Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

so, hello. nicole here. chris has been bugging me to post some of the things i make. i'm not as extravagant in my cooking as he is, and it seems I have 1/8th the time to cook (wow, i wish i could work from home.) let's also start out with a little disclaimer: i am not a vegetarian. however, >90% of what i eat and what i cook are vegetarian. i used to be a vegetarian, but, in reality, i just like seafood too much. ;) in any case, i felt the following would be the absolute best thing with which to start out my posting, as it's the thing (next to sautéed tempeh or a hearty bowl of cocoa pebbles) that i make most frequently.

that being said, i need to give credit where credit is due. this recipe is only a slight modification of a soup recipe i saw on 101 cookbooks. (as an aside, this is a great website for really healthy, creative, vegetarian recipes). i prefer yellow split peas to green and i always add the broccoli and/or spinach just before puréeing, as well. i like to add a handful of garbanzo beans, and i don't much like smoked paprika, so i use plain ol' paprika. i also tend to make a half-batch, given the whole cooking-for-one thing. so. without further ado, i give you a FANTASTIC vegetarian split pea soup.

• 2 onions, any variety (i like sweet yellows), chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fine ground sea salt
• 2 cups of dried split peas, yellow or green, sorted. (pick out the ones that look, uh, shriveled.)
• 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans, optional (canned)
• 5 and 1/2 cups of water
• 1 cup of chopped spinach, optional (fresh or frozen)
• 1/2 cup of chopped broccoli, optional (fresh or frozen)
• splash of lemon juice
• drizzle of olive oil
• sprinkling of paprika

in a large pot, heat the olive oil, salt and onions for about 2 minutes, until the onions become translucent and soft. add the water and split peas (and, if you are using dried garbanzo beans, add them here. otherwise, if you use canned, like i do, wait until the peas are cooked before adding.) bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to let the peas simmer until soft but still al dente. (this takes me usually 20 minutes.)

once you've cooked the peas and onions, add in the chopped broccoli and spinach, as well as the garbanzo beans - if you're using the canned variety. let simmer for an additional 3-5 minutes until the entire soup is heated through.

remove the pot from the heat. ladle about 1/4 of the soup into a bowl and set it aside. for the remainder of the soup, use either a hand blender, a traditional blender or a food processor and purée everything together. return everything to the pot and mix in the 1/4 of the soup you set aside. this step is really key - leaving that little bit left really makes for a great texture. :)

serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika on each bowl. a very simple recipe, a super-short ingredient list, and a fantastic soup to enjoy. everyone wins.

n.b.: this recipe also makes for great leftovers and freezes very easily. if you're like me and low on time and, often, energy, make a big batch and it will be fantastic every time you heat it up.