16 Bean and Ham Soup

This is the basic recipe off the back of a bag of dried 16 bean soup mix, with some tweaks I've made to it that I think make it super yummy.  This recipe takes a little commitment and planning ahead.  Its so worth if you have the time....perhaps a yucky, drizzly, cold Sunday when you have three or fours at home before dinnertime.

I imagine you could make this in the crockpot as well, if you have one big enough to hold your ham bone. As I re-read this sentence, its really making me giggle.

A couple quick notes.  We love saving the ham bone when we buy a spiral ham for Thanksgiving and again at Christmas.  Whatever isn't eaten during those holidays gets shoved in a Ziplock bag and frozen until we're ready for this soup.  If you don't happen to have a leftover bone-in ham, you can buy cooked ham hocks at just about any grocery (a couple will do), and then just buy a boneless ham and cube it up.

I didn't plan on doing a recipe post about this until after I had the pot cooking, so I didn't do step by step photos.   Here is a photo of what the bean packaging looks like.  Just go down your aisle that has dried beans and you'll see something similar. 

The beans are gorgeous and look like this.  And best of all, there's no question you'll be meeting your fiber dietary requirements for a few days.

16 Bean and Ham Soup

You will need:

very large stockpot

• leftover bone in ham (with plenty of ham left on it) OR ham hocks with additional boneless cubes of ham (at least 3 or 4 cups)
• bag of dried beans (as above)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 lb of carrots, cut up
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 8 cups of water
• box of diced tomatoes (*see note at the bottom of this post)
• fresh greens (I used collards Andrew picked from the garden today, but you could use chopped up kale, spinach, etc.)  (Also, this is optional... I just think it adds a nice flavor and texture to the soup, and more nutrition!)
• salt/pepper to taste

What to do:

First! 

The night before (or very early the morning you want to make this soup) dump the dried beans into a large bowl and completely cover them with water. They need to soak at least 8 hours, and longer than that is fine.   They will expand so make sure you use a large enough bowl.  The bag of beans will likely come with a 'flavor packet'.   Throw it away.  You don't need it, and who the heck knows what's in there anyway.   Trust  me, using your ham bones will give it plenty of great smoky flavor from a much more natural source.

Time to make the soup!

Heat the olive oil in bottom of stock pot and saute onion, garlic and celery until tender.  While you're doing that, drain the beans from their soaking water and rinse them off.  Add 8 cups of clean water to your stockpot, and all of the beans.  Submerge your ham bone (heh heh), or ham hocks, and add all of your cubed ham.  Add your tomatoes, carrots, and greens.   Salt and pepper.  Simmer for at least 3 hours.  When its close to meal time, remove the ham bone and toss.

Okay then.  My Grandpa Unklesbay was a bean soup lover, and to him, no bowl of beans was ever complete without a sprinkle of sugar on top.  Yep, you read that right - sugar.  If you like to mix your savory with your sweet, give it a try.  I happen to like it too.  But if you like to keep your savory with your savory, add a few dashes of Tabasco to your bowl.  That's how Andrew likes his.

This makes a huge amount of soup.   Now, my kids won't touch this with a ten foot pole.  So we usually eat it for a couple of days, and freeze the rest for another time.

Great served with cornbread, if you're so inclined.  Its super delicious, you won't be disappointed.  And, you won't have to cook again for a couple of days!

*************************

*I recently read a scary article about canned tomatoes, so I'm now trying to buy them in a box, like these.  You can find these right next to all the jarred tomato sauce, and they sell them this way at Trader Joe's as well.

Happy cooking!

shrimp chowder

I just love soup, and any variation of soup... chowder, stew, chili, etc.  I try to make something in this category once a week to take a break from the meat/vegetable entree routine.  Its particularly nice when it works out to be a cold rainy night, like tonight.

This recipe falls under the category of "semi-homemade" since your base is store bought cream of potato and mushroom soup.   Easy, hearty, quick and delicious on a chilly night. Serve with crusty bread.  You can change it up and use any combination of frozen seafood. We've used a seafood mix of mussels, shrimp and squid.   You could use this as a base for clam chowder by just adding clams too.


Ingredients

3 tbsp butter
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
2 pounds frozen shrimp (cooked*, peeled and deveined), cut in half or three pieces depending on how large
2 cans condensed cream of potato soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups milk (1% or 2%, not skim)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (add more to taste)

*if you don't want to buy precooked shrimp for this, I highly recommend cooking the shrimp before putting it into the chowder... you want to make sure it gets cooked all the way through before it goes in the pot.

Directions
Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Combine potato soup, mushroom soup, corn, and cream cheese. Mix well, and bring to a slow boil. Stir in half-and-half, milk, green onions, and shrimp. Season with cayenne pepper. Bring to a low boil, and simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors.
 
For those who like a spicy zing, add hot sauce as desired at the table!

Thai Chicken Soup

This is what I'm making for dinner tonight and I can't wait.  I love things made with coconut milk, and I love curry.  Should be delish!  I found everything I needed at Wegmans in the Asian foods aisle.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil


1 onion, thinly sliced


2 cloves garlic, minced


2 tablespoons green curry paste


6 cups low-sodium chicken broth


1 15-ounce can coconut milk


1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste


2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced


4 ounces thin rice noodles, broken into pieces


2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), very thinly sliced crosswise


1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste


1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro


Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil.

Add the bell peppers and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add more fish sauce and lime juice, if desired.

baked potato chowder

Its been raining buckets here, as the fall chill moves in.  Weather like this makes me hungry for soup...nothing like a hearty bowl of hot soup on a chilly, damp night.  

I have quite a few soup recipes I like to make, but this one is a favorite.  And although its 'homemade', it cheats by using two cans of store bought potato soup to start it off.   I also like it because its quick...its not a soup that has to cook for hours and hours for the flavors to mix.   It makes a lot, so invite some friends over to share it with you, or plan on eating it for leftovers.

Loaded Baked Potato Chowder
2 cans cream of potato soup (Campbell's or store brand, it doesn't matter)

4 cups of nonfat or 1% milk

1 cup frozen corn

2 cups frozen southern style hash browns

2 cups of cubed ham

pepper to taste

Toppings:

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

bacon bits


Directions: Mix milk and soup in large pot. Stir in hash browns, corn and ham. Bring to boil on high heat stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low, simmer 10 minutes. (If you need to simmer longer, just turn it down to low). Ladle soup into bowls, top with green onions and cheddar cheese (and bacon bits if desired). Serve with a crusty bread, like ciabatta or baguette.