Refined Sugar-Free

Vegan Viral Magic Cookies

My take on the Viral Magic Cookies made with just four pantry ingredients in 15 minutes. The perfect grain-free cookie that’s sweet, chewy, and crunchy.

M and I are between TV shows right now and are having trouble committing to something new.

Usually our show-less evenings encourage us to power up our Kindle and read a few chapters.

Sometimes, though, it’s fun to fall down a TikTok rabbit hole together.

That’s right, lately M has been journeying with me through the TikTok algorithm in search of our favorites.

If there’s one thing TikTok is good for, it’s making you feel like you’ve never really been alone in an emotion, thought, or feeling.

Swiping with my thumb, I start to realize that it’s all been done and thought and felt before and then filmed for a skit for the socials.

But we do laugh a lot and that makes for a nice evening despite the scrolling.

Something we recently stumbled upon is the viral magic cookies.

I was instantly intrigued because…it’s a four-ingredient grain-free cookie with lots of chocolate chips.

Do I really need to say anything more?

I felt like it was my duty to share these Vegan Viral Magic Cookies with you immediately!

…

Apple Pie Overnight Oats

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Apple Pie Overnight Oats for a quick fall meal prep breakfast made with sautéed apples and a big spoonful of walnut butter. Serve them warm or chilled!

Apple Pie Overnight Oats in mason jars with granola and walnut butter by Flora & Vino

I started the month of September stocked with pumpkin, apple, and sweet potato; ready to make all of the fall things.

So, while the temperatures are blazing hot outside, it feels and smells like fall inside my kitchen.

I’m also getting back into a routine after being away last weekend celebrating my three year anniversary with M.

We explored Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestown and whole-heartedly ate our way through vegan food in Toana, Virginia.

I still can’t believe it’s been three years since we matched on Bumble and I opened my heart to someone new.

So, September is special.

In September I also always experience a renewed joy for meal prep, so today’s recipe is something you can easily prepare in advance.

These Apple Pie Overnight Oats are the quick fall breakfast you need for the changing seasons.

They’re made in advance with sautéed apples and a big spoonful of walnut butter.

The best part is, you can enjoy them chilled or warm them up, depending on your mood and your local weather!

…

Pumpkin SunButter Chocolate Chip Muffins

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

Super moist Pumpkin SunButter Chocolate Chip Muffins made vegan and gluten-free with almond flour, SunButter, and chocolate. The perfect fall snack!

Is anyone else the keeper of the fridge like I am at my house?

I’m the one who knows which shelf the berries are on, which yogurt will expire first, and how many kombuchas are remaining in the door.

With great power comes great responsibility, right?

This also means that I usually guide us through meal time, making suggestions to ensure that everything gets used.

To be fair, that’s mostly because my fridge is constantly in flux with testing new recipes and receiving new products and produce.

It’s basically part of my job description to be, well, the kitchen queen.

Usually M is happy to sit back, relax, and devour leftovers as they come in content creation waves.

But sometimes even he gets overwhelmed with the state of the Frigidaire.

“How many pumpkin muffins did you make?!” M asked incredulously this morning after peering into the cool expanse beyond the fridge door.

Obviously his reaction was warranted, considering that I currently have two dozen pumpkin muffins in my refrigerator.

That’s because I wanted to give you the *perfect* pumpkin muffin for the upcoming fall season.

Now, I’m not complaining, because all versions were scrumptious.

However, the one I settled on is simply the best.

These Pumpkin SunButter Chocolate Chip Muffins are made both vegan and gluten-free with almond flour, SunButter, and lots of chocolate chips.

…

Blueberry Oatmeal (Starbucks Copycat)

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Starbucks copycat blueberry oatmeal made on the stovetop in 10 minutes and served with berries, nuts, and dried fruit. It’s easier to make at home!

In my past life, I was a *big* Starbucks frequenter.

Yeah, gold card holder talking, here.

Aside from my daily Grande Half-Caff No-Foam Almond Milk Latte, I loved their selection of breakfast items.

One of my favorite menu items was the blueberry oatmeal.

The oatmeal itself is nothing spectacular, but I loved all of the goodies that you could dress it up with.

If you don’t order it with *all* of the toppings, you’re doing it wrong!

It was enjoying this oatmeal on the go that I first tried nuts and dried fruit in oatmeal, a practice that has forever changed the way I see oats.

While I still head to Starbucks every Saturday for my weekly latte-fix, I make the food at home now.

This year, I set out to recreate their oatmeal at home with all of my favorite mix-ins.

This Blueberry Oatmeal (Starbucks Copycat) is made on the stovetop in 10 minutes and served with berries, nuts, and dried fruit.

Trust me when I say that it’s easier and more delicious to make at home and saves money, plastic, and fuel, too!

…

Protein Oat Blender Pancakes

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Protein Oat Blender Pancakes with special protein oats and blended into fluffy pancakes. Perfect for a weekend breakfast or weekday meal prep!

Did I tell you that we have hummingbirds?!

We first spotted them on the nasturtiums that bloomed in late spring on our deck patio.

“Hummingbird!!!” M shouted excitedly, pointing at the rapidly beating wings that darted away.

My excitement can’t remotely compare to M’s in spotting one, so he went on to explain that there aren’t any hummingbirds in German, so seeing them here feels like magic.

They are quirky little helicopters, aren’t they?!

Since then, we installed a hummingbird feeder that is now the social hotspot for the winged of the neighborhood.

Naturally we started to name them, because they’re gushing with personality.

There’s Holga, she’s the queen bee who gives all of the others sass and is extremely territorial.

Then there’s Hans, the elusive ruby-throated male that makes a quick appearance every now and then (otherwise, it seems that the feeder is women-owned).

Holly is tinier and petite and we recognize her because she always sits down to feed.

There’s also an alleged Heidi and Heather, but they’re a little harder to tell apart.

Yes, they’re all names that start with the letter ‘H’!

Anyways, it’s bringing us a lot of joy during this season to watch them while we eat our morning breakfast.

When I tested these Protein Protein Oat Blender Pancakes this morning, they zipped and zoomed in and out of the window frame.

Apparently, hummingbirds will eat a lot in the next month as they prepare for their big migration to South America.

So, they could definitely use a boost from my latest pancakes recipe, Protein Oat Blender Pancakes!

These delicious vegan and gluten-free pancakes are made with special protein oats and blended into fluffy stackable pancakes.

Let me tell you all about it!

…

Nut-Free SunButter Granola Bars

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Nut-Free SunButter Granola Bars made with oats, three kinds of seeds, cranberries, dark chocolate chips, and SunButter. Perfect for back-to-school snacks!

It’s almost my favorite time of year…back to school.

Now, I don’t have any school-ing to get back to, outside of the German courses that I take in the evenings (I just finished my third semester!).

But there’s something so special about the energy that comes when the yellow school buses reappear in the neighborhood.

Meine Lieblingsjahreszeit ist der Herbst. (My favorite season is fall.)

It’s a rebirth, it’s a fresh start, it’s a reconnection with what’s good, what could be good, and what could be better.

One of the staples in my lunchbox growing up was a granola bar.

It was often a snack that I tried to save but most of the time ripped open and devoured well before the bells rang for lunch at noon.

So, how could we make granola bars better, besides, you know, make more of them?

Well, what would it be like to make Nut-Free SunButter Granola Bars this year?!

These no-bake granola bars are made with oats, three kinds of seeds, dark chocolate chips, and SunButter.

Because they’re entirely nut-free, they’re school-safe and suitable for lunch-boxes, purses, backpacks, and wherever you need extra fuel this fall.

…

Blueberry Protein Overnight Oats

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Blueberry protein overnight oats made with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Organic Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats. Perfect for quick summer meal prep!

Last weekend M and I went beachfront camping with two of our friends and their baby on the Nanticoke River in Maryland.

Of all the camping trips we’ve done together, I think this one was the hardest.

So, camping is always innately hard, right?

For me, that’s part of the charm of it.

It strips down your life, making all of those small mundane tasks you do without thinking more difficult, forcing you into the present by problem-solving.

Need to do the dishes? You have to walk 5 minutes to the closest water station, lugging dirty pots and pans and detergent with you.

Want to make coffee? You have to light the camp cooktop and boil some water in the camping kettle.

Fancy a shower? Well, you may or may not be in luck, depending on how back country you are.

Usually, by infusing my life with a little discomfort, it reminds me of the little joys in life.

So I was prepared to do without and be on the water and in the summer sun, but I wasn’t prepared for the extreme heat, the thunderstorms, and the exposed campsite (without any shade!)

We made it through one sweaty, sleepless night, narrowly dodging some severe weather.

I swear I didn’t sleep at all, tossing and turning in my toasty sleeping bag, opening an eye every thirty minutes to check for the first signs of daylight; nature’s way of signaling an appropriate time to emerge from my tent.

When the weather threatened for more storms the next evening with even higher temps, we did what any nature-loving experienced campers would do.

We bailed.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the tarp our friends brought to create some man-made shade and these Blueberry Protein Overnight Oats for breakfast, we might have bailed even sooner.

These Blueberry Protein Overnight Oats are made with blended blueberry milk and oats naturally sweet with maple syrup.

They’re perfect for quick summer meal prep wherever your summer adventures take you!

…

Vegan Strawberry SunButter Ice Cream

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Five ingredient vegan strawberry SunButter ice cream made with coconut, cashew, maple syrup, and strawberries. Top with more SunButter!

Allow me to introduce my first vegan ice cream…made with an ice cream maker!

If you’ve been around here a while, you know that the archives are teeming with “no-churn” ice cream recipes.

Our kitchen space is super limited, so I usually think long and hard about purchasing new kitchen appliances.

But I’ve been on a vegan ice cream kick all summer; purchasing pint after pint at the grocery store.

So it just made *sense* to start making my own, and start sharing my recipes with you.

Maybe it’s the heat of the summer, but I *finally* decided to purchase an ice cream maker.

M and I had fun this weekend watching the ice cream maker; I guess we’re easily entertained!

The ice cream bucket whirred round and round; pink and frosty in its chilled cylinder.

After eager taste testing, I exclaimed excitedly, “It tastes like strawberry ice cream!”

Well, if that’s not an endorsement for you, then I don’t even know.

This Vegan Strawberry SunButter Ice Cream is made with coconut, cashew, maple syrup, and plenty of strawberries.

It’s bursting with berry flavor topped with SunButter for a PB&J feel.

…

Grain-Free Chocolate Cherry Bliss Balls

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Grain-Free Chocolate Cherry Bliss Balls with 5 ingredients and naturally sweetened with Fruit Bliss Organic Dried Tart Cherries and dates.

Do you ever feel like the universe is sending you the same message over and over and over again?

A few weeks back I was almost certain that I broke my second toe.

It was just after M’s brother left, and I was trying to do too many things in my haste to make the house *ours* again.

I managed to half slid/half fell down the stairs in my new super soft Bombas socks.

When I heard a definite “POP” and felt my toe get pressed at an angle toes shouldn’t go, I saw the half marathon I just signed up for flash before my eyes.

My second toe turned all kinds of purples and blues and greens but the X-ray results came back as not broken!

It’s probably bad sprain; I’ve had to cut out running, climbing, and anything high impact or super balance-y to baby it along.

If I listen closely, I’m pretty sure the universe is screaming…”SLOW DOWN.”

A message that I am unwilling (and unable?) to receive.

So, I make Grain-Free Chocolate Cherry Bliss Balls instead.

…

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars

By Flora & Vino Leave a Comment

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars sweetened with ripe bananas and maple syrup for a healthy portable breakfast, snack, or dessert.

It’s been raining here nonstop, remnants from Tropical Storm Brett.

I haven’t needed to water my outdoor plants in a few days, which has been nice.

But then again, I also haven’t been able to take my daily neighborhood walk, either.

So I’m going to blame Brett for my lack of energy this week, and the fact that I fell asleep in my recliner while working, not once, but twice.

But hey, it’s also good weather for snuggling up with a book, binge-watching a show, or….baking.

Which would you choose?

I think you know that I’d bake these Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars every single time.

These Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars are naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and maple syrup for a healthy portable breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Grab some bananas and let’s turn them into bars!

…

Refined Sugar-Free

Footer

what’s happening now on instagram