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.

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…

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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…

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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…

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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.

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…

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Sweet Potato Avocado Salad (& video!)

salads / gluten free / sweet potatoes

Check it out – a video! We recently partnered with the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission to create videos about one of my favorite foods – the sweet potato. Here’s a recipe that will start to get you in the mood for fall, but is still light and fresh. Below are a few of my favorite screenshots. Scroll down (or click the image above) for the video. Special thanks to Rightfrog Productions for the video work!

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Peach Salad with Mint & Pistachios

summer / salads / gluten free

Is anyone else wondering how it’s August already? After some morning blog reading, I’ve suddenly realized that everyone else has gone (and come back from!) a summer vacation and we somehow forgot to plan one of our own. We’ve been talking about a number of trip ideas since last winter but that’s just the problem – it’s been all talk. Talk followed by excuses, followed by projects and general life busy-ness. So… help? What would be a fun trip for late August/early September? I’m drawing a blank and would love some suggestions. It could be near or far… preferably with temps less than…

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Zucchini & Grilled Corn Salad

summer / vegan / gluten free

Oh zucchini, let me count the ways… julienned, coined, grilled, sauteéd, stuffed, kabob-ed, gratin-ed, muffin-ed, pancake-d… (I know I’m missing a few)… Right now, my zucchini method of choice is the simple ribbon. Just raw. Tossed into salads. I mean, how pretty are they? (Also – how pretty are those plates!?) I very often make corn recipes where frozen corn will suffice – but not this time. This is the time of year where my midwestern roots shine through and I say – you need to get your hands on some fresh corn. And then don’t cook it too much. I grilled my…

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Sweet Pepper Panzanella

summer / salads / vegetarian

Panzanella: it’s your excuse to eat bread and call it salad! I’ve veggie’d up the classic tomato-basil panzanella with blistered sweet peppers, tangy pickled onions, and just few torn kale leaves. It all starts with that stale bread that’s sitting on your kitchen counter. In our household of just 2 (people, that is – the dogs are paleo), we have stale bread around pretty often. These were the last bits of a rustic miche round from my favorite bread source, Easy Tiger. I just realized I labeled them as “day old,” but these scraps were actually many days old. Perfect panzanella bread. This would be a…

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Roasted Cherry Tomato Bowls

summer / vegan

I don’t know if it’s possible to have too many cherry tomatoes. But if you do, roasting them is the perfect way to eat a whole bunch at a time. They shrivel up into the sweetest, tangiest little bites – which are perfect to toss into simple bowls full of greens and grains. Around this time last year I posted this slow roasted tomato pasta. This year, I’m cheating the slow roast. Here’s how: 1. Use little tomatoes and it’ll go tons faster. 2. Start roasting them in low heat (like you’re supposed to). Once they begin to dry (and your impatience rises), raise the…

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Rainbow Orzo Salad

Make this fresh, fun orzo salad recipe for your next picnic! With lots of fresh herbs, juicy mango, and crisp veggies, it's summer food at its finest.

summer / salads / vegan

I first made this orzo salad recipe at my mom’s house. When I dug through her fridge, I found crunchy veggies, summer herbs, and a big, juicy mango that I absolutely had to use. I caught sight of a box of orzo pasta and a can of chickpeas in her pantry, and I immediately thought – orzo salad! It would be hearty enough to serve for dinner, but light and refreshing for the heat wave that was happening that night. I tossed together crunchy cucumbers, red onion, fresh herbs, and mango and dished it up for my family. While we…

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Heirloom Caprese w/ Mint Pesto

summer / salads / gluten free

And the season of simple recipes continues… “What are you going to do with these?” asked the farm-stand man as I was fixating on these 3 gorgeous golden tomatoes. This question always flusters me… I should have an answer, but truthfully, I buy things on a whim and usually decide what to make later. And in this case, these tomatoes were so spectacular that knew I wasn’t going to “do” much. “Um… I’m probably just going to slice and eat them…” He looked at me with a huge grin as if I had just given the right answer. I could…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.