Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients. Starting in the upper right corner and moving counter-clockwise: crushed garlic, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onion, lime and dried pinto beans.

Start by cooking the pinto beans. Please see this post for complete instructions. After cooking the beans, use a masher to mash them while in the pot.

Chop the onions …

Place the chopped onions in a large skillet.

Measure out portions of the other ingredients and set them aside in dishes. Shown below (left to right): all the dry ingredients in the dish on the left (ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder and salt), then crushed garlic in the middle dish followed by fresh squeezed lime juice in the last dish.

Sauté the chopped onions in water, gradually adding more water as necessary – about a tablespoon at a time – to keep the onions from sticking to the skillet or burning. After cooking for about 8 minutes, add the crushed garlic.

Continue to cook the vegetables for about 2 minutes more. Just infuse the flavors into the vegetables.

When the onions and garlic are cooked, add the mashed beans.

Use the masher or wooden spoon and continue to cook the vegetables and mashed beans together. After a minute or two, add the dry seasonings (ground cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder and salt).

Continue to cook and stir the mashed beans with a masher or wooden spoon for another minute or two, then add the fresh squeezed lime juice.

Using the masher, thoroughly mix the fresh squeezed lime juice throughout the mashed beans. When everything is all mixed together, the refried beans will be done.

Fat Free Pinto Beans

Start with a medium sized cooking pot with lid. I like to cook 3 1/2 cups of dried beans at a time. Measure out the beans and spread them out on a clean, flat surface, then sort through them and discard any stones or shriveled beans.

Cover the beans with 1 to 2 inches of water (see photo below … it is hard to see the water line in the photo). Place the lid on the pot and set the beans in the refrigerator and allow to soak overnight.

The next day, most or all of the water will have been soaked up by the beans. If necessary, add more water just prior to cooking. Add enough water to just cover the beans.

Place the pot over a flame and bring water to a boil, then reduce to a very low flame. Allow to cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Shown below is a photo taken just after water begins to boil and just before reducing the flame. Stir occasionally, checking the water level periodically and adding more water as necessary to just cover the beans during cooking. It has been my experience that water needs to be added around the first 20 minutes after boiling.

During the last 30 to 45 minutes, there may be a tendency for the beans to stick to the pan, so be careful around this time. Stir the beans and make sure the flame is very low and that the water level covers the beans.

The beans should be fully cooked in no more than 3 hours. Once you have cooked the pinto beans, you can make them into refried beans, or you can allow to cool and place in a covered container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze some of them if you like, then place in the refrigerator after thawing.

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients. Left to right, then back to front starting in the back row: olive oil, bell peppers, onions, ground cumin, cilantro, flat iron steak, limes, jalapeño pepper and garlic.

First, prepare the marinade. Begin by chopping the cilantro. Chop it up real fine, including the stems.

Next, slice the jalapeño pepper, removing the seeds and ribs, then peel the cloves of garlic.

Chop them with a chopper.

Add the chopped cilantro, garlic and jalapeño pepper to a glass bowl, then add the olive oil.

Next, add fresh squeezed lime juice.

Next, add the ground cumin …

Mix everything together with a spatula. The marinade is now finished and we are ready to add the meat.

I like to use an electric knife because it is easy to slice the meat very thin. I will cut the meat into 1/4 inch slices, then cut the strips to about 1 inch wide by 3 inches to 4 inches in length. I am using Flat iron steak in this example, but you can also use skirt steak or flank steak.

Add the sliced meat to the marinade and mix it all together so that all the meat is coated with the marinade. Cover and place in the refrigerator while marinading. Marinade the meat for at least a couple of hours. For best results, marinade overnight.

Next, slice the onions. Cut them in half first, then into quarters as you would normally slice an onion.

Instead of cutting the quartered onion cross-wise as you would normally slice an onion, slice them lengthwise into 3/8 inch strips as shown in the photo below.

Slice them all up into 3/8 inch strips.

Next, slice the bell peppers. Start by removing the stem, then cut each pepper in half.

Cut them lengthwise into sections to make it easy to remove the ribs and seeds.

Then cut them all up into 3/8 inch slices (lengthwise) similar to how the onions were cut. If I am not cooking right away, I will put the sliced vegetables into a reclosable zip lock bag and put it in the refrigerator until I am ready to cook them.

After the meat has marinated, cook it on a gas grill. Use grilling tongs to turn the meat. Notice how the grills are arranged. They are stacked one on top of the other with the top one upside down over the other. The grill bars are arranged in a staggered fashion in order to close the gaps so the meat doesn’t fall through the grill onto the flames.

While the meat is cooking, place all the sliced vegetables in a large skillet. It takes about 12 to 15 minutes to cook the meat and the vegetables, so you can cook them both at the same time.

When the meat is done, place it in a serving bowl.

When the onions start to become translucent, the vegetables will be cooked. Place these in a separate serving bowl.

Serve immediately. I like to serve them with two flour tortillas, guacamole, sour cream and a little salsa. Serve with portions of cooked vegetables and meat. Optionally, serve with cooked pinto beans.

This is a very delicious and healthy meal and should be a big hit with guests.

Shown below is a shot of all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Note: If you see 2 shallots it is because they were small. Use one medium sized shallot.

Start by cutting the avocados in half and removing the pits. Then spoon the avocados away from their peels into the mixing bowl.

Mash them with a potato masher.

Juice the lime with a citrus juicer and add it to the mixing bowl. The lime will help prevent the avocados from oxidizing and will add flavor at the same time.

Slice the jalapeño pepper, shallot and garlic cloves into quarters, then chop them with a chopper.

Dice the tomato, then chop the diced tomato with the chopper.

Add all the chopped ingredients to the bowl and mix with a rubber spatula.

Serve with tortilla chips.