Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Navy Bean Soup with Kale and Happy 2019!



Happy New Year, everyone! It's hard to believe it's 2019 already. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like just yesterday I was preparing our Thanksgiving feast.  The time between November 1st and January 1st flew by with the holidays. Now we can all relax, get cozy, fika and hygge together, and slowly enjoy our soup months with candles and fires.

I first posted this recipe for Navy Bean Soup in April of 2009 as a way to use leftover Easter Ham.  It's been my most popular soup recipe ever with over 57,000 views to date!  I know many of you have leftover Christmas ham in your freezer so this would be a great way to use it.


This time, I added some chopped, fresh kale to the soup and it was a delicious and healthy addition. Surprise!...even my husband enjoyed the kale.  I also decided to give it a few pulses with an immersion blender to give it just a little creaminess. As you can see, I love several nice grinds of pepper on my soup.


With all the veggies, and a little crusty bread, this makes a perfect, lazy day meal.  I prefer to start out with cooking my own dried navy beans because I think they just make the soup even more delicious, but if you don't have time, use canned navy beans, by all means! Just shorten the cooking time to about an hour or two, to get the flavor from the ham bone into the soup.


What else have I been doing on this first day of 2019?  For one thing, I couldn't wait to start a few seeds!  I love adding sprouts to soups and salads and have enjoyed buying radish sprouts from a local grower, but it's so easy to do yourself and a fun project.  Watching something green grow at this time of year (especially if you live in the Midwest as we do) always lifts the spirits :)  I'll keep you posted on the sprouts' progress!


The other thing I'm going to do this month is get this afghan finished that I started in the fall.  If you have followed me, you know how much I love black and white accents around the house.

If you look closely at the chair, you can see a purple pipe cleaner twister around one of the spokes on the back of the chair.  A reminder that our oldest grandson loves to decorate our home ♥ I didn't even notice it was there until I started editing these photos :)


I found the afghan pattern at Churchmouse Yarns' website but you also can find it on Ravelry here. You may have to become a member to gain access to Ravelry, which is free.  The pattern itself is only $5.00 US.  I absolutely love the pattern, even though it took several starts to get the size I was looking for as it's meant to be a baby blanket. 


One of the many sweet moments of Christmas was getting this note from our 6-year-old grandson ♥


Navy Bean Soup

Printable Recipe

Composed of several different recipes and tweaked over the years, this is a family favorite!

1 pound navy beans
1 meaty ham bone, or you could use a smoked pork shank or hock
1/2 pound diced ham from the deli or your ham bone
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
1 large clove minced garlic
2-3 sprigs of thyme
Approximately 3 quarts Water, Chicken or Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper

Optional: Fresh kale, washed and thick veins removed.  Cut into strips and then slice thinly.  The heat of the soup will soften the kale or mix it into the hot soup for a minute or two before serving.

If you are a well-planned soup maker, you can soak the beans overnight. If you’re like me, at least get started in the morning! Pick out any unsavory-looking beans and rinse in a colander. Place the beans into a soup pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, remove from heat and let them rest for 30 minutes. Pour beans back into the colander and rinse again.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the onion, carrots and celery and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

Put the beans back into the soup pot along with the ham bone and cover with water or, as I do, add chicken or vegetable stock to cover the beans by at least 2 inches. Add the sautéed vegetables and thyme sprigs and simmer the soup on low heat for 4-5 hours until the beans are tender.

Remove ham bone, and thyme sprigs.  Dice the ham.

Update:  Before returning the diced ham to the soup, I now like to use an immersion blender and partially puree the beans to give the soup a more creamy texture.  Just a few pulses is all.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with freshly ground pepper, parsley or freshly chopped kale. Cheddar bread sticks are a perfect compliment.

36 comments:

  1. Happy New Year, Susan! The soup looks so delicious and healthy...a perfect meal to start 2019. I look forward to your sprout progress!

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    1. Thank you, Angie! I'm so anxious to see some little green sprouts ;) Happy New Year to you and your family ♥

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  2. This soup sounds amazing, I'm promising myself to start taking soup for lunches again this year! Also love that fun crochet pattern! Happy New Year Susan-enjoy:@)

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  3. We love Navy Bean Soup and this one sounds terrific Susan. I love your black and white afghan. It looks like snowflakes from a distance. The purple pipe cleaner is just adorable. Hope you and your wonderful family have a terrific New Year! Blessings :)

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    1. Thank you, Tricia! I've decided to leave the pipe cleaner there until he comes over again to show him how much we like it ;) A happy and healthy New Year to you and your family, Tricia ♥

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  4. Susan I love soups and this looks delicious ! Happy New year!!Love your Agfhan looks beautiful, I hope can knitt for our next autumn!! (hope soon)

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    1. I will look forward to your autumn as it will then be spring here which I love :) Thank you, Gloria! ♥

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  5. You are so talented! I've been thinking about more black and white this year! Love that look. But I especially love the purple pipe cleaner. What a wonderful decorator you have. And this soup? Perfect! It is so cold outside! Have a happy new year Susan and all good things that come with it!

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    1. You are so kind, Abbe! My mother taught me how to crochet but I could never get the hang of knitting needles for some reason :( I love the pipe cleaner too ♥

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  6. The soup sounds wonderful, and I have never actually cooked a navy bean, so I may give this a try. But what really caught my eye was that packet of seeds. As soon as January rolls around, it is seed catalog month for me, and I start planting my garden. I no longer have an acre to work with, I have a 10‘ x 16‘ open portion of my deck where I container garden. I always grow radishes, but it never once occurred to me to grow radish shoots indoors. You have to do a blog post about this once they have progressed enough for you to do a little more describing and show more pictures. I must do this! Oh boy, I’m so excited! :-)

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    1. Thank you, Pattie! I will definitely keep everyone posted on my radish sprouts :) Last year, I grew pea sprouts but started those in February. You can see that post here: https://savoringtimeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2018/03/sunshine-chicken-salad.html

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  7. Gott nytt år Susan!
    Your Navy bean soup would indeed warm my belly and provide a great hygge experience. I love growing sprouts. I haven't grown any lately, but now I'm inspired.

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    1. Godt nytår Ron, and thank you! You may like to check out my post on pea sprouts from last March that I shared in my reply to Pattie above ^. I love growing sprouts in winter. They really make me smile :)

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  8. Happy New Year, Susan! Your navy bean soup, with the addition of kale looks so comforting. I always like to use the dried beans, too. I made three soups this week, which is so nice to pull out each evening.
    I LOVE your crocheted project, Susan, and the pipe cleaner as a decoration. I hope you give us the progress of the seeds.

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    1. Thank you, Kitty, and Happy New Year to you! I really love making soup too as there is usually no last minute work. Just heat it up and enjoy :) I will definite post an update on the seeds (some are already poking through!) and my afghan.

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  9. This looks wonderful! And I do happen to have ham in the freezer! happy New Year!

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    1. Thank you, Mimi! This is one of our favorites :) Happy New Year to you!

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  10. Adding kale to that beautiful soup = fabulous. And it would work for so many soup recipes. I love your idea of growing sprouts. I'd like to try that myself. And love that afghan.

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    1. Thanks so much, Lea Ann! I can't believe it but many of the seeds have already sprouted! So exciting :) Happy New Year!

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  11. I loooove Navy bean soup and love your idea to add kale! Can't beat adding a bit more nutrition to a favorite comfort food. Happy New Year to you and your family, Susan :)

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    1. Thank you, Marcelle, and Happy New Year to you and yours!

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  12. Happy New Year Susan! Delicious looking soup, and I am loving the idea of adding some green in it, such a comfort dish. Enjoy the rest of the week!

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    1. Happy New Year, Juliana! I always takes me a couple of weeks to remember to write 2019 :) It is such a tasty and comforting soup and I love adding a touch of healthy kale.

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  13. How did I miss this NanaPea!!I saw your delish soup on IG of course but this missed my radar..You are a great gower your sprouts will be perefct.How pretty is that afghan going to be? All MC fans will want to have one for certain:)Love the pipe cleaner accent♥And of course the note.
    I could live on notes like these alone:)Have a great day.

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    1. How many times has that happened to me? I don't even want to count. Even though Christmas is over it takes a while to get the house back in order. That's what I'm trying to do today. I hate taking down the ornaments and all my lovely mementos from special friends :) Such a sentimental time. I love those notes too ♥

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  14. I usually make a bean soup at least once a month and this one sounds like a winner.

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    1. Thank you, Karen! This is one of our favorite soups! Have a great week :)

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  15. finally I found a moment to go to say hello, I was very busy at the B & B and now I rest for a few weeks. Good soup, every night I could eat a different one, a warm hug from Trieste

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment, Chiara! I know you must be very busy, which is a good thing ;) So glad that you take take a rest for a few weeks and hopefully, enjoy some good soup ♥ Warm hugs, Dear.

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  16. Susan, this is a delightful soup. Comforting and soulful on a winter day even in Florida. Growing your own micro-greens is very cool. We pay a good price at the farmers market to score these tiny greens. And your black and white afghan? Its beautiful.
    Happy New Year to you!

    All the best,
    Velva

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    1. Thank you, Velva! I can't believe how big my sprouts have gotten already, they are fast growing seeds :) Thanks so much for your comment on the soup and afghan too ♥ Happy New Year to you and your family!

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  17. Navy bean soup is my fave soup and yours looks delicious, Susan! Pretty afghan! I like black and white accents also. Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks so much, Pam! We had a nice stretch of weather but, oh my, it's cold now :) Perfect soup weather!

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  18. You can't go wrong with soup during winter! I wish I had a bowl of this one!

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