Did you bake a ham over the holidays?   Ham was one of the best deals you could find in the supermarket.  We baked one on Christmas Day, knowing full well we would never come close to consuming all of it.  Fortunately, family stopped by and helped us out by fixing sandwiches and taking home leftovers.  But still, there was  enough left to make ham salad one day and a ham/potato casserole the next.    Finally, I wrapped up the hambone and stashed it in the freezer.  It’s been super cold the past few days, so I soaked some navy beans last night, thawed the hambone, and today have a huge pot of bean soup on the stove.  Do you have a ham in your fridge?   Stop! Don’t throw out the hambone.

I really didn’t need a recipe for bean soup, but I looked for one on the internet just to be sure I hadn’t forgotten something.  There are tons of recipes, but as far as I was concerned, all of them were wrong.  They said you should only simmer the beans for an  hour and a half.  This is not nearly long enough to have the kind of bean soup you can buy at fall festivals here in Indiana.  Good bean soup has to be mushy, and that takes about 4 hours of simmering.

Old fashioned bean soup is great to serve during these inflationary times.  It’s nutritious, economical, and  delicious. Better yet, stir up a batch of cornbread to go with it.  You’ll have enough for the whole family and then some.  In our case, we’ll probably be eating bean soup for the next day or so.  t.

Here’s the recipe

HAM AND NAVY BEAN SOUP

Ingredients:

1 # dry great Northern beans, soaked overnight in water, rinsed and drained

1 ham bone

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 minced garlic clove

1 bay leaf

8 cups water

Directions:

Cover the beans with water and let sit overnight.  Rinse and drain beans.

In a large pot, combine  beans, water  and all other ingredients.

Stir well, and simmer for 3  hours.

Remove ham bone and clean scraps. Stir in the chopped ham scraps and simmer for another hour

Makes 6 to 10 Servings