Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This refreshing strawberry banana smoothie recipe is the perfect healthy breakfast! It's lightly sweet, a little creamy, and totally satisfying.

“I walked outside and felt like I was swimming,” is what Jack said the other day as I picked him up from the airport, fresh off a flight from LA. It’s humid here, to say the least, and the air is thick. It’s the kind of heat that sort of takes your breath away as soon as you walk out the door. But I’m not complaining, it always takes just a few weeks for the body to acclimate to our summer temps. Hydration is the key. Eight glasses of water (don’t know who recommended that) is just not enough, so I’ve…

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Tomato & Zucchini Frittata

I love to make this zucchini frittata when I have an abundance of summer vegetables on hand. Serve it for an easy, delicious brunch or dinner!

The frittata is one of my favorite things to throw together because, really, anything you need to use up can go into a frittata. Last week, I had a variety of tomatoes, zucchini, and some really lovely sweet potato greens on hand, so I made this simple zucchini frittata. Use this recipe as a guide to use up whatever you happen to have in your refrigerator – for example, spinach or kale would be easy substitutes for the sweet potato greens. This Zucchini Frittata is Healthy! A while back, I used to shy away from frittatas because I thought they required lots of butter…

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Vanilla Peach Pops

There’s only one thing more summery than juicy, ripe peaches: Juicy, ripe peaches frozen into sweet, melty, almond milk popsicles! It’s summer on a stick, friends. First, you need to get your hands on some really good peaches. If you can’t find good peaches, use whatever juicy peak-season fruit you do have. (Sliced strawberries would be excellent here). For the base, whisk Vanilla Almond Breeze, with a touch of coconut oil and maple syrup. You could also use plain (sweetened) almond milk and add a bit of vanilla bean. (I’d stay away from vanilla extract this time). These are pretty…

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Peanut Butter Bourbon Milkshake

It might not be summer everywhere yet, but here in Texas, it’s hot. Lately our weekend afternoons have consisted of long sweaty walks followed by sweet frozen treats. This ice cream has been our treat-of-choice over the past few weeks – mainly because when you experiment with new recipes, you make a lot of versions. And thus, a lot of ice cream. It’s not a bad problem to have. This recipe is a 2-parter, you can stop at the ice cream, or go a step further and make it into a milkshake. Instead of our regular coconut base, we did…

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Avocado Almondaise Tartines

Almondaise - a rich creamy vegan sauce made from almonds, almond milk, turmeric, garlic, and dijon mustard - is perfect on toast with avocado and crisp radishes.

I’m having a hard time looking at this recipe and not talking about the weather. I realize… weather not a crowd-pleasing topic, but I just can’t get over the gorgeous-ness that is happening outside of my window. (If you’re a fellow midwestern transplant, you understand my excitement). I also can’t get over these bright little tartines. Oh, and this sauce. It’s along the same lines as some of the cashew-based sauces I’ve made, but it’s also somehow entirely different. The almonds and almond milk create a light, creamy homemade mayo-ish texture. The mustard gives it tang (don’t be shy with…

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Superfood Sunshine Orange Smoothie

Brighten up your morning & boost your immune system with this superfood orange smoothie packed with ginger, goji berries, hemp seeds & citrus!

Happy almost new year! I don’t know about you, but I’m sure ready to start eating a little bit lighter and brighter. And of course, “healthy” in my book doesn’t mean bland and boring… quite the opposite. In the middle of winter,* I find myself craving bright orange and red foods… so here’s a sunny smoothie I made to brighten up winter mornings and give my immune system a boost. Orange Smoothie Ingredients Oranges – Of course, oranges are essential here. Because winter is citrus season, I use lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges as much as I can. As an…

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Maple Cornbread Muffins

Rosemary & maple make these easy cornbread muffins lightly sweet & cozy-tasting. I love to serve them at Thanksgiving or with a big bowl of chili.

Move over, dinner rolls, and make way for… cornbread muffins! Maybe it’s my Midwestern background, but I love corn, especially in this sweet & savory corn muffin recipe. My Cornbread Muffin Recipe Ingredients In my opinion, good cornbread should be golden & crumbly and walk the line between sweet and savory. These corn muffins do just that. Here’s what I use to make them healthy & delicious: Maple syrup sweetens them naturally and adds depth of flavor to this corn muffin recipe. Rosemary flecks them with green and brings its cozy, fresh wintry taste. Canola oil or olive oil is…

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Vanilla Matcha Smoothie

Banana, vanilla & almond milk make the sweet, creamy base of this matcha smoothie. It's a healthy, antioxidant-filled breakfast or afternoon snack!

Matcha treats – I can hardly remember my life without them. Since we’ve been in Japan, matcha ice cream, matcha doughnuts, and matcha cakes have become daily afternoon snacks. This matcha smoothie, I promise, is a much healthier treat than any of those. Sure matcha is healthy, but a doughnut is still a doughnut after all. At home, this is how we enjoy matcha. I use my go-to smoothie base – almond milk and bananas – and add matcha powder along with a bit of vanilla bean. If you’re new to matcha, it’s very finely ground, high quality green tea…

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Almond Peach Cake

If you put fruit on cake, it's ok to eat it for breakfast, right? It is with this dairy-free vegan almond peach cakes! So perfect with ripe, summer peaches.

If you put fruit on cake, it’s ok to eat it for breakfast. That’s the rule, right? Of course, the cakes I make aren’t super decadent. This one, for example, is whole-grain enough that it could just as easily be baked in a muffin tin or mini loaf pans… the shape alone would make you feel differently about what time of day is cake-appropriate. Aside from the sprinkle of brown sugar on top, there’s no refined sugar. It’s moist on the inside thanks to a combo of coconut oil, almond milk and applesauce. And then, the best part – the peaches.…

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Blueberry Banana Pancakes

Vegan banana pancakes - perfect for a light, healthy breakfast or brunch.

This is my very first pancake post. I either feel late to the game, or like I’m earning some right of blog passage. The truth is, I’d gone the last few years not eating pancakes. Let me back up. I spent a lot of years eating a LOT of pancakes… pancakes for dinner, late nights at Denny’s, the whole bit. This all added up to a number of post-college pancake pounds, and the easiest thing for me to do was cut out the temptation altogether. But that’s all behind us now. I mean, you won’t find me eating pancakes at…

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Creamy Leek & Almond Pasta

A healthy & light creamy pasta made with almond milk, cremini mushrooms, greens, lemon, basil and sun dried tomatoes. Vegan option.

Meals like this are the reason I love cooking at home. These are the kinds of dishes that my lactose intolerant self can’t order at restaurants. The amount of butter and cream that go into pastas and risottos… I don’t even want to know. I worked on this a few different ways. I was going to make an almond version of cashew cream (similar to this one), but I decided I didn’t want to ask you to break out the blender. At least not this time. The winner was this version where I simmered leeks & mushrooms in almond milk. Such…

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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.