Ham and bean soup!!

Now that the weather is getting cold and winter is upon us I find myself carving warm soups. One of my personal favorites is ham and bean. I remember my mom making it, not only on cold nights but as a way to reuse ham before it goes bad but in a way that is different than eating it straight off the bone.

Normally I would also try to use leftovers, however I live by myself so I didn't want to go out and buy a whole ham just for some soup. I did find a small chunk of it on sale in the meat section and figured it was a sign.

I also bought beans (personally I like red kidney beans, pinto and navy but really almost any bean will work), chicken stock. salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and curry.

All I did was chop the ham into bit size pieces and throw all the ingredients in a pot together. Heat it to a boil and let it simmer for a while to really get all the flavor from it.

I added some tobacco sauce to my serving because I like a little bit of heat. You can also play around with different spices. I have used Italian seasoning, parsley, and basically whatever else catches my fancy and it usually still turns out good.

if you find yourself with a lot of leftovers, this soup freezes great!