Minted Beans And Ham

• 1 pound dried Great Northern beans
• 1 very meaty ham bone and 2 cups of cubed ham (one inch cubes) Note: If you can't get your hands on a ham bone just add another cup of ham cubes.
• 1 large onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 3 large cloves of peeled garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes(or less if you're not a heat freak)
• 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
• Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

1. The night before making, soak your beans by placing them in a bowl and covering with water. The next day drain and rinse them before starting your soup.
2. Place the soaked beens in a six quart slow cooker. Chop the onion, carrots and celery in large pieces and place them in a food processor along with the garlic cloves and process until the mixture is finer than a small dice. Stir this into the beans.
3. Stir the mint, paprika and crushed red pepper into the chicken broth. Add the ham and ham bone to the beans and pour the broth mixture over.
4. Set your slow cooker on low for 8 hours and enjoy your day. rnOnce the eight hours has elapsed, check to make sure your beans are nice and creamy. Remove the ham bone from the pot to cool a bit and then remove the meat from it and return (the meat) to the pot.
5. Scoop out about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the beans, place in a shallow bowl and take a fork and smash them until creamy. Return the beans to the pot. Taste to see if you need to season with salt and/or pepper.

beans, ham bone, onion, carrots, stalks celery, garlic, mint leaves, sweet hungarian paprika, red pepper, chicken broth, salt

Taken from food52.com/recipes/75144-minted-beans-and-ham (may not work)