We eat a lot of soup. I’m sure you’ve noticed. My husband hates peas. These two are related – I promise. Let me back up.
I’ve never been a picky eater. My whole life, I have eaten whatever has been put on my plate. I prefer certain things over others, sure – but I’ll try anything. Peas were my favorite vegetable. I requested them regularly. When I was on Weight Watchers eons ago, I would eat entire cans of peas, because they were “free” on their points systems. I love them. Then I married Kevin.
He hates peas. He can’t stand them. The only kind he will TOLERATE are frozen, in pasta, or possibly a stew. He has passed his dislike of peas to my sweet innocent boys. Except my youngest boy, Ben. Ben adores them. We will open up a can of peas and happily eat out of it together. I love that kid.
Now comes the soup part.
I originally wanted to try split pea soup because of weight watchers. Peas, apparently, are one of best foods to eat when on weight watchers – at least they were 11 years ago when I was doing weight watchers. I tried a few pea soups and they seemed rather bland. However, I would suck it up and make this bland soup to jump start my diet at times. It was thick, hardy, filling and maybe 2 points per bowl. But I dreaded eating it.
Until I added ham. It’s amazing how ham can transform a bland soup into something I want to broadcast on the world wide web. This stuff is good. I’ve used just bits and pieces of double smoked ham, the ham bone, a little of both, ham hocks – it doesn’t matter. The wonderful smoke from the bone and the meat transfers to this soup and makes it absolutely delicious.
Kevin never puts soup high on his list of dinners, but when I get on diet kicks (which come and go in spurts) the first thing he suggests is pea soup. He has come to love this stuff. And he tells the kids, “I don’t like peas, but I love pea soup”, which has in turn made them try it, because they all know his feelings on regular peas.
Weight Watcher’s Inspired Split Pea Soup with Ham
Ingredients
- 1 bag of split peas- found with the rice at the grocery store
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1 cup of chopped celery
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 cups of water
- 1 ham bone or 2 cups of ham meat
- 1 tsn salt
- 1/2 tsn pepper
Instructions
- Rinse your peas in a strainer. Set aside.
- In a large pot, melt the butter and saute the celery, carrots and onions until they are soft. Add in the water, peas, and the ham.
- Simmer on low, stirring occasionally. The peas will eventually break down completely. It can take up to an hour though. Add water as you feel it's needed - If the soup is too thick for your liking, add more water. Same with salt and pepper.
- The soup is ready when there are no pea chunks, and it's all creamy. Remove the ham bone and enjoy!