Soup #11/Split Pea Soup with Ham

I've been wanting to try to make this soup for a while. I love split pea soup that my mom makes, and I even saved the ham-bone from Thanksgiving in our freezer just for this. Being that it's now March and it was the last official week of winter, I figured we'd better get to this soup before we don't feel like eating something so  hearty. 

You will need:
1 lb (about 2 1/2 cups) of dried split peas
1 ham bone with meat still left on it (or you can use pieces of ham)
chopped onions
1 tbsp oil
A crock pot/slow cooker
An immersion blender

How to make it:
This is really a simple soup to make. First saute the chopped onions in oil until brown (you can also saute some carrots potatoes as well if you'd like).  Place the dried split peas and sauteed onions in the crock pot with the ham bone and add enough water to cover the peas. You don't need to cover the ham bone. Set the crock pot to high and cook for about 4-5 hours, or until the peas are soft.  

Remove the ham bone and allow to cool a bit. Remove the meat and discard the bone. Set the meat aside. If there seems to be extra water, use a ladle and remove it. Using your immersion blender blend the peas and onions (and other veggies if you used them) until they are to the desired consistency. We blended them with a bit of lumps left, not completely pureed. Add in the meat and stir together. 

Enjoy!

The verdict: 
Success! In the beginning I added way too much water, so I pulled out quite a bit. I also thought I had pureed it a bit too much and that it was going to be too watery. But alas (and again!) I was wrong. I should mention here, though, that I made this soup on Saturday afternoon and then it sat in the fridge until we enjoyed it on Sunday night. And - true to what we've learned - soups are quite often better after they've sat a day. It was so tasty - E had it waiting for me after my first day shift on Sunday (St. Patrick's Day!) and it was the perfect green meal with a Snake Bite (pear cider with a Guinness floater) to wash it down!

What we'd do differently: 
When I asked E "what would you do differently to the split pea soup," he simply answered, "salt and pepper."  You know it was a success when that's all  you've got to add. We did think about it a second more and decided maybe trying it with carrots would be a good idea. That's all.  

XO