Autumn Farmhouse Salad

Sweet potatoes, apples & greens fill out this hearty autumn salad. With sweet, salty, crunchy & nutty elements, it's a perfect side dish or meal on its own.

I have a love/hate relationship with farro. It takes forever to make, and quinoa is quicker, but the chewy, nutty grains bring a real heartiness to this not-wimpy fall salad. The catch is that you have to pre-plan for farro – it’s easiest to make a big batch and keep it around all week. I’m not usually that organized, but I happened to have made farro the day before my Farmhouse vegetables arrived, so here we are… a farro salad with more veggies than could fit onto the subject line of this post. Fall Salad Recipe Ingredients This delicious salad recipe is sweet, salty, crunchy, nutty… Here’s what…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Seasoned with roasted garlic & fresh rosemary, these vegan cauliflower mashed potatoes are wonderfully fluffy and light. Perfect for Thanksgiving.

fall / vegan / thanksgiving

Jack here today. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m now a cauliflower mashed potatoes convert. To be honest, I used to be mashed potato traditionalist. When I was growing up, every holiday with my dad’s family, the mashed potatoes came out, and it was a frenzy. My uncle Billy, my grandfather, and I would load up, devouring what seemed like a truck full of mashed potatoes. Fast forward to today. Now, I have a lovely wife who makes wonderful, healthy food – all full of vibrancy and flavor. But there has always been a hole in my heart that…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Shredded Brussels Sprout & Apple Salad

This simple slaw is made with just 8 ingredients, but it gets wonderful sweetness & crunch from apples, kohlrabi, dried cranberries, and pine nuts.

salads / vegan / fall

You may or may not have noticed, but I love salads. I intended to start November off with big hearty Thanksgiving inspiration… but, well, I’m not sure if the thought of mashed potatoes made my jeans feel tighter or if it was all the Christmas cookies I ate last week (don’t ask)… this week I ended up craving soups and, especially, salads. I’m really excited about this salad because it’s so simple yet so delicious with all of its shred-y, crunchy textures. If you have a mandoline, this will go really quickly. If you don’t, you can use a sharp knife, just try to slice everything as thinly as you…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Forbidden Rice Pumpkin Salad

A delicious fall salad made with roasted pumpkin or butternut squash, pomegranate, pepitas, and blood orange vinaigrette. A great Thanksgiving side.

fall / vegetarian / gluten free

Are you sugared out yet? Since I already posted my one and only candy idea, I wasn’t quite sure what to make for today. I was going to skip this holiday post altogether until Jack came up with the genius thematic idea to make something with black forbidden rice. I had a pumpkin sitting on my countertop as well as some blood oranges… so naturally, I came up with the ultimate Halloween salad for this L&L Spook-tacular post. (That’s what Jack is calling it). I made a blood orange vinaigrette spiced with cumin, coriander, and a bit of cinnamon. I just love how the warm…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

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.

fall / vegetarian / pumpkin

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…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Ginger-Apple Pumpkin Soup

This Ginger-Apple Pumpkin Soup recipe makes a delicious creamy soup with coconut milk, ginger, and cardamom. It's perfect for fall.

fall / soups / pumpkin

It’s only October 1st and yet I feel like I’m already the last to post a pumpkin recipe. This time of year, pinterest is crazy for pumpkin. But don’t worry – if you’re too cool for pumpkin, you can just as easily make this soup with butternut squash. This recipe comes together pretty easily and it doesn’t even require a pot. I roasted the pumpkin, an apple, an onion and a few garlic cloves all in the oven. I put it all in a blender and pureéd it into a creamy soup with coconut milk, ginger, and the special ingredient – cardamom. If…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Fig & Arugula Salad w/ Pistachio Pesto

fall / salads / gluten free

A few weeks ago, I made this in pizza form… since then, I haven’t been able to get the ingredient combination out of my mind. I knew it was destined to become a really great salad, so here we have it – a late summer/early fall salad with figs, arugula, balsamic, pistachios and a few dollops of pistachio pesto. Instead of ricotta, I tore creamy pieces of burrata and added some diced avocado. (Just skip the cheese if you’re vegan – this is indulgent enough without it). For me, this salad hits every note a good well-rounded salad should – sweet, salty, creamy…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Roasted Chickpea Ratatouille

late summer / vegan / gluten free

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…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

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.

fall / salads

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…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Soba Noodles with Shishitos & Avocado

vegan / vegetarian

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…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Portobello Mushroom Dogs

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

summer / vegetarian

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…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.