Speed Demon Ham and Bean Soup!
 

If you still have some smoked ham hanging around since Thanksgiving, as I did (Check the date!), this may be a good ending for it. The trick of putting half the beans through the food processor results in a thick, rich soup. If you want to add an extra step and a few calories, you could begin by sauteing the vegetables in a tablespoon of oil for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.

I figure if you've started with the food processor, you might as well use it to chop the vegetables, too. It's probably prettier if you chop them by hand, but if you're in a hurry to get back to your quilting, remember nobody will dare complain about odd shaped veggie bits if you offer to let them do the chopping next time.

Speed Demon Ham and Bean Soup

2 cans of cannellini white beans or navy beans
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use the kind that comes in an aseptic box and avoid MSG)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots (optional)
1/4 cup chopped onion or leeks
1/2 cup or more (to taste) fully cooked smoked ham, chopped
Black pepper to taste

Puree one can of beans in the food processor or blender until very smooth. Combine it and the remaining ingredients in your soup pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. 4 servings, but might be more if you used more ham. Enjoy!

Sounds yummy! I will give it a try with left over ham after Christmas. I'm alone and 4 servings will be just right. Sometimes leftovers can get tiresome day after day! Once our winter really sets in, it's soup time!!

I use basically the same ingredients and add a small diced potato to make it more filling--think I'll make some tomorrow. Almost wish it would get a little colder so it's soup time weather---60 degrees in central Iowa the past couple days!!!! May regret that statement when winter finally gets going!!!!

I love soups. I have a ham bone. I'm gonna try this. I know I will like it, because it has everything I like in it. Thanks.

I've already made a few pots of soup this fall-I could live off the different soups all winter! I sent my leftover ham bone from Thanksgiving back with my daughter so she could make bean soup-she likes soup as much as I do! So now I have an excuse to make some more ham to get a bone for me. I am in North Dakota, and we have had some warmer days too-in fact we are getting rain this morning-in December, of all things! Our sunrise was a brilliant bright red this morning, so I think we are going to have a windy day..."red sky at night....."as the old saying goes.

Thanks for the recipe. It sounds so yummy. I love soup and I'm definitely going to try this one.

oh sounds yummy with some corn bread... mmmmmmmmmm

thanks--- dinner for tomorrow. sounds great .especially since i always forget to soak the beans when I want to make bean soup. it is that time of year we love to have soup and stews. yummy tonite is spagetthi nite out so yeah a break from cooking

sounds yummy

[QUOTE=finch;5697964]I made this today using my pressure cooker.I did the dry navy beans and I added diced potatoes instead of another can of pureed beans. It was really good.I used 1 can of dry navy beans with 4 cups of water and added only 1 can of chicken broth. It was plenty for two to three people.[I cooked everything for 35 minutes. I did not soak the beans.