Gluten-Free

Crispy Rice Paper Dumplings

Crispy rice paper dumplings made with nori sheets, baked tofu, and vegetables. Serve with a peanut sauce for dipping!

Since we last spoke, I planned an epic surprise party for M at a brewery.

With surprise parties, especially ones where friends are involved, you never know if you’re going to pull it off.

But I knew by the look on his face when we rounded the corner towards a table with friends and family that he didn’t have a CLUE.

Which made my insides glow like the brightest nightlight, because, WE DID IT!

You know, surprising slash pranking M has become a bit of a passion of mine.

Let’s see, there was the time when my cousin and her husband surprised him on his birthday with Indian takeout.

There was the April Fools joke where I filled his cashew butter jar with tahini (I’m still laughing about this one!).

After thanking me at the brewery surrounded by his favorite people, M asked me, “Would you like it if I threw you a surprise party?”

And the answer is…I’m not sure!

In general, in life, I don’t *love* being surprised.

I like to know what’s coming, and plan for said event with a Plan A, B, C, and maybe D.

If I showed up at a brewery expecting some alone time with my partner and was suddenly the center of attention from a dozen people I love…

Well, M, if you ever get me back and surprise me, we will find out if I laugh or cry!

In the meantime, I have a surprise for you to fight off the winter doldrums.

It’s true, it feels like January has lasted forever, even with the promise of M’s birthday party to keep me going.

These Crispy Rice Paper Dumplings are made with nori sheets, baked tofu, and vegetables.

Serve them with a peanut sauce for dipping!

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Vegan Maqui Berry Cheesecake

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan maqui berry cheesecake with a gluten-free almond-oat crust, and an optional strawberry compote topping.

I love it when M eats dessert with me.

Like, sharing dessert might be my love language.

For Christmas, he got me some fancy extra dark truffles that I happily divided it up between us so we could enjoy them in pairs.

It doesn’t happen very often, because he has more of a savory tooth than a sweet one.

It’s just special to share something sweet with someone you’re sweet on, you know?

Which is why I love when his birthday rolls around.

Every year to celebrate M’s birthday I make a variation of vegan cheesecake.

He always says he doesn’t need a birthday cake, but everybody needs a birthday cake, right?!

Cheesecake, while not a cake in the classical sense, is his favorite dessert, and one I’m happy to create and enjoy with him.

This year, I was inspired to create something a little funky and colorful.

This Vegan Maqui Berry Cheesecake is made with a gluten-free almond-oat crust, and an optional strawberry compote topping.

Add a little color to your year and make this for a fun dessert for any occasion!

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Sweet Potato Waffles

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Sweet Potato Waffles made with oats and Organic SunButter. Serve with berries for a sweet elevated breakfast!

One of my favorite juice shops in Virginia has a small menu of food items, too.

Sometimes you want a little something to nibble on while you’re sipping on your green juice, you know?

This is particularly helpful during the times I stop for juice after a run or hot yoga class and need something a little more substantial.

My *favorite* menu item is a sweet potato waffle that is both vegan and gluten-free.

The presentation on this waffle is a work of art in itself.

It’s plated as one giant circular waffle, topped with a sweet lemon-y glaze, fresh berries, matcha powder, and, if memory serves, edible flowers.

(Side note: I never ate the flowers because I was too scared, but they’re so very pretty!)

Every time I order one, I think to myself, “Lauren, you need to learn how to make this at home and share with everyone (AKA you!).

So, friends, I bring you, Sweet Potato Waffles.

Now, my version is a little more humble; an every day version, if you will.

But that’s how I usually like my eats; easy, nourishing, and delicious.

It doesn’t have a fancy presentation or fancy ingredients but it’s now my favorite waffle recipe I’ve ever made.

These Sweet Potato Waffles are made with an oat base with Organic SunButter.

Serve them with berries and maple syrup for a sweet elevated breakfast to share!

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Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese

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Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese made with your favorite pasta and a creamy cashew sauce. Serve solo as a side and with protein for a main!

Last fall, we spent Friday and Saturday at an Air B&B in Virginia with friends to celebrate a birthday.

It was our first time traveling with Flora!

I think I can speak for both M and me when I saw we were more than a little nervous about how it would all turn out.

Pottying, sleeping, and eating were all big question marks, because our pup has never spent a night somewhere else.

As it turns out, she did *very* well.

She picked up on the pottying after a few hours and settled in for sleep like a champ.

In fact, I think she might travel better than her mama, who is always in a state of anxiety upon arrival.

As usual, I packed most of my food for the weekend, including this Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese that I shared with my friends’ 1 year old son.

He didn’t eat much, but I think that’s more because we were babysitting and less because of the recipe.

This Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese is cozy, flavorful, and packed with veggies.

It’s made with your favorite pasta and a creamy cheesy cashew sauce.

Serve it solo as a side or add protein to make it more of a main!

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Cookie Dough Overnight Oats

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Cookie Dough Overnight Oats made creamy with cashew butter, vegan yogurt, and chocolate chips. Perfect for meal prep breakfast!

Hello 2025!

It’s been a second since I sat down and wrote a blog post, so let’s see if I remember how to do this.

Forgive me if I ramble and grumble a little but I promise we will get to a recipe at the end of all of this, ok?

POV: January is a strange month.

I personally feel a lot of contradictory feelings and energy; anyone else?

On the one hand, there’s this dizzying forward momentum.

The increase of newcomers at the climbing gym, the annual goal setting we’re witness to via social media, the marketing campaigns promising, “New year, new you.”

On the other hand, there’s an unsettling quietness after a hustling holiday season.

And maybe instead of goal setting, go getting, and planning all out 2025 vacations, maybe we just want to take a nap.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much into the intention setting world.

I indulged in a cozy journaling session to think back on 2024, the good, the bad, and everything in between.

And then followed that session with another to look forward into 2025; to dream, manifest, and cultivate.

Every year I choose a word of the year; something that sums up the goals I’m trying my hardest to make a reality.

Usually it’s also a word that I choose a little based on feeling, because if it’s the “right” word, I feel a tugging in my gut when I read it out loud.

This year’s word that gave me butterflies, is SPACE.

The word might have an entirely different connotation to you than it does for me, and that’s OK!

For me, it encompasses a feeling of mental expansion, a physical move (that we anticipate making later this year), and a allowance of physical presence.

I’m working on creating this idea and mantra of space slowly but surely.

Kind of like easing back into recipe creation when it felt right.

(I did promise you that this prologue would lead to something yummy, didn’t I?!)

I want to kick off our 2025 recipe calendar with something easy, accessible, and delicious.

These Cookie Dough Overnight Oats have been fueling my busy mornings and I’m excited to share them with you.

They’re made super creamy and cookie-licious with cashew butter, vegan yogurt, and dark chocolate chips.

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Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff

By Flora & Vino 3 Comments

Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff made with your favorite pasta and dried mushrooms in a creamy cashew based sauce. Serve with fresh herbs!

The days are flying by!

Each morning I change the advent calendar number in disbelief, truly baffled by where the time goes.

It goes to unhurried dog training, hurried walks before early sunset, teaching yoga class prep, and hand writing Christmas cards.

And it goes to baking Christmas cookies, dreaming of 2025, applying buckets of moisturizer, and bundling and unbundling myself in layers of clothes.

It also goes to holiday parties, cups of light roast coffee on the couch, watching Christmas Hallmark movies, and playing Christmas music on a loop until it annoys me.

The time goes to making too many social plans and then cancelling them, returning Amazon packages, replacing dead car batteries, and drinking ruby red wine.

Some also goes to reading my Kindle, moving my body every day, watering dehydrated plant babies, and rewatching all 8 seasons of House with M.

One thing is certain: the time goes.

With not many days left in 2024, I’m committing to eating cozy comforting meals for the remainder of the year.

Are you in?

Sure, I love a good holiday cookie as much as the rest, but I wanted to leave you with something hearty, cozy, and satisfying.

Something that will curb your appetite until 2025, so to speak.

This is our last recipe of 2024, and it’s Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff.

This Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff is made with your favorite pasta and dried mushrooms in a creamy cashew based sauce.

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SunButter & Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

SunButter & Jelly Thumbprint Cookies made with Organic SunButter and your favorite no-sugar-added jam. The perfect holiday cookie!

I’m just going to come out and say it: the end of this year has felt like a slog for me.

Anyone else?

I’m tired, I’m cranky, and I feel like the only thing that sounds interesting to me at the moment is a one-way ticket to the Bahamas.

Maybe it’s the shorter daylight, maybe it’s surviving the most wonderful time of the year as a new dog mom, or maybe it’s the extreme cold we’ve had this December.

Whatever *it* is that has me staring at blank pages with blinking cursors and cursing the creative slump I’ve fallen into, needs to go.

Regardless of the cause, I’m actively trying to take it easy on myself.

Because baby it’s freakin’ cold outside, because it’s the holidays, because I’m moving into 2025 without those nuisance negative beliefs.

That being said, whether you’re crushing the last few weeks of 2024 or cruising like I am, I think we all deserve a cookie.

These SunButter & Jelly Thumbprint Cookies are made with Organic SunButter and your favorite no-sugar-added jam.

They’re the epitome of the perfect holiday cookie made with lots of SunButter, jam, and love.

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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with oat and almond flour and dark chocolate chips. The perfect classic vegan cookie for any occasion!

It’s cookieeeeeee season, friends!

Just this week, I have three batches of cookies on the menu for three respective holiday events.

And pretty much every gathering this time of year requires cookies, am I right?

Today, I’m sharing with you a classic chocolate chip cookie with an un-classic vegan and gluten-free twist.

I first made these cookies for “Cousinsgiving” last weekend when we celebrated with my cousin, her husband, and their (now toddler!) daughter.

They were the perfect chocolate studded dessert after a beautiful spread of Vegan Zoodle Carbonara, cranberry sauce, delicata squash, and green beans.

I love that these cookies are easy to mix up in one bowl, making them a go-to recipe for last minute cookie exchanges.

You know, for the times you find out the night before (or the day of!) that you need cookies for an event.

Have no fear, these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are here.

They’re made with the perfect mix of oat and almond flour and lots of dark chocolate chips.

This perfect classic vegan cookie also happens to be packed with fiber, plant-based protein, and healthy fats.

Not that we need to worry about the perfect nutrition label this time of year (or ever), but now you know!

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1-Bowl Blondies

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

1-Bowl Blondies with oat and almond flour sweetened with pure maple syrup. Top with Endangered Species 60% Dark Chocolate Baking Chips!

Thanksgiving came and went and now the world is hustling and bustling in a holiday craze.

I actually finished my holiday shopping early this year because I was overeager to buy gifts in October and November.

This feels like a major flex now, because I have more time for writing my Christmas cards and…baking.

Friends, ’tis the season for baking.

Baking all things, but mostly sweet things.

I’m excited to share my first December baked good with you.

I had my oven on every day last week working on different variations of blondies.

What I’m sharing with you today is my favorite; sweet, chewy, and chocolate studded goodness.

These 1-Bowl Blondies are made with oat and almond flour sweetened with pure maple syrup.

Top them with Endangered Species 60% Dark Chocolate Baking Chips and don’t forget to measure chocolate chips with your soul.

Make a pan of these vegan and gluten-free blondies for you and yours!

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Vegan Morning Glory Muffins

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan Morning Glory Muffins made with shredded carrots, dried fruit, nuts, and Organic SunButter. Perfect for a quick breakfast or snack!

After daylight savings time told us to “fall back” (thanks, daylight savings!) I’ve been trying to use that extra hour to get an hour ahead…on life.

It feels like a cheat, doesn’t it?

Without missing a wink of sleep, I’m suddenly back to being a 6 AM-riser, something I haven’t been able to accomplish before we brought Flora home.

The past few months, I fell into an easy routine as a new dog mom of sleeping as long as Flora would let me, only getting up to her insistent barks at my side of the bed.

But this week, I’m back, baby.

I’m back to my early morning Pilates + strength workouts before breakfast.

Back to eating a protein-packed breakfast after said workout ends.

I’m also back to starting my entrepreneurial workday at a time I wouldn’t be embarrassed to share with you.

It’s funny how a singular hour can make that much of a difference in the day, isn’t it?

This hour gave me confidence, focus, and self back.

So, now the hard part…I need to hold onto that hour for dear life and not slip back into old patterns.

M and I just started rewatching the series “House”, and I know it would be all too easy to binge a few episodes and lose traction.

OR stay up all night reading this month’s bookclub book, a historical mystery that I cannot put down!

I also feel great because I’ve been enjoying these Vegan Morning Glory Muffins as a nutritious midmorning snack.

These Vegan Morning Glory Muffins are made with shredded carrots, dried fruit, nuts, and Organic SunButter.

They’re perfect for a quick breakfast or snack and would be lovely to bake for family for the upcoming holidays!

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