Fettuccine Alfredo

This fettuccine Alfredo recipe is perfect for any and all occasions, from busy weeknights to romantic dinners. It's simple, elegant, and totally delicious.

Traditional fettuccine Alfredo contains 5 basic ingredients: pasta, butter, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you’ve probably guessed that this fettuccine Alfredo recipe isn’t totally traditional. You’re right! See, I love creamy pasta, but when I order it at restaurants, it’s almost always too rich for me to enjoy for more than a few bites. Earlier this winter, I was craving comfort food, and I got the idea to make a fettuccine Alfredo recipe that would let me have my cake and eat it too. It would be every bit as creamy…

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Alfredo Sauce

This Alfredo sauce recipe is creamy, nutty, and silky smooth! But, thanks to a superstar veggie ingredient, it's so much lighter than the classic version.

If you’re wondering what to make for dinner tonight, this homemade Alfredo sauce recipe is undoubtedly the answer. It’s rich and nutty, with an irresistible velvety texture. It can transform the humblest pasta into an elevated meal, but it takes just minutes to make. As a result, it’s perfect for any occasion, from a busy weeknight to a romantic dinner at home. Alfredo Sauce Recipe Ingredients Traditional Alfredo sauce contains four basic ingredients: butter, grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Many homemade Alfredo sauce recipes take things a step further, adding heavy cream, cream cheese, and even Italian seasoning to…

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Vegan Cheese

This oozy, gooey vegan cheese sauce is just as good as the real thing! Versatile and easy to make, it's delicious on pasta, nachos, and more.

You don’t have to be vegan to fall for this vegan cheese recipe! It’s creamy, tangy, and rich, with a crave-worthy oozy texture just like that of dairy-based cheese sauce. Even Jack – the biggest real cheese lover I know – adores this recipe. Last time I made it, we stood at the counter, scooping it up with tortilla chips. We only got halfway through the first batch before we decided to make a second. Yep, it’s that good! Serve this vegan cheese as a dip with tortilla chips or fresh veggies, toss it with pasta to make vegan mac…

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Best Homemade Brownies

The BEST brownie recipe! With crispy edges, fudgy middles, and rich chocolate flavor, these homemade brownies will disappear in no time.

For years, I couldn’t seem to find a recipe for brownies that met my standards. Anytime I made homemade brownies, I wanted them to be just like the ones I ate as a kid – super fudgy, moist, and chocolaty, with crispy edges and crackly tops. But the thing is, these brownies didn’t come from a recipe. We always made them from a box. Nowadays, I prefer to bake from scratch, but no brownie recipe I tried could live up to the chocolate brownies of my childhood. So this fall, as I flipped through Michelle Lopez’s new book Weeknight Baking,…

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Perfect Baked Potato

A perfect baked potato has crispy skin and fluffy insides. My method for how to bake a potato works every time, so load up your spuds, and dig in!

A perfect baked potato is hard to beat. The outside is brown and crisp, coated in a crust of sea salt. Pierce the skin, and your fork gives way to a soft, fluffy interior. It might be hard to resist eating the whole thing straight out of the oven, but if you take the time to top it with a pat of butter or a dollop of (cashew) sour cream, you won’t be able to deny that it was worth the wait. Reading this, you might be surprised to learn that until recently, I wasn’t a baked potato fan. I…

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How to Make Cashew Cream

This easy vegan cashew cream is a delicious dairy-free alternative to sour or heavy cream! It's creamy, versatile, tangy, and bright. What's not to love?

If you’re interested in eating more plant-based recipes, cashew cream will be your new best friend. It’s easy to make, it requires just 6 ingredients, and it’s every bit as rich and creamy as sour or heavy cream. I love to add it to creamy vegan pasta sauces, top it onto baked potatoes, serve it over burrito bowls, and more! My vegan cashew cream recipe uses basic ingredients. Raw cashews make it thick and creamy, water helps it blend, extra-virgin olive oil adds richness, and lemon juice, garlic, and salt give it a bright, tangy flavor. To make it, just…

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Vegan Bacon

Learn how to make vegan bacon three ways! Crispy, smoky, salty, and slightly sweet, it's just as good as the real thing.

Whenever I take a tray of vegan bacon out of the oven, Jack, my bacon-loving husband, appears instantly. “What’s this?” he asks. As soon as I say, “Vegan bacon,” he reaches for it right away. Now, Jack is no fool. I make vegan bacon three ways: with tempeh, with coconut, and with shiitake mushrooms. None of these ingredients transforms into an exact replica of real bacon, and they wouldn’t fool him for a second. However, seasoned the right way, they have all the traits that make bacon so irresistible: they’re smoky, salty, and slightly sweet with a perfect crispy texture.…

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Homemade Taquitos

Meet my new favorite appetizer: Baked Green Chile Taquitos! They're crispy on the outside, gooey in the middle, tangy, lightly spicy, and so. much. fun!

Who would have guessed that moving to Chicago would have made me a taquitos fan? Just after Jack and I moved here, a new bar opened up down the block from our house. At first, we went there for drinks, but we’ve kept going back for taquitos! As it turns out, this bar has an inventive chef who comes up with a rotating menu of homemade taquitos. They make their tortillas from scratch and stuff them with seasonal, local ingredients. After just a few visits, Jack and I were total taquitos converts, and I knew I had to try making…

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What is Jackfruit?

Want to start eating jackfruit at home? You're in the right place! Read on to learn how to turn this fruit into a delicious plant-based meat substitute.

Who would have thought that jackfruit – a sweet, funny-looking tropical fruit – would become a trendy meat substitute? Lately, I’ve been seeing it on more and more restaurant menus, and I’ve been using it more and more in my kitchen. It’s fantastic in everything from dips to tacos to sandwiches and more, and it’s good for you, too! The unripe jackfruit that I use in my recipes is high in fiber and low in calories, and its meaty texture makes it really fun to eat. If you’ve never to cooked with it, I heartily recommend that you try a…

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Curried Lentil Salad

Prepare to fall in love with this lentil salad recipe! It's filled with bold curry flavor, it's fresh, yet satisfying, and it even tastes great on day two.

This lentil salad recipe is my ideal winter lunch. It’s fresh and filled with veggies, but it’s hearty and satisfying at the same time. Curry spices and a zippy cilantro lime dressing infuse it with bright, bold flavor, and cubes of roasted paneer cheese and crisp turmeric cauliflower give it unexpected complexity and texture. Furthermore (yes, there’s more!), it’s flexible and easy to make, and it still tastes great after a few days in the fridge! Serve it as a side dish or prep it on a Sunday for lunches all week, but no matter what, make this lentil salad…

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How to Cook Lentils

Learn how to cook lentils perfectly every time! Tasty, nutritious, and easy to make, they're a fantastic way to add protein to salads, side dishes, and more.

If you’re interested in adding more plant-based meals to your diet, lentils are one of the first things you should turn to. These tiny legumes are protein and fiber powerhouses, they’re easy to cook, and they have a delicious earthy flavor that adds to all sorts of dishes. Read on to find my go-to method for how to cook lentils, along with information about different varieties and my favorite lentil recipes. How to Cook Lentils My method for how to cook lentils is easy! It comes down to 2 basic steps: Rinse. On occasion, you’ll find small rocks or debris mixed…

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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.