Split Pea Soup is good--I don't care what you say!

     I was 30 before I had split pea soup.  I think it must be more of a northern dish than a southern one because my mom never made it.  Not once.  Ever.  It was one of those things I heard about in a book once in a while, but it wasn't something I ever thought I would eat.
     A few years ago, after a yummy Christmas breakfast of ham, eggs, hash browns, etc., the BF said to me, "Now we have the ham hock to make split pea soup!"  I thought to myself, "I"m not sure how good that sounds..."  But being the loving girlfriend that I am, I decided to make it.  Did you know you can buy a bag of dried, split green peas?  Yep.  Right over by the rice and other dried beans.  Did you know that on the back of that bag there is a recipe for split pea soup?  Yep.
    I don't have my recipe right here in front of me, but I did find this one from the Food Network that is pretty close.  What's in split pea soup?  Onions, carrots, celery, peas, ham, and chicken broth or water.  It's that simple.  The peas get soft and creamy and the ham gives off a wonderful smokiness.  Yes the soup is green, but the flavor is so deep and comforting that soon you're longing for Christmas, not for presents, but for the presence of a ham hock.
     I have leftover ham in the freezer.  No hock, but the leftover ham will do.  I'm making split pea soup tonight and will add some photos and my own recipe to this.  I think I'll make some foccaccia bread too!
*Update*
      What I ended up making was Split Pea soup and cornbread muffins.  They seemed easier than getting out the bread maker for the Foccaccia bread.  Here is the recipe from the back of the bag of split peas:
     1/3 cup EACH of: chopped onion, celery, carrot.
     1 ham hock (or about 1 cup of ham, chopped)
     1 bay leaf
     1/2 bag of green split peas
     4 cups of water, chicken broth, or a combination of the two
     salt, pepper

Basically you combine all of those ingredients in a big pot, bring it to a boil, cover it and let it simmer for 1 hour.  Everything should be mostly creamy and soft by then.  You can top your's with a dollop of sour cream if you like.  Hot sauce is good too!

Just getting started with peas, onion, carrots, celery, water and broth.

The addition of ham...you can see a bay leaf peeking out too.

Corn muffins.  You can't tell, but that egg is blue.  From my friend Lauren's chickens.

Cornbread muffins topped with coarse ground black pepper

About half-way through the simmering

YUM O.  I know it doesn't look beautiful with the big dollop of sour cream, but it's awesome!

I took pictures but i haven't added them yet.  I will.  I promise!