Great Northern Beans Repurposed into Bean and Kale Soup (Photos)

I have stated my love for Great Northern Beans with ham or sausage many times in the past. Yesterday I started with good intentions to make Bean and Kale Soup. It was chilly cold here and what could be better than some thick brothed bean and kale soup with cornbread?

Although the two meals we enjoyed with these beans did not end the way I planned when I walked into the kitchen, this is how my soup started.



The kale I thought we had in the refrigerator was gone. The carrots I had seen there a day or two earlier were gone. What I had to work with was:

- About two dry measure cups of great northern beans.
- 2 ounces of hickory smoked sausage from the freezer
- half a cup of cubed ham
- a half cup of celery - I cant remember when we had so little celery.
- a medium onion
- salt, sugar, black pepper
- two medium sweet potatoes - never used, but aren't they pretty - I'll bake them later.

and



Ham base - This brand comes from some grocer in Pittsburgh by way of my youngest son. It is pretty good stuff and I'm certain you can find good ham broth powder where you live.

Everyone knows how to cook white beans. Empty the bag into a bowl and inspect your beans for rocks and bad beans. Rinse them and add to your bean pot.



This is about half of the beans I eventually added to my pot, covered with at least two or three times the water as beans, brought to a low boil and then allowed to soak for about four hours. Soaking is not a strict requirement but I like to soak mine and then drain away the water and cook in clean water. The beans shown will be plenty for two or four servings, and I eventually added enough dry beans for five or seven servings.

When my beans had soaked, I set my bean pot up with a half cup of chopped celery and a half cup of onion, then sautéed the veggies in a little oil and some black pepper.



When they were tender, I added the meat and slightly browned it before adding the soaked and rinsed beans, four cups of water, a tablespoon of sugar and two tablespoons of my ham bullion powder.

About this time, I fell victim to my love of beans and ham, so I told the wife that what had started a soup would be eaten Saturday night as Ham and beans with cornbread.



Here they are, and for whatever reason I took no photos of my Captain Jack sized bowl of beans.

After church today, I stopped by the grocer and picked up a 5 ounce pack of baby kale and a bag of carrots. Once I had carrots and kale, any plans of adding sweet potato to my soup were discarded.



Here is my pot of leftover beans. with some of the 5 ounces of kale I eventually added, two carrots (shredded), another half cup of ham and the other half of the onion I added to my beans yesterday. To this I added maybe four cups of water, another two tablespoons of ham broth powder.

My pot of soon to be soup looked like this while cooking



And like this in the bowl about 40 minutes later.



I like to thicken my soup with cornbread.



In the spoon



I can't lie to you. I had a wedge of buttered cornbread with that bowl of soup.

This is a great chilly Sunday night soup. The kale, carrots, onions and celery are a nice taste addition to the beans, ham and sausage. The cornbread adds corn favor and is my preferred thickening agent for beans or vegetable soup.

Alll my stuff