1-bowl vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free brownies made super moist with the addition of butternut squash puree for a healthy dessert!
Hi, friends!
It might still feel like summer out, but it’s definitely baking season and I made you brownies just to prove it.
I’m more than happy to sweat it out in front of my crowded double oven to create some new fall favorites.
These 1-Bowl Butternut Brownies are gluten-free, no-oil-added, refined-sugar-free, and made with only FIVE ingredients!
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Flourless vegan brownies made with aduki beans, nut butter, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips.
Hi, friends.
How are you holding up this year so far?
For the second time this year, I was forced to take time off work due to germs.
Being sick is already a small business owner’s worst nightmare, but not being able to eat as a food blogger really takes the cake.
Maybe it was the flu, maybe it was a stomach bug, but whatever it was, *nothing* sounded good to me last week.
Correction: Nothing I normally eat sounded good to me.
Let me introduce you to my sick week menu.
I lived on applesauce, frozen bagels with vegan cream cheese, plain oatmeal, plain rice and curry, copious sweet potato fries, and many scoops of vegan ice cream.
If you had passed me a vegetable to eat last week, I would have thrown it back at you.
We replaced cooking together on Valentine’s Day with raiding the fridge of anything plain Lauren could digest.
But I am excited to report that my stomach is back to itself, craving veggies and creating recipes (but still eating vegan ice cream because, because).
However, I think M and I deserve a re-do on Valentine’s Day, starting with a nutritious and delicious dessert.
These flourless vegan brownies are made with aduki beans, nut butter, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips.
They’re packed with protein and fiber and still manage to taste like decadent dessert!
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Vegan Strawberry Brownies with fresh strawberries, and dark chocolate chips. A fun dessert to combine strawberries and chocolate!
Have you ever stopped and actually done those “10 Questions for Your Girlfriend” quizzes that you swipe through on TikTok?
M and I have, because I think they’re fun.
It’s a welcome reprieve from doomscrolling an endless “For You” page of trending sounds and videos and an opportunity to interact in an otherwise antisocial sport.
So, anyway, back to the quizzes.
I mean, who doesn’t want to decide which dog their boyfriend is out of 10 different options or whether they’d choose cookies or brownies for dessert?
These are important questions that demand answers.
It was during a food-themed quiz that M informed me that he would rather eat brownies over cookies.
“WHAT?!” I shrieked, totally flabbergasted.
“Yes, over cookies, I would!” he vehemently argued.
This honestly doesn’t mean a lot coming from my dessert-opposed boyfriend who can eat raw rhubarb and think it’s sweet enough.
Friends, I don’t think I’ve seen M eat a single brownie during our four years of dating.
But, apparently he’s a brownie guy.
So, this brownie recipe is dedicated to the boy I live with who hasn’t touched this pan since I made them.
That’s OK, because these Vegan Strawberry Brownies are too good to share.
These vegan and gluten-free brownies are made with fresh strawberries and dotted with dark chocolate chips.
They’re essentially a chocolate covered strawberry in brownie form!
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Flourless vegan brownies made with black beans, nut butter, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and dark chocolate. The best black bean brownies!
Where did September go, friends?!
I haven’t done much baking this fall, so let’s change that today.
And I have the perfect recipe; one I’ve been saving for just the right moment.
I know what you’re thinking.
“Black bean brownies, Lauren?! That’s SO 2017. ”
So let me preface this by saying that nothing about these black bean brownies tastes like black beans.
These Flourless Vegan Brownies are dense, fudgy, and chocolate-y with just 5 easy ingredients.
The best part is that they’re packed with plant-based protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
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Vegan cosmic brownies with almond flour and sweetened with coconut sugar. Top them with Chocolate SunButter and sprinkles for a fun dessert!
This holiday weekend I set a PR for most shooting stars seen in one evening.
On Memorial Day, M and I drove to the Shenandoah to see the Tau Herculids Meteor Shower.
We chose the Shenandoah because it’s low in light pollution with dark skies and great views, so it’s perfect for star gazing.
I yawned and grumbled getting there, but once I was cozied up in my camp chair with blankets surrounded by the glittering night, I was happy to be there.
Around 1 AM we watched stars streak across the sky while M took photos, hoping to catch a beautiful bright arch across the frame.
It’s always humbling to stare up at the night sky, feeling so incredibly small compared to those fire balls whizzing through space.
I can’t share the cosmos with you, but I can share some cosmic brownies with you that are pretty out of this world.
These Vegan Cosmic Brownies are made with almond flour and topped with Chocolate SunButter and dotted with sprinkles for a fun dessert!
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Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies made minty with Hu Kitchen Mint Snacking Gems and crushed candy canes. Perfect for a decadent winter dessert!
Are you a peppermint fan?
Growing up, we always had candy canes around the house for Christmas time.
The ones we didn’t unwrap and eat we hung on the Christmas tree for a simple elegant ornament.
So I like to carry on the candy cane tradition, keeping a box of them in my Christmas box for…just about anything!
So, this year, why don’t we bake with them?
While I’m not the biggest solo peppermint fan, there’s something about the combination of dark chocolate and peppermint that’s both refreshing and addicting.
These Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies are super fudge-y and super minty, made with mint dark chocolate chips and crushed candy canes.
They’re the festive dessert you need to make for your holiday get togethers this year!
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Super fudge-y brownies made with SunButter and sweet potato. Sweetened with maple syrup and dark chocolate chips. Perfect for a decadent fall dessert!
I love it when my friends are taste testers.
Whenever we have company over I always feel inclined to bake a special dessert, or re-create a star recipe from the blog.
You, know, live up to the whole food blogger title.
Luckily, my friends understand that since I do this for a living, I’m not always jumping to pull out my oven mitts on a Saturday and dirty up the kitchen.
Particularly after it’s *finally* clean for the first time all week.
So when one of my favorite couples came over last weekend they got an exclusive preview of these brownies made with sweet potato.
“Dessert, anyone?” I asked, extending a Tupperware jar of leftover brownies that I photographed earlier in the week.
My friends loved these Sweet Potato SunButter Brownies and I know you will too!
They’re made easily in 1-bowl with sweet potato, SunButter, and plenty of cacao.
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Grain-free vegan brownies with a decadent SunButter & jelly swirl made with organic sunflower seed butter and homemade strawberry chia jam.
OK, let’s catch up because it’s been a minute since we’ve chatted.
Since I last wrote to you, I submitted my third round of cookbook edits and the manuscript is officially out of my hands and in the very capable hands of copy editors.
Woo-freakin-hoo!
I also received my second COVID vaccine and was totally wiped out for the following day.
Feeling shaking and immobile, I spent most of the day curled up in my favorite recliner, journaling, brainstorming, and dreaming of the future for me and F&V.
Thinking beyond my daily TO-DOs, beyond the cookbook, beyond the pandemic.
What’s next?
Well, these SunButter & Jelly Brownies are next for you, boo.
They’re entirely grain-free and refined-sugar-free with a swirly SunButter and homemade jelly top.
I mean, what’s better than combining PB&J and brownies?
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Grain-free and oil-free brownies made super fudge-y with almond butter, almond flour, and pumpkin. Bake a pan for a decadent fall dessert!
Today I tackled my tax preparation for the year 2020.
If you own your own business, you might be familiar with the beast that is tracking and categorizing your annual expenses.
Usually I’m much further along than I am right now.
Partially because Dan used to take care of all of the tax *stuff* for me because he liked spreadsheets and I like that he liked spreadsheets.
Also because when COVID hit the tedious parts of being an entrepreneur felt all the more taxing (ha, pun totally intended).
But I decided recently that I needed to get that ish done for several valid reasons.
For one, the bulging magazine rack stuffed with receipts was always on my mind, which definitely detracted from my creative energy.
Secondly, I think I needed to prove to myself that I could be responsible and organized enough to do this tax prep thing alone.
It was basically the last thing that I hadn’t officially taken over since the divorce.
So this morning I used up all the ink printing Amazon purchases, online grocery receipts, and business subscriptions.
Then I squinted at the monstrous Excel spreadsheet columns and relearned how to create formulas for cell addition (I’m not an Excel person, guys!).
And, finally, I sat cross-legged on my geometric area rug and shoved receipts into dated manilla envelopes.
The relief I felt when the enormous pile of papers was sorted and the tallied totaled was immeasurable.
I’ll try to measure it by comparing it to the deliciousness of these Pumpkin Almond Butter Brownies.
These 1-bowl brownies are vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free with a hint of pumpkin and lots of cacao!
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Two layer vegan blueberry mousse brownies that are vegan, grain-free, and refined sugar-free with almonds, dark chocolate, and cashew blueberry cream.
Guys, I’m planning an outdoor climbing adventure.
Want to come?
Now, before you go all Alex Honnold from Free Solo on me, let me tell you it’s not going to be that precarious.
I might have mentioned before how much I enjoy indoor climbing.
There’s something about hoisting myself from colorful hold to hold, vertically pressed against the incline that gets my heart thumping and my mind engaged.
But doing it all outdoors is a whole new world.
Or at least, I’m sure it is.
I haven’t made it that far yet, but I have all of the gear!
I’ve got my teal harness and my form fitting climbing shoes and my carabiner (which is *way* too fun to say, by the way) all ready for the climb.
Now I’m just waiting for the summer heat to die down before hitting the rock.
Until then, the only thing that I really want to climb right now are the layers on these Blueberry Mousse Brownies.
They’re made vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free with decadent dark chocolate and a creamy cashew blueberry mousse.
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