Easy Peasy Split Pea Soup

At Little Man's nine month appointment (NINE months!!!) I was given the go ahead to give him almost anything to eat--with the exception of high-allergen foods like honey, peanut butter and shell fish. I'd been giving him some of the foods we'd been eating prior to this, but I guess I needed to hear from a doctor that it was OK to give our toothless wonder foods that weren't puréed or easily dissolved. (BTW, puréed chicken is one of the most vile things you've ever seen. I highly recommend that moms who are making their baby food NOT put chicken breasts in the blender. Disgusting. You're welcome.)

Since that appointment there is little "real food" that we've eaten that Little Man hasn't tried. Well, with the exception of sweets. I don't think he needs to become a chocoholic or cake addict before his first birthday. As my child, I think he's genetically predisposed to such an addiction.

Some foods I make need a little work to become toothless baby appropriate. Other foods, like last night's split pea soup, are perfect for babies! They also look quite a bit like baby food. Yuck! I promise the taste is at least a gazillion times better than it looks.

As always, I didn't actually measure, so take my estimates with that in mind.

Easy Peasy Split Pea Soup
(See what I did there?)

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
7 cups water
1 cup chicken stock
1 pound ham steak, cubed
1/2 tablespoon thyme
1/2 tablespoon marjoram
1 bay leaf
1 bag dried split peas, rinsed well
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, heat the coconut oil to a liquid and add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Sauté vegetables until tender. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add water, chicken stock, ham, peas, thyme, marjoram and bay leaf. Stir together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for approximately one hour.

If you don't have coconut oil, butter or olive oil would work just fine. Like I've said before, I've been experimenting with coconut oil and I kind of like the slight coconut-y sweetness it lends to this soup.

Serve while piping hot.

I recommend listening to the Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington Pandora station while cooking and consuming. Bonus points if it is half raining, half snowing. It makes for a vey comforting evening.

Little Man recommends smearing the soup all over your face. But only if bath time is immediately following soup time. That stuff turns cement-like pretty quickly!

Even exhausted that little guy is as happy as can be. How lucky am I?

I never really thought I liked split pea soup. Heck, I never really thought I liked peas. I find myself stepping out of my tiny comfort zone now that Little Man is eating solid foods. I really want him to taste a broad spectrum of foods. My goal is to try to avoid the chicken-fingers-only phase. It is probably inevitable, but there is no harm in trying, right?

What are you eating that is out of your comfort zone?