Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

1 pound dried green split peas, rinsed
2 med carrots, peel and slice ( I used a bag of matchstick cut carrots – so easy!)
2 med celery stalks, med dice
½ - 1 onion medium dice
2 med garlic cloves, minced ( or several dashes of garlic powder)
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs Italian parsley ( I  did not have this)
1 meaty smoked ham bone, or bag of pre-diced ham ( I used pre diced ham - so fast!)
5 cups chicken broth
Sea salt or kosher salt
Ground black pepper

Arrange the spit peas on the bottom of the crockpot in an even layer. Layer the carrots, celery, onion, garlic bay leaf, over the peas in one even layer. (Or several layers!) Place the hambone on top or the diced ham.

Pour chicken broth over all and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours till peas are very soft and meat is falling off the bone.

Remove the ham bone, cool, and pull the meat off.  Put back in the soup and discard the bay leaf.  Stir a bit and serve with crusty bread.  The soup gets thicker as it cools.  You don’t have to blend it at all; it just gets really soft and the peas lose their shape.

Minestrone Soup

1 lb. hamburger
1 chopped onion
3 cans Campbell's minestrone soup
3 cans water
15 oz. Pork and Beans (with maple and brown sugar)
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tbl. Worcestershire (optional)

Sauté and drain hamburger and onion.  Add the rest and simmer 1 hour or all day on very low heat.

Better variation ( 12/15/2013):

Add 2 cans pork and beans and if they are not maple flavored, then add some maple syrup!

Add 1 24 oz can of cheap pasta sauce by Hunts – onion and roasted garlic.

Also add 1 cup of small shell noodles at the beginning if cooked in the crockpot.

Cook 4 hours on low.

If cooking on stove top then add the pasta and some extra water so the noodles cook but you don’t lose liquid. 

Or don’t add extra pasta at all, very flexible soup!