White Bean and Collards Soup

Collards. I love them. Really, really love them. Anytime I make a batch of collards, whether I buy the leaves from the store {which is almost never} or I get them fresh from my garden or my dad's, I normally end up eating the leftovers in a bowl. By themselves. For real. I love collards. 

So this past Sunday, I made a roast with vegetables for Sunday lunch, and I had to have collards with it. I had an extra ham hock in the freezer as well as a few bags of collards from last year's garden. Saturday afternoon, I covered the collards with water and let them soak on low, with the ham hock, until Sunday afternoon lunch. YUM-O! 

But...

I had a ton of collards leftover. And as much as I love them, it was really almost too much for me to finish off on my own. So I Googled and Pinterested around, looking for some ideas. I could have made my Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes, but we already had stuffed potatoes earlier in the week. I was looking for something different, something I had never tried before. What I found was quite a few variations of a collards soup. So I picked a little here and there, and came up with my own Meatless Monday {that could easily have meat in it} soup. Check below for my family's reviews. 

This is really with what to do with leftover collards. So if you don't already have some made, do it. Then come back. You are going to need those collards soaking in ham hock juice for a while. {I guess that doesn't necessarily make it vegetarian, but whatever} 

White Bean and Collards Soup  {If you see *, please see below for further details or information}

Ingredients: 

• About 4 cups of cooked collards, in juices it was cooked in. 
• *1 pound of white, dried, beans 
• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 1 Tbsp of dried Thyme or 2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• {OPTIONAL} 1.5-2 cups cooked country ham, chopped
• Parmesan and Feta Cheese 

Directions: 

1. **Prepare the dried white beans in the "fast soak" style.
2. Pour soaked white beans into a large crockpot. Add leftover collards, onion, thyme, and seasonings. If needed, add some more water. We like our soup chunky, so I didn't add but maybe a half a cup more of water.
3. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 4-6 hours, or until beans are soft. 
4. If you choose to add the ham, add in the last 30 minutes. Also, at this point, taste. Add more seasoning, if needed. 
5. Serve with Parmesan and Feta cheese on top. 

I served mine with some Homemade Biscuits Like Grandma Made, but I'm willing to bet the soup would go just as well with some Made from "Scratch" Cornbread Muffins. 

NOTES: 

* You could use canned beans, if you like, but make sure you rinse them off first. Adjust cooking time. You want the beans soft, not mushy. 

** "Fast Soak" basically is boil 1 pound of dried beans in 6-8 cups of water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cover for 1 hour. 

REVIEWS: 

Okay, so my oldest child is my best food critic. He will honestly tell me if something is good or not. He gave this soup a 6. He said, "I would eat it again, if you made it, but it's not something I would ask you to make." 

My husband, after hearing this response said, "No. It was good. I would say it was better than what he said. More like an 8." 

When made this, I did not add the country ham. I just didn't have any. But we all talked about what was good or not so good about the soup, and the response was overwhelmingly in favor of adding country ham to the soup. It was almost like getting a Sunday Dinner Soup {hmmm....new name? Maybe.} without the meat. So next time I'm for real putting the ham in it.