Bean and Ham Soup

Bean and Ham Soup
from the delightful Tammy Adams

1 pound navy beans (2 1/2 cups)
5 cups water
1 clove garlic
1 ham hock
1 t salt

Soak beans in water at least 4 hours.  You'll want to add MUCH more water than beans because they expand.  Drain water.
Add garlic, ham hock, beans, and water to crock pot.  Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours of high for 4 hours.  Add salt during the last hour of cooking time.
Remove ham hock from cooker and allow to cool.  Cut ham off hock and stir back into bean mixture.

Note from the original recipe:  "The most important thing of this recipe is you MUST use a ham hock.  I will make a ham for Sunday dinner and then keep the blessed hock to use for this soup!  I will sometimes cook a ham just so that I can have the hock for this soup.  It is really that good.  Be careful for the occasional bone.  For added flavor or color, you can add onion, celery, carrots, or tomatoes."

Tammy brought me this when when I was sick with pneumonia and also had two newborns.  I ate it for days and then got the recipe and made my mom make me another batch.  Now it is one of my cold-weather favorites!

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

1 large pork tenderloin (about 4 lbs)
Liquid Smoke (1/2 bottle)
Coarse ground Sea Salt
1 c. water

Toss pork and water in the crockpot, sprinkle generously with sea salt and add Liquid Smoke.  Cook for 6-8 hours.  Serve.

*****

This goes into everything.  We eat it with an Asian style green salad and macaroni salad (or mac and cheese) for a Hawaiian style treat.  We put BBQ sauce on it and eat it in sandwiches.  We use it in Green Chile Pork.  It's an easy and universally appreciated meal that is easy to take in.  Definitely a family staple.

Grandma's Favorite Chicken Tortilla Soup

Every Friday we have "Grandma Day" at our house, when my Grandma comes over for lunch and to see the kids and make memories with us and do puzzles with my big boy and color with my little girl.  She loves soup, and this is one of her very favorites.  

Chicken Tortilla Soup
from Amy Newton's blog

1 rotisserie chicken, deboned
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 can black beans (not drained)
1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 jar chunky salsa

Garnishes:
corn tortilla chips to taste (great way to use up stale chips!)
sour cream to taste
shredded colby jack cheese to taste
avocado chunks to taste

Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in the oil in the bottom of your soup pot.  (I love my dutch oven for this.)  Once cooked, toss everything else in into the pot over medium heat and warm until heated through.  Also works well in a crockpot, after you have sauted those aromatics.
Put a handful of crunched up chips in the bottom of bowl and top with warm soup. Add shredded cheese, sour cream, and avocado to taste.

Wendy's Chili

Wendy's Chili Recipe (copycat)


Cook 1# hamburger with onion, drain.
Add: 
1 - 10 oz can french onion soup
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
tobasco to taste
2 cans kidney beans, undrained
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce

Simmer all together.  Also works well in a crockpot!

Green Chile Pork

Green Chile Pork
from Cheryl the Great

1 pork tenderloin (3-4 lbs)
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 c. water
2 cans Stokes green chile sauce (with pork)
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
2 cans (4 oz) roasted diced green chiles
sour cream to taste
shredded cheese to taste

Cook pork loin with water and Lipton soup mix in crockpot for 4-6 hours.
When pork is fully cooked, drain, retaining some of the liquid.  Shred pork and add Stokes, Rotel,  green chiles.  If it is dry, add some of the cooking liquid.  Serve with tortillas or chips, topped with sour cream and shredded cheese.


This is a holiday dish for me.  When the tamales come out at Christmastime, I start making green chile pork.  We're sending this to Jason's work potluck and it's an easy and delicious contribution.