Butternut Squash Soup

Served piping hot with a hunk of crusty bread, this creamy, nourishing butternut squash soup recipe is fall comfort food at its best.

My favorite fall tradition is making butternut squash soup on Sunday afternoons. On a brisk day, there’s nothing more soothing than chopping and simmering vegetables over a warm stove. As you cook, the kitchen fills with the cozy scent of sage, rosemary, and butternut squash, and when you’re finished, steaming bowls of butternut squash soup (that will last all week!) reward you for your work. In the past, my go-to butternut squash soup recipe has included coconut milk and curry spices, but this fall, I found myself craving one that was a bit more traditional. When I say traditional, I…

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Tahini Sauce

Creamy, nutty, and bright, this easy tahini sauce will become a staple in your kitchen. Drizzle it over falafel, grain bowls, salads, and more!

vegetarian / condiment

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I love tahini. In the past, I’ve posted tahini cookies, salad dressings, oatmeal, and even ice cream, but today, I’m finally sharing my favorite 5-ingredient lemon tahini sauce recipe. This tahini sauce is incredibly versatile, as it shines on salads, sandwiches, falafel, bowls, and more! My basic version is similar to what you’d find at any Middle Eastern falafel or shawarma restaurant, but I’m also including three delicious variations here. Honestly, I can’t choose a favorite. They all pack a punch of vivid color and bold flavor, and making…

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White Bean Dip

You only need 4 ingredients and 5 minutes to make this creamy white bean dip! Served with pita chips and veggies, it's a delicious snack or appetizer.

If you have cannellini beans, olive oil, and a lemon in your kitchen, you’re well on your way to making this white bean dip recipe. My advice? Go for it! It comes together in seconds in the bowl of a food processor, and it’s absolutely delicious. Lemon juice and zest fill it with bright flavor, olive oil adds richness, and the white beans blend into smooth and creamy perfection. Once you have it on hand, you’ll find yourself scooping it up with carrot sticks and pita chips, slathering it onto sandwiches, dolloping it onto bowls, or (like me) eating it…

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Charred Cherry Tomatoes

Cumin seeds add a surprising spiced note to this easy blistered cherry tomatoes recipe. Serve it as a summer appetizer with lots of crusty bread!

summer / appetizers

Over the last two years, Jack and I have found that cherry tomatoes are surprisingly easy to grow. We haven’t had success with everything we’ve tried raising (this year mint has been especially tricky), but our cherry tomato plants are going pretty well. We started them from transplants, and now they’re thriving in big pots ringed in by tomato cages. As each plant grows, it produces bright yellow, bite-sized summer treats (see our little homegrown yellow variety of cherry tomatoes in this post)! As summer winds down, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’ll miss our little back deck…

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Corn Salsa

Made with fresh veggies, cilantro, and lime, this easy corn salsa recipe is zesty, sweet, and spicy. Enjoy it with chips or on tacos, burritos, and more!

Chipotle’s corn salsa can’t compete with this homemade version! Starring fresh corn and other crisp veggies, it’s tangy, sweet, and spicy. I can’t get enough of it! I pile it on salads, burrito bowls, tacos, and more and serve it as a summer appetizer with tortilla chips. Luckily, this corn salsa recipe is easy to make. You don’t have to do any real cooking. Simply dice up the veggies, chop the corn kernels off the cob, and stir everything together. If you’re doing the math, that means that I use raw corn in this salsa. Readers often ask me about why…

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Roasted Tomatoes

Want to punch up the flavor in your next pizza or pasta? Try adding roasted tomatoes! They're deliciously chewy & tart with an irresistible umami flavor.

summer / vegetarian

Have you ever tried roasted tomatoes? If you haven’t, I’m here to tell you that you have to make this roasted tomato recipe before summer ends. While I love using juicy fresh tomatoes in recipes like pico de gallo, Caprese salad, and panzanella, roasted tomatoes transform into something totally different. As they roast, they lose moisture, and their flavor intensifies. They come out of the oven chewy & tart, with a super-concentrated, intense umami flavor. These little guys are totally irresistible! Make sure you roast a big batch – you’ll find endless ways to use them. Around here, we can’t get…

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Classic Caprese Salad

Grab a ball of fresh mozzarella, a handful of basil, and the best tomatoes you can find, and make this Caprese salad recipe before summer slips away!

summer / salads

I’ve posted a few Caprese salad recipes over the years. If you look through the recipe index, you’ll find one with strawberries, one with plums, one with a drizzle of mint pesto, and even cute little Caprese skewers with peaches! What you won’t find, though, is this: a classic Caprese salad with soft, creamy fresh mozzarella, juicy seasonal tomatoes, and a generous amount of basil leaves. It’s a salad that’s been near and dear to my heart ever since we visited the island of Capri, years ago, just after Jack proposed. It was a magical trip where we ate Caprese salads…

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Grilled Zucchini with Lemon Yogurt, Feta & Mint

This simple grilled zucchini recipe is an essential summer side dish! I serve the veggies over a bright, lemony yogurt with a shower of feta & mint on top.

vegetarian / side dishes

If your fridge is stuffed with zucchini but it’s too hot to make zucchini bread, crispy baked summer squash, or stuffed zucchini boats, what should you cook? Grilled zucchini, of course! A lot of the time, I grill zucchini along with a mix of other rainbow veggies, but lately, we’ve had so much of it on hand that I’ve been grilling it up on its own. Luckily for us, it’s a delicious summer side dish. While a lot of grilled zucchini recipes call for slicing the squash into thin slabs, I like to cut it into wedges. This way, the…

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Burrata with Heirloom Tomatoes

If you've never had burrata, you have to try this easy recipe! The rich cheese pairs perfectly with fresh tomatoes, peaches & a vibrant lemon-thyme oil.

summer / appetizers

Over the years, I’ve written a lot about how the best summer recipes are simple ones (see here, here, or here). Because summer fruits, veggies, and herbs are such powerhouse ingredients, it only takes a little something extra – maybe a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt – to make an insanely delicious dish. Lately, I’ve seen burrata popping up all over restaurant menus in Chicago. Because the creamy cheese is such a simple, rich accent for summer produce, I couldn’t resist making a burrata recipe of my own. The final result is one of our new favorites…

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Grilled Vegetables

Learn how to make the best grilled vegetables! Serve them as a side dish at your next cookout, or top them with a yummy sauce and call them dinner.

summer / vegetarian

Once July rolls around, we make this grilled vegetables recipe just about every week. It’s perfect for mid-late summer, when all sorts of veggies are coming into season, and it’s too hot to turn on the oven. In my opinion, peppers, summer squash, onions, mushrooms, and corn are the best vegetables to grill. Cut into similar-sized pieces and skewered, they all cook at about the same rate. And when you slide them off the skewer, you get a mouthwatering mix of textures and flavors – the mushrooms are meaty, the corn is crisp, the squash is soft, and the peppers…

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Tzatziki

This fresh tzatziki recipe will liven up any summer meal! Rich, creamy & full of fresh herbs, it's delicious on pita, grilled veggies, sandwiches, and more!

Break out the pita, it’s tzatziki time! On Monday, I posted my favorite Greek salad, and now I’m following it up with another Greek essential: this cool, refreshing cucumber tzatziki sauce. One of the best parts of summer is that dinner suddenly becomes easy. My favorite ingredients – fresh fruits and veggies – are at their peak. Tomatoes are sweeter and juicier, berries are plumper, peppers are snappier, and our backyard herbs are at their most potent. Sometimes, when I want to put these peak-season veggies front and center, making dinner just means prepping a sauce to dress them up. This tzatziki…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.