I hope you all had a wonderful new year celebration this past weekend! We went to a friend’s party but left at about 11pm, came home, watched the ball drop and then hit the sack. I know we are totally lame.
I thought I’d start off the new year with a special recipe from a friend. That friend is Calvin. He’s the one in the green shirt, obvs, and he’s there with his lovely wife, Kim. This photo was taken when we went on a fun couples trip with them to Maui last fall (Kim is also the one who showed me how to make the fabric decor balls!).
Anyway, we went over to Kim & Cal’s house last year on New Year’s day and he fed us the most delectable soup we had ever tasted. DELECTABLE I say!
Ever since then, my husband has been begging me to get the recipe from Cal so we could have it at home. But here was the “recipe” when I asked him… “so, yeah, it’s super easy… you just put your leftover ham in a couple of inches of water, add whatever you’ve got in your fridge, put in whatever spices you like and boil it for a few hours. Then put it in your fridge overnight, take it out the next day, add some potatoes and that’s it!”
Um, wha?
I don’t know about you but I need an ACTUAL RECIPE to make things. So, this year, after more begging, I convinced Cal to TRY and write up an actual recipe that I (and you) could follow. It did NOT disappoint! It does take 2 days (not straight, mind you) but it’s super easy.
It’s the perfect thing to get rid of that leftover ham you had at Christmas but can’t stand to eat plain one more time.
Here is the recipe, as written by Cal…. enjoy!
Cal’s World-Famous Hambone Soup
Ingredients:
- Leftover (usually from Easter or Christmas) “honey-glazed” smoked, spiral-cut style hambone with generous amount of ham remaining including (and very importantly) the sugary juice and any bits of honey glaze. I have always used HoneyBaked or Costco. The “honey-glazed” style is crucial. If you don’t have that style, add sugar to a regular ham (about 2/3 C. brown sugar).
- Canned corn to taste (usually one can)
- Canned green beans to taste (usually one can)
- Canned peas to taste (usually one can)
- Canned diced tomatoes to taste (usually two large or three regular-sized cans)
- Canned diced green chilies to taste (usually two small cans)
- Fresh petit or regular carrots to taste (usually 15-20 or so medium sized petit carrots or 2-3 medium sized regular carrots chopped up)
- Fresh diced potatoes to taste (usually 2-3 large)
- One bag of cut frozen okra (not breaded)
- Spices
- Oregano to taste (I like a lot)
- Seasoned Salt and pepper to taste
- Sage to taste
Directions:
1) In an 8-12 quart stockpot (you will need the lid as well) put the hambone and all the juice and glazed bits and add about two inches of water to the pot.
2) Add the diced tomatoes with juice, drained corn, green chilies with juice, drained green beans, drained peas, carrots and spices.
3) Heat on low until the above is boiling. Add water as necessary to make sure it is not too dry. Cut up the ham into bite-sized pieces.
4) After a few hours of boiling, add the cut frozen okra.
5) Allow the above to cook for a few hours.
6) Cool and allow to sit in a refrigerator over night (this is a very important step).
7) The next day, remove from refrigerator and sit on stovetop for an hour or so to warm up.
8) Turn on low heat and allow to come to a rolling boil, making sure there is enough liquid so that the soup can come to a rolling boil. If you turn the heat too high, it will scorch the soup on the bottom and ruin the whole pot.
9) Add the diced potatoes to the boiling soup about two hours before serving.
10) Remove hambone (all the meat should have fallen off the bone) so you don’t freak people out and serve.
Some people like to spice the soup up with Cholula or Tabasco sauce. Enjoy with homemade rolls or fresh French bread. If you like the soup, tell me at birddogcal@hotmail.com. If you don’t, sorry.
Calvin
That last line kills me. And he really does want emails, by the way. 🙂
Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today’s Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick
That looks like a great recipe! I’m glad that your friend wrote down the recipe. Happy 2012!
Such a cute idea, and love your blog! I would love it if you would link this up at my linky party as well! Here is the link http://www.thesouthernproductqueen.com/one-stop-shoppe-linky-party Happy New Year!
Good idea for letovers. By the by… I have spent half the day perusing through your home decor section. I pinned soooo many things! I am a new stay-at-home mom and planning my future home. I will be replicating many ideas into my own home!
p.s. I am LDS 2! I find that a lot about all these blogs I am stalking.
That sounds sooo good! Add a grilled cheese and I am set..
I saw this post on Tator Tots and Jello, can’t wait to try it.
I made this over the weekend and it was a hit with my family. Very tasty! Thanks for sharing.
I wanted to let you know about this new blog I just started called http://www.linkycandy.com It’s one big linky party with tons of options and categories to link up your blog and as many posts as you want! I just launched it last night, and would love for you to be apart of it! Thank you so much! If there is anything I could help you with anytime just let me know! Oh yeah… There is a really cool feature on it too! Each week there will be a featured blogger for each category! The blog with the most clicks gets featured! And each linky party will start over at the beginning of each month, so everyone can get a chance to be the first to link up. Thank you so much!
Made the soup and it was delicious! I sent Cal an email too.
I am catching up on reading my blogs and found this soup receipe – sounds wonderful. I live in Colorado and around Christmas and Easter King Soopers Market (Kroger) always has wonderful glazed ham to buy for sandwiches. I asked what they did with the ham bones and couldn’t believe they threw them away. They had some in the back and I bought two for 99cents each and froze them. I made a pot of beans with one and will try this soup with the other. If your Krogers has the ham, see if you can buy the bone. It is full of ham and surgar stuff.
Made this today. I used beef stock because that’s what was open in my frig. I also did not use the okra. Nor did I wait a day…how could I?!? This was so yummy! Turned out really good. I was so happy to find this recipe and will add it to my fall soup rotation. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hey Bridgette! So glad you loved it too! I need to make a ham so I can have some hambone soup too! Thanks for stopping by!
I commented in 2012 after I made the soup the first time. I’ve made it numerous times since then. My family loves it! My son requests it constantly. I actually resorted to buying ham bones from Honey Baked Ham because we don’t eat enough hams to make the soup as often as they want it! Thanks to Cal and to you for posting it!!
I love that Tamra! Cal will flip when he hears its a family favorite! And good tip on getting the hambone from Honey Baked Ham!