Ham and Bean Soup

I don't have any pictures of how delicious this soup is. Someone, who shall remain nameless and soon will be forgiven when he has paid his dues, deleted the picture from the camera. I have two pictures of children eating (or not eating in Pnut's case) the soup. I love this stuff! It is so full of flavor and healthy goodness. Plus, it kept me full until suppertime. That is very rare. Usually I am ready to eat something again by the time the girls lay down for their nap!

2 cans Navy Beans, rinsed and drained
6.5cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ham bone-Joel called it a butt bone
1 cup chopped carrots (or more)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tsp-ish rosemary-I used dried
2 cups chopped ham
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1. Put the water, bone, beans, salt, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, and rosemary on high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 60 minutes.
2. Remove ham bone, add meat and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 more minutes.
3. It's finished! Try to let it cool down enough so that it doesn't burn the taste buds off your tongue. I have a hard time with that part!

I really like the taste that the bay leaves and rosemary add in. I am not sure if I only had one teaspoon of rosemary or if I had more because I just picked it out and sprinkled it in. My ham was some of the leftover that I had frozen from Christmas day. It was a spiral, already sliced, smoky ham. It gave the broth such a nice smoky flavor. Yum! I can't even begin to describe it!



This kid loved the soup! She was especially a fan of the carrots and beans. She was not so sure about the ham. Hey, I would rather her eat the vegetables!



This crazy child, however, did not like it. Or she says that she didn't. Honestly, she didn't even taste it. She is anti-soup. So she just didn't have lunch and ate her supper very nicely.

In other news, this is an apron that I made for a friend for Christmas. I want to make one for myself, but I think I want a full apron instead of a half apron. I love this retro fabric look though!



Hopefully, I will be posting regularly again now that the holiday busyness is over. I love this time of year when we get to spend so much time with family, but it really shakes up our routine, and if you know me, you know I like routine. So do my children. So we will be thankful to get back into our everyday life even though we have thoroughly enjoyed having Daddy home and seeing all our friends and family! Also, I got a rotary cutter and board and ruler so I am going to have to do some projects so that I can try them out! How exciting:)