Ham and Beans

Boil 4 cups of white beans for 5 minutes on the stove. Drain and Rinse.

Put beans into the crock pot with 6-8 cups of water...leaving about 1-2 inches to the top of the pot. Add shredded carrots and diced celery if you like. Cook all day on LOW about 7-8 hours or HIGH for 5-6 hours, until your beans are soft. About halfway through your cooking time:

Add your ham bone from a spiral ham or whatever you have. There should be some meat on it still. Finish cooking. Just before serving, remove the bone, pick off the meat and put the meat back in with the beans.

Add salt and/or onion powder to taste and serve.

*It can't get any more simple than this one. My favorite thing to do with a leftover bone after we have ham. Perfect with cheddar biscuits.

Vegetable Garden Soup

Add to the crock pot:

2 15oz cans red kidney beans, undrained
2 14oz cans cut tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, chopped
4 carrots, sliced or shredded (my kids prefer shredded)
2-4 small potatoes, diced (I leave the skin on)
2 small zucchini, diced
2 small yellow squash, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced - no seeds (optional)
1/2 cup dry lentils (optional)
4 TBSP parsley
10 shakes of paprika
4 shakes cayenne pepper (red pepper)
4-6 TBSP Au Jus Gravy powder or 2-3 1oz packets

Pour over the top: 4 cups boiling water
Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours or LOW for 7-8 hours, or until your veggies are tender.

During the last hour, add:

1 cup frozen peas and/or 1 cup frozen corn
(We prefer the frozen corn)

*My pickiest eaters will not touch this with a ten foot pole. However, I HAD to include it. It's one of my most favorite vegetable soups on earth, and sooooo easy to do in the crock pot. All your chopping and dicing is done and cleaned up well before dinner time, you know I LOVE that! This soup just speaks "summer garden" and makes me feel so healthy...haha! Just make sure you cook it long enough to get all of your veggies tender. It's a FULL pot. You could cut the recipe in half and still have tons of soup.