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Split Pea Soup
From Lunches & Snacks
with Lessons for Children
A very inexpensive soup at about $.30 per serving.
Amount: About 4
Servings
1. In a large soup pot bring water and peas to a boil for 3 minutes.
Reduce heat to a very gentle boil until peas are tender, about 45 to 60
minutes.
8 cups water
2 cups green or yellow split peas
2. Add and cook about 20 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender:
1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
3 ribs celery, thinly sliced, or bunch of chopped
celery leaves
1 bay leaf
3. Remove bay leaf. Puree all or part of the soup in the blender.
4. Season to taste with
1 1/4 to 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Per
serving of 4
Exchanges: 1.5 Meat, 3.5 Bread, 1.5 Vegetable; 384
Calories, 25 g. protein (21%), 1 g. fat (2%), 92 g. carbohydrate (77%; 8
g sugars), 18 g dietary fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 768 mg sodium, $.30
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Assemble
Equipment: rinsing bowl (for split
peas),
colander (for draining split peas), vegetable brush, cutting board, sharp cutting knife,
kitchen shears (to open split pea bag), 1 quart glass measure,
2 cup measure, soup pot, stirring spoon, kitchen timer, blender
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Add 8 cups water to soup pot |
Measure
and add 2 cups split peas to rinsing bowl
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Cover
peas in bowl generously
with water
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Swish
hand through rinse water and peas to loosen any dirt, chaff, bad split
peas or rocks (most of this will float to the top). Pour
off water at the top, holding hand over the peas. Do this again if needed
to clean the peas |
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Drain
peas in colander
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Add
peas to water in the soup pot
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Turn
the heat on high to bring to a boil |
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Boil
3 minutes
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Lower
heat to keep peas boiling gently |
Boil
gently 45 - 60 minutes or until peas are cooked
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 Preparation Tip:
Set
the timer for 15 minutes only
In
15 minutes check the water level on the peas.
Add more water if the level is
getting low
Set timer every 15 minutes and check water level
until peas are tender
What causes the water
level to go down?
The
peas are absorbing water
Some of the boiling water will evaporate
The more vigorous the boiling, the more water
will be needed |
Step #2
Add and cook the
vegetables until they are tender, about 20 minutes
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| Peel and chop 1 medium onion: |
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Add
chopped onion to soup pot
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Wash
carrots
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Slice 3 medium
carrots
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Add
carrots to soup pot
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Nutrition Note: Unless the carrots are stringy don't peel them for soups
Much of the nutritional value is in the skin |
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Wash
celery
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Chop
or slice 3 ribs celery
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Add
celery to soup pot
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| Tip: This is a good recipe to use up celery
leaves |
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Keep an eye on the water level, adding more if needed
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Add 1 bay
leaf
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Cook
about 20 minutes until vegetables are tender
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Step #3
Remove bay leaf. Puree all or part of the soup in the blender, as desired |
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Optional:
Add all or part of the soup to blender
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Remove
bay leaf
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Blend
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Blending Tips:
Blending the soup will thicken it and make it smooth
Blend only part of the soup, (leave some
of the vegetables in pieces)
for more interesting
texture
If you blend all of the soup, blend in smaller
batches using an extra container
to pour out the
blended soup so you can refill the blender with what
remains in the soup pot
The blended soup will change
color because of the carrots (see below)
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