Ham and Bean Soup
To soak, or not to soak? This soup begins with dried pinto beans. Unlike my grandmother, I do not soak them and I do not slow cook them. My beans go from dried to ready to eat in just two hours. At that point, I add the other ingredients to make soup. The soup then simmers for a couple of hours to reduce the liquid and develop the flavors. This means that you can start the soup after breakfast and have it for lunch. Of course, if you prefer, use some other type of dried bean. And if you must, soak and slow cook the beans; this will simply extend the cooking time. The following is what I call a half batch of soup but can be easily doubled, as you'll see from the ingredient list. In addition, one of the things I occasionally do to the full batch is add a 10oz can of Ro-Tel tomatoes (hot) to give the soup a little heat. But this is absolutely optional.
