It should be called, Veggie soup with Beans and Ham. If you want the "Ham and Pea soup" kind of soup texture, look elsewhere. This one is a lot like minestrone. I incorporated a few reviewers' recommendations. (1) used slow cooker (2) cooked 1st 4 hours with just ham bone and beans (2) then added veggies and seasonings the next 4 hours (3) added ton of garlic (4) only used water, no broth (5) did NOT add salt - ham was salty enough. (6) did NOT add V8 in fear of tasting too much like V8 juice which my kids will not touch. After it was all done, I added condensed chicken broth ("Better than Bouillon") to taste. When I first added all of the seasonings and tasted it, it tasted horrible; too vinegary. I almost regretted that I tried the recipe. Then I thought perhaps it needed to balance off with some sweetness, so I added all of the dripped over glaze from the ham and some more ham (not all). It still tasted weird but I walked away and let it cook. After 4 hours of cooking in the slow cooker, it was an entirely different dish! It tasted so good! yum yum yum. So those of you out there who thought it tasted too much like vinegar, I suggest that you add some glaze (or brown sugar/syrup) and let it cook a LOOOOOng time. Also, for those who thought it smelled funny, did you prep the beans? Read BenevolentEmpress' additional notes on how to prep the beans. It's a 'MUST DO' step!!

Reviewed On: Jan. 10, 2012

I made this for Christmas for my family and we all loved it. 2 things I did differently: (1) I soaked raisins in 1T Rum instead of just in water. (2) I cored and sliced the apples thinly and let it sit in the lemon juice from 1 whole lemon, 2 teaspoonfuls of sugar, dash of salt and some powdered cinnamon in a ziploc bag while I was working on the rest of the ingredients. The cake came out really good. Thank you, Krissyp!

Reviewed On: Dec. 27, 2011

Somehow the consistency was too cheesy and too thick. The taste had no depth. Perhaps I missed something...?

Reviewed On: Feb. 5, 2011