Ham And Great Northern Bean Soup For The Crock Pot

Total Time: 8 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried great northern beans, separated, soaked, and rinsed
• 3/4 cup carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth (or substitute 2 cups of pan drippings if you have them, so 2 cups ham drippings and 4 cups chicken b)
• 2 cups cooked ham, diced or shredded
• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon basil (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• salt (i use sea salt)

Recipe

• 1 place the soaked and rinsed beans in a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. look them over one more time for any bad beans or foreign matter.
• 2 add chopped carrots and onion.
• 3 pour chicken broth (pan drippings/chicken broth combination if you're using it) over beans, carrots, and onion. mix gently.
• 4 add ham and stir again.
• 5 throw in ground thyme, basil, and ground black pepper. (measurements in ingredients section are a guesstimate, i hardly ever use measuring spoons when cooking, i just make a cup in my hand and eyeball it.) to my tastebuds, a little thyme goes a long way so you may wish to add more than 1/2 teaspoon. stir again.
• 6 add bay leaf and push it gently under the surface of the broth so it doesn't float.
• 7 cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 8 hours, stirring once in a while if you can. you could probably just cook on low for 8-9 hours if there's nobody home to change the setting. i just like to get things heated up and moving so i do high for an hour on just about everything i put in a crock pot.
• 8 remove the bay leaf.
• 9 add salt just before serving to the whole pot or individual bowls.
• 10 this may taste good with a drop of dijon mustard in individual bowls or even a tablespoon or two of cream.
• 11 if it's too thin, just take the lid off for a while.