Chocolate Covered Love

This recipe has been consumed by many generations on my mom's side of the family. My grandmother used to make it for my mom, my mom used to make it for me and my siblings and now I've made it for my daughter. It's not the prettiest soup, but it's very filling and inexpensive. Great for a cold day.

This recipe can be made with yellow or green split peas, it's a matter of personal preference. I used the yellow ones here. My grandmother says that she usually used the yellow ones when her kids were young because they didn't like the idea of "pea soup". My grandma also called it "ham soup" for their sake, because she used a ham bone (leftover from a ham dinner) with some meat still attached to make it. I couldn't find a ham bone at our grocery store, so I omitted it and just used ham meat for the flavor and salt content.

In this recipe the split peas are practically cooked to death, and then after several hours of cooking, chopped  carrots and potatoes are added. The original recipe can be found on the back of the bag that the split peas come in. It doesn't matter the brand.

Swedish Pea Soup

- 16oz. bag split peas (green or yellow)
- one small onion, chopped
- one medium carrot, diced
- one stalk celery, chopped
- one large potato, chopped
- one ham bone or 1/4 lb chopped ham
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups water
- salt and pepper (to taste)

Sort and rinse peas. Sort to pick out any small rocks or bad peas.
In a large pot, combine peas, onion, celery, ham bone (if you have one), stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for at least 2 hours - or until everything has basically cooked to mush.
Add the chopped carrots, potatoes and ham and cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
Season with additional salt and pepper if you like.
Serve hot.