Heirloom Tomato Sandwich

This delicious tomato sandwich is my veggie take on a classic BLT. A creamy white bean spread subs in for the bacon, giving this sandwich a tangy kick.

When tomatoes are in top form, I can’t get enough of them. I want them in salad, in pasta, in tacos, and eggs. Lately, though, this tomato sandwich has been my favorite way to enjoy them. Best Tomato Sandwich Ingredients When I first started thinking about making a tomato sandwich, my mind went immediately to a classic BLT. I love a faux BLT, and because I was never a bacon lover, just putting veggie things between bread is fine with me. My favorite version of a BLT sandwich is the crispy Shiitake BLT that’s on page 171 in the cookbook (it’s…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Best Buddha Bowl

The ultimate nutrient-packed vegan buddha bowl! Fresh veggies, beans, sauerkraut, and a vibrant turmeric tahini sauce make it hearty and flavorful.

Where did the name ‘Buddha Bowl’ come from, anyway? If you’ve been on Instagram in the last 5 years, chances are you’ve seen these colorful bowls, packed with plant-based goodness like grains, legumes, steamed and raw veggies, and flavorful sauces. According to a 2017 Epicurious article by Katherine Sacks, the name could come from how Buddha collected alms, using a large bowl to gather small bits of food that the residents of whatever village he was staying in could afford to share. Before we started calling these colorful bowls “Buddha Bowls,” I knew them as macro bowls. When we lived…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Quinoa Risotto

This creamy quinoa risotto is just as delicious as traditional risotto, but it comes together with half the fuss! Top it with roasted veggies, and enjoy.

This creamy quinoa risotto comes from The First Mess Cookbook. If you’re not already a fan of Laura’s blog, The First Mess, you should be! This quinoa risotto recipe exemplifies so much of what I love about her work. It appeals to the eyes as well as the appetite, it’s healthy and accessible, and it combines plant-based ingredients in a really unique way. Traditional risotto is made with arborio rice, and it requires a lengthy amount of time standing over the stove stirring. This recipe is every bit as creamy and delicious as the classic Italian dish, but it streamlines…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas

We love to cozy up with these vegetarian enchiladas on fall nights. Their filling is a sweet & spicy mix of butternut squash, black beans & scallions.

To me, it seems like there’s always a shortage of good vegetarian enchiladas on restaurant menus. So often, you find chicken enchiladas only, or the vegetarian enchiladas look a like cheese bomb on a plate. Now, rather than going out, I make this vegetarian enchilada recipe from the “Winter Squash” section of our first cookbook when an enchilada craving strikes. It’s lighter than most restaurant enchiladas, but it’s still spicy & satisfying. Let’s cook! Lately, these vegetarian black bean enchiladas have become one of our favorite dinners for cold nights. The spicy, gooey tortillas and hearty veggie filling are the ultimate form of comfort…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Peach Tostadas & a Saveur Nomination(!)

First off, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU for nominating us in this year’s Saveur Blog Awards! I’m so flattered and thrilled that you find our little corner of the internet to be an inspiring place. It’s times like these that I really don’t know what else to say besides thank you, thank you, thank you! If you have a second, it would mean the world to me if you could click here and go vote. Scroll down a tad to the “Most Inspired Weeknight Dinners” category. You can vote every day until August 31st. I owe you big 🙂 Speaking of weeknight dinners,…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

These stuffed poblano peppers are the ultimate healthy dinner! They're fresh and light, easy to make, and filled with bold, zesty flavor.

This stuffed poblano peppers recipe might be my new favorite summertime dinner. It has all the best parts of stuffed bell peppers – a fresh, flavorful filling, fun garnishes, and juicy roasted peppers – but the poblanos add an extra layer of heat. The whole thing is super fresh, super flavorful, and really darn fun to eat. If you’ve never cooked with poblano peppers before, they’re a chili pepper with a mild to medium heat level. On the Scoville scale, which measures how spicy peppers are, they range from 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville heat units. For context, bell peppers score…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl

This cauliflower rice burrito bowl is just as good as one from Chipotle, but it's totally different. Plant-based ingredients make it refreshing and fun!

This cauliflower rice burrito bowl delivers all the best parts of a Chipotle burrito bowl – fajita veggies, cilantro lime flavor, plenty of black beans and avocado – and skips the worst part (aka the food coma that comes when you’re done). To make it lighter, I swap seasoned cauliflower rice for regular rice. Then, instead of piling it with cheese or sour cream, I finish it with a creamy cashew green chile sauce. The combination is light, bright, and downright fun. I can’t get enough of it! Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl Components Here’s what’s you’ll need to make this…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Tagliatelle with Tomatoes and Greens

Try this tagliatelle recipe once, and it'll be in your regular dinner rotation forever. A tomato wine sauce coats floppy egg noodles in this delicious dish.

This tagliatelle pasta was inspired by a reader who wrote me to say that this vegetable soup recipe – with its sweet stewed carrots, tomatoes, and other vegetables – would make a delicious rich tomato sauce for pasta. Soon after that, I tried turning that soup into this tagliatelle recipe. We loved it so much that it made it into our first cookbook. So thanks, Rachel! Here it is, hope it was worth the wait! Weeknight Tagliatelle The soup that inspired this pasta is a simple, clean-out-the-fridge sort of recipe. It works with whatever veggies you have on hand, and…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Easy Vegetarian Pho

This vegan pho recipe is a simple take on the classic Vietnamese noodle soup. It gets its rich flavor from spices and mushrooms instead of meat.

A vegan pho recipe has been on my “to make some day” list for a long time. I got the idea from a Vietnamese restaurant just a short walk away from our house. Their mushroom pho is has a richly spiced broth and loads of slurpy noodles. It’s hot, flavorful, and comforting, but it still feels nice and fresh. After enjoying bowls upon bowls of their delicious soup, I’ve finally made my own vegetarian pho recipe to share with all of you. What is Pho? If you’re not familiar with pho (pronounced “fuh”), it’s a Vietnamese noodle soup that features…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Healthy Loaded Vegan Nachos

Who knew nachos could be healthy? We love this version topped with walnut-mushroom taco meat, cashew nacho "cheese," and plenty of veggies.

It sounds silly to say, but the first vegan “dish” I really fell hard for was nachos. It was years ago at Native Foods where the Native Nachos were a revelation to us. They weren’t a snack, they were our dinner late one night. They were piled high with taco “meat,” black beans, cashew cheese (a crazy concept at the time), salsa, and guacamole… we scarfed them down saying (with our mouths full) “how are these vegan?!” I came home with their cookbook and every night later that week, I made nachos. My version here is quite a bit different, but the…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Beet Hummus

I love the bright color of this slightly sweet beet hummus. A little cumin & coriander enhance its flavor, making it an addictive appetizer or snack!

I love the way this beet hummus tastes – it’s slightly sweet, but not too beet-y. Jack, our resident beet-hater, was skeptical as I made this, but he ended up loving it. But what really excites me is the color. It’s so bright and vibrant – exactly what I feel like eating in the middle of winter when the days are bleak and grey. Ok, that’s an exaggeration because it’s actually super sunny here today. But if it’s grey where you are – try out this beet hummus recipe. Beet Hummus Recipe Ingredients To make this recipe, 10 simple ingredients are…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>
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.