Split Pea and Ham Soup (or Green Soup for the kids)

You gotta call it green soup for the kids. Somtimes I add meaningless extra adjectives to it too, like "Amazing green soup" or something like that, just for good measure. Those darn picky kids....anyway, I can understand why "split pea" doesn't exactly sound like something that makes them race to the table. But I love this soup so much. It's also great for gluten-free cooking, because there's no added thickeners to worry about. Peas are a natural starch. The ingredients are simple and easy. As is how you make it, however you do need to allow time for the peas to soak. Read on and I'll explain.

What you need:
3½ cups dried green split peas
1½ cups sliced onion
1 cup celery, chopped a bit
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1 cup diced carrots
1-2 cups diced ham

How you make it:

In large stock pot or Dutch oven, cover peas with 2 quarts cold water; bring to a boil and simmer gently 2 minutes; remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour.

Add onion, celery, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and marjoram.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer (don’t boil) 1½ hours.  Stir occasionally.  If water has evaporated, you may need to add more water as the soup continues to cook.

Let mixture cool a bit, then purée using a blender.  Be careful, it will be somewhat hot!

Return mixture to pot, add meat and carrots.  Cook slowly, covered, 30 minutes or so – until carrots are tender.

Serves 6-8.

Note: Since you're puréeing the whole thing in the end, you don't need to worry about chopping the celery and onion too uniformly or very small. Any sort of chunks will do.

Serve with bread and fruit salad, if desired.