Ham and Bean Stew

I don't think I've ever actually had ham and bean soup.  But I find myself wanting to make it every time I make ham/have a leftover ham bone.  I made ham for our party on Sunday, so I finally decided to make some this week.  I didn't have a recipe.  So I just made something up.  I call it a stew because I pureed some veggies into the broth to make it thicker.  It's a great way for me to be able to eat certain veggies that my tummy has a hard time with and to get some more veggies into Rebecca that she might not normally eat.  You could add just about any veggie you like.  I happened to use carrots and zucchini yesterday.  Squash would work really well too.  And I pureed some of the navy beans as well.  It gives the broth some texture/thickness.  I didn't make it too thick, though.  Rebecca only likes broth based soups, so it was still a little thin.  But she gobbled this up!  We all really liked it.  And now I've got breakfast for myself for a few days :)  You can definitely use chicken broth in this for added nutrition if you have some on hand.  I didn't so I just used water.  I guess I can't technically say this is GAPS legal since ham is not.  But it's not too bad I don't think.  You could use any kind of leftover pork roast/bone otherwise.  It doesn't have to be ham.

Ham and Bean Stew

1 ham bone
cut up veggies (I used baby carrots, summer squash and zucchini)
2 cups navy beans (soaked and cooked)
seasoning to taste (I use sea salt and garlic powder)
4 cups water or chicken broth (or a combo of the two)
any veggies you want whole (I used peas)
cut up ham

Put ham bone, chopped veggies, 1/2 cup beans, seasoning and water/broth in crockpot.  Cook on high 4-8 hours.  Remove ham bone and pick off any meat.  Puree broth.  Add ham, whole veggies and remaining beans to the crockpot.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  Cook until whole veggies are done/everything is hot.