Soup makes it better

I love soup. All the time.

I found Split Pea and Ham soup at Mimi's Cafe, I heart it!

So I love the slow cooker, but I am not so great at following directions.

Let me tell you how I approach a recipe, sort of the same way I approach my horoscope (bear with me, it'll make sense).

You see, my birthday is May 21st. Depending on who you ask I may be a Taurus or a Gemini. Every horoscope you look at says a slightly different date. So here's what I do...I always look at both of them and then mix and match and meld to make the horoscope that I want. It works for me.

Same for a recipe. I google what I'm looking for. I sort of see what ingredients I already have and mix, match and meld. PLUS, most of the time I will go to the grocery store with a detailed list and forget half of what I need. So the computer goes with me in the kitchen. Like the other day I needed Cumin (I thought I had some) and couldn't find it. So I googled what spice I could substitute for Cumin and away we went.

So I don't really follow directions a recipe just so. For the Split Pea and Ham recipe I will just tell you what I did...do what you like!

Ingredients:

1 bag of dried split peas

1 large onion, diced

2 tsp minced garlic

2 carrots, diced

2 cups of ham

3 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed (you have to follow this one direction)

Cover and cook on High for 6 hours or Low for 11

DO NOT MIX!

Now, you could add celery stalks, they just sort of dissolve into the soup. AND, I am not a fan of cooked carrots, but in this soup it does add to the flavor.

This is a great idea for left over ham. I like LOTS of ham in this soup, so I put about twice as much ham as asked for. Keep in mind that chances are the ham has a bit of salt in it. When you're seasoning, keep that in mind. I just put a tiny bit of salt and some pepper.

Make sure your chicken broth (I suggest reduced sodium) covers your ham.

Don't mix, or stir this, leave it in layers.

Stir when your 6 or 11 hours are up. Let it sit for a few minutes and let it thicken up (it does so quite nicely)

MMM, MMM!

This freezes up quite nicely.

I'll be eating all week!