Raise your hand if you are an absolute NUT over soup. Yeah, me too! I regularly eat soup for breakfast I love it so much. When I make a pot, I have it three times a day the first day and sometimes the second day, too. After that I will freeze what’s left in individual servings to enjoy later.
This is my split pea and lentil soup. Most split pea soup is a little bit thinner than I like. So I put less broth and add lentils to make it more hearty and thick. A friend of mine invited us over for a family dinner and the main dish was a baked ham. When we were cleaning up for the night, she took all the meat off the ham bone and was going to toss the bone. I politely interjected and asked if she minded if I take it home. There was still a TON of meat on the bone and I knew that if I made stock with the bone, the rest of that meat would tenderize and fall off plus flavor the stock.
I used my regular bowl of vegetable trimmings in the bottom of the fridge and the ham bone to make a very rich homemade stock. I drained the stock and let it set overnight in the fridge to skim and defat the pot. I used my hands to go through and pull out all the largest ham chunks that were cooked off the bone. Then I put a half a bag of dried split peas and a half a bag of lentils in the stock. I check for the salt and pepper to make sure it’s seasoned well.
My favorite way to eat split pea soup is to add a teaspoon of sour cream and some fried onion pieces to the bowl. But I am trying to behave and keep it as healthy as I can so I kept my craving in check. The great thing about split pea soup is it’s a wonder food on the glycemic food index.
What is your favorite soup recipe?
Shared on Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.
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ooooh! I’m a “thick” soup lover too. I usually end up making my own because most of the kinds you get in the shops around here aren’t thick enough for me.
I feel so inspired by your usage of vegetable trimmings in the stock! What sorts of scraps do you keep? Composting is huge here and if my rental unit afforded me the space to do it, I would – so this idea of saving scraps for soup is very appealing to me! Less waste = good.
Thank you very much!
I keep all kinds of scraps from fruits, vegetables, meats…all of it. I try to find ways to reuse everything to get the most value from it before I dispose of it to compost. I keep my compost in the fridge actually. Then when I go to my local CSA for a pick up I dump it in their big compost pile. I live in an apartment and can’t have a compost pile outside either. So this is how I get around it and still do something good.
I just have a big bowl with a lid, two actually. One of them I keep veggie scraps in that are good as purees or as flavorings in stocks. Then when I’m ready to cook a big batch of stuff I go through it and reuse everything in it in any way that I can. I only keep stuff like that for a week, two at most, so it’s not gross and rotten or anything. Another bowl has already cooked veggie pulp scraps to go straight to compost.
I also keep a gallon freezer bag in the freezer with bits of vegetables left from dinners to make soup with when it gets pretty full. And any pork/beef bones I have I put them in another gallon freezer bags and when it gets full I make homemade stock/broth/soups with them. Some veggie scraps like tomato scraps and strawberry scraps I keep in freezer bags in the freezer, too. Because after I collect them for a while and have alot, I make special things I love with them like homemade v8, gazpacho, strawberry limeade syrup and other stuff.
I am writing an ebook right now about my compost cooking adventures. Stay tuned when it’s ready!
Your soup looks wonderful! I like cooking with scraps as well. Thanks for sharing this with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Thank you!