Quinoa Quesadillas

Happy day-after Halloween, who’s ready to cook? No one… That’s what I thought. So before we head to Thanksgiving Town, I thought I’d share another quick and easy (and tasty) meal you can throw together using last night’s leftovers… Just like the picture says – take your leftovers from this salad, add some black beans (maybe a few more spices), and some cheese… fold it into tortillas… then dig in to some pretty hearty & healthy quesadillas. Of course, cook these on your stovetop and not on your marble countertop.

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Sweet Potato Quinoa & Cotija

Our dinner has looked like this nearly every night for a week. I don’t know what it is, but as soon as fall hits, big grain salads with roasted sweet potatoes seem to take over my life. They’re perfect for busy weeknights, next day lunches… and you can prep most of the ingredients ahead of time. You can take this in so many different directions (this was last year’s obsession, and yes, it’s somewhat similar)… but I especially love this one with chile-lime dressing, mutli-colored quinoa and crunchy pepitas. It could even be a fun non-traditional thanksgiving side dish if…

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Grilled Veggies with Basil Miso

The “summer’s not over yet” recipe theme continues. Right now Jack and I are in Seattle for a few days before we head to Japan. I feel inclined to write about how we spent the last few weekends at home savoring the last of our local late-summer produce… But seriously, it was 104 degrees when we left so I’m sure there will be plenty of summer (and it’s veggies) waiting for us when we get back. With Japan on the brain, I’ve been in the mood for miso. Although, I realize nothing else about this recipe is remotely Japanese… the…

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Stuffed Peppers w/ Chipotle “Cream”

Hands down, our most popular post has been this enchilada recipe with creamy cashew poblano sauce. I posted it over a year ago and I’m still receiving emails about it. So today I’m really excited to share this new twist: cashew cream meets chipotles. A happy marriage, especially if you like spicy food. You could top it on just about anything. At the risk of posting too many taco recipes, we did stuffed peppers this time. I roasted mild poblanos and these cute little anaheims… stuffed them with a smoky quinoa & black bean filling and topped them with dollops…

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Green Bean & Avocado Quinoa Salad

It’s been so inspired by the bounties of spring veggies that have been available lately. I think I’m the only person on the internet that has not gotten my hands on any ramps this season (do they even grow in texas?), but I really can’t complain because I still have tons of amazing options. They key to any great salad is a variety of tastes, textures and colors. Although I find that sometimes it’s easier to come up with new ideas if I set some kind of limitation. This particular day I had leeks, green beans, and dandelion greens I wanted to use.…

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Mushroom & Quinoa Lettuce Wraps

mushroom & quinoa lettuce wraps / loveandlemons.com

Nutella one day, quinoa the next. This is what I call balance. Tasty balance. Last week, I had this huge head of red lettuce. After a few days of salads, I worked my way down to the small rounded leaves in the center. I thought they were just too cute to tear apart into another salad, so I thought… lettuce wraps. This could be a lovely spring appetizer, or a light meal for two. Especially if you’ve been over-indulging lately like we have been.

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Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

A hearty & healthy vegetarian and GF main for Thanksgiving! Squash is stuffed with a spiced kale and quinoa sauté with pepitas for crunch and feta for tang.

My idea of a vegetarian Thanksgiving looks something like this: seasonal acorn squash stuffed with a sauté of quinoa and kale that’s kicked up a notch with scallions, tangy feta, sweet currants, and toasty pumpkin seeds. A colorful & hearty meal that doesn’t sacrifice on flavor. With all of the great produce this time of year, who really needs turkey and mashed white potatoes? (ok, just kidding, don’t answer that…)

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Mushroom & Edamame Quinoa Fried “Rice”

A veggie- & protein-packed Quinoa Fried Rice from Keys to the Kitchen by Aida Mollenkamp! A healthy, easy vegetarian weeknight dinner. Gluten free.

Time to get excited – I have another giveaway! Aida Mollenkamp’s new book, Keys to the Kitchen, is a new food bible. I planned to post this yesterday, but the book has so much that summing it up in a post is a nearly impossible task. In fact, it took me about 20 minutes to explain why I love this book to Jack (and I talk fast, so you don’t want to know how long a post that would be). Simply put, the book is beautiful, informative, helpful, and will make anyone, at any skill level, a better cook for…

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Quinoa Taco Salad

Enjoy this salad for a summer lunch or weeknight dinner. Corn, poblanos, cilantro, and plenty of lime give this hearty vegan salad crunch and zest.

I eat a lot of tacos. Here in Austin, you can’t walk 10 feet without tripping over another taco truck or Mexican restaurant. But my favorite thing is actually the taco in its deconstructed form: the taco salad. You can take this in as many different directions as there are taco fillings, but I especially like this with red quinoa (although if you had non-red quinoa it would taste pretty much the same). The chewy little red kernels sort of take on the essence of taco meat. The rest of the ingredients came together from what I happened to have on…

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Strawberry Quinoa & Feta Salad

Strawberries, feta, greens, and mint make a bright, sweet, and salty spring or summer salad. A healthy gluten free & vegetarian weekday lunch or dinner!

I’m excited to be guest posting at Anthology Magazine this month with a 4-part summer salad series! If you can’t tell by now, I live on salads all summer long, so I’m excited to share some of my favorites. First up, today, is this savory-with-a punch-of-sweet strawberry & feta quinoa salad.  

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Lemon-Walnut Quinoa & Chickpea Salad

A zesty, nutty lemon-walnut dressing brightens this hearty vegetarian salad. Filled with herbs & veggies, this salad makes a healthy weeknight dinner.

My role this week while my dad is visiting = food machine. Which I don’t mind one bit… he’s been hard at work knocking tasks off our “house-to-do” list, and I’m more than happy to be doing the heavy cooking rather than the heavy lifting. I can’t get him to stop for lunch (unless you count the beer… liquid lunch) so for dinners, big bowls of substantial food are in order. I made this quinoa & chickpea salad the other night with some other stuff I happened to have, including beautiful radishes from my CSA box. And I always seem…

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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.