Split Pea Soup!

Yummy I'm so excited I made split pea soup for dinner tonight - it sure smelled like fall cooking in my house this morning!! It is the easiest recipe and it tastes really good! Also, it makes a very large batch so we'll have leftovers for lunches for a few days.

So I guess I've come around to it being fall now. The leaves are turning here, and really quickly. I need to get out and get some pictures soon.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb green split peas

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 ham hocks or 1 ham bone - or if you are watching calories you could either leave this out or add chopped up turkey ham

1 small/medium onion ( I use white) chopped

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1 teaspoon pepper - or more to taste, I use a little more

2 quarts water

Put everything in a large slow cooker and let it go for 8 hours on low. After 8 hours, remove the ham hocks/bone, pick off any meat and return the meat to the soup. Once in a while the soup is a little to chunky for taste at this point so I use my immersion blender and give it a quick whirl before I add the meat back in. If you like it chunky then stir and serve!