Pumpkin Hummus Quesadillas

Spiced pumpkin hummus is a delicious vegan filling in these fall quesadillas! Load them with guacamole, greens & if not vegan, cheese! Weeknight-friendly.

Here’s my question for all of you pumpkin lovers out there – what do you do with your leftover pumpkin puree? So many recipes (including my own) call for 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree. Whether I open a can or roast a whole pumpkin, I’m always left with leftover mash. It calls at me from the fridge saying “how about pumpkin cookies?” or “let’s make muffins.” But after consuming too many pancakes for the making of last week’s post, I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet. So I got this idea for pumpkin hummus… and I thought it would be great smushed in between tortillas with…

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Harissa Spiced Fall Veggie Pitas

The simplest healthy weeknight dinner for fall! Filled with spiced roasted sweet potatoes & zucchini, avocado, and a delicious harissa yogurt sauce.

I make a lot of impromptu tacos. We not only have taco Tuesdays around here, but sometimes taco Wednesdays and/or taco Thursdays. When I’m looking for something quick I usually reach for tortillas, no matter what day of the week it might be. I keep them in the freezer, so they’re always ready. Except this particular night – no tortillas, but I had some sprouted pitas. This wasn’t originally going to be a post, but these turned out so pretty and delicious. And who doesn’t need a quick dinner idea? I roasted chopped sweet potatoes and zucchini and tossed them with dried harissa…

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Butternut Squash Pasta with Walnuts & Sage

I make this butternut squash pasta recipe when I'm craving fall comfort food. It's so easy, and the sage & squash fill it with cozy autumn flavor.

Butternut squash soup may be my favorite fall comfort food, but this butternut squash pasta is now a close second. It’s a pretty easy throw-together pasta made from a classic fall flavor combo: butternut squash, sage, and walnuts. The sweet, caramelized squash plays perfectly off the earthy sage and nutty walnuts, and a little butter and pecorino add the perfect amount of richness. This is one we’ll have on repeat all season long. To make it, simply roast the squash until it’s tender and caramelized. Then, sauté the shallot, sage, walnuts, chickpeas, cooked butternut squash, and garlic until the chickpeas and squash…

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Butternut Squash Burrito Bowls

Butternut squash burrito bowls are healthy, easy vegetarian dinner! Filled with black beans, pico de gallo, kale & avocado, they're hearty & delicious.

Sometimes I feel like I have a never-ending stream of ideas. One idea leads to the next and a few tangents later they multiply into lists full of recipe possibilities. Other times, I’m completely blank. This is the part where I usually talk about how I was romantically re-inspired after a stroll through the farmers market. But not this time. This weekend, we strolled and we market-ed. Still blank. Then, this idea popped into my head at Chipotle, of all places. It was a rare day that we were even at Chipotle, (we usually favor our local Freebirds). Either way, I’m a sucker for a burrito bowl and I…

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Roasted Chickpea Ratatouille

Everyone loves a one-pot meal. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the one-pan meal. Arrange everything onto a baking sheet, have a glass of wine, and let the oven do the work. Start with a good assortment of late summer veggies. (p.s. how cute are those little round squashes?). Chop your eggplant, squash and tomatoes so they’re roughly the same size (about 1-inch pieces). Pile everything onto a baking sheet – this time, it’s ok if things are little crowded. Normally, you’d want more space between your vegetables but you want your ratatouille to be a little juicy, so this…

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Butternut Squash & Tart Cherry Quinoa

My #1 favorite healthy & hearty fall salad with butternut squash, tart cherries and a savory apple cider sage dressing. Gluten free.

My mom loves to clip articles. Newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, stories, recipes – sometimes they come in the mail, sometimes she saves them up for a visit. A couple of years ago she brought me a recipe for a couscous salad clipped from Edible Michiana that was similar to this one. We made it, loved it… then later I lost it. But I could never get this sweet & savory flavor combo out of my mind so I’ve been making versions of it ever since. The original recipe used couscous but I used quinoa here because it’s the grain I usually have on hand. I…

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Grilled Eggplant & Pesto Sandwiches

You probably don’t need a recipe to make a sandwich but I couldn’t help but share this big juicy stack of late-summer grilled veggies. I rarely make sandwiches these days, (mostly because I live in the town of tacos)… but these simply grilled eggplant slices were just begging to be put between bread and slathered with arugula-walnut pesto. I piled on some roasted peppers and fresh mozzarella. Sub avocado for the cheese if you’re vegan. Then get out the napkins because things are gonna get messy! You can assemble your sandwich like I did, or put the ingredients on a platter so everyone…

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Soba Noodles with Shishitos & Avocado

People like to ask me “what’s your favorite recipe?” and I never have an answer. My “favorite” is often what’s most recent and/or what’s coming up next… But this one combines two definite favorites – blistered shishito peppers (which I usually make as an appetizer), and one of my go-to simple soba noodle recipes. Because my “favorites” are almost always the simple things. I brought home a bunch of shishito peppers from the farmers market, but the base of this recipe is so versatile – feel free to sub in a star vegetable of your choice. The noodles get tossed in a light sesame-soy…

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Portobello Mushroom Dogs

Skip the packaged veggie dogs at your next cookout - grill these tangy marinated portobello mushrooms instead! They're easy, healthy & flavorful.

We’re all familiar with the ubiquitous portobello burger, so I’ll be honest: I originally planned to serve these mushrooms in hot dog buns for the novelty of it. For my money, though, portobellos really work better in dog form than in burger-form. They get more fully covered in the tangy, savory marinade, and (because they’re thinner strips) they cook a lot more quickly and more evenly. Portobello Veggie Dog Recipe Ingredients Growing up around Chicago, hot dogs were never taken lightly. A good Chicago dog has a myriad of components, including mustard, onions, a whole pickle, peppers, and more. This…

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Crispy Zucchini Casserole

Summer side dishes don't get better than this zucchini casserole recipe! A crispy, nutty panko topping covers a saucy layer of pesto and zucchini.

If you have a mountain of zucchini or yellow squash in your fridge, this zucchini casserole recipe is just the thing for you! In fact, you should try this recipe even if you don’t have any summer squash on hand. The crispy, nutty Parmesan and panko topping contrasts perfectly with the saucy zucchini, pesto, and marinara underneath. It’s super simple to put together, and it can pass as a side dish or a meal on its own. Make this zucchini casserole recipe once, and you’ll have it on repeat all summer long. Zucchini Casserole Recipe Ingredients Here’s what you’ll need…

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Spicy Sweet Potato Avocado Tostadas

There are no cool breezes in the air, but fall feelings are starting to happen in Austin by way of our local produce selection. This recipe was created from as many things from my Farmhouse Delivery (a local CSA-like farm share) box that I could fit into one meal. I received a sweet potato the size of my small dog Annie, and a bunch of tiny grape tomatoes – so I thought hearty tostadas with fresh, spicy salsa would be fitting for an in-between seasonal dinner. The okra here isn’t totally necessary but I had tons to use up so in it went. Feel free to…

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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.