Marinated Gigante Beans

These marinated gigante beans are a delicious appetizer or lunch! Olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon, garlic, and herbs infuse them with savory flavor.

This marinated gigante beans recipe is an easy, delicious kitchen staple. A flavorful blend of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, lemon zest, and parsley coats the big, creamy white beans. They’re rich, tangy, and intensely savory. Try them once, and you’ll make them on repeat for picnics, appetizer platters, and protein-packed lunches. Before I developed this recipe, I regularly bought marinated gigante beans from the olive bar at my grocery store. I loved the taste, but I was always disappointed by their mushy texture. These homemade marinated gigante beans solve that problem. Made with good-quality canned beans or dried beans…

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Easy Pasta Salad

This fresh, easy pasta salad recipe comes together in under 30 minutes! Tossed in a tangy vinaigrette and filled with veggies, it's a cookout hit.

Today’s recipe is a picnic-perfect pasta salad! Every cookout needs a great pasta salad, and this is the one that I make all summer long. It comes together in no time, it’s full of fresh ingredients, and it packs a flavorful punch. I took extra care to make sure that this recipe is not just easy, but also easy to make in advance… because I totally get that you don’t want to be futzing with your pasta salad when you could be spending time outside with your friends. Note: If you do decide to make this salad in advance, toss…

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Best Broccoli Salad

Meet my favorite broccoli salad recipe...aka the best cookout side dish! With a lightly creamy, tangy dressing, it's fresh, healthy, and delicious.

This broccoli salad recipe is one of my favorite side dishes. It’s my lighter spin on classic Midwest broccoli salad, and though you won’t find any cheese or bacon here, it’s every bit as delicious. A creamy, tangy dressing coats crisp broccoli florets, chewy dried cranberries, sharp red onion, and smoky roasted nuts. Even salad skeptics will love it. This broccoli salad recipe is easy to make, and even better, make ahead. A few hours or a day in the fridge gives the broccoli a chance to soften and soak up the dressing’s punchy flavor. Pack it up for a…

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Cowboy Caviar

Made with black-eyed peas, black beans, and veggies, this cowboy caviar is an easy, fresh, and flavorful dip. It'll be a hit at your next potluck or party!

Cowboy caviar is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! This zesty dip is made with black-eyed peas, beans, sweet corn, and other veggies. It’s fresh, tangy, and perfect for scooping up with tortilla chips. This cowboy caviar recipe is super easy to make, and it tastes better if you make it ahead. If you don’t already have a signature dish that you bring to potlucks, cookouts, and other get-togethers, you might have found it. Cowboy Caviar Recipe Ingredients You only need a few simple ingredients to make this cowboy caviar recipe: Black beans and black-eyed peas – They make up the bulk of this…

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Creamy Coleslaw

Learn how to make the BEST homemade coleslaw! Filled with red and green cabbage, carrots, and green onions, this easy recipe is healthy and delicious.

This easy coleslaw recipe is great for just about any occasion—a weeknight dinner, a cookout, or a fun picnic lunch. Like all my favorite summer recipes, it’s packed with colorful veggies, and a lightly creamy, tangy dressing ties the whole thing together. It comes together in minutes, and it keeps well if you make it ahead of time. Just add veggie burgers, and you’ve got a perfect summer meal! Coleslaw Recipe Ingredients You only need a few basic ingredients to make this homemade coleslaw recipe! I like to think of it in two parts: the coleslaw mix and the dressing.…

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Best Egg Salad

The BEST egg salad recipe! Delicious on a sandwich or straight from the bowl, this easy egg salad is creamy, tangy, and bright. A perfect lunch!

I started making this egg salad recipe as a way to use up hard boiled eggs left over from Easter one spring. I thought it would be a one-and-done lunch—just an easy way to use up my leftovers—but to my surprise, I got hooked. Before long, I was boiling more eggs to make more egg salad. This stuff is seriously good! This egg salad recipe is brighter and fresher than most. In my opinion, it’s what a classic egg salad recipe really wants to be. It’s still rich, creamy, and flavorful, but it uses far less mayo than is traditional. Lemon juice, Dijon mustard,…

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41 Best Carrot Recipes

Looking for new ways to cook carrots? These easy carrot recipes can help! They include fresh salads, cozy soups, the moistest carrot cake, and more.

What are your favorite carrot recipes? If you said classic carrot cake or baby carrots and dip, you’re probably not alone. But I’m sharing 40+ of my best carrot recipes here in the hopes that you’ll try cooking this bright orange vegetable in a new way. They might seem humble, but carrots are insanely versatile. Roasted carrots make a wonderful side dish, for example, and carrot ginger soup is the perfect cozy meal for a cold day. Tangy pickled carrots are great for snacking, while a fresh carrot salad could be the star of your next picnic. Below, you’ll find…

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21 Best Cabbage Recipes

Have a hunk of cabbage you need to use up? Put it to work in these delicious cabbage recipes! They include simple sides, slaws, sandwiches, and more.

Choosing to make a cabbage recipe can feel like a commitment. You’re going to buy a whole entire cabbage in order to add a tiny bit of it to some tacos? What on earth are you going to do with the rest?! My hope is that the cabbage recipes below offer an answer to that question. There are SO MANY ways to cook cabbage—this humble veggie is nothing if not versatile. It can complete a sandwich with a pop of color and crunch. It can transform into a crisp, refreshing slaw or a silky, sweet sauté. You can add it to soup or…

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Shaved Fennel Salad

This simple shaved fennel salad recipe is crisp, bright, and refreshing. Customize it by adding orange segments, apple, or a handful of fresh mint.

This fennel salad recipe is the perfect winter side salad. Move over, soggy lettuce and watery tomatoes—this shaved fennel salad is crisp, refreshing, and bright, just the thing to balance a hearty pasta or other comforting meal. Fresh fennel is one of the most underrated vegetables…and it also happens to be one of my favorites. It has a really lovely anise flavor and, when it’s raw, a great crunchy texture. If you’re on the fence about fennel, or if you’ve never tried it before, I hope you’ll make this recipe. Calling for just 10 ingredients, it’s quick and easy to…

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25 Winter Salad Recipes

Ward off cold weather with these vibrant winter salad recipes! Flavorful and fresh, they use seasonal produce like citrus, root veggies, and hardy greens.

Let’s hear it for winter salad recipes! In a season that’s packed with cozy soups and comfort food, they’re a reminder that fresh, seasonal produce is still out there. Asparagus and sweet corn might be months away, but winter greens, root veggies, squash, and citrus are here in full force. A winter salad is the perfect way to show them off. Below, you’ll find 25 of my favorite winter salad recipes. They include something to satisfy any and every salad craving—sweet and savory salads studded with citrus and pears, refreshing green salads, quick slaws, grain salads, lentil salads, and more.…

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Spinach Salad

This easy spinach salad recipe is a fresh, delicious side dish! It's filled with apples, dried cranberries, and pecans. A tangy dressing ties it all together.

This spinach salad recipe is simple, fresh, and delicious. A version of my mom’s favorite salad, it’s filled with crisp apples, dried cranberries, red onion, creamy goat cheese, and toasty candied pecans. A bright apple cider vinaigrette ties it all together. *Chef’s kiss* This fall, I’ve been making it on repeat. To be totally honest, that’s a bit out of character for me, because I’m not always a fan of spinach salad recipes (something about the texture of the greens, I think). So you should trust me when I say that THIS spinach salad really works. It’s sweet, tangy, and savory,…

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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.