut dressing. Serve it for a vegan weeknight dinner as a main or side.

I could eat coconut all day in the summertime. Cold, crunchy, spicy salads like this one with a side of coconut iced tea, followed by coconut ice cream for dessert. I ask you, who needs so much dairy when the coconut exists? (Ok, don’t answer that, I know you cheese-lovers are a passionate bunch). I’m calling this one a “Thai-inspired” dish. Jack and I are talking about taking a trip to Thailand next spring (!)… so until then, I bring you “Thai-ish.” Coconut milk, lime, and red curry are flavors that I am crazy about… and here they create a delicious…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Tomato Coconut Shrimp Curry

Tomato coconut shrimp curry makes a healthy, spicy, and warming meal for winter weeknights. Gluten and dairy free with a vegan option.

I feel funny posting this one because I know a decent amount of you readers are from London. I’ll let you know that the last time I was in London I ate my weight in curries. And when I came home from that trip I didn’t step foot into an Indian restaurant for at least a year. I knew that the local places I once frequented just wouldn’t compare. (This kind of all-or-nothing behavior drives Jack absolutely up the wall). However, I did take to making more Indian-inspired dishes at home. A few nights ago I had some leftover coconut…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Roasted Carrots & Cilantro

Sweet roasted carrots served with a creamy, tangy cilantro yogurt sauce make a healthy weeknight side or appetizer for spring or summer.

We don’t really like carrots. Ok, I take that back, we like cake made out of carrots, and we like raw carrots, but both Jack and I grew up with a disdain for cooked carrots. Of course, we only knew them as the mushy baby carrot version. Or worse yet, the mushy baby carrots in the pot roast version. We both have memories of our moms smasing the carrots and boiled potatoes together and pouring gravy on top. “But it’s so good this way”, my mom would say… each and every time… as if one day this mush would miraculously…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Sesame Cucumber Salad

Chilled cucumbers and wakame in a sweet & tangy dressing make a quick & healthy summer condiment or snack. Sesame seeds add crunch. Vegan and gluten free.

This is hands down my favorite hot weather snack. Is it hot where you are? It’s about 95 degrees here and I have about a million cucumbers growing in my garden. Sadly, in this heat, the cucumbers are about all I have growing at the moment. But I’ll take my cucumbers and be happy about them. And make salad. This one is generally in my fridge all summer long because it’s just so quick and easy, and it keeps for days. I also find that it’s a great way to add in sea vegetables. They’re not necessary here: the cucumbers are…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Leek Almond Chickpea Tart

Sautéed leeks and lemony, herb-filled creamy almond spread are layered over socca to create a unique, healthy spring or summer dinner. Vegan & gluten free.

This is so not my week. I’m going to keep this very short because I badly injured my thumb last night, and you don’t want to know how long it just took me to type out the recipe at the end of this post… Jack and I made this last Saturday night for dinner. I got the inspiration from this photo of a leek tart that I pinned. Leeks aside, my recipe is entirely different. I decided to try socca (a chickpea flour pancake/dough) as a healthier alternative to puff pastry… not that it’s equivalent to a flaky puff pastry, it’s…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Chickpea Nicoise Salad

Tossed with an herby lemon dressing, this vegetarian take on the classic Nicoise salad makes a healthy weeknight meal for spring or summer. Gluten free.

We were on vacation in Nice around this time last year, and I think I ate a nicoise salad for lunch every day of that trip. Or as Jack has coined it, the “Nizzan” salad, because the Italians call Nice “Nizza” (pronounced like pizza). We learned this as were running through the Rome airport (we are always running), and the airport desk workers were yelling out “Nizza! Nizza! last call for Nizza!” So that’s what we call it now. The city and the salad. This is one of my favorite main course salads because it’s so filling yet light and…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Red Curry & Miso Veggie Bowl

Your favorite veggies are roasted with a spicy miso glaze to make this easy vegan & gluten free veggie bowl. Perfect for a healthy weeknight dinner.

“Quick and easy weeknight cooking” hasn’t been something I’ve focused on much here. If something I’ve made happened to be quick, it was by accident more than anything else. I enjoy the process of cooking, and when I’m inspired, hours can fly by. (Although I’ll add the disclaimer that recipes on this site should, by no means, take “hours”). After a particularly stressful day last week, inspiration ran out. I was tired and preoccupied.  I had a plethora of vegetables lying around the kitchen begging me not to abandon them for a restaurant. But my jumbled mind couldn’t figure out…

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.