Vegan Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Vegan cherry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies get a fantastic pop of flavor from dried cherries. Made with coconut oil, flax, and maple syrup.

In my opinion, these vegan chocolate oatmeal cookies are the perfect cookies. If you’re not vegan, don’t let the “vegan” part of this title distract you – there’s nothing vegan tasting about them. These are cookies that happen to be vegan because I like to save my eggs for breakfast and, well, I like to eat more raw cookie dough than the average person. These cookies are rich, chewy, and sweet, but not too sweet. They have the most delicious pop of flavor from the dried tart cherries, which are the star here. They’re soft, plump, and chewy, and they’ve made…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Eggplant and Roasted Tomato Salad

A trip to Italy inspired this delicious, 10-ingredient salad recipe. Packed with roasted tomatoes, eggplant, and basil, it's a perfect summer dish.

I keep a food journal when we travel. It’s nothing fancy, just a little book that isn’t my iPhone. There are no pictures or charming doodles… there aren’t really even sentences, just scribbles of ingredients and descriptions of what we ate and where. Some dishes, I’ll try to recreate at home, but not all of them. The chosen few that make it into my kitchen come down to a few criteria: how badly I crave something, the ability to decipher my chicken-scratch handwriting, and the availability of similar ingredients. This eggplant and tomato salad (a take-away lunch I ate one day at Roscioli) easily checked all…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

Jumpstart your day with this Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl! With fresh fruit, toasted nuts, and warm spices, it's refreshing, healthy, and satisfying.

If you saw what I eat for breakfast every day, you would be so bored. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my daily eggs & avocado, but lately I’ve been trying to switch things up just because I think change is good every once in a while. Especially if that change means another excuse to smother things in peaches. This quinoa breakfast bowl is inspired by the beautiful bowls of oatmeal that I see all over the internet. You know the ones – they’re chock full of colorful fruit and other various superfoods. They’re so pretty that they make me wish I…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Curried Chickpea Salad Sliders

Three things I am obsessed with: chickpeas, avocado, and all things MINI… mini pizzas, mini tacos, mini pies, mini skillets. I had these cute little pretzel buns last week so that’s how this recipe started. (Although you could use any kind of bun or sliced bread for this recipe). I first thought of making little veggie burgers, but since it’s a whopping 103 degrees(!) outside, I’ve been trying to use my oven as little as possible. Plus this chickpea salad is fast, easy, and cold, which is everything I want in a summer recipe. These would be perfect for a summer picnic except, well, it’s…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Smoky Sweet Corn Tostadas

Make this easy vegan tostada recipe for a smoky, fun & fresh summer lunch. If you have leftover hummus, store it in the fridge for a quick, healthy snack!

Happy August! I hope corn is in season where you are, because I have a pretty corny tostada recipe today. Let’s just say that I decided to go for the corn trifecta. I started by making some sweet and smoky corn hummus that is a great snack on its own. Then I slathered it onto crispy (baked) corn tortillas. Finally, I topped these with avocado and MORE grilled corn because, well, I was up to my ears in fresh summer corn, and I had to use it somehow. After spending the month of July eating pasta, I feel like a I needed a Texas re-tox.…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Peach & Plum Crumble

When peaches are in season, there's nothing I crave more than this peach crisp. Nutty, oaty, juicy & sweet, it's easy to make & absolutely delicious.

This may be sacrilege, but over the years, I’ve become less and less interested in chocolate desserts and more and more obsessed with fruit ones. And right now, fruit crisps – like this peach crisp recipe – are my absolute favorites. They’re SO easy to throw together, they let seasonal produce shine, and to me, there’s nothing more delicious than a nutty, oaty crumble with juicy baked fruit and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Peach Crisp Recipe Ingredients Now that peaches are in peak season, this peach crisp has been on repeat in our house. At this time of…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Cucumber Apple Green Gazpacho

Soup is my favorite thing to make regardless of the season – it’s comfy and cozy in the fall and winter, but just because it’s 100 degrees outside now doesn’t mean I don’t crave soup in the summer. Enter: gazpacho. This one is extra healthy (and bikini-season-friendly) because it’s made with green juice as the base. Since working on these recipes, with Evolution Fresh, I’ve been inspired to incorporate more green juices into my cooking. I got this idea by reading the ingredient list for their Sweet Greens and Ginger cold-pressed juice. It’s full of cucumber, apple, and ginger (among other greens), and sounded like the…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Almond Milk Cold Brew Coffee Latte

Homemade cold brew is easy to make yourself. Freeze it into convenient ice cubes that you can drop into your iced coffee or almond milk latte!

To say that we’re obsessed with cold brew coffee is an understatement. It’s the only coffee we drink at home now – the only reason we still own a coffee maker (which is now stored up on the highest shelf) is for when parents come to visit. I didn’t know it was possible to make cold brew yourself, but it’s more than possible, it’s easy. I’ve been buying my cold brew by the bottle, but when I started seeing homemade versions all over the internet (here, here, here, here), I was intrigued. But let’s back up – what is cold brew coffee…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Green Pineapple Smoothie

Made with mint, ginger, lime & kale, this healthy pineapple smoothie recipe is a vibrant, refreshing smoothie riff on a classic mojito cocktail!

This green pineapple smoothie has become my most recent breakfast kick. It’s super fresh, vibrant, and healthy, and it leaves me feeling energized at the start of the day. Between all the food that’s been around during our cookbook testing and all of the food I’m about to eat in Italy – I’ve tried to clean (and green) things up over the last few weeks. Cheesecakes and pizzas aside, I’ve gotten back to my salad-ey lunches and green drink routines. So it was perfect timing that Tess Masters (a.k.a The Blender Girl) sent me a copy of her new book The Blender Girl Smoothies.…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Peach & Tomato Crostini

Lately I’ve been reading all kinds of summer bucket lists that are floating around the internet. I enjoy them – they inspire me to get away from the computer and do fun things like hang out at pools with popsicles. (which I haven’t actually done, but the idea still lifts my spirit). For me, summer + list-making don’t go hand-in-hand, so I’ll just make one goal and that is to eat ALL of the peaches. I freaking love peaches. Their season is happening here and now in Texas so I’m I making the most of it with things like peach salads, peach salsa, and peach pops, just to…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boys

Breaded & baked oyster mushrooms take the place of meat in this veggie riff on a po' boy sandwich! They're fun, healthy, and downright delicious.

This blog may be mostly healthy, but I have to admit that I enjoy my share of fried foods from time to time. Fried oysters, fried shrimp – I love it all, even if it’s “sometimes food.” That is until now, because these baked oyster mushrooms are every bit as crispy, meaty, and delectable as anything fried. They’re easy to make, they’re healthy, and there’s no messy fry oil involved. I’ll just go ahead and say it – if you make one recipe this summer, make this one. These mushrooms are so delicious stuffed into a soft baguette with a slather…

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.