Rustic Ham and Navy Bean Soup

Bacon, thick cut

Leftover Ham (cut into cubes)

4 stalks of Celery

Celery Leaves (pulled from the stalks and minced)

Medium Yellow Onion, diced

4 Carrots, sliced
Fresh minced garlic

Mini Creamery Potato sliced or two Red Potatoes diced.

Half a bag of Navy Beans (soaked overnight and rinsed)

Better than Bullion Ham's base

Black Pepper

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Bay Leaf

Liquid Smoke

Water

Note* I do not add salt; it comes from the bacon, ham, and stock base. Be cautious.

Cut up bacon and saute till crisp and fats are rendered. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. If you use fresh garlic, saute in two tablespoons of the bacon fat for a minute or two. Saute cubed ham in the same pan. Add beans, bacon, ham and garlic to a large stock pot, add about six cups of water for every 2 cups of the pre-soaked beans. (1 cup of dried beans equals 3 cups of soaked beans). Add condensed ham base. Cook for 1 and 45 minutes, add chopped vegetables, celery leaves, onion powder, garlic powder (unless you are using fresh garlic) black pepper to taste, bay leaf, a little liquid smoke. You should note, I have added no additional salt, that is purposeful, salt will pull from both the ham and bacon, additionally, the ham base and condensed Knorr's bullion contain salt. You can adjust this recipe if you are using fresh homemade chicken stock. You can always add salt and pepper to your personal taste in the bowl, but you cannot remove it from the soup. This is a filling soup, so I would serve it with cornbread or a salad.

Please keep in mind that I made a full soup pot of this recipe and will be freezing half of it.