Instant Pot Lentil Soup

This Instant Pot lentil soup is a new staple in our cold weather recipe rotation. Packed with lentils and fresh veggies, it's warming and nourishing.

This Instant Pot lentil soup recipe is what I make on nights when I wish that dinner could just cook itself. I’m not going to lie – you still have to chop, measure, and sauté to make this recipe – but once you get that prep work out of the way, the Instant Pot does the rest for you. Pretty awesome, right? It’s especially awesome given how delicious this Instant Pot lentil soup actually is. It’s brothy, warming, and nourishing, with a savory, tangy flavor and plenty of texture from lentils and fresh veggies. It tastes even better on the…

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Black Bean Chili

This easy black bean chili is thick, creamy, tangy, and delicious. Served with cornbread or tortilla chips, it's the perfect hearty meal on a cold night.

The first time I made this black bean chili recipe, I found myself standing at the stove, eating spoonful after spoonful straight from the pot. In all honesty, I think it’s the best chili I’ve ever tasted. It’s thick, creamy, tangy, and complex, with depth from green chiles, fire-roasted tomatoes, and a good amount of chili powder. If you’re able to, I highly encourage you to make my homemade chili powder for this recipe, as it really takes this black bean chili to a whole new level. Its flavor is more nuanced, with savory notes from the fennel and garlic,…

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Sweet Potato Soup

This sweet potato soup recipe is one of my favorite healthy comfort foods. Made with veggies, coconut milk, and spices, it's rich, creamy, and delicious.

Jack and I spent the first official week of fall eating bowl after bowl of this sweet potato soup. I don’t know what it is about creamy orange soup, but for some reason, it just seems like the perfect meal on a chilly day. Its vibrant color brightens up gray, dreary weather, and its velvety broth warms you from the inside out. Most years, I make my butternut squash soup or pumpkin soup on repeat at the start of fall, but right now, I’m still stuck on this sweet potato soup. It has a rich, sweet, and smoky flavor, with…

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How to Make Vegetable Stock

Learn how to make vegetable stock! Perfect for using in soups, sauces, risottos, and more, this homemade broth is super flavorful and easy to make.

The other day, I was making vegetable stock with veggie odds and ends I’d accumulated throughout the week. As I stood in the kitchen, savoring the delicious aroma wafting from my stock pot, I realized that I had yet to share my method for how to make vegetable broth on the blog. I have over 80(!!) soup recipes on here, and another soup season is right around the corner. Suffice it to say, this vegetable stock recipe is long overdue. I’m so excited to share it today because I believe that vegetable stock is something that everyone can and should…

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60 Healthy Meal Prep Ideas

Busy week? These meal prep ideas are here to help! With tips and recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they make eating healthy, delicious meals easy.

Is anyone else trying to get in a new meal prep routine this fall? Jack and I took some time off last week for an end-of-summer trip to Michigan. It was so fun and relaxing, but when we got back, I realized just how busy the next few months are going to be. Thankfully, I have a full arsenal of healthy meal prep ideas to help us get through it. 🙂 In case you’re also having a busy fall, I’m sharing over 60 of my healthy meal prep ideas today. They include meal prep recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,…

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25 Fresh Corn Recipes

Sweet corn is one of the highlights of summer, and these fresh corn recipes show it off at its best. Find salads, sides, and more to enjoy all season long.

If you’re looking for corn recipes to make this summer, you’re in the right place! There are few, if any, foods I love more than fresh sweet corn, and as a result, I’ve developed tons of corn recipes over the years. I’ve rounded up my 25 best below. They range from simple preparations of corn on the cob to spicy dips, zesty salads, comforting soups, and more. No matter what kind of corn recipes you’re craving, I’m sure you’ll find something you love. My Top 5 Corn Recipes If you only make one of the fresh corn recipes in this…

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9 Cold Soup Recipes for Hot Summer Days

Hot days call for cold soup! Cool off this summer with these refreshing cold soup recipes. They include classic gazpacho, chilled corn soup, and more.

Cold soup is one of my summer obsessions, right up there with salads, cold brew, and everything sweet corn. On a hot summer day, there’s nothing I crave more. Cold soup is hydrating, refreshing, and brimming with peak-season produce. Often, its flavor improves after a day or two in the fridge, so it’s the sort of thing you can make ahead and keep on hand for easy, no-cook summer meals. You’ll find 9 of my go-to cold soup recipes below. They include classics like gazpacho and chilled cucumber soup as well as out-of-the-box ideas like cold carrot coconut soup and…

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Cold Cucumber Soup

This cold cucumber soup recipe is perfect for hot summer days. Creamy, cool, bright, and refreshing, it's a delicious, nourishing starter or side dish.

This cold cucumber soup is everything I want on a hot summer day. To make it, you don’t have to turn on the oven, the stove, or even the grill. Just toss the ingredients into a blender, puree, and chill! After a few hours in the fridge, this cucumber soup will be so creamy, cool, bright, and refreshing that you won’t be able to resist going back for seconds. Cucumber Soup Recipe Ingredients Here’s what you’ll need to make this cucumber soup: Cucumbers, of course! I love to use delicate, thin-skinned Persian cucumbers in this recipe. Don’t forget to save…

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Creamy Asparagus Soup

This lightly creamy asparagus soup is bright with lemon and packed with herbs and veggies. It's the perfect fresh meal for a cool spring night.

On rainy spring afternoons, I hole up in the kitchen and make this asparagus soup recipe. It’s my spring substitute for the butternut squash soup I love making in the fall. When it’s too wet to be outside, I find it soothing and meditative to simmer a pot of asparagus soup on the stove and listen to the rain pattering on the roof. To me, it’s the perfect spring soup. Fresh basil makes it aromatic and refreshing, peas lend it a subtle sweetness, and blended potato makes it lightly creamy without any heavy cream. Serve it as a starter with…

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40 Easy Weeknight Dinners

Refresh your recipe rotation with these easy weeknight dinners! They include pastas, tacos, soups, and more. The whole family will love them!

Each year, when winter starts to melt into spring, I refresh my rotation of easy weeknight dinners. The weather begins to change, and so do my cravings. On some days, I’m still in the mood for the cozy comfort food of winter – hearty pastas, soups, and stews – but on others, I’m hungry for weeknight dinners that are lighter and brighter. This year especially, I’m ready for a change. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have cooked more in the last 12 months than I ever thought possible. Right now, weeknight dinners that are quick…

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Cannellini Beans and Greens

In this cannellini beans recipe, Swiss chard, olive oil, and a big squeeze of lemon juice transform a humble pot of beans into a bright, wholesome meal.

I love the simplicity of this cannellini beans recipe. I first started making it last spring, when our trips to the grocery store were few and far between. You only need a handful of ingredients to make it – dried cannellini beans, aromatics, lemon juice, and Swiss chard – and even those are flexible. If you don’t have cannellini beans, substitute other dried white beans, like Great Northern or navy beans. If you don’t have chard, use kale or spinach. No shallot? Try an onion. No – well, you get the idea. After a long, hands-off simmer, these humble ingredients…

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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.