Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup

I love a good crock pot dinner especially on busy days. When I make breakfast for the kids I go ahead and throw everything into the crock pot and forget about ti until dinner time. Now this is a popular dish in my house. My husband LOVES ham and actively looks for new ways to incorporate it into our lives. I used to make this white bean soup with some ham hock for flavoring. While it tasted great Nathan was really wanting some good chunks of ham. I have to admit, the chunks of ham are a nice touch.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pack of dried white beans
• 8 cups of water
• garlic salt to taste
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 lb ham steak or 1 small pack of ham hocks
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UTENSILS YOU NEED:

• Cutting Board
• Dicing Knife
• Measuring Cup
• Large Stirring Spoon

Directions 

FOR THE Beans and Ham:

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1. Sort through your bag of dried beans. You want to toss any broken or deformed looking beans. Believe it or not you'll even find rocks in a bag of beans.    
2. Once sorted, toss all your beans in your slow cooker along with the little bag of "ham flavoring" that will come with your dried beans. 
3. Add 8 cups of water to your beans.           
4. Dice your yellow onion. I was out of yellow onion so used a red onion. The flavor was just as great.                                                            
5. Add your diced onions to the beans.     
6. If you are using ham hocks then just toss them on in the pot. If you want some real meat then cut the ham up into some big chunks and toss them into the beans as well.
7. Use a generous amount of garlic salt, maybe a tablespoon. 
8. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.                    
9. Stir well and taste. Dried beans often need a bit more salt so never fear if yours does. You are not alone!                                                              
10. This can be eaten like a Bean and Ham Soup or you can serve over white rice. Either way is delicious!                                                                         
11. Enjoy!! 
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