Cucumber Apple Green Gazpacho

Soup is my favorite thing to make regardless of the season – it’s comfy and cozy in the fall and winter, but just because it’s 100 degrees outside now doesn’t mean I don’t crave soup in the summer. Enter: gazpacho. This one is extra healthy (and bikini-season-friendly) because it’s made with green juice as the base. Since working on these recipes, with Evolution Fresh, I’ve been inspired to incorporate more green juices into my cooking. I got this idea by reading the ingredient list for their Sweet Greens and Ginger cold-pressed juice. It’s full of cucumber, apple, and ginger (among other greens), and sounded like the…

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Sesame Basil Soba Noodles

There are times when I cook that I like to pack in every vegetable and also the kitchen sink. And then there are nights when I just crave something simple. This is the latter, obviously, and it’ll take you only ten minutes to make. The ingredient combo here is a little strange, but hear me out – soba noodles, sesame oil and good parmesan cheese all have a delicious nutty flavor in common. Basil and fresh peas are sweet which offer a nice simple balance. I love the subtle flavor of fresh peas here, if you don’t have any, just skip them…

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Green Bean & Purple Potato Salad

If you’re at a picnic, do you go for the potato salad or the cole slaw? I’m a cole slaw person always – the really sweet mayonnaise-y kind. But potatoes smothered in mayo? No thanks. Why is cabbage in mayo better than potatoes in mayo? No clue. But while I don’t go for “potato salad,” I do like a potato salad. Of course, what I mean is that this is a salad… with potatoes (and green beans and yellow wax beans and some other things). Instead of mayo, it’s dressed with everything that I think goes best with potatoes: olive oil, good dijon…

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Sara’s Strawberry Tabbouleh

A beautiful strawberry tabbouleh recipe adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon by Sara and Hugh Forte. With vegan & gluten-free options, it's great for a picnic.

After I posted my list of favorite spring cookbooks, I could tell that this is the book you’ve all been waiting for – and I’m here to tell you that Sara & Hugh Forte’s new book, Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon, doesn’t disappoint. The photos are of course gorgeous, and the food… well it makes you want to dig in with a spoon because all of it, like this tabbouleh recipe, looks so incredibly vibrant and delicious! The book has been sitting on my desk for a little while now, among a slew of papers, books, and other messy-desk things – which is how this tabbouleh recipe…

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Roasted Artichoke Salad

If you can get your hands on fresh artichokes, make this bright artichoke salad right away. Topped with mint pesto, it's perfect for spring.

It’s spring… which means I can’t help but bring home artichokes from the farmers market. They’re just SO pretty, although they take a bit of effort to clean and cook. My first tip for fresh artichokes is to use them in a pretty simple way so you can really appreciate their delicate flavor after you’ve put in the time to prep them. Save your artichoke dip recipe for canned or jarred artichokes. Tip number two: delegate artichoke-trimming to someone else in your family! The day I brought these home, my mom (who’s been staying with us lately), gave me a “what are you going to do with those” sort…

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Spicy Mango & Avocado Rice Bowl

It’s been feeling summery around here, so I say – let’s bring on the colorful food! Lately, I’ve been slightly obsessed with these black rice veggie sushi rolls that are new-ish at (our) Whole Foods. One in particular includes mango, avocado and cucumber and I find myself craving it all the time. I’ve had it on my list to recreate it for you for awhile now, but the idea of rolling sushi has felt too labor intensive. For us, at-home sushi making is “sometimes” food. It’s reserved for those special nights when the sake is flowing and we have nothing but extra time……

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Toast with Radishes & Dandelion Greens

I’ll never forget the first time I bit into a radish. I was in Sunday school and I was maybe seven or eight. I’m not sure if they ate radishes in Bible times, but for whatever reason that morning’s lesson involved passing around new raw foods to try. I don’t remember much else about that day except the shockingly bitter taste that I couldn’t get out of my mouth until my family picked up Dunkin’ Donuts on the way home. I spent years picking radishes out of salads until I slowly came to love the crunch and slightly bitter bite – especially when thinly sliced,…

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Watercress Farro Salad with Tart Cherries

There's no spring lunch I love more than this simple watercress salad. With a delicious blend of textures and flavors, it's a light, yet satisfying meal.

I have a confession to make – I am not only a terrible gardener, but I’m also a terrible herb gardener. They’re so easy to grow, but they’re oh-so-hard to remember to water. Lucky for me, my mom recently came to visit and planted tons of new herbs, including my favorites – basil and mint – just in time to include them in this salad. What would spring be without an herby grain salad, right? This one is packed with chewy farro, peppery watercress, and dried tart cherries, which add a necessary pop of sweetness to balance it all out. I’ve talked about the…

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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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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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Oscar Party Appetizers & Wine Pairings

Vegetarian appetizer recipes and wine pairings for your Oscar party! Red Pepper Soup Shooters, Best Dressed Endive Spears, and Mini Pizzas.

The Academy Awards are this weekend – have you seen all of the movies? We’ve binge-watched only a few of them, but so far my favorite is the Grand Budapest Hotel. Does anyone know where I can get Jack a hat that says “Lobby Boy?” Whether or not you’re into the glitz and glam of it all, we love any excuse to gather over food and wine. We’ve partnered with Dark Horse Wine to create 3 fun Oscar-themed appetizers along with some unexpected wine pairings. To make things easy, most of this menu can be prepared in advance, and all of these Dark Horse wines are under $10…

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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.