Mexican Recipe with Pinto Beans: Easy and Healthy

Olive oil (Extra Virgin best but any kind is fine)

Seasoning Blend (onions, green pepper, celery, bits of red pepper; fajita seasoning works, too)

2 cans Pinto Beans (we like 1 can Ranch Style Plain and 1 can Ranch Style Jalapenos for that perfect degree of spice)

Crushed tomatoes (Great Value brand from Walmart is 28 oz and perfect consistency)

Extra green peppers if desired (in frozen food section - obtained at Kroger because can never find them at Walmart)

Combine:

Blob of olive oil about 4" wide in pan/pot (Health tip: olive oil is good for you and the latest news is that it helps rid the body of belly fat!)

Plenty of seasoning blend (I never measure but guess I use about 1 cup)

Green pepper if you love what it does to recipes - about 1/3 cup

Crushed tomatoes 28 oz - you can be a perfectionist and swish can with a little water so as to get EVERY LIITLE BIT of tomato and dump that in

2 cans Pinto Beans, drained

Stir all that around, then add:

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp garlic salt

¼ tsp cumin

Stir some more and simmer awhile. Overnight in fridge makes flavor even better

Serving ideas:

I put a bed of brown rice on a plate, top it with the Pinto Bean mixture, top that with Romaine lettuce chopped, tomatoes, ripe olives, cheese and a dollop of guacamole on top. You can vary this all sorts of ways to make every member of your family happy. My daughter says "no ripe olives, extra guacamole please".

You can make a casserole with this mixture. Put rice, pinto bean mix and cheese together and heat in oven or crock pot. You can roll cheese in tortillas and top with mixture and heat in oven. Experiment to develop your favorite dish!

Freezer tips:

This pinto bean mixture freezes beautifully. I always make a double batch.

You can freeze small portions to add to vegetable soup for some "kick".

Soup

You can add diced tomatoes to mix, some organic vegetable broth, some favorite vegetables (corn maybe), some chicken if you want mean and voila, you have soup.

Now here's my glorious guacamole tip:

During my teaching career I got annoyed over how fast avocado turns brown and makes my guacamole look yucky. We love guacamole and want it available ALL the time so here's my solution. Buy it FROZEN at Walmart. They have Yucatan in most Walmart stores (They used to have a brand I bought called Delimex or Delimax but now in Texas it's Yucatan. It's located where the frozen Mexican stuff is, like Taquitos and Enchiladas.)

The guacamole comes in two little round tubs. To make it available any time and serve it green and pretty, do this: Pop the contents of one tub in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave about 1 ½-2 minutes on high. It will soften and you can scrape what you need for that meal. Then, (here's the beauty of it) you cover with microwave safe Glad wrap and put it in the freezer. Next time you want guacamole you can go through the procedure again. The smaller the amount of guacamole in the bowl, the less time you microwave it. Always refreeze it or it turns brown. I've done this for years with perfect results every time.

Of course, you can thaw the whole tub and eat it as a dip during the football game!