Bret's Ham, Cabbage and Bean Stew

Ingredients

This is a fantastic recipe for after you've bought a spiral-cut (or not spiral-cut) ham and have a bunch of ham leftover and a big meaty bone.  Start this early in the day

1 ham bone with meat and fat still to trim off,
3 c. chopped ham
3 c. pinto beans, dry
2 c. rice
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
5 carrots, chopped
1 half head of a large green cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp sea salt, more to taste
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp basil
3/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
3/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

Prep
Begin by soaking the beans.  Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with boiling water.  Let this sit for 2 hours.  Wash the rice once or twice and cover it with boiling water to soak too.  While that's going on, get a big soup pot, and fill it halfway with water, add the ham bone and whatever trimmings are still attached (after stewing the bone and trimming the remaining bits, I got about 2 cups of chopped ham)  Get the water up to boiling and then reduce it down to a low-med rolling boil.  Let that go for 2 hours, adding water as necessary to bring the water over the bone.

Once the broth has a good hammy taste, pull the bone out, let it cool and dump in the beans after straining them.  Let the beans cook for 20 minutes on high before adding the vegetables and other seasonings. 

While waiting for the beans to cook, trim all remaining meat and fat off the bone.  Don't be shy about adding the fat back in--it's delicious and not that bad for you.  If you're shy of 3 cups, chop up some of the remaining ham and get it to 3.  Add the ham and rice to the stew as well as everything else.

Let it cook on low for 45 min more to make sure the veggies are all cooked.  This should get quite thick and may require more water.  Add as necessary.