Surprisingly Delicious Split Pea Soup

Often times, I will see a food item (a certain cookie, a sandwich on TV, a childhood dish on a home video), and then I kind of obsess over it until I finally just make it.  My recent oddball obsession?  Split Pea Soup.  While out to dinner at an Irish pub over the holidays, I watched my father-in-law order a crock of split pea soup, and realized that I had never even tasted it before.  Never one to keep my mouth shut when it comes to "food chat", I then shared this fact with the table, and my spoon was quickly introduced to the creamy green crock! 

Once home, I decided it was time to dust off that bag of split peas from the pantry, and find a good soup recipe.  (Yes, I had a bag of split peas - we're on the legume kick, remember?)  Lucky for me, I'm going to be able to check Split Pea Soup off of my master list on the first try!  I decided on Ina Garten's Parker's Split Pea Soup.  I chose it for it's lack of requird ham hock, but ended tossing in a cup of diced ham that we had leftover in the fridge.  I must say, I was quite skeptical, and really not expecting much -- but it was seriously delicious!  Everyone loved it - the kids included.  I was thrilled that they ate it so well!  In fact, I'm planning to freeze some of the leftovers in muffin cups (like I did Thomas' baby food), then keep them in a zipper bag for quick, healthy dinners for him.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did...it's nice to be surprised!