Jalapeño Poppers

These baked jalapeño poppers are the ultimate game day snack! They're crispy on top, creamy in the middle, and packed with delicious savory flavor.

If anything could turn me into a sports fan, it’d be these baked jalapeño poppers! Like all the best game day snacks (looking at you, salsa and guac), they’re simple, tasty, and really darn fun. The day I took these photos, I planned to eat just one or two jalapeño poppers straight from the oven, to check that the flavors were right. Before I knew it, I’d had 3, 4… I think it’s safe to say that the flavors were a-ok. 🙂 Of course, I couldn’t write a jalapeño poppers recipe without adding a fresh twist. These jalapeño poppers are…

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Pumpkin Pie Spice

If you like fall baking, you'll love having this homemade pumpkin pie spice in your kitchen. It adds cozy autumn flavor to muffins, pies, and more!

cooking basics

It’s pumpkin spice season! Though I’ll never be the kind of person who runs out to get a pumpkin spice latte on the first day of fall, I do enjoy a thick slice of pumpkin bread or a puffy pumpkin muffin at this time of year. When I make these cozy fall treats, I always use homemade pumpkin pie spice instead of buying a spice mix in a jar. Why? Well, just like when I make my own Everything Bagel Seasoning, I can control the ratios of each component. I like my homemade pumpkin pie spice to be heavy on…

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Sweet Potato Salad

This roasted sweet potato salad recipe is a perfect fall lunch or side dish! Feta cheese, avocado, and a bright tahini dressing fill it with flavor.

fall / salads

I hope you’re all excited, because this sweet potato salad recipe is the first of many fall salads that I have coming your way this season! I love salad all year long (Like, who can say no to a tomato salad in the summer?), but fall salads have a special place in my heart. We move away from juicy summer bounty towards sweeter, starchier veggies like sweet potatoes and squash. And after a few months of craving leafless salads filled with tomatoes and corn, I want nothing more than a bowl of fall greens like spinach, arugula, or kale. Together,…

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Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These oven roasted sweet potatoes have crisp, caramelized edges and tender centers. They're delicious as an easy side dish, in tacos, bowls, and more!

fall / cooking basics

These roasted sweet potatoes are one of my favorite side dishes. They’re easy to make in a hot oven with just olive oil, salt, and pepper, but they’re still so delicious. These roasted sweet potatoes are lightly crisp on the outside, tender in the middle, and full of sweet and savory flavor. I don’t know what it is about fall weather, but when the air gets cool and crisp, I start cooking sweet potatoes like crazy. I make baked sweet potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and sweet potato soup. But this roasted sweet potato recipe is how I cook them most…

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Tahini Dressing

Keep this lemon tahini dressing on hand in the fridge, and you'll eat more salad than you ever have before! It's creamy, nutty, bright, and delicious.

vegan / cooking basics

Of all of the homemade salad dressings out there, this lemon tahini dressing might be the one I make most often. It’s really versatile – it tastes just as good with tomatoes and cucumbers in the summer as it does with roasted sweet potatoes, cauliflower, or broccoli in the fall. It consists of a short list of ingredients that I always keep on hand, and it’s super easy to stir together. No blender or food processor required! Nowadays, most home cooks I know are familiar with tahini, but in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a paste made from…

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Tomato Basil Soup

Cozy up with a steaming bowl of homemade tomato basil soup! Made with fresh tomatoes and basil, this recipe is easy, nourishing, and delicious.

summer / soups

During the transition from summer to fall, there’s nothing I crave more than this tomato basil soup recipe. Apples and squash are starting to pop up at the farmers market, but you can still find ruby red tomatoes and bunches of basil mixed in among them. I’ll be eating these summer veggies for as long as they’re at the market, even as the temperature starts dropping and I find myself hungry for warming bowls of soup instead of salads. So at this time of year, I start making this tomato basil soup. I roast a market haul of fresh tomatoes…

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Gluten Free Banana Bread

This gluten free banana bread recipe is moist, tender, and filled with spiced banana flavor. It's everything banana bread should be, gluten-free or not!

I’ve gotten so many requests for a gluten free banana bread recipe over the years, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this one with you! Tasting this gluten free banana bread, you’d never guess that it wasn’t made with wheat flour. It’s moist, tender, and filled with spiced banana flavor. In fact, if I did a side-by-side comparison with my regular Healthy Banana Bread, I wouldn’t be able to choose a favorite! We’re getting some sunshine in Chicago today, but for the last week, it’s been cool and rainy. I love starting gray, chilly mornings like these with a thick…

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Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

Try this cast iron pizza recipe once, and you'll never make pizza any other way! Thanks to the hot skillet, the crust is perfectly golden brown and crisp.

dinner

I may not be excited about summer winding down, but I am excited that it’s finally cool enough to crank up the oven and make cast iron skillet pizza! Jack and I have made regular homemade pizza for years, but this spring, this cast iron pizza recipe took our pizza game to a whole new level. It’s the closest you’ll ever come to making restaurant-style pizza without a fancy oven or pizza stone. Thanks to the hot skillet, the crust becomes crisp and browned on the outside, while the thick edges stay nice and chewy in the middle. We made…

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20 Best Grill Recipes

Celebrate summer with these easy grill recipes! With grilling ideas for starters, sides, main dishes, and more, we've got something for everyone.

It seems like it was just yesterday when Jack and I made our first grill recipes of the summer. Where does the time go? Labor Day might mark the unofficial end of grilling season, but if you’re anything like us, you’ll still grill as much as possible for the next few weeks. It’ll stay warm for another month, right? Right? No matter what, we’re looking forward to making a bunch of grill recipes this weekend, and I hope that you are too. In case you’re in need of some new grilling ideas, I’m sharing my best grill recipes below. They…

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Homemade Italian Dressing

This homemade Italian dressing recipe is a staple in our kitchen. It calls for a handful of basic ingredients, and it's delicious on salads, grains, and more!

cooking basics

Move over, bottled Italian dressing! This homemade Italian dressing recipe is super easy to make, and it tastes far better than any store bought kind. Trust me, I know. Growing up in the Midwest, I tried bottled Italian salad dressings left and right. They were a staple at the salad bar, the secret ingredient in everyone’s pasta salad, and the default marinade for any protein. I get it. Reaching for a bottle of pre-made dressing is quick and easy. But once you try this homemade Italian dressing recipe, you’ll won’t look back. It’s a breeze to make, it uses simple,…

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Stuffed Peppers

This easy stuffed peppers recipe is destined for your regular rotation! It's super simple, but the zesty rice filling makes it bold, fresh, and flavorful.

summer / dinner

Stuffed peppers are among the handful of dishes that will always remind me of being a kid. Growing up, they were a fixture in my mom’s regular recipe rotation, right alongside creamy broccoli soup, eggplant Parmesan, and mac and cheese. Back then, I’d eat the filling, made from ground beef, Italian seasoning, tomato sauce, and rice, and push aside the pepper. In hindsight, it’s not hard to see why people were surprised when I became a vegetarian. 🙂 Since then, I’ve learned that the pepper itself is an integral part of any stuffed peppers recipe. Don’t get me wrong, the filling…

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Hi, I'm Jeanine