Pea Soup with Ham

Tonight I thought I would try something different out... So I made split pea soup with ham. Turned out delicious, however, as pea soup always looks, disgusting. I have never tried it before but it's amazing and I love it. I never thought something that looked like mush could be awesome. I changed it up a bit and blended some of the ham with the soup. =D

Ingredients

1 large slice of ham
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 each carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups dried yellow split peas


Skin the slice of ham and remove any large portions of fat. Chop the ham into small chunks.
Put Chicken stock and water on to boil, when boiling add salt, pepper and bay leaves.
Add oil.
Chop onion, garlic,celery and carrots, add to broth
Add ham and peas to broth and cook until peas are soft.
Remove half the soup mix and put in blender.
Blend on high until pureed.
Cook for another 30 min and remove from heat.
Allow to cool completely and refrigerate for 2 days.
Heat and serve.

By the way, got a new camera for christmas. Much better picture quality to drool over.