Mom's Simple Navy Bean Soup Recipe

Directions:

1. Pick over the beans, removing any small stones or beans that just don't look right .
2. Cover the beans with water in a crockpot (this is usually 2-3 cups of water).
3. Now put the remaining ingredients in a soup pot or crockpot and simmer for another few hours.
4. Mom usually mashes a cup or two of the beans to thicken the soup, but you don't need to do this if you prefer a clear broth.
5. Remove the ham hocks and carefully pick apart, removing the tiny bits of meat from the bones.
6. Return the meat to the soup.
7. Throw out the bones, gristle and skin from the ham hocks.
8. If you've put the hocks in cheesecloth, it helps to keep the little bones that can resemble beans from making their way into the soup as the hocks tend to disintegrate during cooking.
9. If the soup has cooled considerably, get the heat back up and serve.