Calico Bean Soup

This is the best bean soup we have had in a long time. I received the dry ingredients as a gift along with the dry ingredients for corn bread. I wish I had taken a picture of the jars. They were so cute, old fashion canning type jars with glass lids. Just beautiful! Here is the recipe:

1/3 cup each of yellow split peas, green split peas, dry lima beans, dry pinto beans, dry kidney beans and great northern beans
1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
(These were the ingredients I was given in the jar)

Other soup ingredients: 8 cups water, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped stalks of celery, 2 pounds smoked ham hocks. (I used a ham bone instead, left over from our Christmas ham)

To make it on the stove: Bring bean soup mix and water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Cover, remove from heat and let sit 1 hour. Return pot to heat, stir in carrots and celery. Stir in ham hocks, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, until beans are tender, skimming fat as necessary. Remove ham hocks from soup. Remove meat from bone, chop and return to soup. Heat through and serve.

I made it in the crock pot and here's what I did. Bring bean soup mix and water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Put ham bone in the crock pot and pour boiling bean mix and water over the top. Turn on crock pot to high and cook for a few hours (about 2 or 3) until the meat on the ham bone separates from the bone. Remove ham bone from the soup. Remove meat from bone, chop and return to soup. Stir in the carrots and celery and let cook on high until dinner time (about 4 to 6 hours).

The only complaint my family had was that there wasn't enough stuff in it. So next time I will add some more dry beans (I'll probably just use a bag of the 15 bean mix and add 3 cups of beans instead of the 2 cups called for) and double the carrots and celery.