Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Winter Day Soup

Two days ago, youngest son called me.  He had a couple of meaty ham bones for me.  Bless his heart - whenever he bakes a ham for his family, he saves the bones for me.  He knows I dearly love homemade ham and bean soup.

So that evening I set to soaking a quart and a half of great northern beans.  And yesterday morning I dumped the beans, 3 quarts of homemade chicken stock and a couple of handfuls each of dehydrated chopped onions and dehydrated grated carrots into a large stock pot.  Added enough water and chicken bouillon to make enough soup broth and slow cooked it all morning.  After lunch David showed up with the ham bones and into the pot they went to cook the rest of the day.

I love it when my kids show up at my door.  They don't even have to bring anything except themselves.  Well, maybe a grandkid or two would be nice!

So this morning I re-heated the soup and filled pint jars.  I suppose if I were canning for a family I would use quarts, but a pint jar is just right for me, provided it is accompanied by cornbread.  Gotta have the cornbread with ham and bean soup.  I think it might be the law.

Anyway, out of that quart and a half of beans and two meaty ham bones, I got 14 pints of soup.  Plus enough for supper last night and supper tonight.  Love it when a plan comes together.  Especially when it involves ham and beans!

4 comments:

  1. How long did u have to pressure cook them?

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  2. Mary...Because they contained meat, I pressure canned the pint jars for 75 minutes. Quarts would have been for 90 minutes. One jar didn't seal, so I had the soup for lunch. Turned out really good!

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  3. My wife is fixing beans and cornbread tonight, minus the ham bone. Not as good, but still good enough!

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  4. Gorges...In my book, it's pretty hard to beat a meal of beans and cornbread. Don't need a ham bone. I've flavored beans with bacon, sausage, etc. I've even used a little bacon grease in a pinch. It's all good!

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