Roasted Garlic

Making mashed potatoes, a sauce, or soup? Roasted garlic will infuse it with rich, nutty flavor. Find my easy method for how to roast garlic below!

Have you ever roasted garlic in the oven? As it cooks, your kitchen fills with an amazing savory scent. It’s the kind of mouthwatering aroma that’s guaranteed to make you hungry, even if you’ve just finished lunch. If you ask me, this smell alone is enough reason to learn how to roast garlic at home. But of course, the main reason to make roasted garlic is the taste. Unlike raw garlic, roasted garlic doesn’t have any sort of bite. Its flavor is sweet, mellow, nutty, and rich. It also softens as it roasts, becoming tender, creamy, and spreadable. Blend it…

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Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta

This butternut squash pasta is healthy, comforting, and delicious! Roasted squash, sage, and thyme fill the creamy sauce with cozy autumn flavor.

The first time I made this butternut squash pasta sauce, Jack couldn’t stop talking about it for days. “That sauce!”, he kept saying. “That sauce!” Of course, I teased him for it, but if I’m being totally honest, I was completely smitten with it too. Looking at this butternut squash pasta, you might expect it to taste like mac and cheese. But don’t be fooled. The creamy sauce is rich and nutty, with bold autumn flavor from herbs like sage and thyme. Because it’s so flavorful and complex, this butternut squash pasta would make a show-stopping vegetarian main dish at a special…

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Sautéed Broccoli

Learn how to sauté broccoli like a pro! This easy sautéed broccoli recipe is a light, healthy side dish or delicious addition to pastas, bowls, and more.

I’ll say it: I don’t cook sautéed broccoli often enough. I don’t know why, but whenever I have broccoli on hand, my first impulse is to roast it. But a few weeks back, I was making this butternut squash pasta for dinner, and I needed a quick and easy side dish to pair with it. I chopped up a bunch of broccoli and cooked it on the stove with lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. The broccoli florets came out vibrant green and tender, while the stalks kept a nice al dente bite. It was so simple, flavorful, and refreshing…

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Pumpkin Bars

These easy pumpkin bars are super moist, perfectly spiced, and slathered in tangy cream cheese frosting. What more could you want in a fall treat?

If you’re looking for a fun, festive, and sweet-but-not-too-sweet treat to make for Halloween, this easy pumpkin bars recipe is just the thing for you! It’s based on the pumpkin bread recipe that I make every fall. Like the bread, these bars are moist, tender, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. UNlike the bread, they’re topped in a rich, tangy cream cheese frosting, which really highlights the warm spices inside them. On cool fall afternoons, they’re the perfect treat to pair with a coffee or tea. But heads up: these pumpkin bars are seriously addictive. Eat one, and you’ll have…

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Vegan Frosting

This vegan frosting recipe is perfect for cakes, bars, cookies, and more! With just 4 ingredients, it's sweet, creamy, tangy, and super easy to make.

The next time you need to dress up cookies, bars, or cake, make this vegan frosting recipe! Made with just 4 ingredients, it’s an easy way to turn everyday baked goods into special occasion treats. Want to transform a simple carrot cake into a birthday-worthy layer cake? Make this vegan frosting! Wish that your muffins were a little more like cupcakes? This vegan frosting can help with that too. This recipe is my plant-based riff on classic cream cheese frosting, so its flavor is rich, sweet, and tangy. I especially love it on my vegan carrot cake and pumpkin bars,…

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How to Cook Wheat Berries

Learn how to cook wheat berries perfectly every time! This chewy, nutty whole grain is a delicious addition to soups, salads, bowls, and more.

When I lived in Austin, I bought wheat berries all the time from the bulk bins at our grocery store. But when we moved to Chicago, I couldn’t find them anywhere – not in bulk, not pre-bagged, nothing. Finally, this fall, I noticed a local wheat grower selling organic wheat berries at our farmers market. I love pairing this earthy whole grain with autumn ingredients like squash, kale, and dried cranberries, so I knew I had to get some. Since then, I’ve been tossing wheat berries into salads and side dishes like crazy! For how delicious they are, I don’t…

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Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing

This apple cider vinegar dressing is my favorite way to brighten up a fall salad! Made with 7 basic ingredients, it's super flavorful and easy to make.

If I’m making a salad in the fall, there’s a good chance that I’ll drizzle an apple cider vinegar dressing on top. Maybe it’s because fall is apple season, but there’s something irresistible about the combination of apple cider vinegar and autumn foods like cranberries and squash. In a hearty salad or side dish, an apple cider vinaigrette adds a tangy pop of flavor that brings these sweet ingredients to life. I’ve made a million apple cider vinegar dressing recipes over the years. Some are spiced with cinnamon, others are infused with sage, but the recipe below is the one…

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15 Fresh Beet Recipes

Don't underestimate beets! They might be a humble root veggie, but these fresh beet recipes prove just how versatile and delicious they can be.

One of my many missions in life is to create fresh beet recipes that will win over even the biggest beet skeptics. Luckily, Jack has given me ample practice over the years. When we first met, he wouldn’t come near a beet, let alone taste one. But with time (and only a little trickery), I’ve gotten him to try and enjoy a host of beet recipes. Just last week, he devoured an entire beet salad at dinner, proclaiming how much he loved it with every bite. So if you’re still on the fence about beets, I get it. Their earthy…

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Sautéed Beet Greens

Beets are famous for their roots, but beet leaves are tasty, too! This sautéed beet greens recipe shows off their delicate texture and sweet, mild flavor.

Just look at those beautiful beet greens! So often, vegetable stems, stalks, and tops like beet greens are written off as scraps and tossed in the trash. But why? Radish greens pulse into a beautiful pesto, carrot tops create a zesty chimichurri, and cauliflower cores blend into ultra-creamy soups and sauces. We might not eat these parts of vegetables every day, but they’re certainly not scraps. So let’s talk beet greens! They have a mild, sweet, and earthy flavor, and they take on a delicate, silky texture when cooked. Honestly, I think they’re just as tasty as beets themselves. Try…

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Black Bean Soup

This black bean soup recipe is easy to make with pantry ingredients like canned black beans and spices. It's a healthy, delicious vegetarian meal.

This black bean soup recipe is easy and delicious. It calls for pantry ingredients like canned black beans and spices, and the cooking process is largely hands-off. The stove does most of the work for you! Even though it’s simple, this black bean soup has a bold, spicy flavor and creamy texture. The secret ingredient? Bean juice! See, when I cook with canned beans, I almost always start by draining and rinsing them. But in this black bean soup recipe, I use the liquid in the can as well as the beans themselves. This liquid, coupled with the fact that I…

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Sautéed Kale

This easy sautéed kale recipe is healthy, delicious, and versatile. Serve it as a side dish, or add it to grain bowls, pastas, frittatas, and more!

If you’ve never cooked sautéed kale before, now’s the time to try it! It’s a versatile side dish, just as at home alongside a bowl of soup as it is next to a pile of pasta, but it’s also a fantastic cooking component. My recipe calls for 6 ingredients (3 of which are olive oil, salt, and pepper), and it cooks up in under 5 minutes. Because it’s so simple, it’s one of my go-to additions to clear-out-the-fridge frittatas, quick weeknight pastas, improvised grain bowls, and more. As an added bonus, it’s jam-packed with nutrients, and it tastes delicious. Kale…

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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.