Recipe - Bonnies Bean Soup

1 pound Dried beans*
1 Leftover ham bone with meat
on it
28 ounce Undrained crushed peeled
tomatoes**
1 cup Baby carrots***; cut in half
crosswise then cut or sliced up into
long pieces
2 tablespoon Olive oil
2 tablespoon Unsalted butter
2 md Yellow onions; chopped
2 Ribs celery; chopped
4 lg Cloves garlic (4 to 6);
minced
4 tablespoon Dark brown sugar; packed
2 tablespoon Sherry cooking wine
One half teaspoon Salt; (One half to Three fourths teaspoon)
One half teaspoon Crushed red pepper
One fourth teaspoon Black pepper; (One fourth to 1/2
teaspoon)
2 tablespoon Fresh parsley; chopped

Sort through beans, rinse, put into a large pot with 8 cups of hot water.
Bring beans to a rapid boil, boil 2 minutes, remove from heat. Cover & let
stand for 1 hour. Meanwhile, place leftover ham bone in another large pot,
add 10 to 12 cups of water or enough water to cover ham. Bring to a rapid
boil. I boiled the heck out of the ham. So much in fact that it took ALL
the flavoring out of the meat so I didn't use ANY ham in the soup. It
boiled for about 1 hour...I know... eeks! But, since I had the ham for
awhile I did not feel guilty about not using it! If you want ham in your
soup, don't boil the heck out of it
:) ! After beans have sat for 1 hour, drain & rinse again. Put back into
the large pot & drain the hot liquid from the ham over the beans. Throw out
the remains of the ham. Put beans back on the stove, bring to a boil,
reduce heat to medium and cook for about 45 minutes. Skim the surface of
soup several times to remove any skum that comes to the top. Add tomatoes &
carrots. Continue cooking. Meanwhile, heat olive oil & butter in a large
skillet. Add onions, celery & garlic & saute until veggies are tender, but
not overly brown! Add to soup along with remaining ingredients. Continue
cooking until soup thickens & flavors have mingled. I left mine on the
stove for a couple hours, lowering heat now & then.

Notes:

*Beans: I used a bag of the 16 soup mix beans. The small beans cook faster
& thus thicken the soup, but then they aren't there to see in the soup; I
like to look at the different sizes & colors. The bigger beans take longer
to become tender. Maybe a mixture of the same size beans would be better.

**Tomatoes: I think I will start with a 15 oz. can next time & go from
there. I think this would make the soup more "beanie". Or use a 28 oz. can
of whole tomatoes, drained & then cut up.

***Carrots: I would use One half cup carrots next time...again, to make it more
"beanie".

Remember to stir soup occasionally throughout the cooking process!! Greg
thought this was great. Makes about 8 servings. Made this on 1/2/98.
BMc1/98. Lynn Thomas' notes: Made this 1697; omitted oil, added 1 pkg.
Healthy Choice Polska Kielbasa, put everything into the crockpot and let it
cook for at least 12 hours.

Recipe by: Bonnie McNulty

Posted to TNT Recipes Digest, Vol 01, Nr 919 by WWGQ25C@prodigy.com (MRS
LYNN P THOMAS) on 7 Ja, n 1998