Whether she’s strolling the Green City Market in her hometown of Chicago or stopping at roadside fruit stands in her favorite vacay destination, Traverse City, Michigan, Jeanine Donofrio is happiest when she’s out in the sun, loading a tote bag with produce.
In 2011—the golden age of food blogging—Donofrio and her husband, Jack, bought camera gear and played around posting their meals. They called the project Love and Lemons. Fifteen years, three books, and one son later, two full-time employees help Donofrio create, test, and share her popular recipes.
PHOTO:
Sophia Simota
PHOTO:
Jeanine Donofrio
One of the core tenets of Love and Lemons is seasonal produce. Peaches, tomatoes, green beans—they’re Donofrio’s North Stars, and where they point, she follows, developing quick, colorful recipes for her family and her fans. So when we invited Donofrio to talk summer potlucks, she had a bounty of dishes to share—plus some fun personal tidbits, too.
Sesame Cucumber Salad With Mustard Seeds
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
This is my take on the classic cucumber salad. It’s super simple, with a tangy sesame dressing, plus lots of fresh dill and mint. And then—this is totally optional—I also pickle some mustard seeds for a topper. It doesn’t take long, and it adds such an unexpected pop of flavor.
— Jeanine Donofrio
Many years ago, Donofrio signed up for a CSA subscription, picturing herself cooking with broccoli and kale. And then she got a kohlrabi in her first box. “It didn’t come with a note, and the Internet didn’t help,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘What is this alien vegetable?’ I realized that the box was going to be harder than I thought.” So she began to just play around and learn. “Turns out, kohlrabi is really good—nice and crunchy and great in a salad. I began to see the potential different vegetables could have for their huge variety of flavors and textures.”
Green Bean Salad With Peaches, Tomatoes, and Chickpeas
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
Peaches and basil are a pairing as natural as peanut butter and jelly, and when I was creating this recipe, green beans were in season. So as they say, what grows together, goes together! I just love the bright lemon dressing, and the crunch of the beans against the softness of the peaches. It’s a favorite salad of mine, made with my favorite fruit.
— Jeanine Donofrio
When Donofrio and her husband started blogging, they’d often eat dinner after 10 o’clock because they were so busy documenting the food and cooking during the “real” dinner hour. “And the kitchen would be a huge mess,” she laughs. “We didn’t have kids back then!”
Healthier Potato Salad
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
The look, flavor and texture of this dish scream classic potato salad, but it’s just a little more fresh and vibrant, made with Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard instead of mayo, plus crunchy radishes and tons of fresh herbs. I also throw in capers, but you could do chopped dill pickle—anything briny.
— Jeanine Donofrio
The process of making the blog remains “fun and chaotic,” Donofrio says. “But it’s more buttoned up, and we have a process and a system for testing recipes.” Her husband handles more of the tech and back-end tasks, and Donofrio has two full-time employees to help make the recipe magic happen. “Phoebe is my senior editor. We develop and perfect every recipe together, and she also co-authored my last book,” she explains. “And Sophia is my social media manager, who edits video and manages the social media platforms. We’re a small and mighty team, I think, of very talented people who can do a lot of different things.”
Grilled Eggplant With Lemon-Apricot Couscous
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
I like grilling recipes with make-ahead components, so I’m not juggling indoor and outdoor cooking. Here, you can prep the salad first—with lemon zest, dried apricots, almonds, and herbs—and pop it in the fridge. At go-time, pull it out to take the chill off, give that eggplant a nice char, and put it all together to serve warm or at room temperature.
— Jeanine Donofrio
Donofrio says one of her major sources of inspiration is the London-based, British-Israeli chef and author Yotam Ottolenghi. (Her abundant use of fresh herbs definitely hearkens to his cooking style.) “Any and every one of his books is always an endless amount of inspiration,” she says. “Anything you make is a winner.”
Spiralized Squash and Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
For me, a good pasta salad is all about variety, so for this recipe, I even mix up the noodles, using half pasta and half spiralized squash. Then I add ripe tomatoes, green beans, artichokes, olives, white beans, sunflower seeds, and a creamy tahini dressing. It’s a great, hearty dish to bring that can be a side or a vegan entree.
— Jeanine Donofrio
Donofrio hails from Chicago originally, but she and her family are soon moving back to Austin, Texas, where they lived for a long time. (She and winter are not best friends.) But the changing seasons do create one of her happiest moments every year—the first day of the farmers market in the spring. “It’s like, we’re here. We’re back,” she says. “Asparagus, we meet again.”
Strawberry Polenta Cake
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
This is the perfect, simple little cake to make for a summer afternoon. Greek yogurt makes it moist, cornmeal adds a nice texture, lemon brightens things up, and the strawberries baked on top get jammy and delicious.
— Jeanine Donofrio
Donofrio jokes that every recipe she makes, she adds lemon to awaken the flavors. (“Hence, the name of the blog!”) And no surprise, her favorite low-priced kitchen gadget is her Microplane zester. Her top pick for a kitchen splurge? A Vitamix blender.
Nutty Blackberry Crisp
Carson Downing
Jeanine Donofrio
Blackberries don’t get the love other berries do, but they’re wonderful. And this crisp is so easy. You just stir together almond flour, oats, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon—honestly, it’s not the most unhealthy thing on its own! But I do love it with vanilla ice cream.
— Jeanine Donofrio
Donofrio’s family travels every summer to Traverse City, Michigan. They love the hiking and beaches, “looking at the bugs and butterflies,” she says. And they also adore being able to buy produce straight from the farms—especially the area’s amazing fruit. “We pick cherries, we pick blueberries, we pick raspberries. We go at least once a week, and our son always eats more than what makes it in the basket.”
