Ham Chowder

I'm such a Pollyanna, I really believed the weather people when they said the end of this week would be beautiful and the temperatures would be back in the 70's. Not.
It is soup weather and I might as well get use to it. I love soup, just hate cold weather. Yes, I will whine about the cold until next June.

This is another Lucy recipe and it is wonderful. A word of caution. This makes enough to feed the neighborhood so you might want to reduce it by half.

Ham Chowder
about 4 quarts plus
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8 cups of ham or chicken stock
4 cups ham, cubed
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 pounds bacon, diced
2 large onions , diced
3 leeks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 green onions, diced
6 large potatoes
1 pound carrots, cubed
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Pour stock into large pot and set over medium heat. Stir in ham and rosemary.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook diced bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet with a slotted spoon and add to pot. Drain off 1/2 of the bacon grease. Don't throw that away, save it for seasoning. Return to heat and add onions, leeks, garlic and green onion. Cook until tender and add to the pot.

Put potatoes and carrots in the pot and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat and add heavy cream.