Tart Cherry Grilled Cheese with Sage

Ultimate Tart Cherry (or Sour Cherry) white cheddar grilled cheese recipe with sage. Superfood meets comfort food!

When it comes to grilled cheese sandwiches, I think more is more. I say, skip the white bread and American singles and instead opt for: 1. thick grainy bread 2. fancy sharp cheese 3. fresh herbs 4. something sweet or tart, to balance it all out In this case, component #4 – the tart cherries – are sweet and tart, making this my ultimate grilled cheese. Plus, I like to sneak in superfoods wherever I can. Tart cherries (also called sour cherries) have some unique super-fruit benefits. They’re a natural anti-inflammatory as well as a source of melatonin. Nutrition aside,…

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Loaded Sweet Potato Avocado Toast

Loaded Chipotle Sweet Potatoes & Kale with Pickled Radishes are fun, healthy, and filling toppings for classic avocado toast! A perfect vegan snack or main.

I know – avocado toast is SO over, and even if it weren’t, you don’t need a recipe for it. This trend might be on it’s way out, but you’ll still find me (and pretty much everyone else on Instagram) happily smashing & snapping away. I usually keep mine simple – avocado, lemon, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. It’s a perfect combo that doesn’t need to be messed with, but since this was “dinner toast” for us one night last week, I thought I’d get a little fancier with the toppings. (Also, Jack is still claiming that he…

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Goji & Mango Guacamole

Even if you're a guac purist, you'll love this mango guacamole. Sweet goji berries, mango & lime cut through the avocado, making for a light, fresh dip.

Hi everyone, Jack here again. Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner and you know what that means? Dip! Even though I’m not traditionally in love with avocado, I love the way Jeanine makes guacamole, and plus, nothing says “go team” like go-ji, right? Right? Now you may be thinking “oh, Jeanine has Jack writing this because he’s a football man or something.” Well, I have to admit, team sports are not my thing. Three things that ARE my thing, and the reasons I’m manning this post, are Super Bowl parties, food dipped in other food, and goji puns. This mango…

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Green Quesadillas

In this frigid weather, nothing sounds better to me than soups and sandwiches. But if you’re like me and you keep tortillas on hand more regularly than bread – quesadillas are the perfect little soup or salad accompaniment. I always love to sneak a few greens into my food but today there’s no hiding it. These green-on-green-on-green quesadillas start with spinach tortillas that I stuffed with cheese, jalapeños, cilantro and sliced collard greens (feel free to sub spinach, kale, or whatever you have on hand)… and pickled shallots for a bright tangy bite. These are especially good with our Spicy Black Bean Soup.

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Peanut Butter Goji Berry Granola Bars

Delicious & healthy homemade granola bars made with peanut butter, goji berries, pepitas, pistachios, and a little chocolate. Gluten-free and easy to make!

Happy New Year! Today I’m guest posting over at Better Homes and Gardens’ Dish Delish Blog. These granola bars were inspired by their recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Granola Bars, which reminded me of the ones my mom used to pack into my school lunch everyday. I might not have that Barbie and the Rockers lunchbox anymore, but I thought it would be fun to recreate this favorite afternoon treat in a healthier way. My version is packed with goji berries, chia seeds, pistachios, pepitas, (and of course, chocolate)… These are so quick & easy to make. Click over to the BHG Dish…

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Buttercup Squash Crumble Bars

The ultimate fall dessert - these crumbly, creamy butternut squash bars are topped with chocolate and coconut. (Plus a video!!)

I had this buttercup squash (perhaps the funkiest looking squash of them all), sitting on my countertop for the longest time. It likely would have become soup had it not been for the name itself –  “buttercup” which spoke to me and said: let’s make a crumbly & buttery dessert! I won’t go as far to say this is healthy, but hey, it’s the holidays and we’re making dessert, so let’s live a little. These bars are made with good quality organic ingredients (and remember: squash). This recipe is loosely based on my recipe for raspberry crumble bars. I switched out…

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Vegan Kale & Artichoke Dip

Vegan Kale & Artichoke dip is a healthy spin on the classic spinach artichoke dip. It's the perfect appetizer for holiday parties or winter gatherings!

Hey all, Jack here – now that it’s the end of the year, it’s holiday party time! And what does it normally mean to eat at a party in the winter? To a lot of Americans, that means spinach artichoke dip. I mean, what makes you feel like partying more than eating an entire loaf of bread dipped in cream cheese and mayonnaise? Well, Jeanine and I don’t really think that’s much of a party any more. Our idea of a party is one where the next day you (or your guests) don’t feel awful. So we took a bit of…

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Pistachio Cranberry Cookies

I made a half batch of these cookies, which was clearly a mistake. I ate the last one for breakfast this morning and I could really go for another one right about now. Chewy, oaty, nutty… slightly sweet and warmly spiced… it’s the kind of cookie that’s just healthy enough to get by as breakfast but would be even more perfect as a 2pm snack. If only… This recipe is just slightly adapted from Amy Chaplin’s book At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen, which is hands down one of the most beautiful cookbooks I’ve ever held. I’ve been a fan of Amy’s for the…

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Pear Crisp

This pear crisp recipe is such an easy, delicious fall dessert! The sweet, soft fruit and nutty crumble are fantastic with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I love to think of this pear crisp recipe as a “pair crisp.” With quotation marks. Because this is a dessert for 2. Get it? Jack is sitting next to me right now shaking his head, but honestly, I love desserts that are easy to make in small portions. See, if I made a pear crisp recipe large enough to serve 4, it would still serve just the two of us. Just one more bite after one more bite, and it would all be over. We have no control, especially around sweet, cinnamon-spiced fall desserts like this one. (And pssst!…

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Pumpkin Hummus Quesadillas

Spiced pumpkin hummus is a delicious vegan filling in these fall quesadillas! Load them with guacamole, greens & if not vegan, cheese! Weeknight-friendly.

Here’s my question for all of you pumpkin lovers out there – what do you do with your leftover pumpkin puree? So many recipes (including my own) call for 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree. Whether I open a can or roast a whole pumpkin, I’m always left with leftover mash. It calls at me from the fridge saying “how about pumpkin cookies?” or “let’s make muffins.” But after consuming too many pancakes for the making of last week’s post, I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet. So I got this idea for pumpkin hummus… and I thought it would be great smushed in between tortillas with…

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Vegan Chocolate PB&J Cups

Ever think “I’d like to combine my favorite school lunch with my favorite halloween candy?” Well neither had I – until Jeanine (this is Jack, by the way) came up with this crazy and amazing snack idea. And she even put some salt on top, just to cement it as the best peanut-butter cup idea ever. I’m sorry that this post is a bit light on the photos – I kind of… ate… the subjects before we could take more follow up shots. Sorry about that. Just make your own – you won’t regret it. These are also vegan and gluten…

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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.