Split Pea Soup

Source: Jessy Madsen (a friend from Church)
Serves: 6-8
Total prep/cook time: about 8 hours in slow cooker, or 2-3 over the stove

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dried green split peas, rinsed and picked over
• 8 cups water
• 1 small (1 to 1 1⁄2 lb.) boneless ham
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 4 new potatoes, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1⁄2 tsp fresh thyme (or 1⁄2 tsp dried thyme)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place split peas, water, ham and bay leaves in the slow-cooker. Cover and cook on low until tender, about 7 hours on low. (Or, put in pan on stove for about 2 hours on medium, but you need to watch it and stir often.)

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Sauté onions, carrots and celery until softened, about 6 minutes. Add vegetables and diced potatoes to slow-cooker. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 2 hours (or less in a pan on the stove). Remove the ham from the slow-cooker, shred the meat, and add it back to the slow-cooker. Add the thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8 to 10

Comments:
Things we love about this soup: 1) It's super tasty (even though it doesn't look appetizing, it's really great!). 2) It's super cheap. 3) Perfect cold weather comfort food, but my friend brought it to us in the summer after Katie was born and it tasted great then. 4) You can leave the ham out to make it even cheaper/vegetarian and it still tastes good. I've experimented with making it on the stove, and can do it in about 3 hours without compromising the texture/flavor, but it requires a lot of babysitting, so I think I'm going to do it in the crock pot next time. (I don't use my crock pot much for some reason.)

Jessy's note: I just bought pre-sliced ham b/c it's way cheaper and threw it in the crockpot sliced and then when it says to shred the meat I just cut it up and dice it. I only used at minimum a pound and then would just either freeze the meat or use it for another meal the next week)