Come home to a hot dinner

To help you with this month’s goal of cooking at home, here is a soup recipe from EcoThrifty:

For years, split pea soup was one of our favorite dinners in the winter. When I worked full time, I would start the soup in a slow cooker and put dough ingredients in the bread maker before leaving in the morning. We would arrive home in the evening to the wonderful aroma of fresh bread and split pea soup. For those who think split pea soup is boring, or if you are a fan of spicy food, try adding a few drops of hot sauce to this soup.

If you know that your slow cooker can cook split peas in less time than you’ll be gone, use an appliance timer to start the cooking in time for the soup to be ready when you get home from work. It is usually best to try this first on a day when you will be home to watch the cooking in progress so that you don’t undercook the split peas or wind up with a pot that is completely dried out and a big pain to clean.

This soup makes a satisfying, nutritious and frugal meal served with grilled cheese sandwiches made with slices of cheddar cheese and whole grain bread made from the basic bread recipe.

Split Pea Soup
Serves 4

2 cups dried split peas
2 quarts water
1/2 cup dried great northern beans or navy beans
1/4 cup barley
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 to 1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all of the ingredients into a pot and cook over low heat for about 2 hours. Watch it very closely towards the end because as the peas cook, they can start to stick and burn. I prefer to use a slow cooker for this soup because it cooks on such a low, even heat, I don’t have to worry about burning.