Hamming It Up!

This is a very easy, yet flavorful soup. Sometimes the best recipes come from a need to use up leftovers or scraps we don't want to throw away. I get the most from every part of a delicious ham. The dinner itself, sandwiches, scalloped potatoes and ham..... even after I'm done using every little bit including boiling all the flavor out of the bone, the dog has a go at it. By the time all is said and done, that ham is reduced to a few small bone fragments left in the carpet. Now that's what I call "getting your money's worth"!

Easy Ham Bone Vegetable Soup

1 ham bone
2 bay leaves
water
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, diced
1/2 small head cabbage, sliced
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained,
1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 can lima beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can cut green beans, drained
1 can mixed vegetables, drained
2 cups leftover ham, diced (or less if your ham bone was very meaty)

Place the ham bone and bay leaves in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the ham on the bone is falling off, maybe 2 or 3 hours. Add the onions, garlic, celery, cabbage and thyme. Cook until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Add remaining ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves before serving. This is even better the next day!

You can certainly use any vegetables you like in this soup and also vary the amounts according to your taste and how much broth you have. The bone I used was very flavorful, so this made a large dutch oven full of soup. You can also use frozen vegetables instead of canned, I had an abundace of canned goods on hand that I needed to use, I normally prefer frozen vegetables.

Note:
If your ham bone didn't give up enough flavor for your soup, you can give it a boost with some vegetable or chicken broth. I won't tell anybody!