Ham and Bean soup, Bean and Bacon soup, Pork and Bean soup... Whatever you want to call it. This soup is so unassuming and usually skipped over and ignored by someone like me who is searching for knock-your-socks-off soup. But sometimes, it was right under your nose to begin with. 

On a Saturday morning I made a big breakfast, including a bone-in ham steak. We didn't finish the ham and I had the little bone leftover. While trying to plan what dinner would be that night, I put the leftover ham and bone to the side and started searching for other recipes but kept coming back to those scraps and what I could do with them. Thankfully I had some precooked white beans in the freezer. Otherwise, there was no way I was waiting for 270 hours for some beans to cook. I think that's why this soup turned out so well. It was quick, easy, and wasn't cooked to death so everything held together pretty well. Oh, and the broth. It wouldn't have been as scrumptious without that good old homemade broth.

Pork and Bean Soup

4 slices bacon, sliced thinly

1/2 cup ham, diced (or just double the bacon)

1 onion diced

2 carrot diced into 1/2" rounds

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp dried thyme

4 cups cooked cannellini beans or 3 cans

5 cups homemade chicken broth

1 piece of ham bone (optional: I got mine from a small ham steak)

Drizzle a bit of olive oil into a soup pot and put over medium heat. Add bacon and ham and cook until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add in carrots and onion and saute until onions are translucent; add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add in the salt and spices for 1 minute, until the thyme becomes fragrant. Add in the beans, broth and bone and bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Cook for 20 mins. Add in the bacon and ham and let simmer for another 10 mins. Serve!