Split Pea Soup

Apparently everyone that knows me, has my number.  This past Christmas, we spent Christmas Day with Bill's family, and they offered me the ham bone to take home and make split pea soup with.  They had also gotten me a soup maker for Christmas.  Sadly, I haven't been able to test it out yet because I am waiting for a chicken or turkey carcass to make more stock with!  Hopefully I'll be able to try it out soon!

A little less than a year ago, I made a split pea soup in my slow cooker:  Savory Pea Soup with Sausage.  Let's just say, hands down, this recipe blows that one out of the water!  Yes, it is more time consuming and you need to be a bit more hands on, but the flavors are magnificent!  Of course I LOVE making things from scratch, and if I have the time, it's the more complex, the better!  Even though I soaked the split peas overnight; in the slow cooker, they just didn't come out soft enough.  Overall, everything just tasted better this time around, although if I didn't have the time, I would certainly make the other recipe again.

If you can't use the left over ham bone right away, cut as much of the remaining meat off as you can, then cube it and put into zip lock bags and freeze.  They can be frozen for up to a month.  Then put the ham bone into a large freezer bag, or bundle into plastic shopping bags, removing as much air as humanely possible.  Freeze until needed.

Ingredients:

• 2  1/2 cups of dried split peas
• 2 quarts of cold water
• 1+ lb ham bone, if the ham bone is relatively clean, reserve some of the ham and dice up.
• 2 onions, either thinly sliced or minced
• 1 tsp dried crushed marjoram
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• about 1 1/2-2 cups of chopped carrots
• 3 stalks of celery chopped

Directions:

• In a large stock pot, soak dried split peas in 2 quarts of water overnight.

• After the split peas are soaked, add the ham bone, onion, marjoram, pepper and salt.  Cover, heat to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours.

• Remove ham bone (I used tongs, be VERY careful as the bone will be VERY hot!)  Cut off any remaining meat and dice; return meat back to soup.  If the bone wasn't meaty enough and you reserved any extra meat, you can add that to the soup now.  Also add your potatoes, carrots and celery.  Cook on medium-low heat, uncovered, for another 45 minutes.