Love and Lemons Every Day: Plant-Focused Meals to Enjoy Now or Make Ahead

  LOVE & LEMONS The real love storyIn 2011, my husband, Jack, and I started a food blog. Back then, that was con­sidered an odd thing given that most people didn’t know what a blog was. Our friends wondered why we had camera equipment all over the kitchen, my family wondered why I had largely quit my day job to follow this crazy cooking pas­sion, and our dogs were thrilled that more food than ever before was falling on the floor. I think my dad summed up our new hobby best—“some people pray before they eat their dinner, you guys take pictures of it.” In our first cookbook, I told the story of “Why Love & Lemons,” which involved a long blissful walk in Capri and a dog passing us with a lemon in its mouth. It was about a moment in time, just after we had gotten engaged, when we were first inspired to cook with the freshest available locally grown produce. But as all good love stories go, there’s also the other side—the part where we were lost and sunburnt by the end of that idyllic Italian hike, where cooking in the kitchen is just plain messy, and when trying to take pictures of it all (with your spouse!) sometimes ends in a giant argument.   During the week we launched our blog, a tray full of naan almost burned our house down, our shiny new camera took a tumble, and food was wilting on the plate before we could manage to get the final shot. These days our process is a bit more stream­lined, and if we’ve learned anything from spending countless hours in the kitchen with each other, it’s how to actually work well together. I’ve stopped getting mad when Jack spills flour all over the floor because his homemade focaccia is so deli­cious, and Jack is happy to jump on my healthy cooking bandwagon because I regu­larly use the things he loves like mushrooms, mustard, and anything pickled. He also no longer complains about pitching in and cleaning up . . . especially when “cleaning up” means eating the poached eggs that still taste perfect but aren’t photo perfect.   LOVE & LEMONS EVERY DAY Jack and I love to walk through farmers markets. He loves to eat cheese samples from the local vendors, and I love to “plan” my meals by scoping out what gor­geous, unique vegetables are awaiting me that day. When we lived in Austin, we did this every weekend, year-round. Now that we’ve relocated to Chicago, our sunny Sunday market strolls are more seasonally limited. Our first cookbook was based on those market visits, which is why it’s orga­nized by vegetable from A to Z. It’s meant to inspire meal ideas depending on what seasonal vegetable you just brought home. That’s my favorite way to cook when the markets are overflowing. But when the ground is covered in three feet of snow, we still have to eat. And we still want to eat something delicious and nutritious. (Most likely the Cozy Vegan Mushroom & White Bean Pot Pie on page 141 or the Greek Yogurt Saag Paneer on page 185). This book is packed with a number of season-specific recipes for your farmers market finds as well as recipes using vegetables and fruits that you can find at pretty much any well-stocked regular grocery store. Of course, I encourage you to seek out local produce whenever possible and to always wait until summer to eat a peach—but know that each and every recipe here was made with things I found near my new home here in the Midwest.   EVERY DAY COOKING, A LITTLE BIT ELEVATED During a busy week, my daily meals start to look like this: a green smoothie for breakfast, avocado toast for lunch, and takeout pho for dinner. While that’s all well and good, I truly believe that variety is the spice of life and that it is possible to fall into too much of a routine (I’m looking at you, oatmeal that I ate every day during college and then not again until ten years later). It’s why you won’t find a recipe for avocado toast among these pages—I want to bring you new things that you may not have thought of. What you will find are 100+ all-new plant-forward recipes that we love eating in a healthy rotation. Recipes that I’ve served to eager-to-eat family and friends for years. Some are super quick and perfect for busy mornings and weeknights. Many are great for packing lunches to take to work. Others are meant for nights when you have time to enjoy a well-deserved glass of wine while making dinner. None of the recipes are complicated to make, and most recipes come with a helpful everyday tip, like how a particular recipe can be made quicker (frozen quinoa!), which recipes are especially great to freeze (most soups!), which sal­ads make great next-day desk lunches (the peach and pole bean salad, page 115, and soba salad, page 117, are two of my favorites!), or if the leftovers from one recipe can be reused for another.