Negroni

This Negroni recipe is easy to make with equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. It's a delicious, classic cocktail—bitter, citrusy, and sweet.

A Negroni is one of Jack’s favorite summer cocktails. If I’m sipping an Aperol spritz or a glass of white wine (or even better, rosé), there’s a good chance he’s enjoying this classic Italian drink. He’s not the only one who’s a fan—the Negroni cocktail became a bit of a (ok, a major) trend in the last few years, so I thought it was about time we shared a recipe here, especially now that we’re heading into summer. You can find our go-to Negroni recipe below. This classic recipe is easy to make with 4 ingredients, and it has a boozy,…

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35 Easy Memorial Day Recipes

Our best Memorial Day recipes! We've rounded up summer salads, sides, dips, desserts, and more—everything you need for a delicious cookout.

The unofficial start of summer is just a few days away—it’s time to plan your Memorial Day menu! I’ve rounded up our best Memorial Day recipes below. They include fresh appetizers, salads, side dishes, drinks, desserts, and more. They’d all be perfect for a Memorial Day cookout…and cookouts all summer long. I know I’ll have many of these recipes on repeat this summer. I hope you also find some you love! Memorial Day Appetizer Recipes Antipasto Platter Bring an Italian vacation to your own backyard with this aperitivo-inspired platter! It’s loaded with marinated mozzarella balls, gigante beans, olives, and more.…

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How To Brown Butter

What's better than regular butter? Brown butter! Its toasty, nutty flavor adds delicious depth to baked goods. Learn how to make it with this simple guide!

Learn how to brown butter! I’m always a fan of simplicity when it comes to baking. But for the right recipe, even I will admit that pulling out an extra pan and taking a few minutes to brown butter is worth it. Brown butter has a rich, nutty scent and toasty flavor—think butterscotch. When you add it to baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and blondies, it packs in all that toasty, nutty goodness, making your treats taste extra-delicious and complex. Browning butter intimidated me for years, but with the right equipment (a light-colored pan is KEY!), it’s actually super easy.…

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Red Potato Salad

This red potato salad recipe is a picnic-perfect side dish! Tossed in a tangy mustard dressing and loaded with fresh herbs, it's bright and flavorful.

Potato salad skeptics, get ready—this red potato salad might win you over! Unlike a classic creamy potato salad, it doesn’t feature a mayo-forward dressing or hard boiled eggs. Instead, this red potato salad is ultra-bright and fresh, tossed in a zingy mustard dressing and loaded with savory herbs and crunchy celery. Bring it to your next picnic, and you’ll bring home an empty bowl (I promise!). I love this salad because it actually gets better as it sits, making it a perfect make-ahead side dish for potlucks and picnics. I’m looking forward to making it on repeat this summer. I hope…

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Margarita

We'll be making this classic margarita recipe all summer long. With just 5 ingredients, it’s so simple to make—break out the tequila and limes ASAP!

This classic margarita recipe is our favorite cocktail to make at home. We love it for two reasons. First, because it’s so simple. If you have tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur on hand, you can make it in under 5 minutes! Second, because it’s so delicious. The lime juice gives it a tart, refreshing kick, which the sweet orange liqueur and agave balance nicely. On a warm spring or summer evening, there’s nothing I’d rather drink. If you’re new to making cocktails, this recipe is a great place to start. Mix it up for a happy hour, Cinco de…

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Easy Tostadas

This easy tostada recipe is a fast, fresh dinner! I pile crispy tortillas with flavorful toppings like refried beans, avocado, veggies, and cheese.

This tostada recipe is a fun, fresh, and FAST weeknight dinner. Just load up crunchy tostadas with toppings like refried beans, crisp lettuce and cabbage, tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. Squeeze with lime juice, and dig in! This recipe has become a great family meal for us lately…because it’s not a true “recipe” at all. It’s more of a suggestion—the toppings here are flexible, and in our house, everyone chooses their own. I take my tostadas with extra avocado and spicy peppers, Jack skips the avocado and piles on extra cheese, and Ollie goes for whatever he’s in the mood for that…

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Pickled Serrano Peppers

Love spicy food? These pickled serrano peppers are for you! I like making them to add a pop of tangy, spicy flavor to tacos, nachos, and more.

Move over, jalapeños! Serrano peppers are my current chile obsession for one simple reason: they’re spicier. Serrano vs. Jalapeño Peppers On the Scoville Scale, the official system for measuring the pungency of peppers, serrano peppers score higher than jalapeños. They clock in at 10,000 to 23,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units) versus jalapeños’ Scoville rating of 2,500 to 8,000. That’s 3 to 4 times hotter! But lately, I’ve felt like the difference in heat level between jalapeño and serrano peppers is even greater than that. I think the jalapeños at my grocery store are tasting more and more like green bell…

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Grilled Asparagus

This grilled asparagus recipe is my favorite spring and summer side dish. Simply seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, it's fresh and delicious.

Grilled asparagus is the best spring and summer side dish! It’s tender, juicy, and lightly charred, and it cooks in minutes on the grill. Seasoned simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, it pairs perfectly with almost any meal. Below, you’ll find my easy method for cooking asparagus on the grill, along with my favorite ways to serve it. Even if you’re an asparagus skeptic, I hope you’ll try this recipe. My husband Jack used to claim he hated asparagus, but once he tried it grilled, he became a convert. Who knows? You might…

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Strawberry Spinach Salad

This strawberry spinach salad is filled with pecans, feta, and a tangy poppy seed dressing. Perfect for spring or summer, it's simple and fresh.

This strawberry spinach salad is perfect for spring and early summer. It starts with a base of fresh spinach—one of the first vegetables to appear at my farmers market each spring—and is topped off with juicy strawberries, crisp red onion, toasty pecans, and salty feta cheese. My sweet and tangy poppy seed dressing ties it all together. I think it’s fair to say that this combination is pretty classic (doesn’t Panera have a strawberry poppyseed salad on its menu?), but I still wanted to share this recipe because it’s so simple and fresh, with a wonderful pop of sweetness and color…

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Poppy Seed Dressing

This poppy seed dressing recipe is easy to make with 6 ingredients. Lightly creamy, sweet, and tangy, it's delicious on green salads, slaws, and more!

I can already tell that this poppy seed dressing is going to be the star of my spring and summer salad dressing rotation. It’s lightly creamy, sweet, and tangy, perfect for adding a pop of bright flavor to green salads, slaws, and more. I first started making it to use on my strawberry spinach salad, but once I had it in my fridge, I found that it went well on SO many different combinations of fruits and veggies. This poppy seed dressing is one to make on repeat. Like all my homemade salad dressings, this poppy seed dressing is easy…

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How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

Learn how to make hard boiled eggs perfectly every time! With this easy method, they'll be easy to peel and have vibrant yellow yolks.

Here’s the good news: perfect hard boiled eggs are easy to make. …And the bad news: so are less-than-perfect ones. I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly cooked my fair share of the latter. When you try to peel away the shell, half the whites come along with it, or when you cut it open, the yolk is slightly green instead of brilliant yellow. Pretty disappointing, if you ask me. See, cooking perfect hard boiled eggs is easy, but that doesn’t mean that the process you use doesn’t matter. After years of trial and error, I’m happy to say…

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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.