Flora & Vino

gluten free baking

Cashew Butter Chickpea Snack Cookies

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

Cashew Butter Chickpea Snack Cookies stacked on cookie sheet by Flora & Vino

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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No-Sugar-Added Black Bean Brownies

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

No-Sugar-Added Black Bean Brownies by Flora & Vino

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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Banana Chia Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Banana chia chocolate chip muffins made with oatmeal and chia seeds. Gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and packed with protein.

Banana Chia Chocolate Chip Muffins served on parchment lined wooden board with chocolate chips scattered

We go through a lot of bananas a week.

Like a lot.

I’m talking three bunches of bananas at the check out line with zero shame a lot.

Usually I get 1 really green bunch, 1 slightly underripe bunch, and one perfectly ripe bunch for eating right away.

This way the bananas ripen throughout the week and we use them in shakes and stuff as they come into their prime.

I periodically check throughout the week, freezing any super bruised and brown bananas for smoothies and leaving their better looking buddies on the counter.

Sometimes during a particularly hectic week I forget to do a freezing sweep and I’m stuck with a bunch of ugly bananas on Saturday/Sunday.

That’s when I take a hint from the universe that it’s time to make some Banana Chia Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I’ve been talking for a while about recreating a family recipe for Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip muffins that my mom used to make when I was a kid.

I even highlight these muffins in my About Me section, they’re that good.

My mom timed it perfectly so they’d emerge from the oven right as my sister and I walked into the door after hopping off the school bus.

I’d sit at the kitchen table, talking about homework and school cliques between mouthfuls of banana goodness with chocolate covered fingertips.

Let’s recreate that scene in adult life, shall we?

Minus the homework, please.

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