Crockpot Split Pea & Ham Soup

Here's the deal: I currently have a lot of ham. Like, a LOT, a lot. My in-laws (who are awesome! Hi Jack & Robin!) brought a ham for our New Year's Eve party, and while it was delicious, not very much of it actually got eaten. So I'm left with a LOT of ham leftovers, which means I'm working to find delicious, creative recipes to use up the ham, so that we aren't stuck eating ham sandwiches for every single meal. A girl can only have so many ham sandwiches.

One of my all-time favorite things that my mom makes is split pea and ham soup. I think pea soup is one of those things that you either love or hate (and it probably depends on the recipe you first experience). Personally, I love it. Specifically, I love my mom's, which is creamy and smooth, full of chunks of softened veggies like carrots and celery, and spotted with salty chunks of ham. I decided to use some of my ham to recreate my mom's soup - with a few changes, of course!

Crockpot Split Pea & Ham Soup
lightly adapted from About.com - Southern Food

Ingredients

• 1 (12 oz.) pkg. dried green split peas, rinsed
• 3-4 cups diced ham
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 ribs of celery plus leaves, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
• 1 1/2 qts. chicken broth

Directions
Spray crockpot lightly with cooking spray. Layer all ingredients into crockpot in order given - do not stir or combine. Pour chicken broth over the top of all other ingredients, and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. When finished cooking, gently stir to combine, and mash peas with the back of a spoon if necessary. Serve hot with crusty bread!

Terrible iPhone picture. Normal. Check those veggies, though! And ham! Yum.

~~~~~

The main difference between this soup & my mom's is that she doesn't use a crock pot - she makes the "simmering on the stove all afternoon" version. For me, though, a crock pot version was ideal. I layered all the ingredients in the night before, then C poured the chicken broth in and turned it on in the morning before we left for work. When we got home, we stirred it up, and there was a giant, hot pot of soup waiting for our dinner. Couldn't have asked for anything better!

Given how much ham we have, I added a lot - definitely closer to 4 cups diced. I liked it that way, though. I also prefer mine a bit saltier than my mom makes it, so I added a little more salt than was probably ideal (it needed a bit of watering down, to be honest, but it definitely wasn't inedible. I liked it - C thought it was a bit much). We froze half of it to eat later, I took it for lunch one day, and we had it for dinner a second night. That makes... 10 servings of soup? So cheap, so easy, so delicious. Winner, winner, split pea dinner!