Navy Bean Soup With Ham And Vegetables - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup dried navy beans
1 1/2 lbs meaty ham bone or 1 1/2 lbs smoked pork hocks, which are meaty
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme (crush it up)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 2 cups turnips or 2 cups parsnips
1 cup sliced carrot

Preparation

Rinse beans. In a large sauce pan (6 quart), add beans and 5 cups room temperature water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour. (You can always prepare the beans your way or according to the package).
Drain and rinse the beans. In the same pot, add 5 cups of fresh water to the beans. Add the pork, onion, celery, chicken bullion, parsley, thyme and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover the pot and cook for 1 3/4 hours.
Remove the pork to a plate to cool off. Add the carrots. Add the rutabaga or turnip or parsnip and simmer covered for 15 minutes or until tender.
While the soup is simmering for the last 15 minutes, cut, pull or chop the pork into course pieces then add it back into the soup and turn off the heat.
Let it rest for as long as you can hold out, then serve with some nice warm bread with butter on it. Yum.