SLOW COOKER HAM & NORTHERN BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Place the soaked and rinsed beans in a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. Look them over one more time for any bad beans or foreign matter.
• Add chopped carrots and onion.
• Pour chicken broth (pan drippings/chicken broth combination if you're using it) over beans, carrots, and onion. Mix gently.
• Add ham and stir again.
• Throw in ground thyme and ground black pepper. (Measurements in ingredients section are a guesstimate, I hardly ever use measuring spoons when cooking, I just make a cup in my hand and eyeball it.) To my tastebuds, a little thyme goes a long way so you may wish to add more than 1/2 teaspoon. Stir again.
• Add bay leaf and push it gently under the surface of the broth so it doesn't float.
• Cook on high for 1 hour, then low for 6 hours, stirring once in a while if you can. You could probably just cook on low for 6-8 hours if there's nobody home to change the setting. I just like to get things heated up and moving so I do high for an hour on just about everything I put in a Crock Pot.
• Remove the bay leaf.
• Add salt just before serving to the whole pot or individual bowls.
• This may taste good with a drop of Dijon mustard in individual bowls or even a tablespoon or two of cream.
• If it's too thin, just take the lid off for a while.