After a bit of a Holiday blogging hiatus, I’m officially “back” and enjoying the start of the New Year!
Tonight, I made up a big pot of this ham & bean soup to freeze for some quick meals for the rest of the winter!!
Ingredients:
- Ham bone w/ some meat attached (plus any additional leftovers chopped up)
- 2 pounds dried beans (I used pinto)
- 1/2 medium sweet yellow onion (or more depending on your taste)
- 2 gloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- pepper to taste
Directions:
- Sort through beans to remove any debris
- Soak beans according to package directions (I opted to not soak overnight, but did the quick boil/soak method instead)
- Drain beans (especially if soaking overnight), add 2–3 quarts fresh water and ham bone (enough water to just cover the beans + bone), onion, garlic, bay leaf, pepper to taste, and any additional ham bits you’d like to add
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1–2 hours (until beans are soft)
- Remove bone(s), cut off any edible meat and put back in soup, remove bay leaf
Corn bread goes great with this soup! And it’s easy to make while the soup simmers. You can of course make this from scratch, but I had a packet mix that I got for almost free with coupons, so I opted for that instead!
Serve both warm–and maybe some vegetables would be good too! 
In addition to being a great way to use leftovers and a yummy warm meal on a cold evening, what’s great about this soup is that it freezes wonderfully. The amount I made with this recipe yielded us dinners for two nights, plus two large plastic containers in the freezer for meals on other nights! I think that definitely qualifies it as a yummy, frugal find!!
*This post was originally written as a guest-post for The Frugal Find, which appeared as “Making Use of Christmas Leftovers” on December 27th. You might also find it linked to some of these GREAT link parties!! Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish
how do you usually cook your ham? Is there a way to cook one in a crockpot? we were gifted a ham for Christmas dinner but I already had the turkey thawing. We don’t usually eat ham, but I think my husband would like it done this way.
Hi Monique! Actually, all the hams that I’ve gotten have already been cooked. So, I haven’t had that issue. I have a friend who does her ham & bean soup in the crockpot. I’m sure that as long as you had the ham in the crockpot for long enough, then it should be fine.
Would love to hear how it goes if you get it made!
Love this! Would like to invite you over to Fat Camp Friday @ Mangoes and Chutney. The linky is up all weekend and one blogger from the linky party is featured every Wednesday. http://www.mangoesandchutney.com/2011/01/fat-camp-friday-10-blackened-tilapia.html
Thanks for sharing with Fat Camp Friday, hope to see you back again next week with another great recipe! http://mangoesandchutney.com
Thanks a bunch for linking to Saturday Swap! I LOVE bean soup and haven’t made it in forever.… anxious to try your recipe. I’m bookmarking it now!
{BTW, please remember to include the Saturday Swap button to link back to the Swap in your post.} Have a great weekend!!!
My son’s favorite meal! He’ll be right over — when are you serving again?!
I love beans and ham! this recipe looks great!
Im one of your newest followers! =)
Melissa
http://candlesinks.blogspot.com/
Always on the lookout for great recipes with beans… as my son LOVES beans. So definitely will have to try this one. We’d like to invite you also to participate in Foodie Friday, which will become a weekly Monday event after tomorrow. Thanks again for this recipe!
The Chef and The Lucky Wife