Hearty Ham Bone Black Bean Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 ham bone with some meat
1 drizzle olive oil
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped, or more to taste
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 (12 ounce) package baby carrots
1 cup fingerling potatoes, or to taste
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
4 cups water
1 (19 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (12 fluid ounce) can vegetable juice (such as V8(R))
1 (11 ounce) can canned corn (such as Green Giant Niblets(R)), drained (optional)
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped green chilies
2 teaspoons ground cumin
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Place ham bone in a large slow cooker.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute celery, onion, and garlic until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour mixture over the ham bone in the slow cooker.
Saute carrots, potatoes, and red bell pepper in the same saucepan until coated in oil, about 1 minute. Transfer vegetables to the slow cooker; add water, black beans, vegetable juice, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, cumin, salt, and black pepper. Cover and cook on High until soup is warm, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reduce heat to Low; continue to cook for 5 to 6 hours.
Remove ham bone from the soup. Separate meat from the bone and return to the soup; discard the bone. Cover soup and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight. Discard thick fat on the top of the soup and reheat.