Vegan Crockpot Refried Beans (Oil Free)

Crockpot cooking is not only delightfully easy but with the crockpot liners, cleanup requires throwing away a bag vs. hours of soaking, scrubbing, soaking, etc. I have found these bags in the same section as the foil and zipper lock bags at the grocery store.  Typically, they are next to the oven roasting bags. 

Anyways, I developed this recipe after numerous tries of trying other recipes for vegan refried beans.  This is the best way I have found.  But please add or remove ingredients based on your liking.  I would suggest to you to keep the jalepenos in the recipe, however.  The flavor is amazing and the heat is rather minimal.  My mother cannot tolerate any amount of heat in her food--she even makes a face!  So when I shared this recipe with her, I suggested that she keep the stem on the jalepeno and just split it down the middle.  That way she can remove the jalepeno after the beans have finished cooking.  Though I suspect she removes it earlier then that!  Beans still turned out wonderful and no one ever believes there is no oil, lard, chicken/beef broth.  Ahhh...life's little successes!

These beans last about a week or so in the fridge and one month in the freezer...but why would you have leftovers?  I never do. 

Ingredients
15 oz. bag dried pinto beans, washed and picked over
2 jalepenos, roughly chopped (I leave the seeds in because the heat seems to subside as the beans cook.  The flavor leftover from the peppers is still pretty great!)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1 Tbs Italian seasoning or oregano (whatever is already in your pantry)
2 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 Tbs Flax seed

Place the first 5 ingredients in the crockpot (lined with a bag in you have one) and add enough water to just cover beans, plus 2 inches.

Turn the crockpot on high for 2 hours.  Then turn to low for 8 hours.  You may want to check just to make sure that the beans haven't soaked up all of the water.  If the beans look dry and you still have a few hours, stir in 1-2 cups of water. 

After 10 hours (total cooking time), remove any remaining liquid sitting the top of the beans.  Reserve this liquid however until after mashing. 

Now I mash my beans in segments.  Take a few ladles of beans and place them in your storage container of choice.  Mash the beans to your preferred consistency.  Then add more beans, mash, and repeat until all of your beans have been transferred to their resting place and mashed.  At this point, add your nutritional yeast and flax seed.  These two ingredients add depth of flavor without adding salt! Muahahah--down salt demons!

I will set everything up to start at 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and it is ready for me in the morning before work!

I like to eat these beans as a snack at work, slathered on a piece of lavash or stuffed in a bell pepper with some sauteed onion, mushroom and kale--but that's a recipe for another day. 

Vegan Portabella, Kale and Sauteed Onion Tofu Scramble

I saw this recipe yesterday on another blog and decided to change it up a little bit to better fit my taste (and available time that I had to cook the meal).  One of my favorite flavor combinations is kale mixed with any type of mushroom sauteed all together with some tahini and onions! This recipe allowed me to crumble in some firm tofu which made the flavors even more exciting. 

I also prefer to use very little to no oil when cooking.  The same goes for my feelings about adding salt to recipes.  Instead of oil I like to keep a measuring cup with a few tablespoons of water to add in when things begin to stick to the pan.  A lot of what makes vegan eating exciting is the natural flavors that come through.  Getting back to tasting our food the way in which it was intended to taste is beyond refreshing. 

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2-3 Portabella mushroom caps, cubed
1/2 block firm tofu
1 Tbsp tahini
1 tsp soy sauce (This will act as your salt for the recipe.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup of kale, rinsed, ribs removed and torn into bite size pieces.
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp Sriracha
1/2 cup of water, divided
2 Tbsp raw peanuts for garnish (Optional)

Makes 2-3 servings.

In a large skillet, saute the onion over medium heat until light brown in color (about 7-10 minutes).  Add in minced garlic.  Saute for another minute or so. Remove from pan, place in a bowl for later and let cool. 

Add the chopped cubed mushrooms with 1 tablespoon of water and saute for 2  minutes. 

Add the kale and continue to cook until the kale is wilted and turns a bright green color--about another 5 minutes. Remove from pan and add to the onion mixture.

Next, crumble the tofu into the pan.  You won't need any water right now because the tofu has plenty of water in it.  Cook until tofu starts to look dry (about 5-7 minutes). 

Whisk together the tahini, soy sauce, lime juice and enough water to achieve your perfect consistency. I like mine right in the middle, not too runny and not too thick.  Pour the mixture on top of the tofu and add back in the bowl of onions, mushrooms and kale.  Mix to coat everything with the tahini sauce.

Serve and enjoy.