Savory Pea Soup with Sausage

As I've said before family dinners are extremely important to me.  More important though is making homemade dinners for my family when possible.  That is why I pick recipes that are realistic, simple and don't take a lot of time to make.  I hate making pretentious foods, and let's face it, they aren't exactly family friendly.  I am very busy during the day, so if I can get everything together for a slow cooker meal while my son eats breakfast, then that's what I'll opt for.  That way I can spend time with him while he's awake and do chores and have some "me" time while he naps.  Especially now that the weather is getting warmer, I plan on being at the park or on a walk, anywhere but stuck inside my kitchen!  And since I'm always with my son, tedious meals are utterly impossible anyway.  Since spending time with him is obviously more important to me than anything else, we opt for simple home-cooked meals!
I love split pea soup, and I will be trying a different recipe via stove-top further down the road, but I wanted to give this slow-cooker recipe a shot.  This is another one from Crock-Pot:  Slow Cooker Recipes.  Again, to give it to my son, I drain out whatever fluids there are.  Eoin usually likes peas and there are chunks of carrots, which he liked to feed himself.  I substituted the smoked sausage with a Chicken Hardwood Smoked Sausage from Hillshire Farms so he had that too, and loved it!  I also found a mix of celery sticks and carrots sticks together, so I used that instead of getting everything separately. 

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces smoked sausage, cut lengthwise into halves, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 package (16 ounces) dried split peas, rinsed and sorted
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (you can use homemade if you make your own)

Directions:

1. Heat medium nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add sausage; cook 5 to 8 minutes or until browned.  Drain fat.  Combine sausage, carrots, peas, celery, onion, marjoram and bay leaf in slow cooker.  Pour broth over mixture.  
2. Cover; cook on LOW 4-5 hours or until peas are tender.  Remove and discard bay leaf.  Cover; let stand 15 minutes to thicken.