Rosemary Roasted Veggies

Who says thanksgiving has to be all about brown food? Not me, obviously… it’s an understatement to say that I love colorful foods. This is one of the easiest side dishes you will ever make. Cubes of butternut squash, cipollini onions, and green cauliflower are roasted simply with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary, then tossed with nuts and herbs. Of course, you could use regular cauliflower, broccoli, or even sub in brussels sprouts. This green cauliflower (or I guess they call it broccoflower, but how ugly is that word?), just happened to catch my eye. Best of all, you can…

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Kale & Apple Butternut Squash Salad

Kale & apple butternut salad is a perfect healthy fall dinner or Thanksgiving side. Butternut ribbons add fun color and texture to this delicious dish.

We’re on a butternut squash kick this week. It wasn’t intentional, it’s just that one butternut squash times two people equals about four meals. It’s a squash that keeps on giving. Today’s special shape: ribbons! No special gadgets required – just get out your regular veggie peeler, and peel away. Toss with a tangy dressing (it’ll help tame down the raw bite), and toss with kale, apples, herbs and nuts. If this is all too green and healthy for your traditional Thanksgiving meal, just think of it as your pre-turkey-day (delicious) detox!

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Roasted Carrot Turmeric Soup

I freaking love soup. Warm, comfy, and healing for the soul. And with turmeric – supposedly healing for the body. A natural anti-inflammatory, “they say.” Which is what sparked the idea for this soup: Literal sparks of pain. Do you have those weeks where things seem to unravel? Where one mishap, leads to the next? For me, it began with a broken glass on the kitchen floor and a teeny tiny piece that I somehow couldn’t get out of my foot. I limped around for a couple days, until I could feel it was gone. Also gone — my sense of balance, apparently.…

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Sweet Potato Quinoa & Cotija

Our dinner has looked like this nearly every night for a week. I don’t know what it is, but as soon as fall hits, big grain salads with roasted sweet potatoes seem to take over my life. They’re perfect for busy weeknights, next day lunches… and you can prep most of the ingredients ahead of time. You can take this in so many different directions (this was last year’s obsession, and yes, it’s somewhat similar)… but I especially love this one with chile-lime dressing, mutli-colored quinoa and crunchy pepitas. It could even be a fun non-traditional thanksgiving side dish if…

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Sweet Potato Tahini Crostini

  We got home last week and I immediately started thinking about post-vacation recovery foods. Kale salads, green juices… that sort of thing. That is until Jack announced that he was craving bread. Which sounded good, so bread we had. This cozy little crostini turned out to be perfect for our lazy, rainy weekend. (Kale salad, on the side). This sweet potato spread – it’s halfway to hummus. It’s thicker and has a stronger tahini flavor, which was a nice contrast to the light & airy ricotta. It’s also a convenient way to use up a bit of leftover baked…

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Pear & Fennel Salad

Crisp fennel, juicy pear, walnuts, feta & fresh mint create the perfect balance of sweet, salty, creamy & crunchy elements in this satisfying winter salad.

Pear & Fennel Salad // loveandlemons.com

Happy New Year! Do you all make resolutions? In the past I haven’t, but this year, I’m going to give it a go. (And I’m thinking if I write them here, maybe I’ll feel some sense of accountability). 1. Learn Italian. So far, I can read most restaurant menus, I can order gelato… I can ask for directions… but I’d love to be able to have an actual conversation. 2. Send back wedding rsvp cards, and mail out baby gifts on time. I’m the worst… I’m the friend that shows up to your baby shower with a printout from Amazon.com of…

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Sweet Potato & Pomegranate Salad

This pomegranate salad is winter food at its finest. With nuts, feta & a tangy vinaigrette, it's a yummy jumble of bright, creamy & crunchy components.

Sweet Potato & Pomegranate Salad // loveandlemons.com

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! Aside from a short Christmas morning trip to the emergency vet (everyone’s fine, false – yet expensive – alarm) we had a pretty relaxing day. We consumed tons of food, wine, cookies, more wine, and a few extra (unnecessary) rounds of dessert. Pomegranate Salad Recipe Ingredients With New Years right around the corner, the indulgences aren’t over yet… but all the more reason to pack in veggies along the way. This winter salad is a variation of the sweet potato salad that I was obsessed with at the beginning of fall. I…

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Winter Roasted Kale Salad

Learn how to roast kale in this delicious, healthy Winter Roasted Kale Salad recipe! Crispy tempeh, pine nuts, and dried cranberries make this salad a satisfying meal.

I know, I’ve used a lot of kale lately. It’s my vegetable of choice this time of year, especially when the internet (and even my kitchen, a little bit) is full of sugary, buttery foods. With so much indulgence, I feel the need for balance… but tasty balance. Enter: this roasted kale salad. This was going to be a raw kale salad, but I changed my mind at the last minute and made a roasted kale salad because I was craving something warm and cozy. I made my roasted kale in the oven… a method I especially love because it…

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Kale & White Bean Crostini

A healthy appetizer perfect for holiday gatherings! Toasted baguette is topped with marinated white beans and sautéed kale for a tangy, savory starter.

The season of holiday parties is beginning… I don’t know about you, but I’m still pretty full from Thanksgiving. Not that I’ll be turning down cocktails or sugary treats when they’re offered to me… but somehow I feel less guilty indulging if I’ve had my kale fix. (Kale neutralizes out cookies, right?).  This appetizer is super simple to throw together (or even make ahead of time) and packs a garlicky-lemony-rosemary-ey punch…

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Butternut Squash & Leek Risotto

Our favorite fall date-night dinner. This herb, squash, and leek-filled risotto is a great healthy option for the holidays. Gluten free, vegan option.

Butternut squash risotto / Love & Lemons

A few years ago, Jack and I spent Thanksgiving alone, just the two of us. We had always traveled throughout the holiday season, exhaustingly flying around to visit both families. But this one particular year we decided enough was enough, and we made the bold move to stay home. To buck tradition even further, there was no turkey, no trimmings… instead we made this butternut squash risotto and Jack’s signature seared scallops. “Thanksgiving Risotto” might not have caught on as an annual tradition, but it was delicious and made for a memorable night. That and the half bottle of wine…

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Fall Hazelnut Panzanella

A delicious stuffing/panzanella hybrid, this healthy fall salad full of tangy sautéed mushrooms and crispy kale makes the perfect Thanksgiving side. Vegan.

Panzanella is one of my favorite summertime salads, so I thought, why not make a fall version using some stuffing-esque ingredients? Instead of juicy tomatoes, I sautéed some mushrooms and added tangy dried cranberries. Instead of sweet basil, I used woodsy sage. I normally toss pine nuts in my panzanella, but hazelnuts have been my nut of choice this fall, so I toasted those up instead. I tossed it all with grilled bread and a tangy vinaigrette and served it alongside grilled salmon. Jack’s conclusion (as we devoured the whole bowl) was “well it’s not stuffing, and it’s not panzanella… but it’s…

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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.