Easy Meals - Spicy Pinto Bean, Corn and Ham Soup

Crock Pots, slow cookers and even cast iron Dutch ovens work for making soups or stews.
When I was growing up, we just had a big old enameled pot that held lots of soup, beans or even ‘macaroni’.  We had macaroni noodles with tomatoes and sometimes beef stew meat.  That was one dish, I really liked then.  I will probably never make it now.  I remember when one of my sisters couldn’t say ‘macaroni’ and would call it ‘wackawoni’.


Although I try to cook for two, I always make a full crock pot of brown beans when I make them.  It is so much easier to freeze and thaw than to cook them when you want them.  When I had beans at home, most of the time they were great northern  with ’fat back’ or ‘salt pork’.  Most of the time there is no meat in my beans.  If I have pork shank or ham, I add a small amount. Only when I really am making bean  and ham soup, do I add  meat other than for seasoning.

I made this recipe by accident about two years ago.  One of my sisters came by and I looked in the fridge to figure out what to fix for lunch.  I had about a half-cup of beans  and half-cup of corn.  I put them in a small pot, dropped a small amount of ketchup and some cubed ham.  That was the quickest lunch I had made, so it became a keeper.

Normally, I add diced chili peppers, but this time decided to use salsa which is milder.

Spicy Pinto Bean, Corn and Ham Soup


Ingredients

3 cups pinto beans, cooked, seasoned, including any juice
2 cups ham, cooked, cubed
1 12-oz bag  frozen corn
1 15-oz can  diced tomatoes
1/2 cup medium heat red salsa
1 tsp ginger, ground
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely ground (used Gourmet fresh ginger in a tube)
1/2 cup water (if beans have no juice)

Procedure

Place beans in a large crock pot.

Add ham, juice from tomatoes.

Puree the tomatoes in a food processor until chopped. Add tomatoes to crockpot.

Microwave corn according to package and add to crockpot.

Add salsa to crockpot.

Stir to mix. Set crock pot to low.

Allow to cook 2 hours, occasionally stirring..

Serve hot

with a corn muffin



Servings: 6
Yield: makes 6 to 8 servings
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 267 calories, 3.6g total fat, 1.4g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, 1g saturated fat, 25.7mg cholesterol, 39.3g carbohydrates, 10.9g fiber, 28.4g net carbohydrates, 5.9g sugar, 13g starch, <1g fructose, <1g galactose, <1g glucose, 1.5g sucrose, <1g maltose, 1077.7mg sodium, 644.9mg potassium, 21.7g protein, 47mg calcium, 201.1IU vitamin a, <1mg vitamin b6, <1mcg vitamin b12, 9.6mg vitamin c, 0IU vitamin d, 1mg vitamin e, 3.2mcg vitamin k, 3.1mg iron, 1.6g lysine, 17.7mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, 2.3mg zinc, 0mg caffeine.

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Pinto Beans