Ham & Bean Soup

We're having a snow day here in MO. The snow is falling (about 3 1/2 inches right now) and it's cold! What better than a bowl of hot soup to warm us right up? The hubby looked in the fridge and saw that we still had a baggie of ham from a luau we did last year with his unit (we had an entire pig roasted, it was delicious!) We decided on some ham and bean soup with cornbread.

Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups water
• 1 pound Great Northern beans or navy beans
• 2 cups cubed ham
• 1 ham bone or ham hock, optional
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped or sliced thinly
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

Preparation:

Bring water and beans to a boil; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour.

Stir in ham, ham bone or hock, pepper, bay leaf, carrot and celery. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender (skim foam from top), about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If soup is too thick, add a little water.

Remove ham bone or ham hock (if used) and trim meat from bone. Return meat to soup with tomato sauce and salt; simmer for about 15 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.
Ham and bean soup serves 6.