THE BEST! On A Chilly Day

I had some leftover ham bone and decided to make some split pea soup for dinner. Boy was it ever delicious! It sure hits the spot on a chilly/gray day!


As we were sitting there eating it with our french bread, it brought back lots of memories of growing up in the Torrance kitchen. The front window would be steamy because it was so cold outside (I lived really close to the beach), and there was just something about sitting down to the table with that soup. The meal was inexpensive, healthy (legumes and veges) and tasty. Growing up it was one of my favorite soups.

Here is the recipe:

1 16oz. bag split peas, washed and drained
8 cups water
1 meaty ham bone
1 onion diced
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. marjoram
pinch of thyme
1 bay leaf
2 whole allspice
3 carrots sliced

Combine split peas, water, ham bone, onion, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, stirring every so often. Remove hambone and pull or cut meat off. Add carrots, cover again, and simmer until tender, about 20-30 minutes. Add ham and correct seasonings. If you want it a little thicker, just add some instant mashed potato flakes.

(This morning I had a demonstration on some freeze dried food storage meals. I kind of just had the guy over as a favor, but was so impressed with the product that I am going to buy some. They are breakfast, dinner, vegetables, and fruits that are freeze dried and you add a cup of water to them and let them rehydrate for 8 minutes. It was really good and I think reasonable for what you get. I won't use them as my total food storage, but will get some to augment the other basics for some variety and convenience and also a way to add some fat to a food storage diet. I was talking with my friend who is a nutritionist about it and she was telling me that that is a concern--how to add appropriate fat to the food storage diet. The biggest plus I saw in this was that the products have a 25+ year shelf life and take up very little space.

I went and visited with a new sister who moved in the ward with the RS presidency. What a great lady. It was fun and good to get to know her better.

On to laundry and the visiting teaching report. But it is the 3rd and it is done! Yeah! Talked to my sis, Lisa, and got caught up. Shaun went out with some friends and then they came back here for awhile. Got my March blog printed out. Hopefully I'll get it into the binder tomorrow. I'm preparing for conference. I am hoping to get all my errands done tomorrow so I don't have to rush around on Saturday. We will empty, clean, and refill our water barrels.)