Name: Mixed Bean Ham Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 4 h
Yield: 10 cups
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: One pack of HoneyBaked® Mixed Bean Soup mix. Other soup mixes are available. 1 ham bone with a good amount of meat left on the bone.; If the bone is bare, buy a small ham slice to the soup. It will break down into small bits of meat by the time the soup is cooked.; 1/2 pound to 1 pound of fresh carrots, diced; 8 oz. of celery with leaves, chopped; 1 small yellow onion, diced; 10 cups of water or ham broth (I recommend the ham broth); Set the slow cooker to HIGH for 4 hours; You can also purchase prepared packs of fresh chopped soup vegetables at Wegman's® or in the produce section of nearly all supermarkets.; After all, if your plan is to make this the main meal, might as well make it a hearty soup.; If it were not for the orange specks in the spice pack, the carrots are not recognizable as such so a handful of fresh vegetables will not ruin the recipe. These dried vegetables are popular but they are the veggies of last resort!

Description

Technically, you don’t need anything other than the Mixed Bean Ham Soup mix to prepare this soup. Add layers of flavor with the use of fresh vegetables.

Scale

Ingredients

One pack of HoneyBaked® Mixed Bean Soup mix. Other soup mixes are available. 1 ham bone with a good amount of meat left on the bone.

If the bone is bare, buy a small ham slice to the soup. It will break down into small bits of meat by the time the soup is cooked.

1/2 pound to 1 pound of fresh carrots, diced

8 oz. of celery with leaves, chopped

1 small yellow onion, diced

10 cups of water or ham broth (I recommend the ham broth)

Set the slow cooker to HIGH for 4 hours

You can also purchase prepared packs of fresh chopped soup vegetables at Wegman’s® or in the produce section of nearly all supermarkets.

After all, if your plan is to make this the main meal, might as well make it a hearty soup.

If it were not for the orange specks in the spice pack, the carrots are not recognizable as such so a handful of fresh vegetables will not ruin the recipe. These dried vegetables are popular but they are the veggies of last resort!

Instructions

Place the beans in the slow cooker, add the ham bone and pour 10 cups of water over the main ingredients.
Sprinkle half of the seasoning packet which is included in the mix. OR the entire packet of seasonings. Up to personal tastes.
According to the package, the spices include garlic, onions, celery, parsley, carrots, and bell peppers.

But, you really have to get a magnifying glass out to find them. Mere specks of freeze-dried veggies are not going to make a rich stock.

It just so happens that I have some celery and carrots in the fridge, as well as fresh parsley so I added some of each, finely chopped, to the pot.

Add fresh vegetables because the dried bits in the mix will vanish during the cooking process.

Notes

If you are on a sodium restricted diet, this mixed bean ham soup mix is not for you.

Actually, I’m not sure how they manage to raise the sodium content of canned soups and dried soup mixes to such a level.