Jessica’s Pistachio Oat Squares

6-ingredient Pistachio Oat Squares are a lightly sweet healthy snack, breakfast, or dessert! Easy to make, vegan, and gluten free.

I’m excited to share this recipe today – these Pistachio Oat Squares are SO delicious! It’s spring which means that the best cookbooks are coming out now. You know the ones – they’re brimming with fresh healthy, veggie-ful recipes. This recipe is from Jessica Murnane’s book One Part Plant. If you’re not familiar with my blog pal Jessica, you should go listen to her podcast – she’s hosted all of your favorite food bloggers (including yours truly!) and other inspiring folks who are part of the plant-forward food community. Her mission is simple – to inspire people to eat one plant-based meal a…

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Sweet Sesame Tahini Noodles

Sweet Sesame Tahini Noodles are a great vegetarian weeknight dinner! Made with tahini, lime, almond butter, ginger, and plenty of veggies.

I have more than a few soba noodle recipes on this site, but I’ve decided that THIS recipe is my new favorite. These noodles are rich, tangy, creamy, sweet and a little spicy, with loads of kale mixed in – I love meals like this for weeknight dinners. The formula is simple: sauce + noodles + seasonal vegetables. Check, check, and check. The sauce can be made in advance and the rest can be assembled fairly quickly. First, let’s talk about this sauce because it’s the main component of this recipe. It’s tangy, nutty, salty, and lightly sweet. It’s sweetened with Truvia Nectar,…

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Citrus Cabbage Salad

This napa cabbage salad is a stunning showcase for colorful winter produce. Sweet & tangy with lots of veggie crunch, it's an entertaining showstopper.

There’s exactly one thing I love about winter – the colorful produce! I know, I know, the winter is not so bad here in Austin, but I feel for those of you up north, because I used to be one of you. I live for warm sunny days, so I made this cabbage salad of bright winter produce with you in mind – to send some love – and lemons… and well, also some clementines. What’s in this Cabbage Salad Recipe? This recipe includes two major categories of ingredients. You start with a base of crispy veggies: Cabbage –  Tender napa cabbage or savoy…

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Ginger Miso Dressing

I love to keep this 6-ingredient citrus miso dressing on hand to brighten up simple veggie dishes. It's great on slaws, salads, and even DIY noodle bowls!

There’s nothing better than having a vibrant salad dressing on hand in the fridge during a busy work week. When you’re strapped for time, a yummy sauce can make even the simplest meal feel satisfying. Lately, whipping up this citrus miso dressing has been my go-to. It’s a bright, tangy combination of clementine, lemon, miso, garlic, and ginger. In addition to tasting delicious, all of these ingredients have detoxifying properties – so consider this dressing a little health kick too! How to Use Miso Dressing Once you make this miso salad dressing, you’ll use it on everything. Not sure where to start? Try…

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Raspberry Vegan Cheesecake

A tart raspberry layer, a creamy "cheesecake" layer, and a gluten-free walnut crust make this easy vegan cheesecake recipe tangy, rich & delicious.

Happy early Valentine’s day… or Galentines Day… or whatever holiday you like to celebrate with heart-shaped treats and little paper cards. As I’ve written about many times before, Jack and I have this Chocolate Molten Cake Valentine’s tradition. This year I switched things up a bit and made this decadent yet mostly raw raspberry vegan cheesecake. How cute are those layers!? Vegan Cheesecake Recipe Variations I have two versions below – one version uses raw cashews for the white “cheesecake” layer and the other version uses vegan cream cheese. I wanted to offer these two options because one requires a fancy…

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Lemon Shortbread Cookies

These lemon shortbread cookies are a fan favorite, and once you try them, you'll see why! They're tender, buttery, and filled with bright lemon flavor.

When life hands you lemons, make lemon shortbread cookies! When we first planted our lemon tree, I had this romantic idea that I’d be able to pick fresh lemons all year round. Obviously, I’m not good with plants, or I would have known that the famous saying is literally true. You get lemons once a year, and you get a lot of them. Needless to say, life has been lemony lately in many ways, but today it’s all about these lovely lemon shortbread cookies. Lemon Shortbread Cookies Ingredients When I was testing this recipe, I made a ton of lemon…

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Creamy Polenta Recipe with Roasted Beets

Top creamy polenta with lemony raw & roasted beets, and you have a healthy, comforting, delicious dinner. Great for date nights!

We celebrated Valentine’s day early this year with this creamy polenta recipe. We actually celebrate most holidays early around here… at least food-wise. Christmas cookies in October, Thanksgiving food in late August and so on.  I’m not sure what we’re doing for “real” Valentine’s yet – but once I got this recipe just right and the pictures were done, Jack and I sat down to a romantic (albeit reheated) meal for two. The only caveat – Jack doesn’t like beets. He’s not a picky eater but beets are on his short list of foods he usually won’t touch. I originally tried…

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Sustenance Sweet Potato Soup

This hearty sweet potato soup is exactly what you need to power through the winter. With a scoop of almond butter for richness, it's vegan & gluten-free.

Crazy weather we’ve been having here lately… one day we’re eating a sunny lunch on a patio and the next five nights we’re curled up at home trying to stay warm during torrential downpours. I SO wish I was one of those people who finds rainstorms to be cozy and calming, but I’m quite the opposite. Storms may get me a little edgy and nervous, but what does calm me down is making a stew like this one. This recipe comes from my friend Tess (a.k.a. The Blender Girl)’s new cookbook The Perfect Blend. This stew is everything you want on a cold January night…

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Buckwheat, Apple, Cranberry Avocado Salad

A healthy, hearty, lemon-ey salad from the cookbook Blissful Basil. Vegan and gluten free.

Oh hi – long time no post. Last week, I was a bit sick and down for the count, to say the least. This week, I’m on a healing bender. I have my blender working overtime with crazy green smoothies made with ginger, turmeric and every herb that I’ve read about that contains immune-building qualities. I’m trying to eat lighter and brighter as well because I really do believe that plants can heal. Which brings me to this recipe from Blissful Basil, a cookbook that couldn’t have arrived at a better time. If you don’t follow Ashley’s blog of the same name, you…

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Winter Spiced Moscow Mule

A fun and festive holiday spin on a Moscow Mule - perfect for New Years Eve! This healthier version uses ginger kombucha instead of ginger beer.

Hello from Holiday Vacation-land… aka, my parents house where Jack and I have been spending the week. We flew in just in time to have a white Christmas before the snow melted. Other than spending time with family, we’ve been spending time in the house because we’re really not winter people. I binge-watched Shirley Temple movies; Jack fixed my parents computer. We’ve been eating my mom’s Christmas cookies, and I’ve been working on a few new recipes – spending time in front of the stove is the best way to stay warm around here! All in all, it’s been a much-needed…

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Carrot Soup + our Amazon Echo recipe skill

Check out our new Love & Lemons Amazon Echo Recipe skill where you can search and cook recipes while Alexa reads the ingredients and instructions OUT LOUD. It's really handy because it'll keep your phone screen from getting messy while you're trying to cook!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! Christmas came a little early for us – a few months ago “Santa Amazon” sent us an Amazon Echo and my techy husband Jack could not have been more excited. While he was playing around with its features, he decided that it would be neat if it could read our recipes aloud. So he got to work and here it is: a Love & Lemons skill where you can search and cook our recipes while Alexa reads the ingredients and instructions OUT LOUD. It’s really handy because it’ll keep your phone screen from getting messy while…

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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.