Barbs Butter Bean Or Lima Bean Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb lima beans (dried)
6 cups water, add more if needed
1/2 lb kielbasa or 1/2 lb ham
3 -4 teaspoons chicken base (McCormicks)
3/4 cup carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour

Preparation

Put beans into large soup pot cover with water bring to a boil for 2 minutes, turn off heat and let set for 1 hour, Drain off water.
Add the 6 cups water to the beans and bring to a boil & simmer; at this point if I an using ham or ham hocks I put them in a smaller saucepan and cook them until done.
When beans are starting to get tender add ham (& broth from ham) or Kielbasa, tomatoes, onion , carrots, celery and simmer until done.
Season with salt and pepper to taste: also for a thicker soup add the 2 tablespoons flour to a little water, add to soup and simmer, check seasonings.