16 Bean and Ham Soup

Homemade 16 Bean and Ham Soup

With football season starting and the trees starting to change color I decided it was time to learn to make soup! I used a bag of 16 bean soup starter (which is a bag of beans, no seasonings or anything else in it).  Simply followed the directions (for the most part).

Ingredients:
1 bag 16 bean starter (the one I got had no need to soak the beans)
8 cups chicken broth
1 16 oz bag of baby carrots chopped up
1 normal sized red onion chopped up
2 Tbsp no salt tomato paste
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Set aside for later
1.5 pound ham chopped up
1 14.5 oz can no salt diced tomatoes (undrained)

Combine all the first ingredients in a big slow cooker (it will fill it!)
Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Stir in the ham and tomatoes and cook for 15 more minutes before serving.

It made a LOT but luckily it's tasty! :)

Blueberry Delights

Blueberry Delights

1 cup softened butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 can blueberry pie filling
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat your over to 350. 

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Mix with the flour and baking powder until completely mixed.

Fill the 9x13 baking pan with half of the batter. It will be a somewhat sticky mess but you should be able to flatten it with your hands to coat the bottom of the pan.

Pour the filling over the crust and spread evenly. Sprinkle the nutmeg over the filling.

Plop the remaining crust mixture over the filling.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

You can drizzle a glaze over top: made of 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp lemon and 1 Tbsp melted butter.

It was a giant hit at work. And seems healthy what with the antioxidants in there. :)  Ideally you'd use real fresh blueberries but they can be super expensive so I went with the filling in this case.