Ham & Bean Soup with Buttery Honey Beer Bread

I made this soup for the Bronco game on Thursday; it's one of my family's favorites, super easy, yummy and perfect for a cool fall evening. The original recipe is from an ancient cook book at my parent's house and it calls for kilbasa sausage. One time when I was pregnant I was cravingggg a honey ham, so I made one. A giant one. We had so many left overs it was ridiculous and I didn't want to waste all that left over ham so I tried this soup recipe with ham instead of kilbasa and it turned out delicious; that's the story of how this soup become ham soup instead of kilbasa soup :-)

3 T butter

1/2 medium onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

4 celery stalks, chopped

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups water

chopped ham (however much you have left or however much you want to add)

6 red potatoes, chopped

2 cans bean with bacon soup

salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook with the butter for about 10 minutes or until vegetables soften. 

2. Add chicken broth, water, ham and potatoes.

3. Simmer about 30 minutes.

4. Add both cans of soup as well as salt and pepper.

5. Simmer on low until ready to serve.

I served this soup with buttery honey beer bread. The BEST.BREAD.EVER. I'm not exaggerating. It literally takes 5 minutes to make the batter and you end up with this moist, chewy, slightly sweet homemade bread with a crunchy crust. YUM. I could've eaten the whole loaf!

I found the original recipe here.

Buttery Honey Beer Bread

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup bread flour* 

1 tablespoon granulated sugar 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

3 tablespoons honey 

1 bottle (12 ounce) your favorite beer 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together both kinds of flour, the sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the honey and beer and mix until just combined. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Evenly pour the melted butter over the top of the batter.
3. Transfer the pan to the oven and place a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any butter that may drip from the pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is golden brown.

*If you don’t have bread flour on hand, you can substitute all-purpose flour.

YUMYUMYUM. If you ever do anything for me in your life, it should be making this bread. You won't regret it!