Ham and Bean Soup

This soup is both famous and infamous in my family. This is one of my favorite soups to have in the winter. I've had great results in both the crock pot and on the stove.

However, I made the mistake of cooking it on the stove during church one week and had a nasty surprise when I got home! It had burned while we were gone and had filled the whole house with smoke. It had burned so badly that there was a one inch layer of charcoal in the bottom of the pan! My family smelled like chain smokers for weeks before we could get the smell out of our clothes. When I was packing to move from that house many months later I would still occasionally get a whiff of burned Ham and Bean Soup. So nasty!

The moral is two-fold: Check it regularly for moisture and sticking to the pan and cook it in the crock pot if you're going to leave it unattended! :)

4 cups white beans (great northern)
8 cups water
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
1 ham hock (can substitute 2 cups diced ham but the flavor is not as good)
2 cups carrots, grated
1 diced large onion (or 2 Tbsp dried onion)
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Boil the beans and ham hock (or ham) in water for 15 minutes. Cover and simmer until beans are completely tender, about 2-3 hours. Remove ham hock and add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 1 hour. While simmering, remove and chop meat on ham hock and add to soup. Add butter before serving.