My Favorite Split Pea Soup

Remember my Easter Ham?  I held on to the bone that remained from that home and decided to make some Split Pea Soup with it.  It might be warm in other parts of the country but it has remained cool enough here for a bowl of soup to be a treat.  Here is what you will need to make some, too:

Ingredients

• a ham bone or ham hock
• 1 pound bag of split peas
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 large celery stalked, diced
• 2 quarts of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 pepper

 

Place all the ingredients in a large pot or dutch oven with the exception of the ham bone.  

Add the 2 quarts of water and start to heat over medium, high heat.

 

When it starts to boil, add the ham bone and back off the heat to low and cover.

You want the soup to simmer on low until the peas completely dissolve and soup is thick and creamy.  On my cooktop, this took about 3 hours.  Just check your soup every half hour or so to see when it's reached that point.

When the soup has reached its desired consistancy, remover the ham bone from the soup.

Once the ham bone is cool enough to handle, strip off the meat into little chunks and return it too the soup.

Now it ready to enjoy.  I served my soup wtih these rolls using a recipe from the Pioneer Woman show on the Food Network.  Definitely a keeper and super easy, too.