Love & Lemons Every Day by Jeanine Donofrio

Penguin Random House Canada sent me Love & Lemons Every Day in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There are so many great books launching this spring, and we’re just getting started! Today’s includes this beauty for anyone looking for fresh ways to put veggies (and fruits!) on their plates: Love & Lemons Every Day: More Than 100 Bright, Plant-Forward Recipes For Every Meal by Jeanine Donofrio. It’s the follow-up to her first book, The Love & Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, published in April 2016. Inventive recipes for every meal encourage cooks to introduce new flavour combinations into the rotation — think Strawberry Baked French Toast for breakfast; Parsnip Chickpea Noodle Soup for lunch; Spicy Black Bean and Mango Stuffed Peppers for dinner; and Chocolate Cake with Sweet Potato Frosting for dessert — and special features like the giant grid of salad dressings, tips for using veggie scraps, and 6 ways to scramble equip readers to experiment with tasty results.

You’ll get a feel for the book’s photography, design and overall approach here on Jeanine’s blog, but before you hop there, here’s a look at what recipes we’ve tried so far: 

We’re big breakfast people so it made sense to start with something from that category. The Strawberry Baked French Toast was a delicious and quick-to-make weekend treat, with lots of leftovers for breakfast during the week.

If strawberries aren’t in season (and ours weren’t, obvs) Jeanine says frozen berries work just as well. Serve with maple syrup. 

The Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes recipe doesn’t stray too far from our go-to so I thought there would be a good chance these would be a hit, but mainly I made them because Jeanine say she first realized how lemon could add “brightness and dimension” to so many different foods when she added it to a pancake mix back in college. (The box of mix said to add lemon for richness.) There’s lemon zest and lemon juice in this batter, but what really kicks it up a notch is squeezing a bit of lemon juice on the finished pancakes before adding maple syrup. 

Lemony goodness! 

And for supper one night I made the Creamy Sweet Corn Pappardelle (with frozen corn instead of fresh). It was the first time I’ve ever used raw cashews in a sauce (you blend them up with sauteed onion, corn, garlic and a few other ingredients) and the result was incredible. So rich and creamy. I will definitely make it again. 

Other recipes that sound delicious:

• Banana Bread Quinoa Breakfast Cookies
• Sweet Potato and Sage Breakfast Biscuits 
• Loaded Butternut Squash Queso
• Versatile Vegetable Lentil Soup
• Peach and Pole Bean Salad with Dill
• Sunshine Sweet Potato Curry
• Cauliflower Steaks with Lemon Salsa Verde
• Orange-Scented Cauliflower Rice Pilaf
• Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
• Raspberry Basil Blender Sorbet

… and I could go on and on. 

Which Love & Lemons Every Day recipes are you keen to try? What are some of your favourite vegetarian or vegan dishes? Tell me everything!