Easy Hamhock And Bean Soup!

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• 4 packaged ham hocks
• 1 1/2 cups of dry beans (i prefer pinto beans or navy beans)
• 3 large red potatoes, diced
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 .in a crock pot let the beans sit on low in water for about an hour till they are a little soft (make sure they are not to soft, they should still not be edible!).
• 2 place thawed ham hocks and beans into a large cooking pot and fill the pot half way with water and turn the heat on medium-medium high heat. let it start to boil and make sure to stir every now and then (the beans like to stick to the pot.
• 3 when it's boiled for about 10 minutes place in potatoes and let boil till the potatoes start to soften.
• 4 after the potatoes have started to soften throw in the the carrots and onions and stir in the chicken bouillon cube.
• 5 let boil another 20 or 30 minutes then add salt and pepper to taste, and let the heat down to low.
• 6 warning! if you don't turn the heat down or off the beans will turn the whole soup into mush!
• 7 with a sharp knife and a pair of tongs, grab the ham hocks (warning hot!) and start cutting off the good meat from the bone (i always leave in a little bit of fat for taste, not for eating though). careful these suckers are slippery so use a cutting board. discard bones once the meat has been removed (or give them to your dogs as a treat).
• 8 once the meaty chunks have been stirred in you can serve hot with cornbread! yum!