Mexican Pork and Beans

This is one of my favorite slow cooker recipes and I have been making it for several years. The original recipe is great just the way it is but I decided it needed a  "Farmgirl" makeover to use fresh ingredients, home canned salsa and our goat cheese! Here is the original recipe:

Mexican Pork and Beans

1 pound boneless pork loin cut into 1-inch pieces
1 jar (20 ounces) salsa
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles, drained
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Mix pork, salsa and chilies in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or until pork is tender. Stir in beans. Cover and cook 10 minutes more or until hot. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve over hot cooked rice or tortilla chips.

Pretty simple, huh? Very tasty too! Now, for the "Farmgirl" makeover.

Season the pork with salt and Seasoned Pepper and brown it in a cast iron skillet. I like to get a nice sear on the meat to enhance the flavor.

Put the meat into the slow cooker and deglaze the pan with the salsa to get up all those lovely browned bits of pork!

I don't have a pressure canner (yet) so I used some freezer salsa that I had made with corn and black beans in it and I also added half a cup of Southwest Salsa, both made using produce from our garden, to get the 20 ounces recommended. I added the salsa to the slow cooker along with half a cup of freshly roasted green chiles from the Farmer's Market. Hey, I live in Arizona, remember? We have stuff like that available year round! ;-) These particular chiles were a little on the hot side so I didn't use a full half cup.

Mix well; cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. In the meantime, cook one-half cup of dried black beans. Pinto beans would also work well.

When the pork is tender, stir in the cooked beans and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until heated through. I served this over hot cooked rice and topped it with grated Queso Blanco made from our goat milk. I had to add some Cheddar because I didn't have enough of the goat cheese. :) We also had some homemade tortillas from the Farmer's Market.

This is a very easy and tasty healthy dish either way you make it! Have you given a favorite recipe a makeover to use fresher, home grown and/or home canned ingredients? I'm linking up to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House! :)