Homemade Mac and Cheese

This homemade mac and cheese recipe will be a hit with the whole family! It's insanely cheesy, so creamy, and baked with crispy breadcrumbs on top.

If your family is anything like ours, then this baked mac and cheese recipe will be a huge hit. Jack can’t get enough of it, I keep finding myself going back for more, and our kiddo has been asking for “MAC!” ever since the first time he tried it. It’s creamy, it’s cheesy, and it’s packed with gooey noodles and crispy, toasty breadcrumbs. Seriously, comfort food doesn’t get better than this. I’ve been wanting to add a baked macaroni and cheese recipe to the blog for a while now. A few years back, I ran an Instagram poll about holiday…

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Mushroom Gravy

This mushroom gravy recipe will take your mashed potatoes to a whole new level! It's vegan, but even meat lovers will fall for its rich, savory flavor.

I’ve had a mushroom gravy recipe on my list to make for years. After trying this one, all I can think is, “What took me so long?!” This mushroom gravy is rich, velvety, and packed with savory flavor. It’s totally vegan, but it’ll give any gravy made with meat or butter a run for its money. Every time I make it, I always eat a few spoonfuls straight from the pan. It’s that good! Pour it over mashed potatoes once, and you’ll never want to eat them any other way. Vegan Mushroom Gravy Recipe Ingredients This mushroom gravy recipe comes…

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie

This vegan pumpkin pie recipe is easy to make with 8 ingredients! With a rich, creamy filling and flaky crust, it's a delicious Thanksgiving dessert.

I’m making this vegan pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving this year, and I already can’t wait. I’ll never turn down a slice of pumpkin pie—it’s been my favorite Thanksgiving dessert since I was a kid. But this vegan pumpkin pie recipe takes the classic dessert to another level. The pumpkin filling has an amazing creamy texture and rich, spiced flavor. It contrasts perfectly with the crisp, flaky crust. Tasting it, you’d never guess that it’s made without dairy or eggs. This vegan pumpkin pie recipe is easy to make with 8 simple ingredients. It needs to chill after baking, so…

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Green Bean Casserole

This green bean casserole recipe is an updated take on the classic dish. It's made from scratch with fresh green beans and a creamy mushroom sauce.

Green bean casserole is always on my family’s Thanksgiving menu, right alongside the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We, like many folks, made the version with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, French fried onions, and canned green beans for years…until I set myself the task of making a homemade green bean casserole from scratch. Let me introduce you to the results: this green bean casserole recipe. It stars fresh green beans, crispy baked onions, and a rich and creamy mushroom sauce that blows the canned soup out of the water. Once I tried it, I couldn’t go back to…

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Roasted Acorn Squash

Learn how to cook acorn squash with this easy recipe! Roasted with olive oil, maple syrup, and herbs, it's a simple, delicious fall or winter side dish.

This roasted acorn squash recipe is my favorite way to cook acorn squash. It couldn’t be simpler: just cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake it with olive oil, savory herbs, and a drizzle of maple syrup. After roasting, the squash is amazingly tender, with a subtly sweet, nutty flavor. Who says recipes have to be complicated in order to be delicious?! This roasted squash is an easy side dish for fall weeknights, but it tastes so good that it would fit right in at Thanksgiving dinner too. Whether you’re learning how to cook acorn squash for…

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Coffee Cake

This coffee cake recipe is a delicious treat for breakfast or brunch. It's moist and tender, with a cinnamon swirl in the middle and buttery crumble on top.

This coffee cake recipe is based on my grandmother’s. Her classic coffee cake was one of my favorite treats when I was growing up. It was moist, tender, rich, and buttery, and it had a delicious swirl of brown sugar and cinnamon through the middle. I didn’t pair it with a cup of coffee back then, but after enjoying many slices of this version with both coffee and tea, I can attest that it’ll be a perfect companion for your hot beverage of choice. In testing this cinnamon coffee cake, I only made a few small changes to my grandmother’s…

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Whole Roasted Cauliflower

A stunning main or side dish, this whole roasted cauliflower is tender, delicious, and simple to make. A quick harissa sauce adds bold flavor.

Let’s make a whole roasted cauliflower! This veggie “roast” might be my all-time favorite dish to make for a dinner party or a holiday meal. It’s simple (the oven does most of the work for you!), it can pass as a main dish for some folks and as a side for others, and it looks so impressive at the center of the table. And this whole roasted cauliflower recipe doesn’t disappoint on taste either. Thanks to a long, two-part roast, it’s beautifully browned on the outside and meltingly tender to its core. I’ve included instructions for roasting it plain in…

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Easy Baked Ziti

Feeding a crowd? This baked ziti recipe is the easiest way to do it! Saucy, cheesy, comforting, and flavorful, this fuss-free pasta is always a hit.

Have you tried this baked ziti recipe?! It’s a fan favorite on the blog, and it’s one of our family favorites as well. If you have yet to make it, I hope you will soon. This easy baked ziti is a perfect no-fuss recipe for feeding a crowd, and the combo of marinara sauce, pasta, and three (yes, three!) types of cheese is so comforting. This baked ziti recipe is my veggie spin on the version I grew up eating. Reliably present at every potluck or party I attended, it was my favorite comfort food. I loved the jumbles of…

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Hasselback Potatoes

These hasselback potatoes are an impressive (and delicious!) side dish. Cut into a fan of thin slices, they're crisp on the edges and tender in the middle.

Hasselback potatoes! If you need a potato-y side dish for a special meal this season, I can’t recommend these fancy-looking spuds enough. They’re cut into thin slices most of the way through, but they’re left intact at the bottom, so the slices form a kind of fan. As they bake in the oven, the slices become tender in the middle and wonderfully crisp around the edges, channeling their inner potato chip. So delicious! The concept of the hasselback potato is nothing new—it dates back to the 1950s, where the potatoes were first served at the Hasselbacken Restaurant and Hotel in…

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Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut butter blossoms will make all your chocolatey, peanut-y Christmas dreams come true! These classic cookies are delicious and easy to make.

Who else loves peanut butter blossoms?! If I see these festive treats on a cookie plate around the holidays, I reach for one right away. I think they’re kind of genius. Peanut butter cookies are great on their own. So are chocolate kisses. But together, this pair is completely irresistible. I love how the rich chocolate candy melds into the soft, sugar-crusted cookie. And I mean, nothing bad ever happens when peanut butter and chocolate team up. It’s no wonder that peanut butter blossoms are a Christmas classic. If you’re planning to make a batch this holiday season, check out…

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Apple Pie Filling

Learn how to make apple pie filling from scratch! Sweet, tart, juicy, and warmly spiced, it's delicious in pies and on ice cream, pancakes, and more.

Once I started making this apple pie filling recipe, I knew I’d never fill an apple pie any other way. The apples come out with the perfect texture–tender, but not mushy–and they’re dripping with syrupy, cinnamon-spiced juices. If you’re making an apple pie this fall, I can’t recommend this filling highly enough. But even if you’re not making a pie, I still hope you’ll try this recipe. This homemade apple pie filling doesn’t need to hide inside a flaky, buttery crust to be a delicious treat. The soft, sweet-tart apples are fantastic on ice cream or yogurt, stirred into oatmeal, or…

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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.