3D Printer Bean Soup

First, you don't really make this soup with a 3D Printer...but it's ALMOST that easy!   Thick, hearty bean soup is great on a cold winter day.   It'll thaw out your innards and 'get you moving', if you know what I mean.  And it's DELICIOUS!!!

You can kind of go nuts with this recipe, adding or subtracting root vegetables like parsnips, turnips, rutabaga and carrots, or add/subtract herbs to your liking, but this is the basic recipe.  You need a crock pot, which is kind of like the culinary version of a 3D Printer.   Sort of.  Well, maybe not.

In this recipe, I used a grapefruit-sized chunk of smoked pork shoulder (Usinger's brand), but any chunk of ham product would work, as would a 16 oz. package of diced ham, which would even save you the trouble of dicing.  

1/2 lb chunk of Smoked Pork Shoulder or Butt
16 oz bag of Great Northern Beans
1 large Onion
4 medium Carrots
2 Qts Water
1 T Chicken Bouillon powder
2-3 Bay Leaves (Mom always said it's not soup without Bay Leaves)

Dice the Smoked Pork and the Onion.  Slice the Carrots.  Put all ingredients in a crock pot, turn on High for about 4 hours.  Stir, check progress (all crock pots cook at a little bit different rates), leave on high or turn down or turn off at your judgement.  Beans and Carrots should be soft, liquid should be milky and not clear, ham should be starting to fall apart a little when done.  Salt and pepper to satisfaction.   As with all soups, the longer it sits, the better it is. 

About 5 minutes of prep, and an occasional stir.   That's it!