Sesame Soba Noodles

Never cooked soba noodles? Follow the tips in this post to make a foolproof soba noodle salad that's loaded with veggies and great for weekday lunches!

Happy Monday! If you’re like me and you had a weekend full french toast, cake, and pancakes, then you’ve come to the right place! Today I have a fresh, delicious bowl of soba noodles to help start the week off in a healthy direction. The best thing about this bowl is that it’s super simple to make, yet has great zippy flavor. There’s a light sesame-ginger dressing that perfectly coats the soba noodles. On top of that, I chose to mix in a group of vibrant spring veggies, but keep reading for a few other suggestions to customize your noodle…

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Broccoli Pesto Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salad is my ideal lunch! It's fresh & filling, topped with blanched broccoli, lemony pesto, crispy chickpeas, crunchy veggies & avocado.

spring / vegan / gluten free

When you don’t know what to make for lunch or dinner, what do you usually end up making? My go-to is the almighty quinoa salad! I usually have a batch of quinoa on hand in my fridge or freezer (note: quinoa freezes exceptionally well), which makes salads like this easy to put together at the last minute. Quinoa salads are a versatile way to show off the seasons, and this one is my little tribute to spring. For this recipe, I lightly blanched some beautiful broccolini and tossed my quinoa with kale, fresh mint, roasted chickpeas, avocado, and my favorite part – crisp,…

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How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is such a fun, underrated vegetable! Here is my favorite way to cook it, along with a few tips and recipes.

fall / winter / how-to

I get so many questions about how to cook spaghetti squash, so I thought I’d share my go-to method for roasting it, a few tips, and a couple of my favorite spaghetti squash recipes. How to Cook Spaghetti Squash First thing’s first: use a sharp knife to cut it in half lengthwise. After you slice the squash in half, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Next, drizzle the insides lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I find that adding too much oil and too much salt at this stage makes the squash a bit…

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Maki Sushi Recipe

Fun & fresh maki sushi rolls made with brown rice, roasted shiitakes, cabbage, cucumber, avocado, and a tangy carrot-ginger dipping sauce.

vegan / gluten free

It’s sushi day! You might be wondering – why the heck would you roll sushi at home when it’s so much easier to order it at a restaurant? Because this maki sushi recipe is fun, affordable, and way more fresh than take-out sushi… but the best part is that you can get creative about what you choose to fill your rolls with. No more cucumber-only veggie sushi rolls! These maki sushi rolls are filled with savory roasted shiitake mushrooms, avocado, cucumber, and red cabbage for crunch & color. There’s also a fun dipping sauce – the carrot ginger dressing from…

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Kale Salad

The BEST kale salad recipe! It's packed with colorful vegetables, crispy chickpeas, avocado, cranberries, and pepitas. Great for lunch!

vegetarian / salads

Kale salad recipes aren’t as trendy as they used to be, but I’m still making them, and I think you should be too. My case in point is this kale salad recipe, which, if I do say so myself, is one of the most delicious ways to eat kale. A vibrant carrot ginger dressing coats the tender leafy greens, and roasted chickpeas, colorful veggies, and avocado add lots of contrasting textures. I love to serve it as a side dish because it pairs well with almost any meal, but it’s also hearty enough to pass as a standalone lunch. The sturdy…

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Baked Feta

This 8-ingredient baked feta recipe is simple, delicious & healthy. Cooked in a cumin-spiced tomato sauce, it's a fantastic appetizer or meal on its own.

dinner / vegetarian

It’s Saturday…if you have friends coming over for dinner but you don’t feel like spending all day in the kitchen, I’ve got just the thing for you: this super delicious baked feta recipe. It comes together in no time, you can serve it as an easy appetizer or the main meal, and it’s saucy, comforting, and flavorful. What’s not to love? This recipe is inspired by a baked feta recipe from the book Cook90 by David Tamarkin, the editor and digital director of Epicurious. It’s a great book that’s full of accessible, easy-to-prepare dishes. I was drawn to this recipe…

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Roasted Cauliflower Salad

Dried apricots, olives, and toasted nuts fill this cauliflower salad with contrasting textures and flavors. A delicious side dish or make-ahead lunch!

salads / vegan / gluten free

This roasted cauliflower salad will brighten up any winter day! At least, that’s what I tell myself as I seriously consider getting one of those vitamin D lamps. Have any of you ever tried one? These 4:30 Chicago sunsets really take some getting used to. Anyway, back to the cauliflower salad! I was going to save this recipe to post in January. You know, once everyone wants to get healthy and eat vegetables again… but then I realized that you’re all here because you love vegetables, holidays or not! This hearty cauliflower salad could double as a holiday side dish…

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Roasted Delicata Squash & Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce

Delicata is my favorite winter squash, and this tangy/funky vegetarian side shows why. The squash is sweet, meaty, and, best of all, requires no peeling!

fall / side dishes / gluten free

Happy Saturday! I’m popping in today to share one more fall squash recipe that would make for a tasty Thanksgiving side dish (or a tasty any-dinner side dish if you don’t celebrate T-giving!). This one is a little bit different for me because I haven’t been a big fan of blue cheese. That is, until a few weeks ago, when Jack and I shared a squash dish with blue cheese at the Publican (here in Chicago) that I was completely enamored with. The pairing of sweet roasted squash with tangy cabbage, pops of sweet currants, and a base of a…

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Kale & Olive Oil Vegan Mashed Potatoes

This rustic vegan mashed potatoes recipe is made with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, scallions, and kale. A delicious, easy vegetarian holiday side dish!

vegan / gluten free / side dishes

Thanksgiving is next week, but I’ve been eating mashed potatoes for a while now because blogging life means eating holiday recipes early! I first made these vegan mashed potatoes for a family dinner a few weeks ago. While I was in the kitchen mashing stuff in a bowl, my brother-in-law came over and asked, “What’s in the mashed potatoes?” I said, “Potatoes…” and he said, “No, I mean, what’s the ‘potato’…is it cauliflower…is it parsnips?” He knows me so well. It dawned on me how rarely I make actual potatoes, but we’re changing that today. This Thanksgiving our potatoes are…

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Pomegranate Salad with Cider Dressing

This gorgeous pomegranate salad is perfect for the holiday season! Filled with a cornucopia of colorful produce, it's a fresh, festive side dish.

fall / salads / vegetarian

This pomegranate salad recipe is the perfect way to add a little color to any fall or winter meal. As we approach Thanksgiving, I feel like foods become more and more brown. I know – we all love cheesy, bready things, but if I’ve found one calling in life (er.. in blog-life), it’s to find and bring forth the colorful foods of every season. Here, I pack as many as I can into one stunning salad. This pomegranate salad has apples and squash, onions and greens, carrots and kohlrabi, and pomegranates, of course! We flipping love pomegranates. They add vibrancy…

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Pesto Havarti Macaroni

This creamy havarti macaroni recipe uses under 10 ingredients, so it's super easy to make. I add dollops of pesto and peas to brighten it up.

As I was planning what to post this fall, I realized that I’d never shared an easy stovetop macaroni recipe. Growing up, my sister and I devoured mac and cheese out of the box, and these days, I still enjoy good homemade macaroni on occasion. It was high time I shared a recipe here. Luckily for me, the Two Peas & Their Pod Cookbook just came out. I’ve been friends with Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod for years so I couldn’t be more excited for her book to arrive! It’s full of nourishing, easy-to-make recipes that are all family-friendly, plus…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.