Split Pea Soup with Ham

For Easter we ordered a bone in half ham from Honey Baked Ham. It was delicious of course and I had fun coming up with a few ways to use the left overs. But...the bone was for a specific purpose...Nick's favorite Split Pea Soup. This recipe makes a ton of soup...we froze half of it so we can enjoy it later.

When saving the ham bone, make sure you leave some meat on it. We left the back part that is not already sliced. and any meat not pulled off the bone. We also used an 8 pound ham...so you need to adjust the recipe depending on the size of your ham.

Ingredients:

• Ham bone with some of the ham still attached
• 2 pounds split peas
• 14 cups water
• 2 tablespoons flour
• pepper, garlic, onion powder to taste

Place ham in a large pot. Rinse and drain split peas. Add peas to the pot and add water. Make sure the ham is covered by water. You can add 2 more cups if needed, but any more than that and you should add another pound of peas (use between 6-8 cups of water per pound of peas). Throw in the spices (a few dashes don't add salt because the ham is already really salty).

Cover and cook to a boil on Medium heat. Once boiling, stir and reduce heat to low. Cook for 4 hours stirring from time to time. After 4 hours, remove ham meat from bone and cut up any large pieces. You should be able to do this with ease since meat will be tender.  Slowly whisk in 1 tablespoon of flour at a time making sure there are no clumps. The flour will thicken up the sauce just a bit. Remove from heat and serve.

Cheers!
CC