Childhood Memory, Traditions, Ham Bone Soup!

As I have stated before, when I was a child money was tight and my mom was not a cook. She, like all women/mothers made do in that era in time. We did, however, have the traditional turkey for the holidays, and once in a while what was the most popular of hams in those days a bone in smoked shoulder, of which she would cook the heck out of and the meat was always tough as shoe leather as the saying goes, and so salty!! These days hams are fancy, all shapes, cuts, sizes, boned, bone in, you name it, it is out there someplace. After the meat was mostly gone she would then boil the bone plus a little of the meat and make what was called her ham broth. Next she would remove bone toss in some onion powder, her only spice she ever used in those days, a can of tomatoes crushed up by hand and a box of macaroni. This was our ham bone soup and as kids we loved it. Surprisingly, sometimes as kids we say "once I am on my own some day I will never have this in my own home", yes, I am also guilty of that for sure, but this was not one of those things. I still to this day boil down my ham bones, and make my version of a ham bone soup, some traditions are hard to break. However, my add-ins to my soups have changed through the years because, aside from the traditional ham bone broth, onion powder, and a can of tomatoes crushed by hand, I use whatever I have on hand at that particular time. I also use all kinds of spices and veggies when I boil down the ham bone for flavoring versus her just plain water.

Here is what I used today: Simmer all together until serving at least 10 minutes

Ham bone broth, about 3 cups, pre made, chilled and fat removed

Can crushed tomatoes, or your own frozen from summer

Herbes de Provence, turmeric, black pepper, onion powder for spices today, amounts to taste

Diced carrots, diced celery, precooked in a little of the ham broth or water

1 1/2 cups of cannellini beans, from my freezer, (my pasta replacement)

Diced ham if desired, optional, I did not use today, your kitchen your choice

Today I had with mini oyster crackers, Cheesy cheddar biscuits are also great with this, once again, your kitchen, your choice......