Southwestern White Bean and Ham soup

I had a left over ham bone and was super excited to make some sort of soup with it. I love split pea soup, but my husband is not the biggest fan. So, I decided to make a Southwestern White Bean with Ham soup which I was pretty happy with. I added a small can of Trader Joe's green chilis to give it a little kick. If you want even more of a kick, feel free to add some hot sauce.

Note, I had originally prepared the ham with cloves, pineapple and brown sugar, so it already had a good flavor to it which definitely added to the depth of flavor in the soup.

Kristen's Southwestern White Bean and Ham soup

1 fully cooked ham bone with some meat stuck on it

1 cup of sliced celery

1 cup of sliced carrots

1 cup of sliced onion

1 bag of white northern beans

1 can chopped green chilis

3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

6 cups of water

2 teaspoon italian seasoning

1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves

Sort and soak beans for 6-8 hrs. In large soup pot, saute chopped garlic in olive oil until cooked.

After beans are finished soaking, rinse and transfer them to the large soup pot with the sauted garlic. Add 6 cups of water, ham bone, veggies and spices; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let soup simmer for about 2 hours.

When soup is ready, carefully remove meat from the bone. I do this by simply using a long wooden spoon and pushing the meat away from the bone. The meat should be very tender at this point and fall off the bone easily.

Discard bone, bay leaves and serve.