Mango & Black Bean Quesadillas

Chard, mango, and jalapeño make sweet & spicy quesadillas for a fun and healthy spring or summer appetizer, lunch, or weeknight dinner. Vegan option.

I’ve been living in Austin for nine years now, and I find myself continually surprised and in awe of what grows here. Actually, let me start over…. For the first 5 years, all our food grew from restaurants. The next 3 years, it grew from Whole Foods. Now, (much) of our food grows from Rainlily Farm, Springdale Farm, Boggy Creek Farm, and most recently… wait for it… our front yard. In a million years, I never thought I’d get excited about gardening. And growing up where I did (a suburb of Chicago), I’m fascinated by the possibilities of what I can plant…

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Lemon Fennel Toasts

Lemony fennel salad & creamy dill yogurt sauce top toast to make an easy sweet and salty appetizer for spring. Also delicious with smoked salmon or cheese!

Lately, this has been our pre-dinner snack. It seems fancy (fancy for us, anyway) to have an appetizer just for two, but it’s less glamorous than that. When we’re cooking and photographing our meals, nights can get late and snacks have become necessary. Especially fast snacks. This one can be made in about 7 minutes, and if that’s too long for you, the components could even be mixed up (and kept separate) a few hours in advance. If you’re vegetarian, don’t click away yet… yes, this is smoked salmon, but it’s the fennel that is the real star, and this…

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Basil White Bean Puree

An easy creamy vegan spread made with pureed white beans and basil + a collection of vegetarian recipes for toasts topped with spring produce.

This is one of those things that we’ve been eating a lot lately and not writing about because it just seemed too simple for one whole post. But I get really excited when one recipe becomes a 2-fer, so I wanted to share… It started with the leftover basil-parsley dressing from this salad (about 1/4 cup). I tossed it in the food processor with a can of white beans, adjusted just a few seasonings (salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon), and served it on a crostini. I reserved just a bit of the original vinaigrette and drizzled it on top with some…

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Mini Grilled Cheeses

Mini grilled cheese sandwiches make a fun snack or appetizer. Topped with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, fresh mozzarella, and sautéed mushrooms. Vegetarian.

I finally caved… here’s my contribution for this silly thing called National Grilled Cheese month. Grilled cheese is probably Jack’s favorite food, so it was pretty mean of me to keep this “holiday” a secret until this close to the end. Now that I spilled the beans, it’s likely we might see a special contribution from him before the end of April. (although maybe don’t hold your breath for it). The ingredient list below seems really long, but it all comes together pretty quickly. Feel free to skip any of the components you don’t feel like making. And if you’re…

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Carrot & Oat Cranberry Cookies

Healthy carrot cookies made with almond flour, coconut oil & maple syrup. Loaded with chocolate, cranberries, and nuts of your choice! Vegan & gluten free.

Warning: these are super addictive. A great healthy snack… but if you work from home like I do, they will call to you more often than a nagging client. They call me at breakfast time for a sweet pick me up with my morning coffee. Around 2pm for a post-lunch treat. Maybe again around 4pm for a post-post lunch treat… And since you’ll have eaten them all day long, you might want a change of pace for dessert that night. Warm one (or two) of them and crumble over your ice cream.

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Sweet Potato Hummus & Yogurt Flatbread

A simple Yogurt Flatbread is served alongside a spicy, sweet, and smoky Vegan Sweet Potato Hummus. Perfect for a fall or winter appetizer or snack.

This is the easiest flatbread recipe ever… a total go-to of mine for any meal or snack requiring dipping or wrapping. It involves just four ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen and just a few minutes to combine and roll out the dough. The longest part is letting the dough sit in the fridge for an hour, but I’ve gotten away with cutting that back to 20 or 30 minutes while I’m making the other components of my meal… Today the other “component” is this smoky sweet potato hummus, as my contribution to The Food Matters Project. Erin…

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Red Pepper White Bean Spread

This healthy riff on hummus takes under 10 minutes to make. Packed with flavor from red peppers, white beans, lemon, and basil, it's vegan & gluten free.

I added this spread to sandwiches as my contribution to The Food Matters Project this week. It’s a hummus-like spread that I slathered over little toasts and topped with arugula, cucumbers, and scallions. We ate these for lunch yesterday… and then the leftover spread, well, that just got eaten by the spoonful. I love pestos and spreads like this because they’re so versatile. If we didn’t devour the whole batch in one sitting (I made a half batch – big mistake) I would have kept the extra around all week to put on my eggs, spread over roasted veggies, or snack on…

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Sweet Curry Brown Sugar Popcorn

Popcorn in a brown sugar-curry coating makes a sweet, spicy snack. Gluten & dairy free & vegan. Unique 10-minute treat for parties or your next movie night.

Since starting this blog a couple months ago (feels more like a year ago), I’ve “met” some of the nicest people and have received the most encouraging feedback. I honestly thought my mom would be our only reader for the first few months (hi Mom), so the idea that people are actually reading and commenting, and tweeting (lord knows that was quite the learning curve for me) has made me feel just so welcomed. One of the first people to reach out to me the week we launched the site was Kate from the blog Cookie + Kate. I’ve been…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.