from Debbie Hermansen
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of dried beans (see below for using canned beans)
- favorite greens (fresh, canned or frozen)
- your choice of meat: ham bone (or ham steaks), or chicken (whole, I like to use thighs/legs)
- salt, pepper, garlic (to taste)
- 3 carrots shredded
- 1 large onion chopped
- ½ stalk celery chopped with the greens from the top
Put dried beans, chopped onion, salt, pepper, garlic and meat choice into a large soup pot. Cover with three inches of water and bring to a boil. Cook this for about 3-4 hours until the beans soften and the meat falls off the bones, adding water as needed.
Remove bones. Add shredded carrots and chopped celery about one-half way through the cooking process. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add greens at the end so they get about 15 minutes cooking time.
This soup can be put in a crockpot on medium overnight or first thing in the morning. Simply place all the ingredients except greens into crockpot. Add greens 15 minutes before serving.
To have a faster soup, use canned beans. They only need to be heated, so bring your meat of choice to a boil with the onions and seasonings. When the meat falls off the bone, add beans, carrots, celery and kale. Bring back to a light boil, season to taste and enjoy.