Family Circle White Bean and Ham Soup

I hope you like slow-cooker recipes because I have a lot of them this week! This month has been more hectic than most so my crockpot has been getting a lot of use. I love using my slow-cooker, it's a great way to take less than stellar cuts of meat and make them into something spectacular. Additionally, it's the best way I have found to make beans, even my two boys will devour pinto beans when prepared in the crockpot. As I've talked about previously I am trying to make my family eat more beans. My husband has always been great about eating pinto beans, but every other type of bean has been more of a struggle. The best way that I have found to entice my family to eat beans is to include them in soup recipes. I was interested when the April issue of Family Circle magazine had a recipe for White Bean and Ham Soup, which used the crockpot and promised 21 grams of protein per serving.

This recipe has 9 ingredients (plus two optional). It takes 15 minutes of prep and 6 hours on high in the crockpot and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients, with the exception of one (the dried beans) at my local grocery store and I made no additional ingredient modifications. However, I did not use low sodium ham, I just used the regular ham steaks that I always buy since we would be much more likely to use the extra ham. As you can see from the photo, I was unable to find dried white cannellini beans, so I substituted dried regular white beans. For the crusty bread I made Irish Soda Bread, which worked perfectly as a side. Finally, I didn't slightly mas the beans, I liked the consistency of the soup as it was and I felt it unnecessary to add the chopped fresh parsley. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Soups are the best way that I have found to make my family eat beans. They turn up their nose at plain cooked beans, but love them in soups. This recipe had a nice smoky flavor from the ham and made more than enough for my family of four for dinner, plus leftovers for lunch the next day. With 21 grams of protein this recipe is very healthy and only has 5 grams of fat so great for anyone watching their fat intake. Overall, another easy slow-cooker recipe with lots of flavor and a great way to add more beans to your family's diet.

For the recipe go to White Bean and Ham Soup.