Pumpkin Pie Spice

If you like fall baking, you'll love having this homemade pumpkin pie spice in your kitchen. It adds cozy autumn flavor to muffins, pies, and more!

It’s pumpkin spice season! Though I’ll never be the kind of person who runs out to get a pumpkin spice latte on the first day of fall, I do enjoy a thick slice of pumpkin bread or a puffy pumpkin muffin at this time of year. When I make these cozy fall treats, I always use homemade pumpkin pie spice instead of buying a spice mix in a jar. Why? Well, just like when I make my own Everything Bagel Seasoning, I can control the ratios of each component. I like my homemade pumpkin pie spice to be heavy on…

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Sweet Potato Salad

This roasted sweet potato salad recipe is a perfect fall lunch or side dish! Feta cheese, avocado, and a bright tahini dressing fill it with flavor.

fall / salads

I hope you’re all excited, because this sweet potato salad recipe is the first of many fall salads that I have coming your way this season! I love salad all year long (Like, who can say no to a tomato salad in the summer?), but fall salads have a special place in my heart. We move away from juicy summer bounty towards sweeter, starchier veggies like sweet potatoes and squash. And after a few months of craving leafless salads filled with tomatoes and corn, I want nothing more than a bowl of fall greens like spinach, arugula, or kale. Together,…

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Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I make these roasted sweet potatoes nonstop from the first day of fall to the last day of spring! Enjoy them as a side dish or in tacos, bowls, and more.

fall / cooking basics

Who else loves roasted sweet potatoes?! I don’t know what it is about fall weather, but when the air gets cool and crisp at this time of year, I start cooking sweet potatoes like crazy. I bake them, I noodle them, I blend them into cozy sauces and toss them into soups. But most often, I roast them. Why? First, roasted sweet potatoes are so darn easy to make! Just chop them up, toss them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake! The oven does most of the work for you. Second, they’re delicious. The salt and pepper…

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Tahini Dressing

Keep this lemon tahini dressing on hand in the fridge, and you'll eat more salad than you ever have before! It's creamy, nutty, bright, and delicious.

vegan / cooking basics

Of all of the homemade salad dressings out there, this lemon tahini dressing might be the one I make most often. It’s really versatile – it tastes just as good with tomatoes and cucumbers in the summer as it does with roasted sweet potatoes, cauliflower, or broccoli in the fall. It consists of a short list of ingredients that I always keep on hand, and it’s super easy to stir together. No blender or food processor required! Nowadays, most home cooks I know are familiar with tahini, but in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a paste made from…

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Tartar Sauce

Once you learn how to make tartar sauce, you'll never buy it at the store again! This lightened-up version is super creamy, tangy, and delicious.

cooking component

When I told Jack I was working on a homemade tartar sauce recipe, he replied, “Oh, are you using cream of tartar?” I immediately burst out laughing, but I really can’t blame him for his mistake. I mean, tartar sauce is creamy. It kind of makes sense, right? In reality, the two have nothing to do with one another. Cream of tartar is a powdery baking ingredient that you’d find in sweets like cookies or meringues. Tartar sauce, on the other hand, is super savory, rich, and tangy. It’s typically served with seafood, but trust me – this delicious condiment…

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Tomato Basil Soup

Cozy up with a steaming bowl of homemade tomato basil soup! Made with fresh tomatoes and basil, this recipe is easy, nourishing, and delicious.

summer / soups

During the transition from summer to fall, there’s nothing I crave more than this tomato basil soup recipe. Apples and squash are starting to pop up at the farmers market, but you can still find ruby red tomatoes and bunches of basil mixed in among them. I’ll be eating these summer veggies for as long as they’re at the market, even as the temperature starts dropping and I find myself hungry for warming bowls of soup instead of salads. So at this time of year, I start making this tomato basil soup. I roast a market haul of fresh tomatoes…

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Gluten Free Banana Bread

This gluten free banana bread recipe is moist, tender, and filled with spiced banana flavor. It's everything banana bread should be, gluten-free or not!

I’ve gotten so many requests for a gluten free banana bread recipe over the years, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this one with you! Tasting this gluten free banana bread, you’d never guess that it wasn’t made with wheat flour. It’s moist, tender, and filled with spiced banana flavor. In fact, if I did a side-by-side comparison with my regular Healthy Banana Bread, I wouldn’t be able to choose a favorite! We’re getting some sunshine in Chicago today, but for the last week, it’s been cool and rainy. I love starting gray, chilly mornings like these with a thick…

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Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

Try this cast iron pizza recipe once, and you'll never make pizza any other way! Thanks to the hot skillet, the crust is perfectly golden brown and crisp.

dinner

I may not be excited about summer winding down, but I am excited that it’s finally cool enough to crank up the oven and make cast iron skillet pizza! Jack and I have made regular homemade pizza for years, but this spring, this cast iron pizza recipe took our pizza game to a whole new level. It’s the closest you’ll ever come to making restaurant-style pizza without a fancy oven or pizza stone. Thanks to the hot skillet, the crust becomes crisp and browned on the outside, while the thick edges stay nice and chewy in the middle. We made…

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Austin-Style Migas

When I miss Austin, I make this migas recipe for breakfast. Made with a handful of basic ingredients, it's fun, flavorful, and easy to make!

breakfast

Looking back now, I can’t believe that there was a time when I hadn’t heard of migas. Growing up in the Midwest, I ate muffins for breakfast every morning. When I went to college, I started each day with a bowl of oatmeal. If you asked me where to find great migas, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. But in Austin, migas are everywhere. Go out to brunch, and they’ll be on the menu. Stop at a taco truck in the morning, and everyone there will be getting migas breakfast tacos. It didn’t take me long to…

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31 Best Grill Recipes

Celebrate summer with these easy grill recipes! With grilling ideas for starters, sides, main dishes, and more, we've got something for everyone.

It seems like it was just yesterday when Jack and I made our first grill recipes of the summer. Where does the time go? Labor Day might mark the unofficial end of grilling season, but if you’re anything like us, you’ll still grill as much as possible for the next few weeks. It’ll stay warm for another month, right? Right? No matter what, we’re looking forward to making a bunch of grill recipes this weekend, and I hope that you are too. In case you’re in need of some new grilling ideas, I’m sharing over 30 of my best grill…

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Homemade Salsa

Break out the tortilla chips! This homemade salsa recipe is zesty, fresh, and super easy to make. Enjoy it as a dip, or pile it onto tacos, nachos, and more.

appetizers / cooking basics

If I learned one thing from living in Austin, it’s that homemade salsa is infinitely better than any kind you can find in a jar. I loved sampling salsas at restaurants and taco trucks. Each one was different – some were made with roasted ingredients, others got a smoky, spicy kick from dried chiles, and still others were nice and fresh. This variety inspired me to start experimenting with making homemade salsa. I might pull out dried chiles in the winter, when good tomatoes are hard to find, or roast tomatillos if I see them at the farmers market. But…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.