Mango Pesto

Admittedly, I have a pesto obsession (see here, here & here). Adding mango wasn’t something that ever occurred to me, but I’ve been trying to think of simple creative ways to use mango. (And no this isn’t another Arrested Development post, if you know what I mean. If you don’t, you can google it)… But mango pesto – so delicious, who knew? I just love this lighter and brighter twist, especially for summer. You can be healthy, like we were, and eat it as a snack with sliced cucumbers. Or you can do what we did with the leftovers – scoop it on…

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Frozen Chocolate Bananas

vegan / gluten free

This is Jack – the “and” in Love and Lemons – and this is my first post. For awhile now, Jeanine has been mentioning that I should make some posts. But I didn’t want to tread on her writing territory, and I’m used to the “video gamer” view of the internet, where people are mean and petty. This “food blog internet” where people are sweet and polite is frighting and confusing to me. As the one year anniversary of the blog has come and gone, my apprehension went from “what do I say” to “what do I make?” I can…

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Pea & Chickpea Pasta Salad

spring / pasta / gluten free

This has been a favorite lately. I’ve made it countless times before I even thought of posting it here. It’s too easy… the ingredient list is short, and you likely already have these these things on hand. It’s super delicious and it takes no time to toss together. If I weren’t always trying to come up with new ideas, I would stop here and we would eat this most nights of the week. (Maybe switch out the veggies every so often to change it up). I whisked a little dijon with olive oil and lemon juice before tossing it with…

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Fried Egg & Mango Salsa Waffle

breakfast / spring / mango

Happy Friday! This one makes me so happy that the weekend is just about here… This is part 1 of a fun project I’ve been working on with the Mango Board as part of their “Mangover” campaign. (makeover + mangoes, get it?) It’s about simply adding mango to ordinary food for an unexpected pop of color & tangy sweetness. Once a week they’re asking their facebook fans for meal ideas they would like to see made over with mango. This week (breakfast week), the choice was waffles and eggs. So I made a quick mango salsa with avocado, smoked paprika and a pinch…

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Gluten-free Almond Coconut Bars

snacks & dips / gluten free / book review

This recipe is from the hilarious new book Gluten is my Bitch: Rants, Recipes and Ridiculousness for the Gluten Free, by April Peveteaux. If you’ve been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease and are feeling sorry for yourself, this is a must-read. If you’re like me and you deal with other food sensitivity issues, you’ll have a good laugh reading April’s stories because you totally “get it.” And because she is just so freaking funny. My favorite part has to be the chapter about traveling as a gluten-free person. It’s called “Paris doesn’t have to suck, but it might.” I had…

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Creamy Leek & Almond Pasta

A healthy & light creamy pasta made with almond milk, cremini mushrooms, greens, lemon, basil and sun dried tomatoes. Vegan option.

spring / almond milk / pasta

Meals like this are the reason I love cooking at home. These are the kinds of dishes that my lactose intolerant self can’t order at restaurants. The amount of butter and cream that go into pastas and risottos… I don’t even want to know. I worked on this a few different ways. I was going to make an almond version of cashew cream (similar to this one), but I decided I didn’t want to ask you to break out the blender. At least not this time. The winner was this version where I simmered leeks & mushrooms in almond milk. Such…

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Coconut Mint Ice Cream

Dairy free mint ice cream - a delicious holiday treat with vegan chocolate magic shell topping.

spring / vegan

Let me start by saying that mint chocolate chip has never been my top choice. It’s always been my sister’s favorite, I was more of a cookies & cream kind of girl. But this blog makes me try things I might have otherwise not… For example, I bought turnips the other day at the farmers market just because they looked cute. When I saw this green mug, I craved just one thing: Mint ice cream. To my surprise (and Jack’s too), mint ice cream made with fresh mint is amazing! It’s a completely different ice cream flavor altogether. First off,…

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Creamy Tortilla Soup

Blended corn tortillas thicken this creamy vegan tortilla soup. It's boldly flavored with cumin, oregano, chipotle powder & a splash of sherry vinegar.

soups / vegan / gluten free

I have this tortilla rotation: I buy (or make) fresh tortillas, and I freeze the ones I don’t use within a day or two. I’ll use those frozen tortillas for a while reheated directly on the gas stovetop. But before that batch is gone, I’ll inevitably acquire new ones. Soon enough, I have a random assortment of tortillas filling my freezer, all at various stages of pre-freezer burn. And then I make this vegetarian tortilla soup. About this vegetarian tortilla soup There are two types of tortilla soup: the thin brothy kind, which is usually made with chicken, and this creamy style.…

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Spring Kale Panzanella

spring / kale / salads

This very green salad couldn’t be more timely. Jack and I spent all weekend tasting inhaling food at the Austin Food & Wine fest. And then we spent last night in some sort of food coma. Overall, I think we showed pretty good restraint… That is until Saturday night’s “Rock your Taco” event. We rocked tacos alright… And then a few tacos rocked us. But no regrets… kale to the rescue. A big bowl of it. This salad is part marinated kale and part and panzanella. Two of my favorite salads, together as one. Kale, fennel slices, peas and feta…

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Cinco de Mango

Mango recipes! mango salsa, mango margarita spritzer, mango black bean tacos, and a mango avocado salad.

spring / summer / entertaining

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo a little early this year with a mango fiesta. You should too because mangoes are on sale (like, $1 something) at Whole Foods until the end of April. I brought home muchos mangoes last weekend and mixed up this sweet & spicy salsa. Then (from the same salsa recipe), I made black bean tacos and an avocado-mango salad. And, of course, no fiesta is complete without tequila. I made a lighter version of a margarita – a mango margarita spritzer. Cheers!

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Rosemary Lemon Pasta

spring / vegan / lemon

A trip to Italy is in the works. Did I just say that? Ok, an idea of a trip to Italy is in the works. You’re the second to know… I just informed Jack the other night. Even though we have a long list of places we have not been to, somehow every few years we (the royal we) feel a calling to go back. Whenever I even hear someone mention a trip to Italy, I become insane with travel envy. So you can imagine the kind of envy I felt when I heard the story of a couple who moved to the Italian…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.