New Year's resolutions - new recipes, week 2 - Split Pea Soup

I know it's early in the year, but this is one resolution I may find easy to keep. So far, two weeks, two new recipes each week. I'm finding that I'm really enjoying trying new dishes, and there is a lovely satisfaction that comes from the process of making something, serving it, and getting praise from your family. Having a motivation beyond the intrinsic may make this my favorite resolution of 2018.

For week 2, I looked for inspiration to find ways to continue using the leftover New Year's ham in the fridge. I found a Split Pea Soup recipe on AllRecipes that looked simple and I could use the ham, so I put it in my virtual recipe box for Sunday dinner.

One of the side benefits and tangential resolutions to my cooking plan is to use my KitchenAid stand mixer and attachments more often. I've had the mixer for years but it didn't sit on the countertop; instead, it was stored in the pantry, out of sight and out of mind. the food processing attachments were a Christmas gift in 2016 and I'm embarrassed to say I had yet to use them, despite requesting them and being very excited to get them. In Wisconsin, we have the counter space for the mixer, so I keep it and the attachments out now, in plain sight, and it's much easier to either remember to use them or to ind ways to use them. This recipe called for diced carrots and celery, and voila - in no time flat, my mixer cut the most beautiful, uniform vegetables for soup.

Another bonus of this recipe: it cooked in the CrockPot. I'm a huge slow cooker fan - making meals ahead means the mess is cleaned up long before dinner time, and with a liner, clean up is so simple and fast. It also means the house smells delicious when I come home from work, or as it's cooking on a Sunday afternoon. With the ingredients gathered and the peas having soaked for a few hours that morning, I was ready to do the really complicated work of dumping everything into the CrockPot. Ha!

It turned out to be an excellent, hearty soup for a cold winter day! With some Pillsbury Grand Biscuits (and leftover broccoli & cauliflower!) on the side, it made for a very filling and satisfying dinner. John wasn't enamored with it, but Caroline liked it enough that she thought bringing it in her lunch thermos to school would be a good idea. I would definitely make this one again!
Fast forward to Saturday night and we were having the soup again for leftovers, but I wanted to try something different for bread on the side. Different but easy, since we were going to Saturday night mass. Luckily, I'd gotten my most recent AllRecipes magazine, and I found just the thing:
They had a section with recipes for favorites from recipes, and I think these are supposed to be like the biscuits you get at Red Lobster. Most importantly: three ingredients, and I already had shredded cheddar in the fridge. Done and done. Mixed them up, baked them (a little too long, but they were okay), and they were ready for dinner.
Truthfully, they weren't really like the restaurant biscuits, and they were a little denser than I like my biscuits, but they did the trick. Soup and biscuits for dinner again, and everyone was happy!

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