Ham Bone Soup

I had been wanting to try this recipe, so at Christmas, when we had one of these:I asked my father-in-law for the bone. When I got it home I simply froze the entire bone (w/some meat) in a large ziplock bag until I was ready to make this soup.


you will need:

• 1 ham bone with meat still on (just whatever is leftover after it's been cut away for the ham dinner)
• 8 cups liquid (you can add broth or water)
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups navy, cannellini or great northern beans (I used great northern and red canned beans)

Put all ingredients except for the beans into a crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. Then turn the heat down to low and continue to cook for 3 more hours. At this point, the meat should fall off the bone. Remove the meat from the bone and chop it up into bitesize pieces and return everything back to the crockpot. Drain and rinse the beans and add to crockpot and cook for 1 more hour. Discard the bone and enjoy the soup with ketchup, bread and/or crackers. (We saved the bone for my brother's dog)

This was very good. I took it to a family dinner and my dad said it reminded him of what his mother used to make. Probably because this is a grandma-type recipe.