Cowboy Bean Soup~

Everyone will Love this soup~Simply because of its NAME~~COWBOY BEAN SOUP~~Simple to make and hearty for anytime. My husbands mom had 4 BOYS,,,,YES 4 , I hear that groan.... She used this as a staple in her family and passed it on to me when we had our family. Its really easy and tastes great without any extra seasoning. Surprise yourself and give it a try, its a great Fall Soup~

INGREDIENTS

1 package of Great Northern Beans or White Beans

   ( about a 16 oz pkg )

1 Ham Hock , from the butcher or pre-packaged in the meat dept.

-THATS IT-

1-Rinse the beans and drain. 

2-Cover the beans with water in a large cooking pot. Bring the beans and water to a boil and BOIL for 2 minutes. Turn OFF the pot and let it sit covered for 1 hour.  ( IF you would rather you can soak the beans over night. Then just add the Ham Hock and cook, according to my directions ) 

3-Rinse the Ham hock and add it to the water and beans.

4-Bring the WATER, BEANS & HAM HOCK to a boil then reduce to a simmer for a good 3-4 hours or until the meat starts to fall off the Ham Hock Bone.

OR you can put it all into the crockpot AFTER you have precooked the beans/soaked overnight.

5-When the beans are tested to a softened stage, turn off the flame & take the Ham Hock out , put it on the cutting board to cool. 

6-When its cooled enough to handle start cutting the meat off the bone and discard the fat.Chop the meaty pieces and put it back into the soup. 

7-Add pepper to taste. There is tons of salt in the ham Hock so don't add any salt.

Serve with Muffins, Crackers or Cornbread. 

**I hope my instructions are clear enough for pre- soaking/cooking the beans.Basically Beans need a pre-soak or they will be hard, so Ive shared 2 methods to do this. I never can remember to soak overnight so I always do the 2 min. pre-cook method.**

**If you prefer a heathlier version you can just add chopped ham after the beans are finished cooking OR add veggies instead of meat-Either way these beans are tasty~