Basil Pesto Recipe

Pesto is one of my favorite condiments to keep on hand. Try these easy, fun pesto recipe variations to brighten pasta, salads, roasted veggies & more!

One of my favorite things about summer is the bounty of fresh herbs that are just outside my doorstep. Fresh herbs make any meal instantly more flavorful and beautiful. My favorite thing to do with all of those fresh herbs (aside from sprinkle them on everything) is to make pesto! It’s especially great for lazy summertime cooking. I like to dollop it on grilled vegetables, pasta, spaghetti squash, salads, eggs, toasted bread, pizza, sandwiches… you get the idea. With just a few easy steps, it makes anything an instant tasty meal, whether you feel like cooking or not. What is…

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Crostini Appetizers

Make a big, beautiful tray of easy crostini appetizers for your next gathering! With 6 flavor pairings, you'll have something for everyone.

Now that the 4th of July has come and gone, summer is in full swing. Not only are we (finally) seeing sunny skies and warm weather, but we’ve also had a lot of visitors in the last few weeks. Jack’s sister was in town for the 4th, and his parents were in a week earlier. We’ve had friends visiting as well! With company in the house, I always like to have a few good appetizer ideas up my sleeve. Different people like to eat at different times, and I never want guests to starve while they wait for dinner to…

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Pineapple Salsa

Move over, tomatoes! This fresh, easy pineapple salsa recipe adds the perfect sweet & spicy finish to tacos, salads, burritos, and more.

When I moved to Austin, I discovered how fantastic fresh salsa could be. Whether made with tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, or fruit, fresh salsas were always tangier, juicier, and more flavorful than their jarred counterparts. Of course, it wasn’t long before I started making my own at home, and this easy pineapple salsa recipe is one of my favorites. With just 7 ingredients, it couldn’t be simpler to make. Delectably sweet, spicy & juicy, it’s the perfect topping for grilled veggies (or grilled meats, if you’re not vegetarian) and all sorts of Mexican-inspired dishes. I hope you love it as much…

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Perfect Oatmeal Cookies

I don't often call recipes perfect, but these oatmeal cookies are soft, chewy, and warmly spiced—everything a good oatmeal raisin cookie should be.

These oatmeal cookies are truly the best! From Sarah Copeland’s cookbook Every Day Is Saturday, they’re soft and chewy, warmly spiced, and flecked with raisins and nuts. Perfect, if you ask me. A few weeks ago, I got an intense craving for good oatmeal raisin cookies and hastily threw together ingredients that I had on hand. I ended up with oat-ball-type cookies that were…just ok, and my craving continued. So when I flipped through Every Day Is Saturday this week, Sarah’s oatmeal cookie recipe grabbed my attention. She writes, “these [oatmeal cookies are] little nuggets of joy you can’t stop…

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Pickled Jalapeños

Make these pickled jalapeños once, and you'll be hooked. Sweet & spicy, they're great on tacos, burgers & more, or on their own straight from the jar!

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of pickled onions. They’re tangy, they’re sweet, they’re salty – really, they’re just darn good. For the longest time, they’ve been my favorite way to add a bright pop of color and flavor to salads, tacos, sandwiches, and more. But lately, pickled onions have been playing second fiddle to a new quick-pickle favorite: pickled jalapeños! These guys are the perfect blend of spicy, salty, and sweet. And if you’re not a fan of spicy foods, they’re still worth a try. The longer you leave…

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Matcha Baked Doughnuts

These doughnuts are a fun naturally green treat for St. Paddy's Day! They're both baked and decorated with matcha green tea.

With St. Paddy’s day coming up this weekend, I got in the mood to make green-colored treats…. and there’s no better way to naturally color things green than with matcha! Last year, I made zucchini cake with matcha frosting, and this year I thought it would be fun to make (and eat) doughnuts! If you’re new to matcha – it’s a powder made from Japanese green tea leaves. Because the whole leaf is ground (vs. steeping the tea leaves), matcha is packed with antioxidants. Which almost makes these doughnuts count as a health treat 🙂 You can mix matcha with hot…

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Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

Roasted chickpeas make a great protein-packed vegan snack! Enjoy them on their own, or add them to your favorite healthy dishes for crispy texture.

If you like chickpeas, you’re going to LOVE this roasted chickpeas recipe! It’s no secret I’m a fan of chickpeas – they’re a great addition to soups, stews, salads, sandwiches, you name it. Not only are they a good vegetarian protein source, but they can also bump up the textural contrast in a dish. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, though, you know that I’m not a fan of mushy food. Sometimes I’m craving something crispy in a salad, and chickpeas’ soft texture won’t satisfy me. Enter: roasted chickpeas. They still have all the protein and heartiness…

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Maki Sushi Recipe

Fun & fresh maki sushi rolls made with brown rice, roasted shiitakes, cabbage, cucumber, avocado, and a tangy carrot-ginger dipping sauce.

It’s sushi day! You might be wondering – why the heck would you roll sushi at home when it’s so much easier to order it at a restaurant? Because this maki sushi recipe is fun, affordable, and way more fresh than take-out sushi… but the best part is that you can get creative about what you choose to fill your rolls with. No more cucumber-only veggie sushi rolls! These maki sushi rolls are filled with savory roasted shiitake mushrooms, avocado, cucumber, and red cabbage for crunch & color. There’s also a fun dipping sauce – the carrot ginger dressing from…

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Vegan Lemon Muffins

These Vegan Lemon Muffins are great to bake for a weekend breakfast. Freeze extras for busy mornings or quick snacks!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fantastic celebration. Us? Well, we had a nice dinner and then slept through the new year for (I think) the second year in a row. The thing is – I’ve become a morning person. It wasn’t intentional – it just happened. On weekdays, I find that I get my best work done first thing in the morning. On weekends and holidays, I like to get up, pour coffee, and bake something for breakfast. So here are some yummy lemon muffins that I’ve been baking lately! This post is in partnership with…

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Red Lentil Hummus

Love hummus? Then you have to try this tangy, creamy red lentil hummus! I love it as a dip, a dressing, or straight out of the fridge on a spoon.

red lentil hummus

You know how much I love chickpeas, and you know how much I love hummus, but today I’m going out of my chickpea comfort zone with this red lentil hummus recipe! It’s creamy, tangy, and nicely spiced with turmeric and other curry spices, because sometimes you run out of chickpeas, but you still want a dippable snack. We’ve been enjoying this lentil hummus with veggies, naan, pita chips… I’ve also been caught sneaking spoonfuls straight from the fridge. Red Lentil Hummus Ingredients Don’t let this ingredient list intimidate you – it’s all spices – hopefully you have most of them…

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These no-bake peanut butter cookie bars are my favorite treat! A fudgy cacao topping covers a decadent peanut butter chocolate chip layer.

These peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars… where do I even start!? If you make one dessert/snack recipe from this blog, I highly recommend this one! 🙂 There’s a delectable peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough layer underneath a rich cacao-date-walnut layer. That all sounds fancy, but these peanut butter cookie bars are actually very easy to put together. You won’t be able to stop eating them, and that’s ok! They’re made with some wonderful wholesome ingredients and a few (delicious) superfoods like cacao and maca powder. They store well in the fridge and freezer, but good luck keeping them…

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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.