Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

Yesterday's pea soup was so great, that I wanted more peas today. I knew I was going to be stuck in meetings all day and the weather is still crummy, so I thought I would make use of the crockpot and have a nice hot bowl of soup waiting for me after work. I also have a couple pounds of split peas sitting around that I've been waiting to use.


I looked up a few recipes online, but didn't find anything that made me excited, so I created my own using inspiration from the others. I started by sautéing onions, celery, and carrots. Once they were almost done, I added some kale. Why kale? Well, I love kale and split pea soup does not have a very attractive color, so why not add a little extra green?

While the veggies were sautéing, I rinsed the peas and made sure that no gross ones or rocks were hiding in the batch. I only found one that looked like it didn't belong... I'm not sure if that is a good number or if I should have found more!

Once the veggies were done, I added them to the crockpot with the peas, some herbs, a bay leaf, and about 6 cups of veggie broth. I set it to high while I was getting ready for work and then moved it down to low to sit for the next 6 hours or so.

Quick Pea Soup

It is so chilly and damp outside, that I am very lucky that I can work remotely from home today. I have a ton of work to accomplish, so I wanted a quick lunch that would keep me warm all afternoon. I decided to put my Vitamix to use and make a super-fast pea soup. (and I could write this while my soup was cooking!)

Happy New Year and Savory Pot Pies

Happy New Year everyone! I got a little off track with posting recipes during the holidays, but I'm back! For my first recipe of the year, I have to thank my sister Jenn because she got me an individual pie maker for Christmas.

It is a pretty cool idea... basically you make a filling, put some dough in it, and 8 minutes later you have an individual pie! If you are already sold and want one yourself, visit Williams Sonoma.

Now to my pie. I thought New Year's Eve was the perfect time to try it for a hearty dinner before heading out to celebrate. We wanted a savory pot pie flavor, so I cooked up a bunch of veggies and used frozen prepared pie dough to create our first individual pot pies. They were delicious.

One word of warning, make sure to roll the dough a bit to make it thinner. Ours was way too thick which made the ratio of filling to pie crust not exactly as we would want. Next time, I'll make my own dough which should be easier to keep it thin. Here's the recipe: