Ham, Bean and Squash Soup

1 pound navy beans, dried, sorted and rinsed

4 cups chicken broth

1 3/4 cups water

1 ham bone, (or you can use 1 cup sliced ham, thinly)

5 cups butternut squash

1 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

In a large saucepan add beans and water to cover them (2inch above the beans)Bring this to a boil and boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover and let sit for 1 hour.  Drain and return beans to saucepan.  Toss in the broth, water, ham bone, squash, onion, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours. or until the beans are tender.  Remove the ham bone and cut off the ham chunks.  Mash the soup mixture then add the ham chucks.  

Note- A ham bone is the best for this soup but you can use cooked ham (left overs work best).  My kids don't like chunky soup so I puree this in a processor or blender then add ham.

Ham Chili

My dad just loves a ham and bean chili.  Try this and see if you do too.

2 cups ham, leftover or fully cooked ham
1 yellow onion
1 green pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can stew tomatoes (28oz)
1 can kidney beans (16oz)
1 can black beans (16oz))
1 can tomato sauce (8oz)
1 can black olives, sliced (2oz)
2 tbsp fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried
1 cup beef broth
1 can of tomatoes and chilies
2 tbsp fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp cumin, ground
Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper


In a sauté pan toss in the ham, onion, green pepper and garlic cooking until onion is soft.  In a large pot toss in the rest of the ingredients then add the ham mixture.  Bring this to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer on low for 30 minutes at the minimum.  I simmer for 2 hours, you can decided by how thick you like your chili.

I use a spiral ham from Costco (kirkland) However, a bone in ham  is what my dad prefers and Safeway (Vons) has the best around.  Check my blog under HAM.

Apple Glaze

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 cup apple cider

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients together. At the last 45 minutes of the meat brush the glaze over the top of the meat. Cover with foil until finished cooking.

Bone-in Ham

I purchased the Bone-in Ham at Vons. The brand is Butchers Cut. It the best bone in ham I have found. It is fully smoked and it just needs a little warming up, about 2 hours. I put a Apple glaze on the one at the class and it looked and tasted wonderful. The house was full of aroma. A whole one will feed a very large group. It you are feeding a smaller group ask the butcher to cut it in half and you can freeze the one portion for a another time.

This week at VONS they have the BUTCHERS CUT Ham on sale for 1.27lb. It is half of what I had at the class. Perfect size for small families and for large get-together that you will have loads of other food.

The whole ham is the same price. I talked to the butcher and they will be getting a shipment of them in a week. Probably for the weekend of beginning of the week.

This is an EXCELLENT PRICE.