Kale Salad w/ Avocado Tahini Sauce

This green-on-green salad was inspired by St. Patrick's Day, but its fresh flavor & creamy dressing have made it one of my year-round lunch favorites.

I have a very green, yet not very St. Patrick’s Day-themed recipe today. Maybe next year will be the year that I finally decide to revamp the shamrock shake (why don’t I think of these things earlier?). But for now, I’ve got green-on-green-on-green. Kale, brussels sprouts and avocado…. with some other veggies tossed in for crunch and a pop of color. The trick to raw kale salads is usually to massage the kale – this time I just chopped the leaves really small, mixed them with shaved brussels sprouts, and tossed it all with a creamy avocado tahini dressing to help wilt…

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Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream

When we go to Japan, our favorite treat is the matcha green tea ice cream. Here's my vegan version, which uses coconut milk in place of dairy.

Jack here, bringing you one of the many joys from our Japan travels – matcha ice cream. We had no idea, before going, that green tea ice cream was even a thing. But the minute you walk down the street in any touristy area, you’re guaranteed to see giant fake green soft-serve cones outside of ice cream shops. Seeing something so American and familiar as a giant fake soft-serve ice cream cone, but *green*, was, well, it made me want to eat some. Fast forward through the trip, and Jeanine and I must have eaten 1 cone each every other day. So enough…

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Simple Swiss Chard Pasta

Swiss chard brings two textures to this yummy 20-minute pasta. The stems add crunch, while the leaves gently wilt into the white bean & tomato sauce.

It doesn’t get much easier than this one. I’ll admit, I often get very veggie-happy. While I don’t mind chopping up a rainbow of vegetables – sometimes it’s more than ok to keep it simple and let just one ingredient be the star. Last night, I chopped up this beautiful red chard and tossed it with a few simple pantry ingredients. Dinner was done in less than 20 minutes, and Jack and I were able to get right back to our House of Cards marathon. (Don’t tell me what happens, we’re only a few episodes in). Chard works especially well in a 1-vegetable meal because…

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Vegan Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Looking for the BEST vegan chocolate chip cookies? You've found them. Double this recipe to make a bigger batch, and enjoy!

Happy Saturday! I’m so excited to share this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe today because I just realized something: for as much as I love to bake cookies, this blog is seriously lacking recipes to show for it. Then, I realized why – the camera can hardly snap a photo before Jack reaches his hand into the frame, and they all disappear. Waiting for me to arrange warm cookies nicely on a plate is not something this guy I’m with usually has the patience for. But today, we were able to get a few shots of these, and I couldn’t be happier, because…

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Loaded Sweet Potato Avocado Toast

Loaded Chipotle Sweet Potatoes & Kale with Pickled Radishes are fun, healthy, and filling toppings for classic avocado toast! A perfect vegan snack or main.

I know – avocado toast is SO over, and even if it weren’t, you don’t need a recipe for it. This trend might be on it’s way out, but you’ll still find me (and pretty much everyone else on Instagram) happily smashing & snapping away. I usually keep mine simple – avocado, lemon, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. It’s a perfect combo that doesn’t need to be messed with, but since this was “dinner toast” for us one night last week, I thought I’d get a little fancier with the toppings. (Also, Jack is still claiming that he…

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Valentine’s Molten Chocolate Cakes

Valentine's Day = time for molten chocolate cake! With 6 ingredients & 20 minutes, you'll have the perfect treat to share with someone you love.

Happy almost-Valentine’s Day! Jack here reporting on my first baking love – molten chocolate cake. See, way before this blog, I pretty much had one staple “date night” dish. That dish was seared scallops and it was always a hit. Well, one Valentine’s Day, I decided to kick it up a notch and shoot for the moon… by trying out molten chocolate cakes. I had never made anything like a molten chocolate cake before, and for those unfamiliar, it’s a cake that spills out chocolate sauce when you cut into it. It’s a great show when it works. My first time making…

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Rainbow Chard Bowls

These rainbow chard bowls are a delicious weeknight dinner! With 10 ingredients, they're easy to make, but they pack a punch of flavor.

As a kid, I was obsessed with everything rainbow – my Rainbow Brite doll, a fresh new Crayola 64 pack (with built in sharpener!), and best of all – the rainbow-neon terminal at O’Hare airport. Pure magic. Nowadays, I have a new grownup rainbow obsession: rainbow chard. Cooking with Rainbow Chard If you’ve never cooked with rainbow chard before, it has a slightly bitter, earthy taste that I love to pair with sweet, tangy, and nutty accents. Aside from its gorgeous vibrant color, it has a special superpower: it’s kind of two vegetables in one! Not only can you use the chard leaves, but…

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Pear & Arugula Chickpea Salad

Meet this salad: your new favorite winter lunch. Just 7 ingredients, sweet, tangy, fresh, and hearty, yet healthy. You'll love this one.

I realize this post might not be the most timely. If you’re snowed in, chances are you’re not reaching for a cold salad – BUT it’s not snowing here and nothing will ever stop me from craving big bright salads for lunch. (If you need something hot today, click here, here, or here). My lunch salads are what I would call “kitchen sink” style. I toss whatever veggies I happen to have into a bowl… often with chickpeas and a bit of feta cheese or a scoop of hummus. For crunch, I add toasted nuts and/or hemp seeds. And to bring it all together…

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Goji & Mango Guacamole

Even if you're a guac purist, you'll love this mango guacamole. Sweet goji berries, mango & lime cut through the avocado, making for a light, fresh dip.

Hi everyone, Jack here again. Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner and you know what that means? Dip! Even though I’m not traditionally in love with avocado, I love the way Jeanine makes guacamole, and plus, nothing says “go team” like go-ji, right? Right? Now you may be thinking “oh, Jeanine has Jack writing this because he’s a football man or something.” Well, I have to admit, team sports are not my thing. Three things that ARE my thing, and the reasons I’m manning this post, are Super Bowl parties, food dipped in other food, and goji puns. This mango…

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Green Quesadillas

In this frigid weather, nothing sounds better to me than soups and sandwiches. But if you’re like me and you keep tortillas on hand more regularly than bread – quesadillas are the perfect little soup or salad accompaniment. I always love to sneak a few greens into my food but today there’s no hiding it. These green-on-green-on-green quesadillas start with spinach tortillas that I stuffed with cheese, jalapeños, cilantro and sliced collard greens (feel free to sub spinach, kale, or whatever you have on hand)… and pickled shallots for a bright tangy bite. These are especially good with our Spicy Black Bean Soup.

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Vegan Kale & Artichoke Dip

Vegan Kale & Artichoke dip is a healthy spin on the classic spinach artichoke dip. It's the perfect appetizer for holiday parties or winter gatherings!

Hey all, Jack here – now that it’s the end of the year, it’s holiday party time! And what does it normally mean to eat at a party in the winter? To a lot of Americans, that means spinach artichoke dip. I mean, what makes you feel like partying more than eating an entire loaf of bread dipped in cream cheese and mayonnaise? Well, Jeanine and I don’t really think that’s much of a party any more. Our idea of a party is one where the next day you (or your guests) don’t feel awful. So we took a bit of…

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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.