A Friends Giving Menu

A non-traditional menu for Thanksgiving with friends (a.k.a Friendsgiving)

Thanksgiving is next week, which means this weekend is for Friendsgiving! What I love about Friendsgiving is that it’s more than ok to change up T-giving traditions – to keep the ones you like and ditch the ones you don’t (bye bye canned green bean casserole!). To celebrate, I’ve put together a menu of some of my personal favorite recipes that I think will be perfect for the occasion. But before we get there, we should always remember that you can’t have a “Friendsgiving” without “giving.” To that end, and to help bring more food to more people this holiday,…

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Spring-y Swiss Chard Recipes

Happy Sunday – thanks for all of your sweet comments the other day about our book announcement! I’ve been hitting the farmers markets pretty hard lately working on spring recipes – something that always grabs my attention while I’m there is chard. Here are a few of my favorite swiss chard recipes, and also a few from around the web that look SO delicious… a few of these are definitely easter brunch worthy: Swiss Chard Penne Pasta Bake Rainbow Chard & Wheatberries Pickled Chard Stems Pickled Chard Quinoa Bowls Rainbow Chard Soup, from Kitchen Konfidence Garlicky Swiss Chard and Chickpeas, from Foodiecrush Swiss Chard…

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28 Seasonal Favorites + Carrot Top Pesto

Your ultimate resource for carrot, brussels sprout, mushroom, sweet potato, and kale recipes. AND a carrot top pesto!

Two things I’m obsessed with: vegetables (no surprise there), and Instagram. I love posting images of pretty vegetables, but I also look to my feed for fresh, colorful veggie inspiration. Which is why I’m excited to participate this week in #urwhatupost – a fruit and vegetable takeover movement by Bolthouse Farms. They’ve created this cool website that shows how many people are tagging healthy vs. unhealthy foods in real time. For example, as I type this, the scale is about 65% junk food, and 35% fresh produce, but today through March 6th, we’re trying to change that. Things like #icecream…

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Warm & Cozy Winter Recipes

Hi everyone, Jack here. The northeast is getting absolutely hammered with a snowpocalype, and when that happens, we know that most people just want to bundle up, binge watch some TV, and make simple, comforting dishes. So we dropped everything to get you a list of some of our favorite winter soups, stews, and a great hot chocolate drink. First thing’s first (pictured above) is our Spicy Black Bean Soup. Creamy Polenta & Mushrooms is not only one of my favorite looking dishes but it combines two of my favorite things – creamy comfort food and mushrooms. Want something hearty? Sweet Potato Vegetarian Chili is what you…

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Healthy Green Recipes

There’s no shortage of delicious green ideas on the internet right now, but I thought I’d pop in and share a few of my favorites. Whether you’re a resolution maker or not, I think we can all agree that a little extra kale around this time of year isn’t a bad idea. (Click right on the photos to go to each recipe, links are also at the bottom of the post). Oops, how did these get in here: pictured: Matcha Mango Smoothies / Coconut Matcha Latte Kale Stem Pesto / Mint & Matcha Iced Tea Ginger Citrus Soba / Spaghetti Squash with Chickpeas &…

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Pinning: Fun & Festive Cocktails

I got a twitter notification the other day that said “congratulations, exactly 3 years ago you started with Twitter.” I’m not really one for remembering anniversaries, much less blog-o-versaries, but holy crap, 3 years and around 300 recipes later, here we are. I just have two words at the moment: THANKS & cheers! I’ve been narrowing down some new years eve cocktail ideas – here are a few that caught my eye, check out these and more on my holiday cocktail pinboard. And if you have any ideas, of course leave them below. Image credits: Edible Perspective  /  Wedding Chicks  /  Cookie and…

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Healthier Holiday Party Recipes

Is it just me or has every day this week felt like Friday? Since holiday party season is in full swing I thought I’d round up a few fun & festive recipes that are healthy-ish, and (mostly), finger food friendly. Click on the images to go to each recipe (or see links below)… Minty Pomegranate Spritzers / Butternut Squash & Sage Crostini / Avocado Pomegranate Crostini / Quinoa Stuffed Peppers / Parmesan & Fig Grilled Cheese / Vegan Soft Pretzels / Butternut Squash Croquettes  /  Vegan Stuffed Shells / Cookies!  /  White Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

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Healthy Winter Squash Recipes

Are you feeling as stuffed as I am? This year we actually celebrated Thanksgiving a week early with Jack’s family – yet I’m still full from his mom’s amazing apple pie and the leftovers we’ve been snacking on all week. This weekend, I’m craving food that’s a little bit healthier but still comforting and delicious so I thought I’d share just a few ideas: Butternut Squash & Leek Risotto (pictured) Spaghetti Squash with Chickpeas & Kale (pictured) Butternut Squash & Tart Cherry Quinoa Sweet Potato Pomegranate Salad Roasted Acorn Squash with Pears and Miso Dressing from Edible Perspective Sweet Potato Ravioli with Kale Pesto from The First…

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Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

Happy almost Thanksgiving! Whether you’re having a vegetarian holiday, or your son’s new girlfriend is vegan… OR you just plain love vegetables (like we do), here are a few veggie feast-worthy recipes that will hopefully inspire… Pictured above: Vegan Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes Ginger Apple Pumpkin Soup / Shredded Brussels Sprout & Apple Salad Butternut Squash, Walnut & Sage Pasta / Creamy Polenta & Mushrooms Rosemary Roasted Veggies / Kale & Shiitake Mushroom Stuffing Apple Zinger Tea-tails / Apple Cardamom Oat Crumble Plus, check out tons more in the Thanksgiving section of our recipe index…

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Soup weather recipes

We’ve left the house exactly two times in the last two days. It might not be snowing here like it is for many of you – but its rainy, cold and miserable. Which means it’s the perfect weather to stay in and make soup! Here are a few of my favorites (pictured above): Chickpea Miso Noodle Soup  /  Spicy Black Bean Soup Tomato Chickpea & Coconut Soup / Curried Sweet Potato Soup …and a few others that have me thinking warm thoughts: Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup on Sunday Spent Cooking Amy Chaplin’s Kabocha Squash + Chestnut Soup on The First Mess Cream of Broccoli & Cashew…

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5 Favorite Fall Recipes

5 of my fall favorites! Click inside for a crostini, sweet potato alfredo, loaded sweet potato, chili, and an apple crisp!

{ Sweet Potato Tahini Crostini } Pumpkins seem to get all the glory this time of year, but in my opinion, the humble sweet potato is the real star of fall cooking. As I put this list of favorite recipes together, I unintentionally chose (nearly) all sweet potato recipes. What can I say? They’re healthy, versatile, and are also (conveniently) easier to cut than butternut squashes, pumpkins, and other gourd varieties… { Vegan Sweet Potato Alfredo } { Healthy Loaded Sweet Potatoes } { Sweet Potato Vegetarian Chili } { Skillet Apple Crisp } Click here for even more fall recipes!

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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.