Yummy Ham & Split Pea Soup

Hams were on sale last week for Easter. We've been making meals of a very tasty smoked bone-in ham since Friday. By tonight, we had gotten to the bone with a bit of meat left on it. No sense wasting any of it! Time for pea soup.

Split pea soup doesn't take much work and is done in about an hour. If you don't have a leftover ham bone, a ham shank or even a smoked turkey leg will work.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green split peas, washed
• ham bone with some meat
  
• 6 cups water
• 3 or 4 carrots, diced
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• salt & pepper

Procedure:

1. Put all ingredients in a large soup pan, covering as much of the ham as possible with the water.
   
2. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally to bring the peas off the bottom of the pan.
3. After about 45 minutes, remove the ham and let it cool about 15 minutes while the soup still simmers.
4. Whir the soup with an immersion blender.
5. Cut the remaining ham off the bone and add it back to the soup.
6. Add salt & pepper to taste.
   

That's it. Smooth, warm, and creamy and all it has in it is water, ham, and veggies.