Oil-Free

Cashew Butter Chickpea Snack Cookies

5-ingredient snack cookies made with chickpeas and cashew butter sweetened with maple syrup and apple sauce. Perfect for a quick snack or dessert!

Happy Sunday, friends!

Does anyone else have major dish washing fatigue right about now?

As if it wasn’t enough to eat every stinking meal at home, we have to clean all those pots and pans, too?

I’ve set aside some time today to *actually* meal prep.

If you’re thinking, but Lauren, why meal prep during a quarantine?

Well, it occurred to me chatting with friends this week that it might be better to make larger portions in advance rather than making small meals on the spot.

We might have the time and space free to cook and bake at home constantly, but do we really want to?

As much as the kitchen is my happy place, I have other happy places that I’m missing.

Luckily, the recipe I recommend you meal prep today is made with just one blender and a cookie sheet!

These Cashew Butter Chickpea Snack Cookies require only 6 pantry-friendly staples to bring them to your kitchen.

Grab a can of chickpeas and a big spoonful of cashew butter and let’s get into it.

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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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No-Sugar-Added Black Bean Brownies

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Easy and nutritious brownies made with black beans and SunButter that are oil-free, gluten-free, and naturally sweetened with only bananas and dates.

Who else has been baking up a quarantined storm lately?

Actually, it was literally thunder-storming as I recipe tested this recipe this past week.

April showers bring May brownies, that’s how it goes, right?

If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I’m not a *huge* dessert person.

I’m the kind of girl whose idea of dessert is haphazardly dunking dark chocolate chunks (the darker the better!) into tubs of SunButter when the mood strikes.

I know, I’m fancy.

But when I do DO dessert, I like to do it right!

Since we’re all home, I set out to create something chocolatey that is allergen-free, nutritious, and super tasty.

Can we talk about this epic No-Sugar-Added Black Bean Brownie stack?

Actually, forget the talk, let’s MAKE them.

You need a blender, a can of black beans, and some spotty bananas!

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Spring Quinoa Primavera

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Colorful quinoa dish with herb infused quinoa and seasonal spring veggies. Serve with sparkling rosé for a refreshing plant-based pairing!

Happy Friday, friends!

We did it again.

I know all of the days are prone to run together in quarantine unless you carefully segregate them with consistent routine, so if you weren’t sure what day it was, allow me to remind you with a virtual toast.

Tonight I did a virtual happy hour with a friend and we confessed that even virtual dates can be tiring.

Anyone else Zoom-ed out?

I figured I could schedule back to back to back Zoom calls just because I wasn’t leaving the comfort of my home, but, as it turns out, my introvert tendencies still apply to the virtual world.

I.e. I need time to retreat and rest and recharge.

Anyway, I thought we could make something special to end the week with a toast.

This Spring Quinoa Primavera is a fresh 1-pot dish for warmer weather.

You need dry quinoa, dried herbs, frozen vegetables, and lots of lemon!

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Breakfast Birds Nests (No Sugar-Added!)

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Breakfast birds nests made with oats and naturally sweetened with Medjool dates and banana. Fill them with almond milk yogurt and fresh fruit!

I realized today that Easter is coming and it’s coming this Sunday, quarantine or no quarantine.

To be honest, I don’t usually do a ton of planning for Easter.

Historically it’s been a holiday where I sat back and waited for my invitation to a family dinner or a celebratory brunch.

However, with none of those items on the drop down menu this year, I thought we could use some plans.

Plans besides “nesting”, which is basically what I’ve been doing the past few weeks.

Tidying every square inch of my townhome to make it comfortable and livable for the foreseeable future.

But these plans do require nests.

Here’s an easy Easter inspired brunch recipe that would be so fun to make with your kids, your family, or your zoomies.

These Breakfast Birds Nests (No Sugar-Added!) are ready in just 10 minutes with 5 ingredients!

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Purple Sweet Potato Cashew Butter Eggs

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Dessert eggs made with Stokes Purple® sweet potato purée, cashew butter, and dark chocolate. Perfect for an Easter treat or candy substitute.

Hey guys, it’s April.

And it’s my birthday!!!

This honestly might go down as the strangest birthday in my personal history.

I made a point to get up and get dressed today to carpe diem the sh** out of the big 3-2.

After being serenaded by my virtual yoga class via zoom, I dawned the blue polka dot dress that I originally had purchased for a vineyard celebration.

So I’ve been sashaying around the house all day, literally all dressed up with nowhere to go.

I figured since we’re all staying home, we could practice some easy recipes for Easter with pretty colors!

These Purple Sweet Potato Cashew Butter Eggs are pretty in purple, packed with Stokes Purple® sweet potato purée, cashew butter, and dark chocolate.

No baking required, these easy eggs are perfect to make to share both physically or virtually this Easter!

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Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Vegan “bird’s nests” made with dark chocolate, toasted coconut, and your favorite oval shaped candy. Perfect for a sweet Easter treat!

Last night during a virtual game night with my friends, I recalled my career trajectory to where I am now.

From the time I was old enough to be asked, I told people that I wanted to be a writer.

After deciding that I wanted to be a writer, I couldn’t wait until I was older to have more life experiences.

I decided that I needed to do lots to be able to write lots and write it with authority, you know?

For the most part, this tended to be true.

Doing new things always inspired me to go home and scribble about them in my composition notebook journal.

Lately, though, being forced to stay in, I’m going inward to grab stories instead instead of going out.

And looking inward at my cabinets for pantry items to make sweet things with!

Luckily, you don’t need a lot of experience OR a lot of ingredients to make these Toasted Coconut Bird’s Nests.

They require just 3-ingredients for a simple sweet Easter treat!

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Homemade Vegan Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

,Vegan dark chocolate bunnies and eggs made with fun silicone molds for an easy 1-ingredient refined sugar-free Easter treat!

How is everyone doing?

I ask this a lot now, and I know I asked it before, too.

But now I ask it with more urgency, because I think we all need to ask and be asked that simple question right now.

I’ve been keeping myself busy making plans to see faces even when I can’t give hugs.

My Skype and Zoom calendar is booming with virtual yoga classes, virtual girls night, virtual game night, and even virtual happy hours.

It’s such a weird time to navigate, feeling simultaneously extremely isolated yet connected to everyone around the globe.

I’m definitely making more of an effort to show up in different ways for my friends, family, and community.

Today I went live on Instagram for the first time in years to talk pantry staples and getting back to the basics with plant-based cooking.

And it doesn’t get any more basic than the Easter dessert idea I’m sharing today.

Luckily, social distancing doesn’t require me to stay away from dark chocolate.

These Homemade Vegan Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs are the perfect quick and easy Easter treat you can make from home!

All you need is some seriously delicious dark chocolate and your favorite silicone molds.

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Coconut Sugar Cream Pie

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Healthier sugar cream pie made with a date-nut crust, young coconut cream filling, and whipped coconut topping. Perfect for a decadent dessert to share!

When I was growing up my mom made a mean sugar cream pie.

What’s a sugar cream pie, you might ask?

Well, it’s sweet, rich, and decadent, with a creamed custard filling and a buttery pie crust.

My parents both grew up in Indiana where sugar cream pie is also known as Hoosier pie.

Sometimes when I get homesick (AKA RIGHT NOW) I crave that pie that my mom served in tiny slivers.

“A little bit will do you,” she’d say.

But I could go for a LOT right about now, how about you?

Why don’t we make this cozy Coconut Sugar Cream Pie that’s totally vegan, gluten-free, and naturally sweet?!

It’s made with just 8 ingredients for a sinfully sweet no-bake dessert made with fresh young coconut milk, coconut sugar, and a no-bake crust.

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No-Bake S’mores Cups

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

No-bake s’mores cups with an oat-date crust, dark chocolate center, and cashew marshmallow top. A vegan and gluten-free dessert with no campfire necessary!

This week has been weird.

A lot happened and yet nothing happened.

My trip to the west coast was canceled, so I stayed home and caught up on work, life, and sleep.

I felt a weird internal conflict between wanting to spring-clean my entire home top to bottom and wanting to lie in bed all day.

To be honest, I did neither.

I binge-watched Love Is Blind (have you watched???). in an embarrassingly small number of days by night and continued to show up in my studio and work during the day.

I did start a new habit of walking outside for 15 minutes every day; one that I hope will stick as we continue into spring.

Also, I made s’mores indoors in compact edible cups for serving and I think you’re going to want to make them too.

These No-Bake S’mores Cups come together with just 6 ingredients for a decadent refined sugar-free treat without the campfire or the oven!

Please sir, I want s’more.

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