Bean and Bacon Soup

First off I apologize for being MIA the past few weeks, the hubsters was on vacation and I have been super busy since then, I have missed you!

My husbands favorite Campbell's Soup is the Bean and Bacon variety. We don't really eat canned soup anymore as I make soup from scratch about once a week or so. I wanted to try to re-create the same flavor and consistency of the Campbell's Soup. I gave some to my Father In Law and he loved it as well, it does not get any better than that!

I have to admit I tried to make what I thought Ham Stock would be (smoked ham hocks and veggies) lovingly cooked all day, and ended up with a large bowl of Ham Jello. I should have consulted with my husband on that. So I ended up using Chicken Stock. It still turned out incredibly well. I doubled the recipe below.

2 cups Navy Beans - soaked overnight

1/2 pound good smokey bacon

3 medium carrots minced small

3 celery stalks minced small

1 medium onion minced

1/2 tsp Thyme

2 cloves garlic minced

4 ounces tomato paste

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes or more to your taste

6 cups Ham Stock or Chicken Stock

1 TBL White Wine Vinegar

2 drops Liquid Smoke

Salt and Pepper to taste

Dice your bacon into small squares, saute in a stock pot until the fat has rendered and you have small crispy bacon bits, remove with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Keep the bacon grease!

Saute your carrots, celery, onion and thyme in the rendered bacon fat for 5 minutes or so until the onions are translucent.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until beans are tender about 3 hours. Foam will rise to the top of the soup, skim it off...

Remove 2 cups of soup and puree and add back to the pot (this will thicken the soup)

Serve with Cornbread.