Love & Lemons Cooking Club – May!

Join the Love & Lemons Cooking Club Challenge this month! It's easy to enter, and one lucky winner will receive a prize. Find all the details below.

Sesame soba noodles with avocado, snap peas, radishes, edamame, and herbs

Our Cooking Club is a fun way to celebrate the Love & Lemons community of readers. The concept is super simple—each month, I choose a recipe. You make it, and you leave a comment on the recipe’s blog post. At the end of the month, I randomly select one winner to receive a prize.

I love the sense of community that comes from so many people cooking one recipe each month. We’re kicking off our May challenge today with our sesame soba noodles, and I hope you’ll join in the fun. Here’s how it works:

Join the Love & Lemons Cooking Club

  1. Each month, I choose one seasonal recipe. Sign up for our email list so you’ll know as soon as I share each month’s recipe.
  2. Make that recipe during the month.
  3. Leave a comment on the challenge recipe’s blog post by the end of the month. This time, the deadline is May 31!
  4. For a bonus entry, send a picture of what you made to cookingclub@loveandlemons.com.
  5. For another bonus entry, post your photo on Instagram, tagging @loveandlemons and #loveandlemonscookingclub.

The Prize: A $100 Whole Foods Gift Card!

At the end of the month, I’ll randomly select a winner and share some of your photos. This time, we’re giving away a $100 Whole Foods gift card. 

In addition, for every entry we receive, we’ll donate $1 to No Kid Hungry.

Dry soba noodles, radishes, mint, blanched snap peas, avocado, and edamame on marble

May’s Recipe: Sesame Soba Noodles

This month’s recipe is an oldie, but a goodie: my sesame soba noodles! I first shared it on the blog years ago (I think in 2019??), but it’s still something I make all the time, especially in spring.

I toss the gooey noodles with crisp veggies, avocado, fresh herbs, and a tangy, nutty sesame dressing. It’s a fantastic make-ahead lunch (just wait to add the avocado + mint until the last minute), and it makes a great weeknight dinner too!

Tbh, I don’t always stick to the exact veggies in the recipe, and you don’t have to either. Blanched asparagus, broccoli, bok choy, sliced cucumbers, and more would be delicious here. Add your favorites or use what you have!

Make this recipe gluten-free: Use 100% buckwheat soba noodles or rice noodles. Make sure your tamari is certified gluten-free.

It’s vegan already!

Get the recipe:

Enter the May Challenge

Want to enter? Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Make my sesame soba noodles sometime in May.
  2. Comment on the sesame soba noodles blog post by May 31.
  3. For a bonus entry, send a photo of what you made to cookingclub@loveandlemons.com.
  4. For another bonus entry, post your photo on Instagram, tagging @loveandlemons and #loveandlemonscookingclub.
  5. Sign up for our email list to find out about next month’s recipe!

I’ll randomly select a winner and share some of your photos in early June.

Last Month’s Recipe

Last month, we made my chickpea salad, another of my favorite spring lunches. You all loved it too and completely made it your own, which I’m always excited to see. Here are a few variations I’m going to have to try:

  • Sinclair made it a pasta salad by adding rotini.
  • Jennifer mixed in farro, tricolor quinoa, and feta.
  • Robyn doubled the dressing, added artichoke hearts, and served it with garlic toast. Yum!
  • Emiley used peppers and carrots instead of tomatoes.
  • Shannon added pickled cauliflower!

And so many more! Head to the blog post and read through the comments if you ever need fun ideas for changing this one up. Thanks again to all who joined in!

Here are some of your photos:

And congrats to our winner, Klara!

To Recap

Enter the May Cooking Club Challenge by…

  1. Making my sesame soba noodles sometime in May.
  2. Leaving a comment on the soba noodles blog post by May 31.
  3. Sending a picture of your noodles to cookingclub@loveandlemons.com for a bonus entry.
  4. And for another bonus entry, posting your photo on Instagram, tagging @loveandlemons and #loveandlemonscookingclub.

Happy cooking!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Welcome to Love & Lemons!

I'm Jeanine Donofrio, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author and recipe developer. I share fresh, delicious vegetarian recipes that celebrate seasonal ingredients and flavors.

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