Creamy Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

Creamy Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

I love soup in fall and winter.  To celebrate the beginning of my favorite season, I decided to make some split pea soup.  I never made it before, so I read a bunch of recipes online, combining elements that sounded good to create this recipe.  Most recipes include ham, but this one is a vegetarian version.  I adapted the recipe at the end to make a yummy dinner for my baby- and he LOVED this!  Even my carnivorous husband enjoyed this soup!  It was gone before I got around to taking a picture of it : )

Ingredients: 

1 lb (dried) split peas

1 large carrot, diced

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 medium potatoes, peeled & chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 dried bay leaves

1-2 cups milk or cream* 

*I used half and half.  You should adjust the amount added at the end depending on the thickness of the soup and whether you are reserving some for baby.

Put all vegetables in a large pot, cover with 2 ½ quarts (10 cups) water, add bay leaves.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 and a half to 2 hours, until soup thickens and peas disintegrate.  Remove the bay leaves.  Puree soup (with an immersion blender if you have one).  Reserve 1 cup for baby, if applicable.  Stir in milk or cream, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Split Pea and Barley Soup For Baby:

Combine 1 cup soup (without the milk), 1 cup water, and ¾ cup barley cereal for babies.  Adjust thickness by adding more or less water.  This makes about 8 baby portions.  I froze what baby didn’t eat right away in portion-sized containers.

Banana Chocolate Marble Bread

I love banana bread, I love marble cake, and I love altering recipes to make them a little bit healthier- and I got all three with this recipe!  I stated with the basic banana bread recipe from my Better Homes cookbook, then added more bananas, spices, and a chocolate swirl, and reduced the amount of sugar and white flour.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ cup rolled oats

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

2 extra large eggs, beaten

6 medium bananas, defrosted and mashed*

½ cup sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Swirl:

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tablespoon sugar

*I love doing the bananas this way.  When your bananas get brown spots, toss them in the freezer.  Then when you are ready to make your bread, simply pop them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, until soft but not hot.  Take kitchen scissors and snip one end of the banana, then lightly squeeze from the other end.  The banana will slide out easily and be super easy to mash.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl.  Pour the banana mixture into the large bowl with the flour mixture, and stir until combined.  Pour about 1/3 of the batter back into the medium bowl; stir in cocoa powder and sugar.

Spray a 9X5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.  Spoon batter into the pan, alternating between the plain and chocolate mixtures.  When all the batter is in the pan, take a table knife and swirl by doing two “figure eights” through the loaf.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 60 minutes.  If the top begins to get too dark, cover with some foil.  Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.  

I'll be eating this for breakfast all week : )

My Kitchen Renaissance

Becoming a mother has made me want to eat healthier. It didn’t start right away. The first several months I mostly ate cereal or who knows what, I was so exhausted from being up half the night. But now that he is sleeping (kind of) better at night (most days) I find that I have (slightly) more energy. And I am also getting to the point that I want some type of project to focus my attention on during the week that does not relate only to child care. So I am trying to revitalize my kitchen.

When we were newlyweds I made dinner every night. Watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks were my two favorite pastimes. This began to change when I started taking grad classes… then I got pregnant.. had a baby… which brings us to the present day.

This kitchen renaissance began when baby started solids, and I began to dabble in the preparation of fruit and vegetables purees. I found that I was having fun doing it. There is something so satisfying about serving those you love foods that are fresh and that you have made from scratch yourself. And it’s a fun little challenge to make homemade versions of things that are commonly bought ready to eat from the grocery store.

So I am challenging myself to change the way I cook, shop, and eat. I am trying to stick with “whole foods” like fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat in their most un-tampered-with forms. When you think about it, foods that can sit on a shelf for months and months and not change at all are not so appealing. It has also resulted in less money spent at the grocery store, which is great!

It’s not like I’m baking all my own bread, but I am trying to cook meals more often, and make a homemade dessert once a week. It’s fun to experiment and create my own recipes with less fat and sugar, and more whole grains. And I’m trying things I’ve never made before. I’ll share some good recipes soon!

My Locket

As a little girl my favorite movie was Annie. I loved that “Daddy Warbuck’s house,” the place they actually filmed the movie, was in my home town (http://www.monmouth.edu/wilson_hall/default.asp), and I of course loved all the singing and dancing. But there were also certain elements that I found to be particularly romantic and fun. I loved the camaraderie between the girls in the orphanage. I loved the way Annie found her own quiet place by climbing a bunch of boxes to sit and look out an upper window at night (a feat I often tried to reenact, but never got quite right- we didn’t have the right windows for it at home).

One of the most precious things in the story to me was Annie’s broken locket. I found it striking that her most prized possession was this item that was old and cracked, but treasured because of what it signified (her parents’ promise that they would present the other half when they came back to claim her). From then on I hoped that someday I would have a special locket of my own.

When I was eleven years old all the girls in my family received gold, heart-shaped lockets for Christmas from my grandparents. My Grandmother was sick, and she died a month later. I got my own precious locket, and even though I haven’t worn it in many years, it remains a treasured item to me because of what it signifies.

The image of a locket represents something loved, cherished, and valued. On these “pages” I’d like to share things that are valuable to me- thoughts on family and faith, and my experiences as a new mother. Even though I expect my readership to be small (hi Mommy), I hope that anyone who does read enjoys it.