Summer Panzanella with Squash

Though pattypan squash is my top choice, you can use any summer squash you have on hand to make this bright, bold late summer panzanella.

Hold your pumpkin bread – I have one last super summery recipe before this season really ends. You can use any summer squash you like here (zucchini or yellow squash are both great), but I found pattypan squash at the farmers market and had to try it! I considered making a totally different pattypan squash recipe by stuffing and baking it, but I didn’t want to turn the oven on. Then I noticed that I had some really stale bread, so this hearty, delicious pattypan squash panzanella was an obvious choice. I’m a HUGE fan of panzanellas, or Italian bread salads (see…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Healthy Vegetarian Grilling Recipes

Healthy vegan and vegetarian summer grilling ideas! Easy marinated veggie skewers, spicy grilled corn and chunky guacamole. Perfect for a memorial day or 4th of July cookout!

Happy holiday weekend! If you’re hosting a cookout this Labor Day weekend, here are a few simple (yet super delicious!) veggie recipe ideas. And if you’re attending a cookout this weekend – well, it’s always good to be a bringer especially if you’re the one with the special food requirements. (Who me?) Ok, let’s get started – first we’re going to load up some skewers. (Actually, first, we’re going to make some margaritas). Once you have a drink in hand, get started by marinating the mushrooms. My secret not-so-secret-anymore marinade is so easy –  olive oil, balsamic, soy sauce and black pepper. The mushrooms become deeply browned and…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Orzo & Feta Stuffed Peppers

These vegetarian stuffed peppers are one of our favorite summer dinners! Filled with an herbed orzo & kale salad, they're light, healthy & easy to make.

Stuffed peppers are one of my go-to summer dinners. In fact, they’re so easy that when I posted this picture on Instagram last week, I got tons of emails asking for the fully measured recipe. Ask and you shall receive, so here it is: my current favorite recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers. But don’t let the measurements fool you – feel free to eyeball your ingredients if you don’t feel like breaking out the measuring cups. This vegetarian stuffed peppers recipe is simple and customizable! If you don’t have orzo, use couscous. Gluten-free? Millet or quinoa would also work well in place of the…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Quinoa Veggie Wrap

A veggie wrap is the epitome of flavor + convenience. These pesto & quinoa salad-stuffed veggie wraps are bright, fresh & perfect for taking on the go.

In my opinion, the world cannot have too many quinoa salads. Don’t get me wrong, I love the other grains too – farro, millet, and wheatberries are all lovely – but my real go-to grain is quinoa. I love to make a big batch and keep it on hand, as it’s the perfect catch-all for the vegetables, nuts, and cheeses that I usually have around. Of course, since this salad was destined for a picnic without any silverware, I decided to have my cake (salad?) and eat it too by stuffing it in a veggie wrap. My Veggie Wrap Filling The hearty, fresh…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Heirloom Tomato & Mango Pico

I love pico and I love mango salsa, so I’m not sure why it took so long to come up with the delicious idea to combine the two. This is probably the prettiest salsa I’ve ever made, but I also love the flavor and texture variety that each tomato brings to the table bowl. Cherry tomatoes are sweet, green tomatoes are more tart and firm. I always find myself adding a pinch of sugar to my tomato salsa for balance, but that’s not necessary this time because of the sweet juicy mango. Make a big batch, it’ll keep in your fridge for 3-4 days…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Almond Breeze Brunch Workshop

I made "emoji smoothies," whole grain vegan waffles, and a tomato basil frittata for a brunch workshop in LA. Check out the recipes here!

Happy Friday! I hope you have brunch plans this weekend, because today I have a little brunch recipe inspiration to get you started… Last weekend, we flew to California to host this super fun brunch cooking class with Almond Breeze. It was a blast getting to meet & cook with a few fans of the blog (of all ages!). First we made my favorite frittata recipe with summer squash, cherry tomatoes and basil. This is a great easy recipe, especially with the abundance of late summer produce that’s in season right now. Of course we couldn’t have an almond milk party without smoothies. At the class, we made super…

TO THE POST >>>>

Portobello Mushroom Tacos

Make these portobello mushroom tacos for an easy, flavorful dinner! Creamy vegan jalapeño sauce spices up the tangy, meaty mushroom filling.

These may be portobello mushroom tacos, but secretly, they’re all about the sauce. It’s a vegan riff on ranch dressing made with cashews, roasted jalapeños, and cucumber, and it’s so good that I have a hard time not eating it all with a spoon! However, resisting it long enough to top it onto these mushroom tacos is totally worth the wait. Cool, creamy, spicy, and bright, it perfectly accents the tangy, meaty grilled mushrooms and fresh garnishes in this recipe. The combination is really terrific – if you try these mushroom tacos once, they’ll have a permanent place in your…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Vegan Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Vegan cherry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies get a fantastic pop of flavor from dried cherries. Made with coconut oil, flax, and maple syrup.

In my opinion, these vegan chocolate oatmeal cookies are the perfect cookies. If you’re not vegan, don’t let the “vegan” part of this title distract you – there’s nothing vegan tasting about them. These are cookies that happen to be vegan because I like to save my eggs for breakfast and, well, I like to eat more raw cookie dough than the average person. These cookies are rich, chewy, and sweet, but not too sweet. They have the most delicious pop of flavor from the dried tart cherries, which are the star here. They’re soft, plump, and chewy, and they’ve made…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Eggplant and Roasted Tomato Salad

A trip to Italy inspired this delicious, 10-ingredient salad recipe. Packed with roasted tomatoes, eggplant, and basil, it's a perfect summer dish.

I keep a food journal when we travel. It’s nothing fancy, just a little book that isn’t my iPhone. There are no pictures or charming doodles… there aren’t really even sentences, just scribbles of ingredients and descriptions of what we ate and where. Some dishes, I’ll try to recreate at home, but not all of them. The chosen few that make it into my kitchen come down to a few criteria: how badly I crave something, the ability to decipher my chicken-scratch handwriting, and the availability of similar ingredients. This eggplant and tomato salad (a take-away lunch I ate one day at Roscioli) easily checked all…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

Jumpstart your day with this Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl! With fresh fruit, toasted nuts, and warm spices, it's refreshing, healthy, and satisfying.

If you saw what I eat for breakfast every day, you would be so bored. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my daily eggs & avocado, but lately I’ve been trying to switch things up just because I think change is good every once in a while. Especially if that change means another excuse to smother things in peaches. This quinoa breakfast bowl is inspired by the beautiful bowls of oatmeal that I see all over the internet. You know the ones – they’re chock full of colorful fruit and other various superfoods. They’re so pretty that they make me wish I…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Favorite Summer Sips & Sweets

I keep hearing all of this crazy-talk about summer being almost over. I suppose backpacks are on the shelves at Target, but until the first pumpkin muffin shows up on Pinterest, summer is in full swing to me. To celebrate my favorite season not being over, here are a few of my favorite cocktails and sweet treats… Ginger Peach Sangria Tart Cherry Frozen Yogurt  /  Watermelon St. Germain Cocktails Fancy S’mores / Cherry Cheesecake Parfaits … and last but not least: Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillets. (You could also bake these as normal cookies or in ramekins). What are you making this weekend?

TO THE POST >>>>
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.