Split Pea and Ham Bone Soup

Every year at Thanksgiving we buy an Appleton Spiral Sliced Ham from ALDI for those who are not turkey fans at our dinner table. My husband is a huge fan, so I figured I would cook one over the weekend with some Kaese Spaetzle for a German-themed dinner night. After serving our family dinner, which barely put a dent in the 10 lb. ham, I trimmed and froze about half the remaining meat, portioned out some for weekday lunches with the leftover spaetzle, and still had about 3 lbs. leftover for sandwiches (or whatever) along with the ham bone.

So what to do with the ham bone? I have a couple of soup recipes that call for a ham bone, but this split pea recipe is by far my favorite.

Split Pea and Ham Bone Soup (Slow Cooker)

Serves 4, Cost per Serving $.37

Ingredients

One ham bone with some meat remaining

1 lb. dry split peas - rinsed and sorted (I have also used lentils when I don't have split peas)

8 cups of water

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

4 stalks of celery, chopped

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in slow cooker and simmer on low for 6-8 hours, or until peas are tender.

2. Remove bones and break up meat into bite-size pieces.

Freezer to Crockpot Directions: 

Place all ingredients except water into a gallon freezer bag. Press out air, seal, and freeze for up to 3 months. The day of cooking, empty contents of bag into the Crockpot, add the 8 c. of water, and cook on low all day.