Vegan Chocolate Cake

The BEST vegan chocolate cake recipe! It's moist and deeply chocolatey, with a rich chocolate frosting made from a secret healthy ingredient.

This vegan chocolate cake recipe comes from my new cookbook, Love & Lemons Every Day. Today, I’m sharing it in honor of the book’s launch, but this vegan cake recipe would be perfect for any celebration. It’s moist and delicious, with a rich dark chocolate flavor. Topped in a luscious frosting, it’s a dessert that everyone will love, whether they’re vegan or not. Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe Ingredients This vegan chocolate cake tastes rich and decadent, but secretly, it’s healthy. Healthy for a cake, that is. 🙂 Here’s what you’ll need to make it: All-purpose flour and whole wheat flour…

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Macro Veggie Bowl

A vibrant turmeric tahini sauce is the star of this delicious veggie bowl! It adds a pop of bright flavor to the mix of fresh vegetables, rice, and beans.

When we lived in Austin, I headed to a macrobiotic restaurant called Casa de Luz whenever I craved a nourishing, cleansing veggie bowl like this one. Instead of offering a menu, it serves one rotating meal that always contains a grain, a legume, blanched greens, steamed vegetables, a pickled vegetable, and a delicious sauce. It may sound limiting, but I’ve honestly had some of the best sauce and vegetable pairings of my life there. If you’re ever in Austin, make sure you check it out! Inspired by years of enjoying delicious, nourishing meals at Casa de Luz, I used the…

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Vegan Banana Pancakes

If you like banana bread, then you'll love these vegan banana pancakes! They're lightly sweet, thick, fluffy, and filled with yummy banana flavor.

This stack of vegan banana pancakes pretty much sums up my ideal Saturday morning. Except, well, I don’t eat 7 pancakes on my individual plate, but Jack would if I put them in front of him. Portion control aside, if you have ripe bananas hanging around, give these vegan banana pancakes a try! They’re easy to make in one bowl, and they’re thick, fluffy, and full of yummy banana flavor. I think you’re going to love them! Vegan Banana Pancakes Ingredients These vegan banana pancakes aren’t just delicious – they’re good for you, too! Here’s what’s in them: Bananas, of…

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Avocado Sweet Potato Tacos

Topped with creamy avocado lime sauce, these simple chili-spiced sweet potato tacos make a delicious vegetarian dinner.

This sweet potato taco recipe is an old favorite that I wanted to re-share with you. I first started making these sweet potato tacos years ago, but it’s one of those recipes that I come back to time and time again because it’s such a filling & flavorful vegetarian weeknight dinner option. The list of ingredients is short and the steps are easy – what’s not to love? Plus, I just think roasted sweet potatoes are such a cozy wintertime food, especially when they’re wrapped up into warm tortillas like a big hug. There are basically two steps to the…

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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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How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is such a fun, underrated vegetable! Here is my favorite way to cook it, along with a few tips and recipes.

I get so many questions about how to cook spaghetti squash, so I thought I’d share my go-to method for roasting it, a few tips, and a couple of my favorite spaghetti squash recipes. How to Cook Spaghetti Squash First thing’s first: use a sharp knife to cut it in half lengthwise. After you slice the squash in half, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Next, drizzle the insides lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I find that adding too much oil and too much salt at this stage makes the squash a bit…

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Kale Salad

The BEST kale salad recipe! It's packed with colorful vegetables, crispy chickpeas, avocado, cranberries, and pepitas. Great for lunch!

Kale salad recipes aren’t as trendy as they used to be, but I’m still making them, and I think you should be too. My case in point is this kale salad recipe, which, if I do say so myself, is one of the most delicious ways to eat kale. A vibrant carrot ginger dressing coats the tender leafy greens, and roasted chickpeas, colorful veggies, and avocado add lots of contrasting textures. I love to serve it as a side dish because it pairs well with almost any meal, but it’s also hearty enough to pass as a standalone lunch. The sturdy…

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Golden Turmeric Noodle Miso Soup

This vegetable noodle miso soup will brighten up a winter's day! Healthy & healing, it's made with lemon, ginger, and turmeric.

The thing that no one talks about in food blogging is that you develop some really weird eating patterns. The question of the day isn’t “what am I having for breakfast or lunch,” it’s “what are we working on and can it be considered a meal?” In December, testing cookie recipes every day was a bit of a sugar rush. After that, balance was restored while testing/creating this healthy nourishing veggie noodle miso soup recipe. I think I ate this soup four times in a row last week – so what you’re looking at is my unintentional soup cleanse. Now,…

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Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I love making this colorful roasted red pepper soup on cold winter days. With simple steps and nourishing flavor, it's a weeknight go-to.

This roasted red pepper soup recipe is light and nourishing, yet creamy and delicious – just the thing if you ate too many cookies this weekend. Plus, I think the red pepper soup and green herbs look so festive! If you haven’t gotten around to decorating a tree this year (or if you’re tired of decorating cookies), you can decorate your soup! 🙂 Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe Ingredients Because red bell peppers aren’t in season, I use jarred roasted red peppers, which are a super convenient pantry ingredient. If you’re making this soup in the summer or fall, though,…

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Baked Cheesy Cauliflower Dip

Your guests will never guess that there's a whole head of cauliflower hidden in this creamy, tangy, and totally addictive party dip.

Every holiday party needs a great dip, and this baked cheesy cauliflower dip is sure to be a hit at yours! We’ve made this dip so many times over the past few weeks perfecting the recipe. I have to tell you that it’s been such a joy because it’s FREEZING outside and there is truly no greater comfort in life than having a hot skillet of creamy, cheesy goodness bubbling and baking away in the oven. Ordinarily, I’d give “party dip” a bit of a sideways glance – I’m not a huge fan of the who-knows-what ingredients plus a brick…

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Orange Shortbread Cookies

Orange zest gives these classic shortbread cookies a little citrus flair. Enjoy them at the holidays or anytime you're craving a sweet treat.

I don’t do crafty baking very often, but I had so much fun making and decorating these orange shortbread cookies! This orange shortbread cookie recipe is based on the lemon shortbread cookies that I made last year. That recipe is a fan favorite, so I thought I’d do a more festive version of it for Christmas. This time, I cut the cookies into stars and decorated them with orange zest and these cute Supernatural white sequin sprinkles. How to Make Orange Shortbread Want to learn how to make these cookies? Here’s what you need to do: First, cream together the…

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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.