A Frugal Ima Super-Frugal Recipe: Split Pea Soup

  Oh, Frugal home managers, you know you love 'em - those Kopans comfort food tried and true crock pot recipes will get us all, God willing, through this awful winter.  Here's another stunner of a super-frugal recipe; yes indeedy, this gorgeous thick winter soup will set you back just three measly bucks.  

David grew up with this and it also got him through his first few super-lean months of grad school.  He taught me how to make it - I think he thought it made him look foxy that he knew how to cook something.  Now, somehow, I'm the one putting it together.  But David's still foxy.  How does that work?

Anyway.  We really love lentils and split peas in this house because they deliver the same frugality (~$1 a pound, incredible!) and nutritional punch as other dried beans, but don't require any of the fussy soaking and/or pre-cooking required of, say, dry kidney beans or black beans.

This pea soup satisfies my requirement of minimal kitchen schvitzing time.  Letting the peas cook together with the water all day long means that they basically melt into a smooth soup, meaning you don't have to stand over it with an immersion blender unless you really, really want to.  As you might, if you want a few minutes to yourself when you ostensibly can't hear the children whining for more snacks, or that "he hit me", blah blah blah.  (Forget what I said.  Immersion blending is a great idea!)

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb (1 bag) of split peas (yellow is prettier than green, but green is more widely available.)

2 medium onions

1 lb of carrots

6 cups of water or stock, or some combination

salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Chop up the veggies.  I do a dice with the onions so they'll be pretty undetectable in the final product, and leave the carrots large-ish because my boys like to pick them out to eat them.

Now just throw everything together in your crock pot.  

This is a great step for little hands to help with.  I just poured the liquid in, and then let the boys throw everything else in.

There will be tasting.  The other half of this carrot went back into the pot, I think, so if you're expecting company, mind your helpers.

Season to taste.  If you're using stock, you'll probably use less salt.  We like a lot of garlic in ours.

Stir it up and season a bit more, if you want.

Then put it on low and go about your day.  This soup works best with a full 12 hours in the pot, perfect for working families.  I used to have this in the crock pot by 7 AM and it would be perfect for dinner.  If you get it in a little later, just start it out or finish it off on High for a couple hours.

If it's been a long day, pour yourself a drink with one hand and grab the immersion blender with the other and blend away, my dear beleaguered Frugal Home Manager.  But if your day's been okay, or if you don't have an immersion blender, here's what your soup will look like.

We served ours with roasted potatoes.  You could also throw the potatoes in the soup itself for a nice one-pot meal.  Enjoy!