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Vegan Bratwurst with Sauerkraut

Vegan Bratwurst with Sauerkraut made with oats, legumes, and spices pan-fried and served with Eden Foods Organic Sauerkraut and fried apples.

Everywhere around me there are fall festivals, pop up markets, and Oktoberfests happening.

Life has been such a blur lately (summer, where did you go?!), that I haven’t had the chance to attend to any community fall events.

If you’re in a busy season, too, I see you!

And there’s no need to leave all of that fall flair for outside the house.

I decided we could bring Oktoberfest to your house, and make it vegan and gluten free (a feat in itself, if you know traditional German food!).

While I can’t pretend that my version of Bratwurst is authentic, it is delicious and looks enough like the real thing to be a charming stand in.

Most of you know that my boyfriend, M, is originally from Germany so he keeps me honest when it comes to my German inspired recipes.

He also happens to be my chief taste tester and F&V HQ.

And while he did remark that these Vegan Brats, and I quote, “aren’t real bratwurst”, he did say they were quite tasty and scarfed down a couple.

So, I give you, an Oktoberfest meal for your next busy weekend that you don’t need to leave the house to make.

This Vegan Bratwurst with Sauerkraut is made with oats, legumes, and spices pan-fried and served with Eden Foods Organic Sauerkraut and fried apples.

It’s delicious for an Oktoberfest at home that’s both vegan and gluten free!

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Pumpkin Turmeric Waffles

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Pumpkin Turmeric Waffles made with oats, pumpkin purée, and Navitas Organics Turmeric Powder. Serve with melted cacao for breakfast!

Two weekends ago I had to miss my yoga teacher training because I was sick with the first cold of the season.

It’s been an ongoing goal of mine to connect with more local yoga studios in the area.

The hope being that I find a place that I can practice regularly and perhaps even one day teach at.

Ever since the pandemic, I’ve been all too comfortable practicing yoga from the room I fondly refer to as…the yoga room.

I am so fortunate that I have a space to work out at home, but, as my teacher said when encouraging me to connect locally, the energy just feels different in the studio.

So I’ve been pushing myself to get outside of my comfort zone and take classes with the public.

After the third class, I started to feel a connection to the community and myself I hadn’t felt in years.

It was like realizing a version of myself that I’d forgotten; a Lauren that went out for evening yoga regularly because it lit me up.

However, with the public yoga comes the public germs.

I remember looking askance during my third class at the girl next to me, sniffling heavily in downward facing dog.

She sounds unwell, I thought to myself, and then went on with my practice because what else can you do when you’re flowing next to a germ monster?!

So now I’m on the upswing of a bad cold, sitting with the irony that a public yoga class potentially caused me to miss my yoga training weekend.

However, I have to believe that that striving for connection, community, and movement outside of my house is worth the risk.

Being sick, I’ll admit, I haven’t been the most creative with food.

However, I did come up with a new waffle recipe for you that’s perfect for upcoming “spooky” season.

These Pumpkin Turmeric Waffles made with oats, pumpkin purée, and Navitas Organics Turmeric Powder.

Serve them with melted cacao drizzle for an elevated breakfast!

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Coconut Curry Rice Bowl

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Coconut Curry Rice Bowl made with curried coconut Jasmine rice topped with charred vegetables and seared tofu in a chili garlic sauce.

This week we checked out a new coffee house in our area on a weekday morning before work.

It felt like a bit of a hassle at the time, because we (read:I), get into these routines that feel nonnegotiable.

Like, how am I supposed to brave the Maryland traffic without a coffee at 7 AM?!

The horror.

To be fair, I do have a successful morning routine at home which involves coffee, meditation, gratitude, movement, and planning my day.

Oh, and of course getting to at least level “Amazing” on the NY Times App Spelling Bee game, because Genius is just too much work.

Next I walk with M and Flora and then we eat breakfast and I set up for my day, either a photoshoot, recipe testing, or computer day.

It’s true, we have fine-toned our mornings to achieve the intersection of maximum productivity and enjoyment.

However, I think it’s important to remember that we’re actively *choosing* this routine, or otherwise everything just becomes a chore.

That’s why breaking the routine for something like a coffee date felt so disruptive, rebellious, and in the end, fun.

So, your assignment for the week from your friend Lauren is to disrupt your routine a little.

Because you create your routine, your routine doesn’t create you.

And you always have the authority to change it.

For example, perhaps this week we turn our rice a vibrant yellow.

You rebel, you!

This Coconut Curry Rice Bowl is made with curried coconut Jasmine rice topped with charred vegetables and seared tofu in a chili garlic sauce.

It’s delicious for a cozy dinner as the weather transitions from summer to fall!

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Vegan Apple Pie Pancakes

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Super fluffy Vegan Apple Pie Pancakes with buckwheat flour and apple pie compote. Perfect for a weekend breakfast topped with SunButter!

This season has been all about healing for me.

Right now, I’m attending physical therapy two times a week to work on healing my chronic back pain.

It’s a commitment, right? In time, energy, and physicality.

Two days a week in my very adept physical therapist’s office releasing tension, increasing mobility, and building strength.

Not to mention the homework exercises that I do religiously (because I’m a good student, y’all!).

It was humbling to realize after my the first evaluation that despite being highly active, I have areas that are *extremely* weak.

And of course that imbalance and weakness is a contributing factor to the pain I experience on a daily basis.

The other cause most likely being the strange and incorrect form I use to capture all of the delicious food that I share with you all.

Yes, food photography is probably ground zero for the back problems that started a few years back.

I ignored it for so long, thinking, “Eh, it’ll just get better on it’s own, it’s just from holding the camera in a weird way.”

Spoiler alert: it did not get better and in fact, got more and more pervasive to the point that day to day activities became painful and challenging to perform.

A lot of my healing has been self-awareness of certain body patterns and motions that I’m doing that will trigger the pain.

As a yoga teacher, I know how important balance and harmony are in the bodies, so it’s kind of ironic that I couldn’t see that dissonance in myself.

So, consider this your PSA, friends: if anything is bothering you, take the time, the energy, and the resources to get it looked at.

Our bodies are our one amazing vessel to carry us through this life, so let’s take care of them as such.

Which is part of the reason as to why I love a plant-based lifestyle, because it’s good for us and the planet.

No one can argue that these Vegan Apple Pie Pancakes that I’m sharing today aren’t healing from the inside out.

These super fluffy Vegan Apple Pie Pancakes are made with gluten-free flour and apple pie compote.

They’re perfect for a fall weekend breakfast topped with SunButter!

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Chocolate Chip Snack Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Snack Cookies packed with protein thanks to chickpeas and Organic SunButter. Don’t forget lots of dark chocolate chips!

This summer I temporarily became a solo dog mom with M gone for a week at a work conference.

I was *very* apprehensive how Flora would behave with “Dad” being MIA.

You might remember that it was me that initially begged M to get a dog, but now that we have one, she’s very much attached to him.

That’s always the way it happens, right?!

She’s attached to me too, of course, but it’s different because I’m the human that’s always around as opposed to the other human who leaves for work and returns.

While she did look for him every day (sniffing the door, poking her head in his favorite house haunts, watching out the window), we settled into a routine just us girls.

Honestly, it’s been a big confidence boost to know that I can keep her alive on my lonesome.

I don’t know about you, friends, but some days I feel like I struggle to keep myself alive and well, let alone another furry friend.

So we kept it *very* simple and doubled down on routines this week here at F&V.

Luckily, Flora seems to take after her momma in her love of routines, too.

We did the walks, play time, meal time, and all of the cuddle sessions my little velociraptor would allow before she gets mouthy.

(I’m determined to make the working breed also a lap dog, too!)

One thing I did to support my week ahead was do a massive meal prep on Sunday so I felt comforted with good food even while missing my man.

So, getting to today’s recipe, one of those things that I made was…Chocolate Chip Snack Cookies!

Don’t worry, you don’t need your partner to be out of town to enjoy them, but that might help ensure they’re all yours!

These Chocolate Chip Snack Cookies are packed with protein thanks to chickpeas and SunButter.

Don’t forget lots of dark chocolate chips; because, like I tell my yoga students before savasana;

You deserve it.

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Vegan Bibim Guksu (Korean Spicy Cold Noodles)

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan Bibim Guksu (Korean Spicy Cold Noodles) made with Eden Foods Organic 100% Buckwheat Soba and fresh vegetables in a flavorful sauce.

You know how you look back in photos and *always* romanticize your past fashion choices, haircut, and body?

And you can probably remember the day that photo was taken along with the thoughts running through your head when it was taken.

My hair doesn’t lay right, my dress is too tight, my makeup is too loud.

Lies!

It’s interesting that these insecure moments become the rose-colored glasses memory we envy later.

But if the girl in the picture isn’t happy and neither is the one looking back on the picture, then what is there to be envious of?

Basically, we (read: I) need to learn to be present and appreciate what we (again, read: I) have right *now*.

This week I caught myself looking back at some photos with long hair with wistful eyes.

How much better life would be right now if I had longer hair! I thought to myself.

For context, earlier this year I chopped my hair off in what could best be described as an asymmetrical pixie cut.

At first I loved it; the freedom and lightness of it, the short blow dry time, the quirky asymmetry from right to left.

Now, I found myself seeing the very same cut with annoyance.

I get bedhead (and not the slightly disheveled cute kind) just by looking at a pillow, and I long to put it back in a french braid or pony tail.

So I’ve decided to grow out my hair again, slowly but surely, but the challenge to try to enjoy all of the in-between phases.

And with an asymmetrical short haircut, I’m sure there are going to be a *lot* awkward in between-ness.

I’m also sure that one day I’ll look back at photos of this time and think, “Wow, that haircut was so damn cool. I wish I could pull it off now.”

Life is cyclical, and so are my food recipes.

This week, I’m excited to share a cold noodle bowl that’s easy to put together.

A rare moment when I was happy within these photos but even happier to be eating it afterwards!

This Vegan Bibim Guksu (Korean Spicy Cold Noodles) is made with Eden Foods Organic 100% Buckwheat Soba and fresh vegetables in a flavorful sauce.

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Buffalo Tempeh Sandwich

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Buffalo Tempeh Sandwich made with marinated tempeh on toasted bread topped with lettuce, tomato, herbed nut cheese, and avocado.

How was your Fourth of July this year and long holiday weekend?

We took a beautiful 3 mile hike with Flora that left her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth like the happiest little dope.

After that, we visited our friends for a cookout in the afternoon and evening.

I brought my Vegan Maple Baked Beans to share with friends as a contribution to our feast.

We made it home before the fireworks (that was the goal!) so Flora was safe within the walls of our condo and the roar of AC that dulled the noise of exploding lights.

So seemed slightly concerned about several of the bigger “BOOMs”, but nothing that we couldn’t control with positive reinforcement and lots of treats.

The rest of our weekend was busy, too!

We met my parents for my mom’s birthday for dinner on Saturday, and then visited my cousin on Sunday for her gender reveal party (it’s a girl!!!).

So, there was a a lot to celebrate early this July and so many things to be grateful for.

Including bread and everything that goes in between it.

Yes, it’s sandwich summer here at F&V and my latest favorite sandwich is this Buffalo Tempeh Sandwich.

I love that it’s easy to meal prep for our rolling summer schedules for a quick and intentional lunch.

This Buffalo Tempeh Sandwich is made with marinated tempeh on toasted bread topped with lettuce, tomato, herbed nut cheese, and avocado.

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Cold SunButter Soba Noodles

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Cold SunButter Soba Noodles served with raw crunchy vegetables in an easy SunButter Sauce. Perfect for a light summer meal!

For context, I don’t sweat a lot.

I don’t have the kind of body that slips and slides on their yoga mat in a hot vinyasa class.

Or the kind of body that drips sweat from a low impact home workout with weights.

I’m not telling you this to brag about how I don’t sweat, I glisten.

I’m telling you this so you’ll understand how humid it is when I say I start sweating *immediately* when Flora and I left the house for our morning walk today.

By the time we got home around 7:55 AM, my face was slick with moisture and my freshly washed and dried hair was in need of re-washing.

And poor Flora didn’t look much better, panting like she’d run miles instead of leisurely walking for…one.

There’s been a fair share of memes on the Internet lately comparing he DMV to a bath tub, or, my personal favorite, a swamp.

And they’re very accurate.

So, the muse of my food recipes lately is a temperature…cold.

Anything chilled, no-bake, and not heated is at the top of my TO EAT list right now in mid July.

These Cold SunButter Soba Noodles are served with raw crunchy vegetables in an easy SunButter Sauce.

This noodle bowl is perfect for a light summer meal!

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Blackberry Chia Jam

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Easy blackberry chia seed jam to made on the stovetop with berries and chia seeds and naturally sweetened with lemon and maple syrup.

After the Fourth of July, it always feels like we’re entering the height of summer.

Many of my friends are out of town and colleagues have out of office messages notifying the world that they are unavailable.

During the dog days of summer, the pace of life feels slower, which can be hard for someone like me that is attached to moving quickly.

Summer also makes me nostalgic for being a carefree kid who only needed to hold space for finishing my latest library book and chilling at the neighborhood pool.

As adults, we are asked to keep the velocity of our lives moving forward while simultaneously pressing pause to make time to relax.

So, if summer feels like a tug of war between a packed social calendar and reluctant relaxation, I get it.

What I’m working on is being very intentional with my time off, and really being present and in alignment with what the day is asking of me.

If it feels like a “push” day, then I do all of the things; I shoot the recipe, I write the post, I edit the photos, I teach the yoga, I do it done.

If it feels like a “pause” day, then I pull back on work and lean into other tasks, maybe even taking some time off.

They key for me is to not think about work when I’m relaxing and not think about relaxing when I’m working.

You know what I mean?

It’s all about presence.

With that said, I highly encourage you to give your full attention to the recipe I’m sharing today.

It’s super easy to make and the perfect way to use up extra blackberries in the refrigerator.

This Vegan Blackberry Chia Jam is made with just 5 ingredients on the stovetop for a sweet summer spread!

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BBQ Lion’s Mane Mushroom Sandwich

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BBQ Lion’s Mane Mushroom Sandwich made with Eden Foods Organic Dried Lion’s Mane Mushrooms and served with tahini slaw on toasted buns.

The summer solstice has come and gone and it is HOT right now in the DMV.

Last weekend I attended another full weekend of my 300 hr yoga teacher training program, where we talked props and how they can support our poses.

And I was supported all weekend not only by my yoga blocks, but by a personal portable fan that I angled anywhere sweat pooled.

Oh, yeah, the hot yoga studio where I’m completing my training doesn’t have AC.

So, it took some reminding myself that I am resilient and being a little uncomfortable is OK.

I chatted with my friend after the weekend about attachment to creature comforts, and how important it is to let go of those every now and then.

And I’m most definitely attached to my perfectly thermo-regulated 72 degree air conditioned room.

I’m glad that we made it through the weekend before it got *really* hot like it has this week.

As I’m writing this post, temperatures are hovering just below 100 degrees!

With the extreme heat, we’ve been walking Flora first thing in the morning and staying indoors as much as possible.

The best thing you can do when cooking in the heat is to keep that oven off!

Today I’m excited to share a fresh sandwich that’s perfect for cookouts, summer entertaining, and weekly meal prep.

This BBQ Lion’s Mane Mushroom Sandwich is made with Eden Foods Organic Dried Lion’s Mane Mushrooms and served with a tangy tahini slaw on toasted buns.

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