Comfort Food

Growing up, I remember my mother making a pot of beans with ham or bacon. Man were they good. But being a diabetic, I have to watch my carbs. However, this recipe is a good meal because I add lots of veggies to this. Sometimes, I leave out the ham or bacon and just make it vegetarian meal. You get your protein from the beans, and vitamins from the veggies - therefore it is a healthly meal.

So here is the recipe that I improved from my mother.

Ham and Navy Bean Soup

• 1 pound navy beans rinsed
  
• 1 cup of chopped ham or 6 slices bacon cooked
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1cup chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  
• 1Tablespoon olive oil
• 1Tablespoon butter
• 8 cups of chicken broth ( you can use chicken bouillon, 8 cups water with 4 bouillons)
• salt and pepper
• two escarole lettuce (this is an Italian lettuce)
  

I never soak the beans overnight , just rinse them and put them in cold chicken broth and cook them.

1. Melt butter in olive oil. Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic; cook until tender.
2. Add the veggie mixture to the beans.
3. If you want this to be vegetarian, don't add the ham or bacon, but if you want meat, this is a good time to add it.
4. Bring the beans to a boil, then turn down to a simmer (on an electric stove, that would be a 2. On a gas stove, you have to judge it). If you are using a slow cooker, just put it on high for two hours, then turn it to low.
5. It usually takes about 3 -4 hours for this to cook.
6. Now, I like to make mine spicy so I add about 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and sometimes 1 small can of green chiles.
7. Just before the beans are done (about 1/2 hour before) chop up the escarole lettuce and put in the soup. It will cook down. If you don't have escarole, you may use spinach, which makes this very good.

This meal is great on a cold day and you can serve cornmeal and a salad or fruit to make this meal complete. Enjoy.