Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

These easy pumpkin muffins are moist, tender, and warmly spiced—the perfect fall treat! Make a batch, and it'll disappear before you know it.

These pumpkin muffins are perfect for fall! They’re soft, super moist, and deliciously spiced—cinnamon, allspice, and more fill them with seasonal flavor. But best of all, they’re so easy to make. You can whip them up in less than an hour with a couple of mixing bowls and a whisk. No mixer required here! I love that these pumpkin muffins taste sweet, but not too sweet, so that they can pass for breakfast or a healthy snack. Enjoy one (or two) in the morning with a cup of coffee, and then grab another for an afternoon pick-me-up. If you have any…

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Potato Leek Soup

This creamy potato leek soup recipe is comforting and delicious! Easy to make with simple ingredients, it's one of our favorite fall and winter meals.

Let’s make potato leek soup! Now that it’s fall, I’ve been bringing home tall, lush leeks from the farmers market nearly every week. This potato leek soup recipe is my favorite way to use them. It’s creamy, rich, and flavorful, filled with the delicate, oniony leeks, buttery yellow potatoes, garlic, and thyme. Easy to make with simple ingredients, it’s exactly the kind of warming, veggie-forward fare I crave throughout the fall and winter. You can make this potato leek soup recipe in two ways. First, you have the option to make a quick broth using the dark green tops of the…

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Hot Toddy

This classic hot toddy recipe is a great way to warm up on a cold night! This soothing drink is easy to make with hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon.

Learn how to make a hot toddy! Made with hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon juice, this classic drink is a famous home remedy for a cough or a cold. When Jack has a sore throat, he always makes this hot toddy recipe to soothe it. But you don’t have to be under the weather to enjoy this simple cocktail. Though I’m typically not a whiskey drinker, I love a hot toddy on a cold fall or winter night. Garnished with a cinnamon stick and a slice of lemon, it’s such a cozy way to warm up. Cheers! What’s in…

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Soft Pumpkin Cookies

These pumpkin cookies are soft, moist, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. Enjoy them plain or with cream cheese frosting for a delicious fall treat!

These pumpkin cookies are soft, cakey, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. You can think of them as little pumpkin muffin tops. They’re not chewy like chocolate chip cookies. Instead, they’re airy and moist. I love them plain (especially alongside a cup of coffee), but they’re also delicious with cream cheese frosting. If you need more reasons to love this pumpkin cookie recipe, here’s a big one: you don’t have to chill the cookie dough! When you’re in the mood for fall baking (which for me, lately, has been often), you can quickly whip these cookies up. I hope you…

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35 Best Soup Recipes

If there's one thing I love about cold weather, it's soup! Read on to find over 30 easy soup recipes I'll be making all fall and winter long.

Soup season is here! There’s a lot to love about fall—beautiful weather, changing leaves, cozy baked goods, and hot drinks—but the soup recipes are hands down my favorite part. I adore soup. I love making it, I love eating it, and I love packing up the leftovers so that I can enjoy it again the next day. When I’m stressed, I turn to soup because I find it meditative to cook. When I’m snowed in, I turn to it because I keep a stash stored away in my freezer. And when I’m in need of a healthy reset, I turn…

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Best Garlic Bread Recipe

This homemade garlic bread recipe is easy to make and SO delicious. The crispy, buttery slices are topped with flavorful garlic and fresh herbs.

What’s better than homemade garlic bread? If you ask me, not much. Crisp around the edges, soft and buttery in the middle, and packed with rich flavor from garlic and herbs, this Italian-American staple is comforting and delicious. It’s also very easy to make. I’m sharing my best garlic bread recipe below, along with tips for storing it and making it ahead. If you’re used to eating garlic bread from the grocery store, get ready—this homemade version is on another level. Serve it as a side dish with your favorite pasta recipes, or devour it warm from the baking sheet.…

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Love & Lemons Cooking Club – October!

Join the Love & Lemons Cooking Club Challenge this month! It's easy to enter, and one lucky winner will receive a prize. Find all the details below.

Our Cooking Club is a fun way to celebrate the Love & Lemons community of readers. The concept is super simple—each month, I choose a recipe. You make it, and you leave a comment on the recipe’s blog post. At the end of the month, I randomly select one winner to receive a prize. I love the sense of community that comes from so many people cooking one recipe each month. We’re kicking off our October challenge today with our chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I hope you’ll join in the fun. Here’s how it works: The Prize: A $100 Whole…

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Vegetarian Chili

Meet the best vegetarian chili recipe I've tasted! It's thick, hearty, and comforting, filled with flavorful veggies and two types of beans.

This vegetarian chili is the ultimate cold weather comfort food. I make it on repeat throughout the fall and winter because it’s warming, hearty, and flavorful. Made with two types of beans, corn, peppers, and more, it packs in a hefty amount of veggies, but it’s still a hit with meat lovers (just ask Jack!). This easy vegetarian chili recipe calls for a short list of pantry ingredients. To make it, you only need to do a few minutes of hands-on prep. Then, let it simmer away on its own. 30 minutes later, this thick, smoky, spicy veggie chili will…

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Homemade Cornbread

Learn how to make the BEST cornbread from scratch! With a lightly sweet corn flavor and tender crumb, it's delicious alongside a hot bowl of soup.

This cornbread recipe has been a staple in my kitchen for years. I hope it’ll become one in yours too! If my Midwestern upbringing taught me one thing, it’s that there’s nothing better than a slice of cornbread and a bowl of chili on a cold fall night. But I’m not talking about just any cornbread. I’m talking about good cornbread, the kind that’s slightly crumbly, perfectly golden, and right on the line between savory and sweet. This homemade cornbread recipe checks every box. Even Jack, who generally swears off cornbread, is happy eating slice after slice. I’ll always vote for pairing…

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50 Fall Recipes and Dinner Ideas

These healthy fall recipes will satisfy any autumn craving! They include quick fall dinner ideas, cozy desserts, side dishes, salads, and more.

Happy fall! To celebrate the start of the season, I’m sharing 50 of my favorite fall recipes below. They include cozy soups, fresh salads, decadent desserts, and everything in between. Whether you’re looking for a quick dinner, a healthy lunch, or a comforting cooking project this season, you’ll find it here. I look forward to making these recipes every year when the temperatures start dropping. I hope they become some of your fall favorites too. Our Top 5 Fall Recipes Butternut Squash Soup No collection of fall recipes would be complete without butternut squash soup! Sage, rosemary, and fresh ginger…

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Air Fryer Baked Potato

Learn how to make an air fryer baked potato with flavorful, crispy skin and fluffy insides! Enjoy it with toppings like chives, sour cream, and/or butter.

In the last year or so, this air fryer baked potato recipe has become my favorite way to cook baked potatoes. Don’t get me wrong—I still love my oven baked potato recipe. But more often than not, I only make one or two baked potatoes at a time. With such a small batch, using the air fryer just makes sense. For one, it’s WAY quicker. My air fryer preheats in seconds, and it yields perfectly cooked baked potatoes in about 40 minutes. That’s roughly 15 minutes fewer than a typical baked potato needs in my oven. The potatoes are also…

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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.