Ham N’ Bean Soup (Recipe) 🫘🥣

I made some ham n’ bean soup. I liked it more this time than last time. Here’ the recipe…

Every once in a while I get hungry for this. I make it slightly different every time. This time was pretty god, so I may replicate it. Or at least attempt to.

Ingredients:

• 2 freezer bags of leftover ham from Easter, cubed.
• 2 globs of Irish butter using a tablespoon.
• Spanish onion, diced.
• A stick of celery, chopped
• Shredded carrots, chopped even smaller
• 1 red bell pepper, cubed
• 1 tsp. of minced garlic
• 7 cans of beans. I used the Giant Eagle brand. I got butter beans, black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, great northern beans, & cannellini beans. I thought about garbanzo beans and black eyed peas.
• 1 can of diced potatoes.
• 1 bottle of Yuengling Traditional Lager (Sometimes I cook with Straub Amber too.)
• 12 cups water
• A tablespoon of Better Than Bullion Ham Base
• 2 tablespoons of Orrington Farms Concentrated Ham Base
• Mrs. Dash Table Blend seasoning (to taste)
• McCormick BBQ Seasoning (to taste)
• Ground Mustard (to taste)
• White Pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• garlic powder (to taste)
• onion powder (to taste)

Beans

I’m impatient so I didn’t use dried beans and soak the overnight while standing on my head facing east while reciting a mantra about not farting after eating this soup or whatever you have to do to do all that properly. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I did drain & rinse them really well. I’m sure this would be fine with ham steaks but the roasted ham from Easter was delicious.

The Method:

1. I dumped all the beans into a colander and mixed them, then rinsed them pretty good with cold water. I set that aside on a bowl for a minute.
2. I globbed the butter into the stock pot, put it on a burner, and cranked that shit up to medium-high.
3. As the butter was melting, I added the onions, and let them sautée a bit. I added some onion powder, garlic powder, and a bit of salt here.
4. I added the carrots, celery, & bell peppers, then sautéed a little more.
5. This is where I added the rest of the spices to taste. Use whatever floats your boat. I added the minced garlic last so it didn’t burn.
6. I tasted this before I did anything else and did so by setting aside a spoonful to cool while I moved on to the next step. I could have eaten just this.
7. I dumped the canned potatoes along with the water into the mix.
8. I dumped the beer into the mix.
9. I got 8 cups of water into a giant mixing cup & added the “better than bullion” and soup base stuff. I went a bit lighter than the directions specify because I always end up making the soup too salty. I also didn’t use a measuring spoon. I used regular spoons & serving spoons. What is this, baking?
10. I added all the beans, and 4 more cups of water.
11. I added the ham last as I cubed it. I think at some point I cranked the heat down to medium.
12. After adding the ham, I brought it to a boil on high, then let it boil on medium-low for 20 minutes, lid off, then pulled it off to rest.
13. If you’re worried about the taste, take a bite way too soon, scorch your tastebuds, and it won’t matter anyway.

This was pretty tasty. I would only maybe add bacon? Manybe peas or something? What would you add? Would you switch anything out? I’m sure chicken bullion or broth would be good here too.

I like to serve this with some buttered rolls, or even a sandwich. Maybe cornbread would be good too?

This is good, but not much tops ham n’ green bean n’ tater stew. I wonder if green beans would be good in this?

Easy, Quick, and Delicious – Grilled Chicken Noodle Soup 🥣

The wife & daughter are under the weather so I offered to make some home made chicken-noodle soup. Not much is more of a classic and traditional comfort than chicken-noodle soup, right? Around here, the stuff like Eat ‘n Park serves is a comfort-food staple. I love those style noodles. I make soups slightly differently every time, but this seemed to come together quickly and it was very flavorful. I’d definitely do it this way again.

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I posted photos to Facebook & Instagram, & thought I’d share the recipe here too. I like to have leftover soup. Here’s what I posted on social media, maybe slightly edited;

This was the cheater method, but these frozen noodles are awesome. I made A LOT of soup. Ha ha. This could easily be halved.

I started with grilling chicken tenders on the panini grill, added a pretty good amount of “rotisserie chicken” spices. Two competing name brands happened to be in the spice rack, so that’s what I used.

I sautéed some shredded carrots, half a Spanish onion, and some celery stalks in a few pats of butter on the bottom of the stock pot.

Then I added some minced garlic (yes, the stuff from a jar soaked in olive oil because I am lazy), & some fresh parsley from the garden. I didn’t measure any of it.

I also used poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, white & black pepper, salt, & a shake of cayenne.

I de-glazed a bit with some chicken stock, then added the rest… 2 boxes of chicken stock, 1 box vegetable broth, 1 box low-sodium chicken broth (because vegetable broth usually has a much higher sodium content), 1 box bone broth. I ended up with 3 different name brands… just to get the mix of slightly different liquids.

I have used chicken bullion cubes in the past to save all kinds of money and use beer in my ham soups all the time.

I brought all that to a boil.

I added 2 bags of the frozen Reames egg noodles, the grilled chicken (that I cut up while it was boiling), and brought it back to a boil, simmered for about 20 minutes as per the directions on the noodles.

This almost overflowed my stock pot, but stirring kept it from boil over. Ha ha.

I have used regular dry noodles or Amish noodles, and even home-made noodles… but the Reaves ones really do taste fantastic and require zero work. Ha ha.

I like the taste of the grilled chicken in the soup. I left it just long enough to get grill lines. I have made it from scratch, using rotisserie chicken, made my own broth from a roasted chicken… I’d put this up against any of those methods and it’s super quick.

(Not-even-remotely-a-)Pro tip… For lunch the next day, all the noodles had soaked up all the liquid. Gonna put some chicken bullion cubes in some water in the stock pot, then add the soup to re-heat. It’s honestly good as-is re-heated in a bowl in the microwave.

If you make this, or your own version, tell me what you think in the comments! What are your favorite shortcuts for making tasty chicken noodle soup?

Someday I may try to make this (probably cut in half) in the pressure cooker, if I can get over how it wronged me on chili.

🥣🥣🥣

Stuff you need:

• Countertop grill
• Stock pot (and a stove, too I guess.)
• Tongs
• Spatula
• Large Spoon

Ingredients:

• (2) small packs of chicken breast tenders
• Extra Virgil Olive Oil (I keep some it in a spray bottle and use it to coat the grill)
• Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning (or your favorite Season-Salt or Mrs. Dash’s or whatever) – I don’t measure, I just shake it on.
• (3) pats of butter
• (1) cup (ish) shredded carrots
• (1) cup (ish) chopped celery
• (½) Spanish onion (I think they’re sweeter than sweet onions, but you’re cooking, so use your favorite onion.)
• (1) tsp. minced garlic (the lil’ stuff from jar, or be difficult & use fresh)
• Fresh parsley – A small unmeasured & finely chopped bit, I pulled mine from the garden.
• (2) 24 oz. bags of frozen egg noodles
• (2) 32 oz. cartons chicken stock
• (1) 32 oz. carton vegetable broth
• (1) 32 oz. carton low-sodium chicken broth
• (1) 32. oz. carton chicken bone broth
• Spices, I don’t measure any of these… I just shake it in:
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • White pepper
  • Poultry seasoning
  • Cayenne
  • Onion powder
  • Garlic Powder

Method:

1. You just skipped down to the recipe, didn’t you?
2. I already told you how to make it up top.
3. Now, you have to go back up & read it.
4. Or you can click the window closed & go away.
5. But then, you’ll never know, will you?
6. You’ll never know how delicious and easy this is.