Dressings, Dips & Spreads

Carrot Cashew Queso

Vegan queso made with steamed carrots, cashews, and plenty of nutritional yeast. Serve it with tacos, taco salads, burrito bowls, chips, and veggies!

How was your Saint Patrick’s Day?

I forgot to wear green, but I didn’t forget to celebrate.

M and I opened a bottle of champagne that’s been hanging out in the fridge since New Years and toasted to the cookbook manuscript’s completion.

We even played a few Irish jigs (mostly rowdy drinking songs) while we attended our weekly virtual game night with my sister and cousins.

While shuffling pieces in Bandido, we talked dreamily about meeting up later this year, in person, in a post-COVID world, full vaccinated and ready for hugs.

I literally can’t wait.

But until then, I have a cookbook to finish birthing.

It’s been a bit of a transitional week here as I re-surface into the world after my manuscript submission and start to assess the next big hurdle–

The cookbook photos.

Dun dun dun.

Yes, the cookbook photos are due in less than two months and I’m equal parts excited and anxious to start photographing again.

Naturally, I’ve been procrastinating, waiting for the perfect daylight, the perfect feeling, the perfect gap in my schedule, to pick up my Canon camera.

But, you and I both know that there is will never be a perfect time, so I really just need to jump into the messiness.

Kind of like this Carrot Cashew Queso that I’m sharing with you today.

Well, it’s only messy if you blend it the way I did– with the Vitamix lid ajar on the highest setting.

I’m still finding blobs of cheezy carrot queso clinging to the cabinets and kitchen backsplash.

Lauren-error aside, this queso is super easy to make on the stovetop and in the blender for a quick savory dip!

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Tahini Date Caramel Dip

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

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!

Tahini date caramel dip made with Medjool dates, pure maple syrup, and a tahini twist. Perfect as a sweet dip for fresh fruit, crackers, or apple chips!

In my early conversations M we talked a lot about food.

It’s good neutral ground for conversation, and, well, I *am* a food blogger.

One day I remember asking him if he liked dates.

“The fruit, not the…well, date, date,” I said, blushing behind my iPhone screen.

As it turns out he liked both examples of the word, but I’m here today to talk about one.

The ooey gooey edible dates.

Because I just rediscovered them this past week and I blended them into something special for you.

This Tahini Date Caramel Dip is made with just 5 ingredients in the blender for a sweet snack with apple chips!

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Dark Chocolate Tahini

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

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

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

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

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.

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

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

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.

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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Roasted Squash & Arugula Salad

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Roasted squash & arugula salad with pine nuts, dried cranberries, and apple cider vinegar dressing. Perfect for fall and winter lunches!

Being a new rock climber is definitely an ego boost.

I would be lying if I didn’t feel pretty darn cool carrying ropes through the state park on the approach.

Hearing kids shout and point to skeptical parents, “Wow, look, mom, rock climbers!” made my helmeted head just slightly bigger.

But learning how to rappel down a cliff yesterday definitely shook my cool.

The hardest part (for me) was lowering myself over the edge to effectively test the safety with my body weight and set up the dual ropes through my ATC.

I clung from the edge of the rock while my feet dangled, digging for comfy footholds that never came.

Looking up at M wildly I said, “I feel like Mufasa from the Lion King right now,” and burst out laughing.

Yeah, I laugh a *lot* when I’m nervous.

But it was all good because my safety latched like I knew it would and I set up my rappelling ropes no problem.

M fireman belayed me from the bottom and I repelled like a freakin’ rockstar.

When my two feet were finally on the ground again, I laughed at how simple it had all been.

This Roasted Squash & Arugula Salad is almost as satisfying as the delicious post-climbing soreness I felt waking up today.

It’s made easily with roasted winter squash, arugula, pine nuts, and dried cranberries for a

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Quinoa Cakes with Basil Pesto

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

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

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 Basil Pesto.

They’re made with cooked quinoa, leafy greens, 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

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

2-Ingredient Roasted Hazelnut Nutella with roasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate. Made 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

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Creamy cilantro lime avocado dip with avocado, unsweetened almond milk yogurt, fresh herbs, and 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

By Flora & Vino 6 Comments

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.

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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Dressings, Dips & Spreads

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