Oil-Free

Everything Granola Bites

Protein-packed energy balled made with SunButter, chia seeds, coconut, cacao nibs, and a hidden granola crunch! Perfect for a quick portable snack!

This past week M and I built a tent in my living room.

A mass of lime green nylon, woven mesh, and sturdy poles erected into a dome in under ten minutes.

As the weather gets warmer, I’m dreaming of summer adventures.

It’s been forever since I slept away from home, and I’m itching to pack up the car with my new camping gear and explore.

Do you like camping?

M will tell you that I’ve never *really* been camping, which is partially true.

I guess I’ve been *glamping*, i.e. sleeping in a camp cabin, with four walls and a roof and a screened in door.

So maybe I’m romanticizing all of it– sleeping under the stars, s’mores, and basking in forest sunlight.

But I think there’s the chance to make a camper out of me, yet.

Everything is starting to feel more and more possible– as people become vaccinated, as the book comes closer to a close, as my camping set is complete.

I’ve also been thinking about easy food to make while in the great outdoors, starting with easy snacks.

These Everything Granola Bites are a great portable snack to make in advance for all of your adventuring this year.

They’re made no-bake with simple ingredients that will fuel all of your summer fun!

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Raw Walnut Cashew Butter

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#ad// 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!

2-ingredient homemade raw walnut cashew butter made super creamy in under 10 minutes Serve it with Bare Snacks Banana Chips for an easy snack!

Did you pull any epic pranks on April Fools Day?

After one of my aloe plants fell out of it’s pot for the fourth (or fifth?) time last week (it was poorly potted and in a precarious position), I had a plant funeral and buried the evidence in my trashcan.

RIP, aloe.

As part of an April Fools day joke, I purchased a new plant and propped it up on the late aloe’s plant stand on April the first, waiting for M to notice.

I smirked while he ate his breakfast, finally asking, pointedly, “So, do you notice anything different???”

After doing a lingering living room scan, he finally picked out the monstera deliciosa sitting pretty near the window sill.

I laughed, assuring him I would keep my plant murderess tendencies contained.

I’m so infatuated with this little green plant and it’s smooth heart-shaped leaves already turning towards the sunshine.

Let’s see how long it survives…

Hopefully longer than this Raw Walnut Cashew Butter that I made last week and served with banana chips.

It requires just two ingredients and a blender without any added sugars or oils.

It’s true: I wouldn’t kid about something as serious as nut butter, not even on April Fools!

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Carrot Cashew Queso

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

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

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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!

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

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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!

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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Triple Berry Granola (Oil-Free!)

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Baked berry granola with three kinds of sweet berries and SunButter for an oil-free option. Perfect to make ahead for breakfast and snacking!

Granola doesn’t last long in my house.

It’s one of the staples that both M and I eat daily, piling it high on big breakfast bowls or grabbing a handfuls before an evening workout.

If you’re a bit of a granola connoisseur like I am, you know the good stuff it can be expensive.

So, for the past few weeks I’ve been making us homemade granola on a regular basis.

This is either the beginning of a granola series or the beginnings of a granola product line…ha!

Anyway, it’s been really fun testing new variations each Sunday.

I bake the mixture in the oven and then break it into cherished chunks before transferring it to an airtight bag for the week.

When I asked M what granola flavor he wanted this week, he requested “something fruity or tart.”

So I made this Triple Berry Granola (Oil-Free!) and infused it with three kinds of berries for a perfectly sweet and chunky granola.

It’s totally gluten-free, oil-free, and naturally-sweetened with maple syrup and berries!

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Cracker Crusted Zucchini Fries

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Oven- baked zucchini fries coated in cracker crumbs! These oil-free, gluten-free, and plant-based fries make a delicious appetizer or snack.

Is it fry-day yet?

Wow, what a week it’s been.

Since we last spoke we have a new President of the United States.

It was snowing here while the Inauguration ceremony broadcast on my TV in all of it’s patriotic pomp and circumstance.

The giant white flakes flying across my peripheral vision felt symbolic of a brave new beginning.

My eyes welled up with tears as I watched Kamala Harris repeat the oath of office and become the first female, black, and south-Asian Vice President of the United States of America.

I squeezed M’s hand in recognition of such a pivotol moment of progress, for me, for us, for the world.

President Biden’s speech about unity left me optimistic and hopeful that we can get through all of this stuff- this heavy, hard, imperative, polarizing stuff- together.

If you’re feeling done with American politics and election coverage, that’s cool, because it’s snack time here at F&V.

Here’s to a new unity that I’ve been personally working on these past few week– crackers and zucchini.

Ditch the breading and make these Cracker Crusted Zucchini Fries that are grain-free and oil-free and made with just three ingredients!

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Blueberry Almond Protein Cookies

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Blueberry almond protein cookies made with almond butter, oats, and almond protein powder sweetened with banana and blueberries. Perfect for meal prep!

Yesterday I went to a coffee shop for the first time since last March.

After a “best coffee in VA” google search and a 20-minute drive, M and I found ourselves at local roastery gem.

The minute I opened the door the rich smells of coffee beans washed over me like seeing a long lost friend.

And then, I did see a long lost friend.

I was examining the whole coffee beans in colorful bags when suddenly my friend Walt was there, too.

Walt graduated from yoga teacher training in the same group as me, so, we’ve been through a journey together far before the world was on fire from COVID.

It felt surprising and fortuitous to see a familiar face during a global pandemic at a shop I only popped in by chance.

Life is funny.

He looked different with a mask and longer hair but the easy conversation was the same and we talked about yoga, hiking, and of course, coffee.

I just started drinking coffee, again, guys, which I told Walt with raised eyebrows.

Lately I love getting up 6 AM and sipping on warm dark roast coffee with a splash of almond milk.

You know what’s absolutely fantastic with coffee?

Something a little sweet.

These Blueberry Almond Protein Cookies are the best way to start your day with a burst of protein!

You bring the coffee and I’ll bring the cookie recipe.

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Cherry Chia Pudding

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//#ad// 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!

Easy to mix up cherry chia pudding with protein that’s lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Top with fresh cherries, apple chips, and hemp hearts!

Hi, dear friends, and happy 2021.

Since we last spoke, we collectively said goodbye to the longest, hardest, weirdest year yet.

After I cheers-ed away 2020 with champagne and lots of cookies, I woke up on January first feeling a little forlorn.

Yeah, I was in a bit of a post-holiday funk, as is typical for me after New Years Eve.

I cried a little, almost bought a bunch of plants, decided against it (where to put them???), then watched a lot of feel good TV reruns.

Things started to shift after I hopped onto an impromptu video call with girlfriends to talk meal prep and workout goals for the coming week.

Making plans and getting back into a routine always does wonders for my morale.

It made my heart swell to see us all in our Brady brunch Zoom boxes, hurrying around our virtual spaces, cleaning, shopping, and doing respective Sunday tasks.

It’s those kinds of interactions that make this weird world feel normal and worth it.

So, maybe our 2020 feelings didn’t magically disappear come 2021.

But we can still plan for an amazing year, where literally anything is possible.

Get back into our back-to-work groove with this Cherry Chia Pudding that’s easy to mix up in advance for a sweet snack!

Because I’m cheering (cherrying?) you on this year.

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Thai Salad with SunButter Dressing

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Vegetable Thai salad with raw vegetables, baked tofu, cilantro, and an easy oil-free SunButter dressing. Perfect for an easy meal prep lunch or dinner!

Last week I impulsively decided to cut my bangs.

New year, new hair?

I haven’t done *true* bangs in almost 15 years, since I was obsessed with Anne Hathaway’s thick bang in the Devil Wears Prada.

Remember how chick she looked, guys!?

Well, I didn’t look like that at all.

The hacked locks stacked on my forehead like a massive mop, a hair helmet of sorts.

So yeah, I’ve been avoiding bangs for a bit.

But change is good, and I’m getting used to the feeling of movement across my forehead.

Aaand coming to terms with the fact that, if I actually want them to lay right, I need to style them.

Doh.

I’d much rather just style my salads…

I’m excited to share this Thai Salad with SunButter Dressing with you as a fresh option after post-holiday indulgences!

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Everything Granola Bites

Raw Walnut Cashew Butter

Carrot Cashew Queso

Tahini Date Caramel Dip

Dark Chocolate Tahini

Triple Berry Granola (Oil-Free!)

Cracker Crusted Zucchini Fries

Blueberry Almond Protein Cookies

Cherry Chia Pudding

Thai Salad with SunButter Dressing

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