Split Pea Soup

dairy free / vegetarian / gluten free

(*NONNIE RECIPE) I hosted Easter sunday at my house for the first time ever in my life. I ended up not having to do much because both my family and my husband’s family came over and everyone pitched in to make a dish for dinner. my mother-in-law made her mother’s famous cooked honey baked ham and it was gooood. we had about 18 people over that Easter and there was still SO much ham, we didn’t even put a dent in it. this split pea soup isn’t necessarily a holiday recipe, but I almost associate it with being one because we seem to always have these massive hams for the holidays, and this is a go-to way my family uses the leftovers!

this split pea soup takes veryyyyyyyyy little effort to make. it does cook for about 3 hours, but you just literally leave it on the stove and let the soup do the work for you.

there isn’t even any blending involved. the soup comes out so creamy just from slow cooking the peas.

it’s even already seasoned from the saltiness of the ham, but of course you can add a little more salt in if you want.

this is dairy free because there is no need for adding milk or cream of any kind because it gets so incredibly creamy just from the peas.

Split Pea Soup

ingredients:

• 1 bag green split peas

• 10 cups water

• 1 ham bone or a large cut of the ham

• 1 whole yellow onion

• 1 bunch celery heads

• 4 whole carrots

• 2 cups diced ham

• 1/2 lemon juiced

• 1 tsp sugar

• couple drops of hot sauce

• 1 bay leaf

directions:

1. rinse green split peas.

2. in a dutch oven or large pot, add the peas, water, the ham bone or cut of the ham, the whole yellow onion, whole celery heads, and whole carrots. DON’T CHOP any of these! you will be removing it all from the pot.

3. cover and simmer for 2 hours.

4. take out all of the ingredients (except the peas of course). at this point, the peas will have started to cook down and the soup will already look creamier.

5. chop the celery and carrots finely and add back to the pot.

6. add in the diced ham, lemon juice, sugar, hot sauce, and the bay leaf.

7. cover and simmer for another hour.

8. take out the bay leaf and then serve.

9. top with some croutons if you want and enjoy!