Hot Soup for a Cold Day

It's gloomy here today: cold, wet, windy, and gray all over.

So, even though it's barely past lunch time, dinner has been started.  A pot of navy beans is simmering on the stove.  They started soaking last night, and now they have been brought to a boil, covered, and turned down to simmer until soft.  Then they will become a batch of bean soup to warm our insides this evening.

Bean Soup
1 pound of navy beans (the dried kind)
7 cups cold water
1 tsp salt
1 pound smoked hock (or leftover ham bone)
1 large onion
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
pepper, to taste (I throw in about 1/2 tsp)
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 (15oz) can of diced tomatoes--or about 2 cups of chopped tomatoes from the garden

First, the day before you want to eat the soup, sort and rinse the beans, then place in a large pot and cover with the 7 cups of water.  Let soak overnight, or at least 12 hours. 

The day you are going to eat the soup, add the 1 tsp salt to the beans and water, then turn on the burner.  (I always put the pot of soaking beans on the burner I intend to cook them on the next day, usually one of back ones.)  Notice you don't drain off the water, you keep it in the pot with the beans to become the soup.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer about 45 minutes until the beans are soft (I test by mushing a few against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon).

Then, add the smoked hock/ham bone, onion, parsley, and other seasonings.  Do not add more water. Cover and simmer some more, roughly an hour or so. 

Meanwhile, chop your onion, carrot, celery, garlic and tomatoes if using fresh tomatoes rather than canned ones.  When the hock has cooked through and all the veggies are prepped, remove hock from the pot.  Cut the meat off the bone, dice the meat, then add meat and  veggies into the soup pot.  Stir things around to mix well.  Cover again, and simmer on low about 60-90 minutes.  Remove bay leaves and cloves (unless your family members don't mind biting into whole cloves--mine do!) just before serving.


We always have zucchini muffins with our bean soup.  They have a great spicy fall flavor that seems to accent the soup.  We dunk them in the soup instead of using crackers.

Zucchini Muffins
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cups veggie oil
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
(You can also add 1/2 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup raisins if you have them on hand and your family likes them.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 24 muffin cups. 

Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in the remaining ingredients until just moistened, you don't want to over stir or your muffins won't have those nice domed tops. 

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched lightly.

Serve hot with the soup.

Don't forget to give the bone from the hock/ham bone to your dog once it has cooled off.  It will be a much appreciated treat!