Flora & Vino

Dressings, Dips & Spreads

Dark Chocolate Tahini

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Dark chocolate tahini made oil-free and refined-sugar-free with just three ingredients. Blend it up and serve with baked apple chips for dipping! 

Dark Chocolate Tahini Spread by Flora & Vino

During quarantine, I became irrevocably infatuated with a store-bought chocolate tahini spread. 

I used it like I would a chocolate dessert syrup.

Then I got M on the chocolate tahini train, too. 

And, well…sharing is hard. 

With a chocolate tahini shortage imminent, I knew I had one of two choices. 

I could either hoard and hide those sweet sesame seed butter jars, or learn to make dark chocolate tahini myself.

Obviously, I took the higher path. 

Are you proud of me?

This Dark Chocolate Tahini requires just 3 ingredients and 30 minutes to be yours to hide and hoard.

Or, you know, to share.

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Low Sugar Applesauce Apple Butter

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Easy 5-ingredient apple butter made with unsweetened applesauce. This fall spread is lightly sweet with maple syrup, apple cider, and a touch of kombucha. 

Low Sugar Applesauce Apple Butter by Flora & Vino

I miss my extended family, guys. 

Most of them are split between Indiana and North Carolina with a few scattered from coast to coast. 

Our annual family reunion was canceled this year in an abundance of COVID caution. 

We’re planning on connecting virtually over the holidays in a Zoom Room, but it’s not *quite* the same as exchanges hugs and laughs and food. 

I texted my Aunt Janet on Halloween and told her how much  I missed her apple butter. 

I always coveted the little mason jars she sent to my parents and me, eating greedy spoonfuls on anything and everything. 

It was brimming with fresh sweet apples, warm spices, and just the right amount of sweetness. 

Feeling nostalgic, I decided to create my own apple butter this season that’s made super simple with applesauce. 

You can make this Low Sugar Applesauce Apple Butter in under an hour with just 5 simple ingredients! 

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Low Sugar Fig Jam & Apple Chips

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This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Three ingredient fig jam made with fresh figs, lemon, and a drizzle of maple syrup. The perfect fall spread to top on toast, warm oatmeal, or yogurt bowls.

Low Sugar Fig Jam & Apple Chips by Flora & Vino

It’s getting colder, but I still haven’t turned on the heat in my place.

I wake up to a cool 68 degree living room, where I stumble to the couch, swaddle myself in blankets, and do my morning journaling while sipping on a matcha latte.

I kind of like it.

Lately I’ve been working on reducing my energy consumption.

Yep, I’ve been giving the dial knob on my Nest thermostat a bit of a breather.

Like not heating and cooling to a perfect 72 degrees, but instead ebbing and flowing with the changing fall temperatures.

This means embracing chilly mornings with sweaters and long pants and warmer afternoons with open windows and tank tops.

I’ve found a nice surrender and presence in accepting and adapting to the weather outside the window.

Ah, autumn.

I’ve also been embracing all of the seasonal fall produce, like fresh figs and apples.

This Low Sugar Fig Jam & Apple Chips is the naturally sweet fall snack that you need this fall!

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Quinoa Cakes with Oil-Free Basil Pesto

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Easy plant-based patties packed with protein and leafy greens! Perfect for meal prep and easy weeknight meals. Serve with a nutty oil-free basil pesto!

Quinoa Cakes with Oil-Free Basil Pesto by Flora & Vino

Are you in a food rut?

I was Marco-Polo-ing with a friend today discussing our food rut probs.

Mine came on slowly with building disdain, like playing a song on repeat during a workout when each chorus inspires a little less feeling.

When I realized that I had consumed a variation of steamed vegetables + plant protein + tahini for every dinner in recent memory, I knew I needed a menu intervention.

And don’t get me started about dishes. (They’re never-ending!!!)

So, what kind of quarantine cook are you?

Are you unleashing you creativity or are you sticking to the tried and true basics?

Either way, you’re going to love these Quinoa Cakes with Oil-Free Basil Pesto.

They’re made with cooked quinoa, leafy greans, and tahini with a nutty oil-free basil pesto!

Schedule out a day next week in your menu to make this lean clean quarantine cuisine.

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2-Ingredient Roasted Hazelnut Nutella

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Homemade Nutella made with roasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate. Lower sugar and oil-free with just 2-ingredients! Try serving with apple chips!

Hi guys!

Since we last chatted I taught a 60-minute yoga class to my yoga teacher training group and finished a 6-hour YTT final exam.

I definitely clutched my sequence paper a little too tightly while teaching and scratched my head at a few questions on the final, but guys, I DID IT.

I passed. Whew.

My graduation is in two weeks and then I will officially be certified.

So this week has been all about rest and recovery, and getting my life together off the mat.

I’ve been looking for excuses to treat myself, because that sh** was hard!

Enter 2-ingredient Roasted Hazelnut Nutella.

It comes together in less than 30 minutes for a sweet nutty spread that is totally oil-free and refined sugar-free!

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Creamy Cilantro Lime Avocado Dip

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Creamy cilantro lime avocado dip made with avocado, unsweetened almond milk yogurt, fresh herbs, and squeezed lime. Serve with grain-free crackers!

You know you’re an adult when you start planning months or even weeks ahead to pencil your friends in for a simple lunch-date.

One friend and I scheduled ours in for almost two months out; the first Saturday free blank on both our day-planners.

Lately my calendar is been a scary place lately; one I force myself to enter each morning as I sip matcha and plan for the day ahead.

Between balancing yoga teacher training and rigorous work schedule around it, I feel like I should have a permanent away message slapped on my forehead.

But even with my daily scheduling check-in, I’m still baffled at how fast January went by.

I mean, weren’t we just setting new years intentions and goals and stuff?

Next weekend is already the first weekend in February, and also happens to be Super Bowl Sunday.

If you’ve been here a while, you know I’m about as confident watching football as I am public speaking.

AKA not very.

However, I AM very confident in the concept of game-time snacks.

This Creamy Cilantro Lime Avocado Dip is the perfect healthy dip to share, packed with satiating good fats, herbs, and citrus!

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Tri-Colored Roasted Cauliflower Salad

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Quick and colorful 1-pan cauliflower side roasted to perfection with simple seasonings and herbs. Enjoy as a holiday side or add protein for a cozy entrée.

Tri-Colored Roasted Cauliflower Salad by Flora & Vino

Can we talk for a second about how close the holidays are?

Today is two weeks until Thanksgiving and yesterday was six weeks until the new year.

Not that I’m counting or anything.

To be honest, I haven’t even fully acknowledged that it’s November, let alone the side I’m going to bring to Thanksgiving Day dinner at my parents’.

Luckily, I hope this Tri-Colored Roasted Cauliflower Salad can help us with our holiday dish scramble.

It’s the perfect side dish to add some cozy color to any plant-based plate!

You just need one pan, three heads of cauliflower, the perfect neutral, high-heat cooking oil, and your favorite fresh herb to bring this salad to your dining room table.

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Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Hummus (Oil-Free!)

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Creamy oil-free hummus with organic turkish tomato halves, chickpeas, tahini, and seasonings. Perfect for dipping veggies, crackers, and spoons! 

Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Hummus by Flora & Vino

Hi, friends!

This past weekend I saw Downton Abbey, the film, with my parents and sister.

Have you seen the show?

I binge-watched all six seasons in long sittings in my first apartment almost five years back.

My parents were simultaneously watching the show at their house, so on our phone calls circa 2015 we chatted about what all of Downton’s characters were up to.

When I discovered this year that there was now a full feature movie I knew we had to all go see it family-style.

And by family style I mean rolling the 10 AM matinee showing like we own the place.

I won’t go into any details in case you’re planning to see it, too, but the film does give all of our favorite characters a mini storyline to triumph and grow a little.

My storyline lately has been continuing to organize the new house, and organizing always involves snacks.

This Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Hummus requires just 7 ingredients for a creamy spread that’s savory, tomato-y, and spreadable.

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Maple Pear Butter & Apple Chips

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4-ingredient pear butter made with fresh pears, lemon, and cinnamon lightly sweetened with pure maple syrup. The best way to use up lots of fall pears!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m a bit obsessed with fruit spreads and butters.

It all started with my classic Pumpkin Apple Butter, but I’ve since branched into all sorts of fruity flavors.

You might remember that over the summer we did a Blueberry Butter and Peach Butter that squealed “summer!” every time I spooned them onto seeded bread.

With the temperatures quickly cooling, I couldn’t stop thinking about more autumn-inspired spreads.

Sure, summer is great for bright fruity jams, but fall is the season to stand over the stovetop with warming fruits and spice.

I couldn’t get the concept of pear butter out of my head after seeing thick golden jars of the stuff at a local farmer’s market.

So I made this Maple Pear Butter that’s fruit forward, smooth and cinnamon-y, and perfectly sweet but refined sugar-free.

It’s all of your fall feels in a 12 oz. Ball Jar.

You just need four simple ingredients and a seasonal chip for dipping!

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnut Butter Sauce

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Easy oven-roasted brussels sprouts served with a spicy oil-free hazelnut butter-based sauce and sesame seeds. Perfect for a delicious fall/winter side dish.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Spicy Hazelnut Butter Sauce by Flora & Vino

This weekend I became a plant mom.

The main level in my new townhouse has a bright white vibe with three sets of windows that let in lots of natural light.

With the moving boxes finally gone, I started to dream up ways to customize the space.

I don’t have any art on the walls yet, and my furniture budget is at a definite minimum.

What I do have, though, is space for a few plants.

Naturally, as with most big decisions, I polled Instagram first, asking what indoor plants are low maintenance.

Or, in other words, which plants do you really think I can keep alive?

Equipped with responses, I drove to the nursery with my friend and adopted three succulents, a snake plant, an aloe plant, and a croton!

They’re perched on plant-stands as I type this post, both calming and comforting in their stoic stillness.

To echo all of my newfound green, I made these Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnut Butter Sauce today.

You just need a bag of brussels and a jar of hazelnut butter to get started!

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