Ham and Northern Bean Soup

Ingredients:

One ham bone with some ham left on it. You can find one for about $8 at Honeybaked Ham stores. Reserve some bite-size pieces of ham for the soup. Usually there’s more ham on the bone than needs to go in the soup so make yourself some ham sandwiches.

Honeybaked Ham has a sweet glaze on it that tastes great. However, I find that for ham added to soup additional sweetness isn’t necessary so I trim the glaze off.

12 oz Great Northern Beans

2 large organic onions
2 organic celery stalks
1 large green pepper
Small amount of cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

1 15-oz can organic tomato sauce

Paprika
Celtic Sea Salt
Pepper
Mint leaves (crushed)

Directions:

Soak the beans in water overnight in a large soup pan.  Drain and refill about 2/3rds full of water.  Let the beans and ham bone start to simmer.

In another pan, sauté the onions, celery, and green pepper in some olive oil, then add to the soup pan.

Add the tomato sauce, ham (cut up into bite sized pieces), about 3 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon mint leaves, salt & pepper & cayenne to taste.

Simmer for a couple of hours until the beans are soft.  Add water as needed or cover while simmering.

What’s so healthy about this recipe:

1. This soup is a great weight loss food. It is warm and filling. Make it ahead of time and when you come home famished, put some in a pot, heat and find yourself comfortably fulfilled in about 10 minutes. It’s always good to have healthy foods prepared ahead of time so you don’t munch on junk food as soon as you walk in the door.
2. White beans are a great source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. The fiber also helps blood sugar rise too quickly following a meal, so these are great for people with blood sugar problems. They are a good source of folate and manganese as well as iron and minerals.
3. Mint leaves are widely used as a digestive aid and contains antioxidants that fight allergies.
4. You are making this soup with a ham bone. Bone broths are considered helpful for rebuilding the body when your immune system is low.
5. Celtic sea salt is high in minerals and helpful for allowing your kidneys to rehydrate.
6. Tomato sauce is high in antioxidants. Because this recipe contains onions, green peppers and tomatoes, it’s an easy way to increase your intake of heathy vegetables.
7. This soup is a complete meal because it contains protein, fat, vegetables and carbohydrates. You can round it out with a fresh vegetable salad, such as kale with beets, goat cheese and olive oil and balsamic vinegar.