Split Pea Soup

[Catfish]

Good Rib-Sticking Comfort food for a cold day.

1 Supersized crock pot
2 - 1lb. bags dried split peas
1 large or 2 medium onions
12 - 15 cloves garlic
1.5 lb's Ham
1 - 3 bay leaves
1lb. carrots


Rinse the peas well and soak them overnight (in a bowl covered in water). Rinse them again well before adding them while assembling the soup.
Finely chop the onion
Crush the garlic
Cube the ham ( i prefer smaller cubes but big hunks are good, too.)
Cut up the carrots into good-sized pieces. ( i use baby carrots and don't touch em)
If your peas came with packs of ham flavoring, add it but it's not necessary
Dump it all into the crock pot and make sure the mixture is covered with water.
After about 4 - 5 hours cooking, salt and pepper to taste.
Cook until the peas have broken down and the soup is opaque. Usually about 7 hours minimum. The longer it cooks, the thicker it gets.


I made some this weekend. Awesome stuff. Good with saltines or some garlic bread. After about 2 hours, the house was filled with such an excellent aroma...