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These weekly cooking threads are GREAT! THANKS!

Not being able to cook very well myself I like to try the recipes. .

Today I have a big leftover ham bone and some extra leftover ham. I want to try to make a soup. Here's basically the recipe I'm going to try from About.com.

Ingredients:

1 meaty ham bone
3 cups water
3 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced fennel, optional
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh or freeze-dried parsley
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning or seasoned salt blend pinch thyme
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup frozen chopped spinach or mustard greens
2 cans (15 ounces each) Great Northern or Navy beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) tomatoes, diced
1 cup diced ham, optional
salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation:

Combine ham bone, water, and chicken broth in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, celery, fennel, pepper, parsley, Creole seasoning and thyme. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add the corn, spinach or mustard greens, beans, and tomatoes. Remove ham bone and cut meat from the bone and dice. Skim fat off the top of the soup and add the ham, along with the extra ham, if using.
Taste and add salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer for about 30 minutes longer. Serves 8 to 10.

I'm going to add a leek or two just because I like them and maybe some leftover potatoes, onions and carrots from a roast we made so they don't go to waste.

This should turn out like most ham soups do looking kinda brown/gray.

What I really want to find is a recipe that looks more spring like with the brighter veggie colors. Maybe a chowder?

There was a recipe on the net but I forgot to save it.

Going shopping for some groceries now so I won't be able to post for a few hours. Back later.

THANKS for these threads!

BTW do any of the old time FReepers remember Chef Carlo? I haven't seen any posts from him for a long time. IIRC He had been in somewhat declining health, I hope he's OK. He had FANTASTIC recipes!

One tip on your dandy recipe. BE CAREFUL adding salt/seasoned salt to soups you make with a hambone; there's a devil of a lot of salt already there. (<<-- learned this the hard way...)

Also, you may find that adding a bit of ground clove helps the flavour quite a lot.

I have also wondered what happened to chef Carlo. I loved his Thanksgiving threads. I hope & pray he is ok :)