Mennonite Girls Can Cook is a collection of recipes which were posted daily for a period of ten years from 2008 to 2018. We have over 3,000 delicious recipes that we invite you to try. The recipes can be accessed in our recipe file by category or you can use the search engine.

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Ham and Bean soup






  • 8 oz bag of white beans (or 2 cans of white beans can be used intstead adding them to the soup at the end) 
  • 3 cups of diced ham
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 10 c. liquid including reserved bean liquid
  • 4 beef bouilon cubes
  • 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced
  • 2 stalk of celery, chopped
  • 4 c finely shredded cabbage
  • 1-28 oz can of diced tomatoes
  • salt and papper to taste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups each of frozen peas, green beans and corn
  • 1 cup of dried small pasta like macaroni
  1. If you are using dried beans soak the beans over night. Drain the beans. 
  2. In a large pot with a bit of oil, saute the onions until soft with the diced ham. 
  3. Add the garlic and the rest of the raw cut up vegetables
  4. Add the water including the drained liquid from the beans if using the dried beans.
  5. Add the bouilon cubes, canned tomatoes and bay leaf. 
  6. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. 
  7. Add the frozen vegetables and pasta, cook another 15 minutes. Add the canned beans at this time if not using dried beans. 
  8. Just before serving top with fresh chopped parsley and grated parmessan cheese. (optional)

8 comments:

  1. Charlotte...bean and bacon soup...my favorite...grin. Yum...this is definitely MY kind of a soup! Thanks for posting...wow..you are busy lady....must be those 'holidays' giving you time to 'slave in the kitchen'.

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  2. Oh goodie, I love all these great soup recipes.

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  3. Charlotte..now this is an old time soup and a good one. I haven't made this soup in a long time, I think hubby would like me to make it again..the perfect soup for the cool days ahead.
    Did you have any soup leftover after your weekend of company?

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  4. lots of left overs, so i invited my family for sunday lunch, that is why i made so much...why cook again, right!

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  5. Great addition to our soup lists.
    I noticed there was no summer savory.
    I love playing with soups.
    You can add so many unique flavors.

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  6. Ohh.. this looks like a great soup! I'm definitely going to make it.. minus the pasta to make it gluten-free!

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  7. Our family rece is made with smoked hamhock boiled to which is added only onion,potato,and navy beans,bay leaves and of course summer savory.the only reason I don't make it is because it's family soup I eat far too much of it.the smokiness causes the beans to turn pink so the soup is beautiful to look at as well.

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  8. I make a similar bean soup, but I call it ribble soup, use dry navy beans, cook with ham cubes, (sometimes with pork) but I make an egg dough dumplings where I add half an egg shell with the liquid from the soup, but I add the dough mixture in very small ribbles toward the end of the cooking time. I also use the same egg dough mix in ham and green beans , but I roll out the dough flat and cut into 1 inch squares and add that in , I call it popye . I can't give a measurement how much flour or eggs I use cause I never measure, but the rule I use how many eggs you use that you fill half of an egg shell with the ham juice liquid and keep adding flour till the mixture is just right

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