Yellow Split Pea and Ham Soup

My husband pretty much can’t stand peas…neither can I really. I do however like split pea soup…Andy does not. I have been sneaking split peas past him for some time now. Up until today that is. J Andy read on my blog that I was making split pea and ham soup and he wasn’t too thrilled. I told him I had been sneaking them in and he had no idea, so he was willing to give it a shot. By golly he likes it! J The yellow split peas give it a bit of a different flavor, but not too crazy. And the nutmeg adds a little zip that makes you wonder, “hmmmm what is that flavor?” The ham in this adds protein, however, the split peas have nearly 16 grams of protein in one cup! (dry) so, it would be a great meal even without the ham! One kid friendly tip (or hubby friendly in my case J): If you want to hid all of the veggies, just puree the soup with an immersion/hand blender! Simple fix for your picky eaters! Enjoy the yumminess!!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 1/2 C dried yellow split peas
6 1/2 C vegetable stock
8 oz finely diced ham

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; cook to soften, but not brown, about 5 minutes.
Mix in the nutmeg, salt, pepper and split peas. Stir in the stock; cover, and simmer for  45 minutes. Add ham and continue cooking for an additional 20 minutes or until the peas are soft.