Tamago Kake Gohan

This Japanese rice bowl is the perfect healthy breakfast or dinner! Piping hot brown rice cooks an egg, making a creamy, risotto-like texture.

Jack and I ate tamago kake gohan (or tamago gohan, for short) over and over again during our trips to Japan. Its name translates to “egg rice,” and that’s basically what it is – a raw egg mixed into piping hot rice. Don’t be scared – the hot rice cooks the egg as you stir it in. The result is Japanese comfort food at its best – the most creamy, delicious bowl of rice you’ve ever had. It’s almost like risotto, but without so much stirring! It’s traditional to top tamago kake gohan with furikake and Japanese pickles… but of…

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Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This refreshing strawberry banana smoothie recipe is the perfect healthy breakfast! It's lightly sweet, a little creamy, and totally satisfying.

“I walked outside and felt like I was swimming,” is what Jack said the other day as I picked him up from the airport, fresh off a flight from LA. It’s humid here, to say the least, and the air is thick. It’s the kind of heat that sort of takes your breath away as soon as you walk out the door. But I’m not complaining, it always takes just a few weeks for the body to acclimate to our summer temps. Hydration is the key. Eight glasses of water (don’t know who recommended that) is just not enough, so I’ve…

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How to Make a Frittata

Learn how to make a frittata with this simple guide + 5 recipe variations! Perfect for any meal from brunch to dinner, they're easy and delicious.

A frittata is my #1 favorite brunch item to make at home. It’s easy and versatile, so I thought with Easter coming up this weekend, you may like a frittata recipe idea… or five! I usually make my frittatas with whatever vegetables I have on hand, which means that I’ve tried a whole bunch of various combinations over the years. Below are a few of my favorites along with some tips. First things first though, you may be asking… what is a frittata? Some call a frittata a crustless quiche (although, I call a quiche a crust-full frittata). It’s an…

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Matcha Baked Doughnuts

These doughnuts are a fun naturally green treat for St. Paddy's Day! They're both baked and decorated with matcha green tea.

With St. Paddy’s day coming up this weekend, I got in the mood to make green-colored treats…. and there’s no better way to naturally color things green than with matcha! Last year, I made zucchini cake with matcha frosting, and this year I thought it would be fun to make (and eat) doughnuts! If you’re new to matcha – it’s a powder made from Japanese green tea leaves. Because the whole leaf is ground (vs. steeping the tea leaves), matcha is packed with antioxidants. Which almost makes these doughnuts count as a health treat 🙂 You can mix matcha with hot…

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Vegan Banana Pancakes

If you like banana bread, then you'll love these vegan banana pancakes! They're lightly sweet, thick, fluffy, and filled with yummy banana flavor.

This stack of vegan banana pancakes pretty much sums up my ideal Saturday morning. Except, well, I don’t eat 7 pancakes on my individual plate, but Jack would if I put them in front of him. Portion control aside, if you have ripe bananas hanging around, give these vegan banana pancakes a try! They’re easy to make in one bowl, and they’re thick, fluffy, and full of yummy banana flavor. I think you’re going to love them! Vegan Banana Pancakes Ingredients These vegan banana pancakes aren’t just delicious – they’re good for you, too! Here’s what’s in them: Bananas, of…

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Vegan Lemon Muffins

These Vegan Lemon Muffins are great to bake for a weekend breakfast. Freeze extras for busy mornings or quick snacks!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fantastic celebration. Us? Well, we had a nice dinner and then slept through the new year for (I think) the second year in a row. The thing is – I’ve become a morning person. It wasn’t intentional – it just happened. On weekdays, I find that I get my best work done first thing in the morning. On weekends and holidays, I like to get up, pour coffee, and bake something for breakfast. So here are some yummy lemon muffins that I’ve been baking lately! This post is in partnership with…

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Pumpkin French Toast

This pumpkin French toast is the perfect fall breakfast! Cinnamon fills it with warm, spiced flavor, and a drizzle of maple syrup takes it over the top.

This pumpkin French toast is the perfect fall breakfast! It’s crisp and golden brown on the outside, moist and tender in the middle, and packed with pumpkin flavor the whole way through. It’s super easy to make, so you could whip it up on a weekday, but I especially love it on the weekends, when I can sit back, relax, and savor it. Just like it does in baking recipes, pumpkin puree makes a great egg replacer in this recipe, creating a rich, custard-like mixture to coat the thick slices of bread. As a result, this pumpkin French toast is…

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Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

What's better than vegan pumpkin pancakes on a cool fall morning? A drizzle of maple syrup highlights their delicious spiced flavor.

These vegan pumpkin pancakes are just one of the many pumpkin recipes I’ve been making lately… mostly because when you open a can of pumpkin (or make your own pumpkin puree), there’s always some left over. I think that’s the true reason why people are so pumpkin-crazy in the fall. If you start with vegan pumpkin pancakes, you might as well go ahead and make pumpkin bars… and then, well, maybe some pumpkin cookies. After all, you have to use it up! (She says while eating said cookie.) Anyway, I’ve had so many requests for vegan pumpkin pancakes, and this recipe…

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Breakfast Oat Bowls

These easy oat bowls are a delicious, healthy make-ahead breakfast. Customize them with toppings like nuts, seeds, nut butter, or fresh fruit!

These easy oat bowls are the perfect breakfast if you love eating oatmeal in the morning but don’t have time to cook before you head out the door. The base consists of whole rolled oats soaked in almond milk overnight with a dash of maple syrup. In the morning, the oats are soft, sweet, and lightly creamy, and they have a porridge-like consistency that’s satisfying to eat. Try one of the four variations as written below, or dress up the base recipe with whatever toppings you like! You can’t go wrong with fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, nut butter, homemade granola,…

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Avocado Tomatillo Breakfast Tacos

These green breakfast tacos are my go-to weekday breakfast. Scrambled eggs are tucked into tortillas with avocado, spinach & tomatillo salsa.

I’ve made these breakfast tacos so many times that it would be impossible to count. Originally inspired by the El Popeye, one of my favorite breakfast tacos in Austin, these have now become part of my regular breakfast routine because they’re such a tasty way to eat vegetables first thing in the morning. They’re filled with eggs, sautéed spinach, avocado, and very generous scoops of fresh tomatillo salsa.  If you missed Monday and Wednesday’s posts, this is Breakfast Taco Week here on the blog! Go read the first installments here and here if you want to learn to make various types of…

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Shiitake “Bacon” & Egg Breakfast Tacos

You won't miss the meat here! Shiitake bacon adds rich umami flavor to these simple breakfast tacos topped with avocado & fresh pico.

Welcome to part 2 of Meal Prep Breakfast Taco week! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go check out Monday’s post and read about how we’re prepping once to make 3 different breakfast tacos throughout the week. If you’re not a tacos-for-breakfast person, you can make these for lunch or dinner just the same. Me? I go to bed dreaming of tortillas… So taco #2 is… Shiitake Bacon & Egg Tacos! Shiitake “Bacon” is this magical thing where you toss sliced shiitake mushrooms with olive oil and tamari, then you bake them until they’re shriveled and crisp around…

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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.