Ham Bone Soup (Easter Leftovers)

If you read my past post, you know I hosted Easter this year.  My parents' sweet neighbor came over for Easter too, and he gave us a gift certificate to the Honey Baked Ham store.  They have the yummiest ham!  Needless to say, between brunch and people grabbing leftover bags, the delicious ham was gone quickly.

However, I had a beautiful ham bone sitting in my fridge.  It had some meat still blanketing it, so I grabbed it and decided to create a crock pot soup for dinner.

First, I put my ham bone and 2 boxes of chicken broth in the crock pot.  (I used no fat broth merely because it was on sale AND I knew that ham bone would boil off plenty of fat and marrow into the soup).  The chicken broth didn't quite cover the ham bone, so I added about 2 cups of water. 

I sauteed a chopped, sweet onion in oil and then cut up two slices of bacon and sauteed that with the onion as well.  (What isn't better with a little bacon?)  I added those to the crock pot.

If this soup were just for me, I would add different kinds of beans, but neither my husband or sons enjoy beans at all.  I am a pretty big fan, but I cook so they will eat.  Instead, I kept it very simple.  About an hour before dinner, I added some cubed potato and a whole bunch of dark green Kale.  I thought the sweet onion and ham would be a nice contrast to the more bitter taste of the Kale.

Before I dished up the bowls, I slid the ham meat off of the bone and into the soup.  Then, I topped each bowl with some shredded cheese and cracked pepper.

I wish you could smell my kitchen.  It smells AMAZING!  Next time you have a ham bone--save it and make soup.  This was DELICIOUS!

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