Oil-Free

Butternut Squash Mac ‘N’ Cheese

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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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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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 3 Comments

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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Apple Pie Crumble Bars

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Apple Pie Crumble Bars with an almond oat crust and crumble topping with a stovetop apple pie filling. The best fall breakfast or snack!

I *love* apples, mostly because I can let them sit on the counter for a while and ponder delicious ways to use them.

They’re not fickle like summer berries, where you need to use them THE DAY you purchase them.

Or like Flora’s leash training, which some days feels easy and other days (read: most of the time) I think she’s the one walking me.

But, I digress.

We were talking apples, not Aussies!

One of M’s favorite recipes that I make this time of year is a vegan apple crumble.

It’s also one of my favorite ways to use up a bunch of apples that I got at the grocery store, farmers market, or apple orchard. This year, I decided to get a bit creative and turn his favorite apple recipe into…bars!

These Apple Pie Crumble Bars are made with an almond oat crust and crumble topping with a stovetop apple pie filling.

It’s still easy to make with simple ingredients, but crumble turned bars means they’re portable, concise, and convenient.

Slice them into squares and enjoy them for the *best* fall breakfast, snack, or dessert.

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Vegan Walnut Coffee Cake

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan Walnut Coffee Cake made with oat and almond flour with Artisana Organics Raw Walnut Butter and a creamy coffee frosting.

When people ask how things are going, I *try* not to default to “Good, but busy”; as my standard response.

It feels true, but I’d like to get a little more creative.

Because busy has a connotation of the mundane, the dragging, the blah.

And truthfully, my “busy-ness” is completely comprised of things of my own doing and choosing.

I’m spending a lot of time in the kitchen creating fall recipes for YOU, friend! A job that doesn’t always feel like work and definitely never tastes like it.

When I’m not in the kitchen for work (read: you!) , I’m in the kitchen for us (read: me!) meal prepping so the fridge isn’t *only* full of the treats I’m testing.

My days are also peppered with puppy training, articulating “Touch!”, “Let’s Go!”, and “Down!”, with an encouraging lilt and a bag full of homemade dog treats.

Then I have the hours devoted to sequencing my next Saturday yoga class; noting the shapes, the breath, and the themes.

I always squeeze in non-negotiable movement into my days, whether it’s yoga, climbing, running, or just a long neighborhood walk.

All in all, these are problems that past Lauren would have *loved* to have had.

Yes, my days are exhausting and full, but I’m usually smiling at the end of them.

So, friend, if you ask me how I’m doing, I’m going to smile and shove a piece of Vegan Walnut Coffee Cake in my face.

How’s that for a response?

This Vegan Walnut Coffee Cake made with oat and almond flour with Artisana Organics Raw Walnut Butter and a creamy coffee frosting.

You’re going to want to enjoy a slice later with a mug of something warm.

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Pumpkin Stovetop Oatmeal

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Pumpkin Stovetop Oatmeal made on the stovetop in 10 minutes and served with nuts and dried fruit for a fun and fast fall breakfast.

After Labor Day, bam, it’s time to eat all things pumpkin.

This is one social expectation that I am perfectly happy to fulfill, friends.

For the past few weekends, M and I have been packing up Flora in the car to take her on a Sunday coffee run.

We’ve been doing a lot of car trips and outings with her in general to “socialize” her to people, places, and things in the outside world!

Last weekend, she had her first *pup cup*, which she lapped up great enthusiasm and a newfound interest in our coffee cups.

M tried his first pumpkin spice latte, and I grinned just *smelling* it because it reminds me of being a teenager.

Many afternoons I walked to Starbucks (about a 40 minute walk if memory serves?), grab a warm drink (read: caffeine), then walk all the way home again.

It felt like a little delicious slice of freedom that I could do before having a driver’s license and a car.

Another pumpkin highlight to my very adult week was making Pumpkin Stovetop Oatmeal for a quick and hearty workweek breakfast.

Lately in the mornings it was actually chilly outside when I asked Flora to “Go Potty!” around 6 AM.

This Pumpkin Stovetop Oatmeal is made on the stovetop in 10 minutes and served with nuts and dried fruit for a fun and fast fall breakfast.

It’s not fall quite yet, but it will be soon!

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Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

By Flora & Vino 1 Comment

Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Bread made gluten-free with almond flour and oats. Super moist and chocolate-y with pumpkin puree and dark chocolate!

Don’t mind me while I ease into stew, casseroles, and baked goods.

This week we had Flora in the kitchen while I opened the oven and slammed the fridge and rattled pots and pans.

If there’s one thing you can count on me for, it’s to make a *lot* of noise while I’m baking.

Luckily, Flora seemed more curious about what everything was than scared by the clatter.

(Unfortunately, this recipe is not pup safe, but you can bet more homemade dog treats are coming!)

My first bread of the season turned out to be a wild success, and M and I have enjoyed slices all week long for breakfast and snacking.

It’s not chocolate, it’s not pumpkin, it’s Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Bread.

And if that wasn’t enough to entice you, I added dark chocolate chunks to really seal the flavor profile into something irresistible.

I *love* baking with pumpkin because it makes your baked goods moist and rich without a ton of oil.

In fact, this bread is baked with no-added-oils and instead relies on healthy fats from nut butter and almond flour.

This Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Bread is also made gluten-free with almond flour and oats!

It’s super moist and chocolate-y with pumpkin puree and dark chocolate for a healthy snack, breakfast, or dessert.

I love it sliced straight from the fridge as a mid-morning snack topped with peanut butter.

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Vegan & Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan and gluten-free chocolate chip muffins with superfine almond flour, oat flour, and vegan chocolate chips. Perfect for a sweet snack!

I first made these Vegan & Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins the day before we went to pick up Flora.

Luckily, I had the foresight to do some hefty meal prep because we brought the new pup home.

These muffins were a recipe founded on a craving in the midst of packing pee pads and toys and two sizes of crates (we weren’t sure which would fit!).

I had no idea how the muffins turned out as I threw them in the car for a healthy snack along with our Tupperware lunch and multiple Nalgene water bottles.

Our Aussie pup was a long 4 hour car ride away, but it was worth every mile.

About an hour before we scooped her up, I unwrapped a muffin from it’s liner and sunk my teeth in.

There weren’t a lot of things at this particular moment that could excite me more than the prospect of meeting my new doggie, but these muffins came close.

They’re fluffy, moist, and dotted with the perfect amount of dark chocolate.

“Oh my god. These are SO good!” I turned towards M in the driver seat, excitedly waving my muffin missing a big bite.

(M agreed later in the week that the muffins were indeed, delicious!)

It was a pleasant surprise and pick-me-up right before the biggest surprise of the year:

Meeting our Australian Shepherd girlie named Flora, who melted our heart at first glance, lick, and sometimes even now, affectionate nip.

I’m so excited to share these Vegan & Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins with you this fall!

They’re the perfect sweet snack to fuel you for back-to-school adventures, whether that is with or without four legged fur babies.

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Vegan Zucchini Bread

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Vegan zucchini bread made in 1-bowl with almond flour, oats, and grated zucchini. It’s the perfect late summer breakfast, snack, or dessert!

Friends, it’s crazy how fast a puppy grows.

It’s been just two weeks being dog mom to Flora, and already we can see her facial features changing, shifting, becoming.

Last night M looked at me and said mournfully, “Where did our puppy go?!”

It’s true, she is getting bigger and bigger every day, and it’s honestly getting a little difficult (for me) to carry her with one arm!

We’re loving every second of the chaos of being a new dog parent.

Luckily, she doesn’t seem to be bothered by my constant running around the kitchen or scared by my constant banging of pots and pans.

That’s good, because with my job and passion, I make a lot of food and make a lot of noise while doing it!

So far, the only “human food” we’ve given her is good ol’ peanut butter, which she laps out of her kong with alarming accuracy and speed.

Her current favorite *high value* treat are some peanut butter oat training bites that are GOLD currency in our house.

Whenever we need to get her to do something and do it fast, a peanut butter treat is the difference between the zoomies and obedience.

I’m sure Flora would love it if she could get her teeth on some of the smells coming from the kitchen, lately.

Like this Vegan Zucchini Bread that I’ve been making on repeat to use up summer zucchini!

This vegan zucchini bread is made in 1-bowl with almond flour, oats, and grated zucchini.

It’s the perfect later summer breakfast, snack, or dessert for my human friends!

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