This recipe calls for a crock pot, but you can also cook it the old-fashioned way, in a soup pot. I’d recommend soaking the beans overnight, and then you only need to simmer for 4-5 hours.

1 lb small white beans (Navy or Great Northern)
8 cups water (or 4 cups water, 4 cups broth)
2 cups diced ham (you can substitute a ham shank, or use flavored tempeh for a vegetarian version)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 T chopped parsley

If you’re using a crock pot, just put everything in there together and then cover and cook on the low setting for 8 to 10 hours or until the beans are tender. If you use canned beans instead of raw, you can easily cut the time by half or more.

If cooking old-fashioned soup in a soup pot:

1. Sort and wash the beans and soak them in cold water overnight.
2. Chop the vegetables and parsley.
3. Dice the ham.
4. Add the vegetables to the water (or the water/broth mixture).
5. Add the bay leaf.
6. Add the ham.
7. Drain and rinse the beans, and then add them to the soup pot.
8. Add the salt and pepper.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 4 to 5 hours.
10. Add additional seasoning to taste.
11. Serve hot in bowls, sprinkling the parsley on top.

You can make a meatless variety by simply leaving out the ham hock and replacing the beef broth with vegetable broth, but you’ll need to find some way to liven up the flavor. I suggest either adding liquid smoke or perhaps some smoky-flavored tempeh or seitan. You’ll need to experiment to get it just how you like it.

For you carnivores, you can’t go wrong with a small ham shank, or if you really like it with that strong ham flavor, you can add an entire ham hock. Just make sure you get it cracked at least once or maybe twice, if it’s large, to let the marrow flavor the soup stock.

1 clove garlic
1 large onion
1 medium carrot
1 stalk celery
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 qt. beef broth
1 qt. water
1 bay leaf
1 small ham shank or more if you like
2 15-ounce cans of Great Northern beans (or other white bean)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
Salt to taste
Pasta, either small elbow macaroni (#300) or small shells.
Parmesan cheese.

1. Chop the garlic, onion, carrot, and celery and saute in the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, until onion is translucent.
2. Pour beef broth and an equal amount of water into soup pot.
3. Add bay leaf and vegetables.
4. Add ham shank.
5. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to medium and simmer covered for 2-3 hours.
6. Rinse beans and add to soup.
7. Add diced tomatoes to the soup, juice and all.
8. Add pepper, sage, and salt. Adjust seasonings to taste.
9. Simmer soup for 1 hour or until meat falls from ham shank bone.
10. Remove bone.
11. Add 1 cup of pasta to soup and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
12. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese in bowls. Serve with warm bread.

1 sweet pie pumpkin or 2 large cans (16 ounce) pureed pumpkin (do not use the pumpkin pie filling, as this will be too spicy.
4 cups (1 qt) vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice pumpkin in half, clean out seeds and as much of the stringy pulp as you can.
3. Fill a shallow baking pan with about one inch of water and place both pieces of the pumpkin, flat side down, into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Make sure the skin of the pumpkin doesn’t burn.
4. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.
5. Scoop the pulp from the baked pumpkin halves, into a large saucepan or soup pot.
6. If using canned pumpkin, ignore the first 5 steps above, and empty the canned pumpkin into a large saucepan or soup pot.
7. Add the broth, salt and pepper.
8. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Add water or more broth if necessary.
9. Take the mixture off the heat and let cool for 1 hour. Make sure the mixture is cool enough to work with, as you can burn yourself if you splash the pureed mixture in the next step.
10. Puree the pumpkin and broth mixture in a blender. You will need to puree about a third of the mixture at a time in a typical blender.
11. Empty the pureed pumpkin into a separate pot or bowl.
12. When the entire mixture is smooth, return it all to the soup pot.
13. Add the cream and mix well with a spoon.
14. Add the sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, and stir well.
15. Heat over low to medium heat for about 15 minutes and serve hot.

2 onions, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound of black beans, soaked overnight
1 ham hock, cracked
1 stalk of celery, chopped fine
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry sherry, or dry white wine
Salt and pepper

1. Sauté onions and garlic in butter until the onions are translucent. Add beans, ham bone (hock), celery, bay leaf, to 2 quarts of water in a large soup pot.
2. Add the onions and garlic to the pot.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Cover and simmer on high for 2 hours.
5. Set on low and cook for 4 to 6 hours or more.
6. Remove the ham bone and the bay leaf.
7. In a blender, puree the soup and return to the pot.
8. Add the sherry, and then salt and pepper to taste.
9. Cook for 15 more minutes before serving.

Serve in soup bowls garnished with chopped hard-boiled eggs, parsley, lemon slices, or sour cream.

1 lb Great Northern beans, soaked overnight
2 tsp salt
1 med onion, chopped
1/8 tsp ground pepper
2 lbs. beef short ribs
3 cups beef broth
3 cups water
3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1. Sort and soak beans overnight.
2. Place all ingredients in a pot except the barbecue sauce.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to keep beans from sticking.
4. Cover and cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours.
5. Before serving, remove the short ribs and cut the meat from the bones. It should be tender and falling from the bone. Put the meat back into the pot.
6. Stir in the barbecue sauce just before serving.

Excellent with corn bread.

In that case, you’ll be mighty disappointed in this baked potato soup recipe, but if you like a simple, comfort-inducing soup, you can’t go wrong with this one. Of course, like any variation of a baked potato, you can go overboard and add whatever you like to this recipe. Still, the simple ways are the best, in my opinion.

4 baking potatoes (Russet)
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups 1% milk
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup chopped chives
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup imitation or lite sour cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (Optional)
Bacon bits (Optional)
Chopped broccoli (Optional)
Chili powder (Optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat over to 400 F.
2. Bake potatoes until you can push a fork in easily, typically about an hour.
3. Scoop out the insides of the potatoes and discard the skins.
4. Melt the butter over medium low heat in a saucepan. Slowly stir in the flour to make a creamy paste. Once mixed, stir for 1 minute, then slowly pour in the broth.
5. Continue stirring and slowly add the milk.
6. Turn up the heat to medium and stir until the soup mixture begins to thicken.
7. Add the slightly crumbling potatoes, chives, salt and pepper. Stir well and heat for 12-15 minutes.
8. Mix in the sour cream until well blended with the soup.
9. If you like, mix in bacon bits, sauteed chopped broccoli (florets), or chili powder to taste, or serve these as separate condiments in bowls.

Serve while hot. Serves 4-6.