Bean Soup Recipe

Soup time is upon us here in East Tennessee. I love soups, but my children sometimes balk at the idea of eating it as the main course. They would like to think of it more as an appetizer! Not in my world...no, soup is the one pot wonder! I grew up loving bean soup and I make mine just like my mother makes it. There are only two requirements for making bean soup: 1. a ham bone with some leftover ham (I always freeze my ham bone so I am ready to make bean soup at a moments notice. I also make sure to leave some ham on the bone when I freeze it. The ham falls off and adds meat to the soup). 2. a few hours at home to cook the soup. I know plenty of people who cook beans in a crock pot, but somehow I have never mastered that one. I cook my beans in a dutch oven on the stove.

Bean Soup Recipe

Rinse great northern beans using a colander. Place in a dutch oven with ham bone, an onion cut up, and fill dutch oven about half way with water. Cook on medium heat. After about an hour, add diced celery and carrots. I also add salt and pepper. Just be careful with the amount of salt because the ham bone and meat have salt! Cook until the beans are tender. Remove ham bone and feed it to your large English Mastiff AFTER you pick off the good meat for the soup! I like my bean soup to be soupy so I add more water during the cooking process. You can make as much of this soup as you desire. For my family of 7, I use an entire 1 pound bag of beans. However, that doesn't give us leftovers! Sometimes I will also add some dried thyme to the soup, but I usually just stick with salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper. To get my kids to enjoy soup for dinner, I will ALWAYS serve cornbread with this soup. Michael and I love Mexican Cornbread. It is a great accompaniment because it is so full of flavor. My kids prefer basic cornbread. Last time I made this soup, I made fried cornbread. That is one of their favorites so they didn't mind just soup for dinner that night. I also serve my bean soup with some green tomato relish or regular tomato relish. You choose! Hope you enjoy!!!

grace and peace,
julie