Peas Porridge

I still can't believe my kids will eat this one. 

All of this cold weather has had my soup pot working over time, and this one didn't disappoint. Hearty and packed with veggies, my peas porridge is basically an easy chunky pea soup. It doesn't take a lot of ingredients, but delivers a whole lot of flavor! 

Add your own seasonings and variations but be careful ... with the salted butter, salted chicken broth and salty ham, the soup was plenty seasoned enough. 

Veggies and ham sautéing. 

Dried peas from Publix and some chicken broth I got on BOGO (yassss).

Ingredients:

1 lb. bag of dried green peas
1 32 oz. carton of chicken broth
1 cup of chopped cubed ham
4-6 tablespoons butter
1 onion (diced)
4 carrots (peeled and chopped)
3 stalks of celery (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)

Directions:

Prepare all veggies except garlic and add to a stock pot with butter. Sautee for 5-10 minutes. Add ham and garlic and sautee for 5 more minutes. Then add peas and chicken broth and bring to a boil. After a few minutes, reduce and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add 1-2 cups of water towards the last 10-15 minutes of cooking if needed. Serve with crusty bread.

*Side note: this can easily be made into a vegan soup if you omit the ham, swap out the butter for olive oil or a vegan butter-like spread and trade the chicken broth for vegetable broth or stock. Just be sure to add a little more seasoning to make up for the missing salty ham.