Bean Soup on a Snowy Day

Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 A rare snowy day here in Georgia, the first for my 2 year old who ran through the snow with her arms outstretched chanting, "snow, snow, snow!" She and her big sister built a snowman, and after placing the head lump on the body lump, danced around shouting "Fwosty uh foh-man!" You can tell she's very influenced by holiday cartoons.

While watching the flakes fall, I made bean soup with ham and Crescent Dragonwagon's skillet-sizzled cornbread (from Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread Book). The soup can be made with bacon or ham or kielbasa. Here's the recipe:

Bean Soup with Bacon

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 slices bacon or 1/2 cup ham or 1/2 cup chopped sausage
1 can chicken broth
3 cans navy beans, undrained, or 1/2 lb. dry white beans, soaked
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute vegetables in olive oil until softened, and add ham or bacon or sausage. After meat is cooked, you may need to drain off some of the fat. Add chicken broth and beans and bay leaf and simmer for 15 minutes.

Grown up version: add a dried chile, seeds removed, to simmering soup. Discard bay leaf and chile before serving.