Chipotle Apple Sweet Potato Salad

Chipotle Apple Sweet Potato Salad - an easy fall favorite. This sweet & spicy salad is SO filling with apples, corn, roasted tomatoes, and chipotle.

This is my new favorite salad… and I don’t throw words like “favorite” or “best ever” around lightly. You may have noticed that I love roasted sweet potatoes in just about any salad (as evident here, here, and here) but this combination – with roasted tomatoes, roasted apples, corn, and a tangy/smoky chipotle dressing – was so good that I made it for dinner two nights in a row. The first night, I made this as a lazy-girl dinner. Jack was out of town so for an easy “by myself” dinner I decided to roast the things (pictured above) that had just arrived in my Farmhouse Delivery…

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Summer Panzanella with Squash

Though pattypan squash is my top choice, you can use any summer squash you have on hand to make this bright, bold late summer panzanella.

Hold your pumpkin bread – I have one last super summery recipe before this season really ends. You can use any summer squash you like here (zucchini or yellow squash are both great), but I found pattypan squash at the farmers market and had to try it! I considered making a totally different pattypan squash recipe by stuffing and baking it, but I didn’t want to turn the oven on. Then I noticed that I had some really stale bread, so this hearty, delicious pattypan squash panzanella was an obvious choice. I’m a HUGE fan of panzanellas, or Italian bread salads (see…

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Healthy Vegetarian Grilling Recipes

Healthy vegan and vegetarian summer grilling ideas! Easy marinated veggie skewers, spicy grilled corn and chunky guacamole. Perfect for a memorial day or 4th of July cookout!

Happy holiday weekend! If you’re hosting a cookout this Labor Day weekend, here are a few simple (yet super delicious!) veggie recipe ideas. And if you’re attending a cookout this weekend – well, it’s always good to be a bringer especially if you’re the one with the special food requirements. (Who me?) Ok, let’s get started – first we’re going to load up some skewers. (Actually, first, we’re going to make some margaritas). Once you have a drink in hand, get started by marinating the mushrooms. My secret not-so-secret-anymore marinade is so easy –  olive oil, balsamic, soy sauce and black pepper. The mushrooms become deeply browned and…

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Orzo & Feta Stuffed Peppers

These vegetarian stuffed peppers are one of our favorite summer dinners! Filled with an herbed orzo & kale salad, they're light, healthy & easy to make.

Stuffed peppers are one of my go-to summer dinners. In fact, they’re so easy that when I posted this picture on Instagram last week, I got tons of emails asking for the fully measured recipe. Ask and you shall receive, so here it is: my current favorite recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers. But don’t let the measurements fool you – feel free to eyeball your ingredients if you don’t feel like breaking out the measuring cups. This vegetarian stuffed peppers recipe is simple and customizable! If you don’t have orzo, use couscous. Gluten-free? Millet or quinoa would also work well in place of the…

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Quinoa Veggie Wrap

A veggie wrap is the epitome of flavor + convenience. These pesto & quinoa salad-stuffed veggie wraps are bright, fresh & perfect for taking on the go.

In my opinion, the world cannot have too many quinoa salads. Don’t get me wrong, I love the other grains too – farro, millet, and wheatberries are all lovely – but my real go-to grain is quinoa. I love to make a big batch and keep it on hand, as it’s the perfect catch-all for the vegetables, nuts, and cheeses that I usually have around. Of course, since this salad was destined for a picnic without any silverware, I decided to have my cake (salad?) and eat it too by stuffing it in a veggie wrap. My Veggie Wrap Filling The hearty, fresh…

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Heirloom Tomato & Mango Pico

I love pico and I love mango salsa, so I’m not sure why it took so long to come up with the delicious idea to combine the two. This is probably the prettiest salsa I’ve ever made, but I also love the flavor and texture variety that each tomato brings to the table bowl. Cherry tomatoes are sweet, green tomatoes are more tart and firm. I always find myself adding a pinch of sugar to my tomato salsa for balance, but that’s not necessary this time because of the sweet juicy mango. Make a big batch, it’ll keep in your fridge for 3-4 days…

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Portobello Mushroom Tacos

Make these portobello mushroom tacos for an easy, flavorful dinner! Creamy vegan jalapeño sauce spices up the tangy, meaty mushroom filling.

These may be portobello mushroom tacos, but secretly, they’re all about the sauce. It’s a vegan riff on ranch dressing made with cashews, roasted jalapeños, and cucumber, and it’s so good that I have a hard time not eating it all with a spoon! However, resisting it long enough to top it onto these mushroom tacos is totally worth the wait. Cool, creamy, spicy, and bright, it perfectly accents the tangy, meaty grilled mushrooms and fresh garnishes in this recipe. The combination is really terrific – if you try these mushroom tacos once, they’ll have a permanent place in your…

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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…

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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…

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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.…

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Summer Squash Vegetable Pizza

Our vacation is coming to a close and while we’ve eaten well in Italy, we’ve eaten just a little too well. I’m feeling pretty ready to go home and get back to my many-vegetable way of eating. But before we go to salad town, I thought I’d share this pile-of-vegetable pizza recipe that I made before we left. Usually my opinion about pizza is “less is more,” but I had a fridge to clean out. The crust here is made with part white whole wheat flour, but if you can use all whole wheat or all all-purpose flour if you prefer. Or skip the…

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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.