Refined Sugar-Free

SunButter Stuffed Dates

SunButter Stuffed Dates for a sweet snack or dessert made with juicy dates and sunflower seed butter. Add your own toppings to make your own variation!

This week I rejoined my gym and it sort of felt like I was being disloyal to my yoga studio when I signed the paperwork to make my membership official.

Now I find myself in a sort of gym/yoga limbo, unsure of which class to go to after the studio is tidied up and the dishwasher is full.

Can I just do it all?

I did my first weight-training (BodyPump!) class tonight in over a year and it felt good to push and pull things other than my camera equipment and the free-weights upstairs.

Getting back in the training zone reminded me of one of my absolute favorite pre/post workout treats– stuffed dates.

These SunButter Stuffed Dates are ridiculously easy to make and oh so satisfying.

Grab some SunButter and let’s have a date.

A date date.

Get it?
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Raspberry Oat Crumble Bars

By Flora & Vino 13 Comments

Easy raspberry oat crumble bars made with just 6 whole food ingredients. Perfect for a quick breakfast, snack, or healthy dessert.

Relationship status: My taste buds and I are kind of broken up.

It’s definitely them and not me– it’s like they’ve gone on sensory strike after being overworked and exhausted.

I’ve just felt a little off lately, the usual *go to* foods sounding less than appealing.

Last night I pushed the mound of asparagus aside and couldn’t fathom forking the spears and eating them.

Which is I why I practically force-fed this recipe to Dan, asking for his most critical feedback.

He reported back that they were “good”, and “like a real breakfast bar”, so I’m going to take that as a compliment.

So…if you don’t like these Raspberry Oat Crumble Bars, you know who to blame.

But what’s not to love about these nutritious breakfast bars that are made with just 7 ingredients for a convenient snack or meal?!

Trust the buds and let’s get baking.

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Vegan & Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cake with 2-Ingredient Chocolate Frosting

By Flora & Vino 5 Comments

Red velvet cake sweetened with coconut sugar and red with raw beets. Finish it with a 2-ingredient chocolate frosting.

Whenever friends tell me their favorite cake flavor is red velvet, I’m equal parts skeptical and intrigued.

Because what flavor is that, exactly, please?

Mildly chocolate and very red?

In our last neighborhood we had a cupcake shop down the street that sold vegan red velvet cupcakes and after sinking my teeth into the ruby red fluff, I understood what all of the fuss was about.

I set out to recreate the flavors in my kitchen with all natural ingredients that tell it like it is.

Because we want to eat our cake and know what’s in our cake too, yes?

This delicious Vegan & Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cake with 2-Ingredient Chocolate Frosting doesn’t leave any mystery.

It’s made with vegan and gluten-free with whole foods ingredients and a decadent chocolate frosting.

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Chocolate Coconut Covered Strawberries

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Easy vegan chocolate covered strawberries with a crunchy chocolate coconut exterior. Perfect for a healthy Valentine’s Day treat!

When I was in high school I thought I was way too cool for Valentine’s Day.

“Valentine’s Day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap,” I used to tell myself, to quote Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (one of my favorite movies of all time– have you seen it?)

I told myself I could be cool like Clementine.

I didn’t need anyone to shower me with roses and candy and sweet nothings.

My friends and I wore black while everyone else wore pink and I pretended not to feel pangs when the roses delivered in class by “cupid” weren’t for me.

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Peanut Butter & Jelly Crisscross Cookies

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Easy peanut butter and jelly cookies with a hearty oat flour base. Naturally sweetened with berries and jam. Perfect for a healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Are you surviving the Polar Vortex?

It’s been too cold here to do much of anything, and Harper and I are feeling a little stir-crazy.

The kind of crazy that makes you bake all day and then jump around to an intense dance workout at 7 PM because…cold.

Aside from getting back into cardio (it’s been a while!), I made three batches of Peanut Butter and Jelly Crisscross Cookies.

These easy oil-free, gluten-free, and no sugar added cookies really hit the spot for a quick nutritious snack.

You can have them on the table in 10 minutes with just 6 ingredients!

This messy marrying of peanut butter and jelly in quick cookie form is one you don’t want to be without when the temps drop.

So let’s drop it like it’s (not) HOT.

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Vegan Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread

By Flora & Vino 3 Comments

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread made in 1-bowl. Naturally sweetened with bananas and coconut sugar.

I was sitting in 10th grade Psychology class when my friend, Dan, pulled out a loaf of banana bread from a large Ziplock bag.

“Want this?” he said, offering the crumbled loaf to me.

“I realized afterwards that I forgot to add sugar,” he said sheepishly.

I grabbed a big chunk from inside and chewed.

Banana walnut, yum.

It was a little (okay, a lot) bland, but I liked how you could clearly taste the bananas and nuts.

The bell rang.

He shrugged, “You can have it if you want.”

So I tucked the ziplock bag of sugar-free banana bread into my backpack and strolled out into the locker bay.

For the remainder of the day I enjoyed pieces of bland banana bread, the subtle sweetness growing on me, and by dismissal time I was pretty sure I needed the recipe.

I didn’t quite feel right continuing into 2019 without a banana bread recipe on the blog.

Before we continue, no, this isn’t a remake of my friend Dan’s sugar-free banana bread fail.

But if we were doing one of those word association games I’d probably tell you this story if prompted, “BANANA BREAD.”

What I do have for you, though, is a delicious banana bread recipe that’s also oil free and refined sugar free, which is pretty cool.

This weekend we cleaned the oven for the first time since moving in (two years ago).

Obviously by we I mean it was Dan who wiped it down and it was me who watched in disgust as the paper towel came out black again and again.

I vowed to never let it get that bad again, and then I set out to start breaking it in again.

This Vegan Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread was the first thing I baked in our freshly spruced furnace.

So here’s how to dirty up your oven in the best possible way.

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Cream of “No Wheat” (Grain-Free!)

By Flora & Vino 23 Comments

Cream of “No Wheat” made grain-free with almond flour, shredded coconut, nuts, and seeds. The perfect alternative to oatmeal!

It’s a white winter wonderland outside, friends.

We got our first big snow storm here in Virginia over the weekend.

The weather stations all gave a wide range in snowfall accumulations, so I rolled my eyes and made the grocery trip before the storm just in case.

I’m grateful now because we ended up getting close to a foot of fluffy white stuff; the kind of snow that’s perfect for snowmen and snowballs.

While I didn’t make a snowman, but we did get outside to romp around on a family walk.

Harper absolutely loved bounding through the woods with white stuff covering her snout and eyelashes.

When we got inside I was ready for a warm breakfast.

I created this bowl of porridge that will have the goldilocks and the three bears coming back for seconds.

This Cream of “No Wheat” is just as quick as the classic with a hearty grain-free blend of nuts and seeds.

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Oil-Free Roasted Veggies with Almond Butter Sauce

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Easy Oil-Free Roasted Veggies with Almond Butter Sauce that’s perfect to bake and serve for a nutritious side, snack, or light meal!

At first I wanted to go on a big elimination diet this January.

I wanted to do the Whole30, a juice cleanse, go sugar free, cut out wine, or something.

I mean, can I really just enter the year unabashedly the same as I was in 2018?

It’s hard to stay the same when the rest of the world seems hell-bent on change.

While I totally support whatever but changes you’re making in your life this January to make you feel your best and brightest, what I decided for me is that adding things instead of excluding them is so much more fun.

So let’s choose to add in the rainbow with a side of almond butter dipping sauce that’s easy and delicious, yeah?

Grab your favorite veggies and your favorite jar of AB and let’s get roasting!

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Coconut Cashew Cookie-Dough “Snowballs”

By Flora & Vino 4 Comments

Coconut Cashew Cookie-Dough “Snowballs” made with dates, coconut, and cashews for a naturally sweet, gluten-free, and grain-free snack.

Happy New Year!!!

Did you ring in 2019 in robe and slippers or were you out and about in a big crowd?

I was the latter, sandwiched between hundreds of sequined dresses and dapper suits at a Great Gatsby themed Masquerade Ball when the clock struck 12.

I used to expect some epic change in the split seconds between 11:59 and 12:01 but now I kind of roll with it.

New year, same me.

But new eats can be fun, and I thought we could kick things off with a healthy snack.

These Coconut Cashew Cookie-Dough “Snowballs” require only 5-ingredients with zero added sugars, while being gluten free and paleo.

The only new year ball drop I *really* care to watch, ya know?

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Vegan Dark Hot Chocolate

By Flora & Vino 8 Comments

Rich vegan dark hot chocolate made with simple ingredients you already have in your pantry. Perfect for a cold day treat!

This time of year is weird, isn’t it?

We’re sitting in an awkward limbo somewhere between colorful Christmas presents and sequined New Years parties.

People are everywhere and nowhere at the same time, with tons of events to attend but hardly any traffic on the streets.

The Christmas tree is still up, looking a little weary and wiry, a telling metaphor for how I feel post holiday-hustle.

I want to push myself to get things in order for the new year, but I also want to lay in bed all day and do absolutely nothing.

Do you feel me?

How about we find a happy medium between the two?

Let’s cozy up to a mug of Vegan Dark Hot Chocolate while we wait to ring in the new year on a sweet note. …

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