Warning, this is not a vegetarian dish.

     Beans and rice are a great staple, edible for every meal from breakfast to a midnight snack, but they can get old in a hurry. Here is my favoite recipe for making them considerably more attractive to the palate without a ton of work. This is a large serving, suitable for pot luck.

Ingredients:
2 lb dried pinto beans
2 cups of rice
2 lb of lean pork, boiled and drained of fat
garlic, onion, cayenne, salt


     Start by sorting through the dried beans to remove any bad beans or trash that may have found its way into the package. Nothing is worse than biting into a pebble that found its way into sloppy packaging. Add these to 10 cups of water in an 8 quart or larger pot. Bring to a full boil, reduce heat, and cook for 90 minutes at a slow boil. While this is cooking, add the pork to 6 cups of water and cook until well done and drain off the fat from the surface with a large spoon. If you have a separator, use it instead and return the broth back to the pot. At the end of ninety minutes, combine the two and add the rice and seasoning. Cook an additional thirty minutes. (Most rice cooks in about fifteen minutes, but this recipe has two cups of water more than is considered necessary for the beans and rice, allowing the extra fifteen minutes cooking time. This helps to keep the recipe moist as it sits open on the serving table.)
     I have left the seasoning amounts blank, because some personal taste is involved here. Some prefer fresh garlic and onion, others will accept garlic powder and onion bits. As a rule, I sight measure. These are my personal approximations: Garlic, two cloves; 1/2 onion, diced [garlic powder, 1 tablespoon, onion bits 1/4 cup] cayenne, 1 tablespoon; salt, 1-2 tablespoons. (A salt substitute can be used, but I advise cooking the recipe without salt or substitute and then allowing the individual to add salt or salt substitute to taste.)
     Brown rice also works well in this recipe. Simply add twenty minutes to the cooking time, checking the water level as it approaches completion. Add small amounts of water as needed. Adding large amounts of water tends to make portions of the pot taste rather bland. A little at a time as needed is a considerably better technique.

VARIATIONS:
     There are a number of items that can be added to the recipe to vary the taste. Leeks, white beans, black beans, lintels, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, mushrooms, the list is a long one. Seafood, such as shrimp or scallops can also be added, giving it a definite shift in character. Spices can also be varied, but I've yet to find any that improve on those listed, and some are definitely a mistake. I suggest that the original be cooked and individual spices be added to small test portions before committing to adding it to the pot.

     These beans and rice go well with most any meal. Try them at breakfast with eggs (rancheros) or mixed in flour tortillas as breakfast tacos, with veggies cooked into eggs, bacon, avacado, salsa or pico de guillo. . . . They make good burritos by themselves in a flour tortilla. They go well as a side dish with countless meals, especially at a barbeque. With the complimentary protiens in beans and rice added to the lean pork, it gives the full requirements of a meat dish with less of the fat and additives found in commercial meat.

     These can be frozen for storage for up to six months.