Recipe - Slow Cooker Beans with Ham

Though you have to soak the beans overnight, this is a very easy & simple dish and the end result is delicious!  I made a ham in the slow cooker the day before and I reserved all the remaining juice and the ham bone for this recipe.  Neither of those things are absolutely necessary, but omitting them will result in a much flatter flavor.

Slow Cooker Beans with Ham

1 lb. dried pinto beans

1 lb. dried great northern white beans

Leftover ham bone (preferably one that isn't picked clean)

Drippings from ham cooked in slow cooker

11 cups of water

*Seasonings:  salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, a little chili powder, and about 1 Tb of yellow mustard (I know mustard sounds weird, but just trust me on this)

1.  Sort and rinse beans according to package. 

2.  Cover beans with at least two inches of water and soak overnight.  

3.  Drain beans in the morning. 

4.  Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray and pour in the soaked beans.  Add the ham bone, the drippings, and water. 

5.  Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 8 hours.  

6.  Add seasonings, cover again and cook for one more hour.  

7.  Remove ham bone, pick off any ham bits that are still attached, discard bone, add ham to the pot.  

8.  If you find that it is a little too watery, mash some of the beans and add back to the pot to thicken the dish.  Stir and serve.

*Salt tends to toughen dried beans and garlic & red pepper tend to develop off-tastes when exposed to heat for long periods of time so I don't add seasonings until the beans are tender.