Vegan MOFO: Smokey Refired Beans

 Oh my God peoples! I just made THE MOST AMAZING REFRIED BEANS and I would like to share them with you!
Smokey Refried Beans:
- 1 pound dried pinto beans, soaked overnight, then rinsed
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions:
- Place all ingredients (except for liquid smoke) into a big pot and cover with about 1.5 inches of water.
- Bring everything to a boil, then cover and everything simmer for 2 hours.
- Drain your beans in a metal colander and pick out the bay leaves.
- Place your cooked bean and onion mixture into a food processor along with the liquid smoke and let it do its magic for a minute or two until nice and creamy.
- Taste and see if additional salt is needed and don't ruin your beans by over-salting them!

See you don't need oil or lard to make creamy refried beans, just use a food processor!

Delicious Bagel Spread & More Vegan Nachos!

Today I was busy making a batch of both Red and White Seitan and Empanadas from my Viva Vegan! cookbook so that I would have leftovers to use up this coming week. I really love this cookbook, so sorry that I can't seem to shut up about it.

So today I kept the meals I actually ate pretty easy.

For breakfast I had a bagel, smothered in vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Brand) and topped with a mixture of half a mashed banana and some strawberry jam... Yum!

For lunch I had some more Vegan Nachos, topped with some unusual extras like pan fried Red Seitan and Pickled Red Onions, both from Viva Vegan!

Dinner was a few of the Empanadas I made today, served up with a delicious green sauce  from Viva Vegan! called "So good, so green dipping sauce (Green aji sauce)." This sauce is awesome with the Empanadas and also makes for a good salad dressing. The sauce is a mix ingredients such as lime, cilantro, green onions, romaine lettuce and vegan mayo. I added probably double the amount of vegan mayo called for though cause I love my sauces and dressings creamy.

Mandarin Orange & Banana Smoothie + Grilled Tofurkey Sandwiches

I made a delicious Mandarin Orange & Banana Smoothie this morning and I want to share it with you!

Ingredients:

- 1 huge frozen banana or 1 and 1/2 medium-sized frozen bananas
- 1 11 oz can of peeled mandarin orange slices, drained (I love to drink the juice the slices sit in!)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup vanilla non-dairy milk of preference

Directions:

- Start off with 1/2 cup of "milk" and blend all ingredients in a blender.
- Add additional "milk" if needed.

I also have to share my new favorite sandwich: Grilled Hickory Smoked Tofurkey Sandwiches!

Ingredients:

- 2 slices of your favorite vegan bread (Mine is Oroweat Potato Bread)
- 4 slices of Hickory Smoked Tofurkey Deli Slices 
- About a tablespoon of both Vegan Mayo and Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese
- About a tablespoon of thinly sliced green onions (Optional)
- Vegan Buttery Spread for frying

Directions:

- Slather vegan cream cheese on one slice of bread, vegan mayo on the other.
- Sprinkle green onions on top of one slathered side of bread, deli slices on the other.
- Put the two loaded sides of bread together.
- Heat up some vegan butter in the fry pan, add the sandwich. Fry one side until lightly charred. Scoop the sandwich up, add more vegan butter to the pan and fry the other side of the sandwich the same way.
- Cut your sandwich in half and enjoy! You can dip the sandwich in ketchup if you feel the need but I thought it was amazing as is!

Chocolate Banana "Milk"Shake

I have been making these for quite awhile now... Sometimes I just use chocolate soymilk, some times I use vanilla almond milk and add some Vegan Chocolate Syrup.  Either way, magic in a glass.

Today here's what I did:

Ingredients:

- 1 frozen Banana, broken in a few chunks
- 1 & 1/4 cup Vanilla Nondairy Milk of choice, the sweetened variety
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Chocolate Syrup
- Ice Cubes (Use only a couple for a thin shake maybe four or five for a thick shake depending on size)

Directions:

Blend it up until smooth and creamy!