Easy Peasy Smoky Pea Soup in a Slow Cooker

This is my favorite pea soup. If you let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, the soup will thicken up to where your saltines will stand up in the soup!

Below are the easy peasy (couldn't help myself) steps.

As always a link to the printable recipe will be available after the steps or if you want to bypass the steps, click HERE.

Soak a 16-ounce bag of dry split peas in two quarts of water for 2 or more hours.

Stir them up a bit so they don't stick together.

Prepare 6-quart slow cooker crock with cooking spray.

Place a rinsed ham hock into the slow cooker.

Add your rinsed peas,

carrots,

onions,

minced garlic,

low sodium chicken broth,

1 teaspoon liquid smoke,

1 bay leaf,

1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves,

pepper to taste,

and salt to taste.

Mix it all up,

cover, and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours.

Now one step I forgot to take pictures of is what to do with the ham hock when the soup is finished. Take it out of the soup and let it cool. Once it is easy to handle, pick the meat off the ham hock, cut into small pieces and place back into the soup and stir.

You can throw away the bones and skin.

Note: I always make this soup a day ahead and let it thicken in the refrigerator overnight. Turns out to be thick as fog, or is that thick as pea soup?

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Easy Peasy Smoky Pea Soup in a Slow Cooker

The title says it all! Great winter night comfort food and oh so thick it will stick to yer bones!

Print

Prep: 15 minutes                         Level: Easy

Cook: 4 hours or 8 1/2 hours     Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 ham hock (about 3 pounds or 2 weighing 1 1/2 pounds)
• 16 oz. dry split peas
• 3 cups carrots, diced 
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 32-ounce box low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Soak peas in water for 2 or more hours. Drain. Rinse the ham hock and place into a cooking spray prepared 6-quart slow cooker. Follow with the peas, carrots, onion, garlic, broth, bay leaf, thyme, and salt and pepper. Mix. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Remove the ham hock with tongs and set aside to let cool. When cooled, pick off the meat, chop into small pieces and put into the soup and stir. Throw away the skin and bones.

Substitutions for the ham hock: smoked sausage cut into 1" pieces, smoked ham in chunks, smoky bacon cut into pieces. You may need to add more salt to your taste.

Chuckwagon Venison Chili

Oh, how I love my ground venison. There are so many uses for it. If I don't announce that there is venison in any given recipe, the recipient usually can't tell. But those who don't care for it  and know me will look at me with suspicious eyes and ask, "Is this venison?" 

And I will sweetly smile and ask, "What do you think?"

When their bowl of this kickin' chili is empty, I know I disguised it well.

Here are a few of the ingredients I used. I'm not endorsing any brand here, so feel free to use any brand you like. These and the rest of the ingredients are listed below.

Chuckwagon Venison Chili

8 ounces spicy hot ground sausage, browned and drained

1 pound ground venison, cook until pink, drain

2 ½ cups finely chopped red and green bell pepper

1 large onion, chopped, divided

2 tablespoons butter

4 slices cooked crumbled bacon

1 15-ounce Southwestern Chili Beans with cumin and cayenne in chili Sauce

1 10-ounce can Rotel Chili Fixins’ seasoned with green chilies

1 14.5-ounce can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with garlic

1 16-ounce can tomato sauce

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 cup beef broth, more if desired

1 tablespoon chopped chipotles in adobe sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cumin, adjust to taste 

1 teaspoon chili powder, adjust to taste 

3 drops jalapeno sauce, adjust to taste 

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

sour creme (optional, but believe me, you'll want it!)

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

chopped onion (optional)

tortilla chips (optional)

I like to stock up on produce when I get into town. But sometimes I don't use it up quick enough and I see it looking a little tired. So, in the case of these red and green Bell Peppers, I diced them up, put them in a freezer bag, and tossed them into the freezer. They were going to be perfect for this soup.

Cook the sausage until almost browned, drain. Cook the venison until pink. Drain.

Toss in the frozen peppers.

While you are waiting for the peppers to thaw, chop up a big onion. Throw half into the pot.

Throw in those leftover pieces of cooked bacon from breakfast.

Stir it all up.

Add the beans, tomatoes...

 tomato sauce and paste...

beef broth...you can add more later if you think the chili needs it.

Don't forget the one tablespoon of chopped chipotles in adobe sauce.

The chipotles give it the kick!

Add the spices and stir.

Three (or more) drops of the jalapeno sauce.

Stir it up good and let it simmer on medium low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with a dollop of sour creme (this will help cool that kick I was telling you about), sprinkle the shredded cheese and onions over top and serve! You can also serve with a side of tortilla chips for dipping. Yum!

Here's the Printable Recipe...

Venisonburger Soup

Oh, baby, it's cold outside. And the snow is falling sideways, going with the flow as the ferocious wind blows today. You know it is bad out there when the Mackinac Bridge is closed.

We are covered in snow up here in the backwoods and it's too bone chilling to go out and enjoy it.

There is a Florida trip in our future plans but all of my summer clothes are packed in totes which are upstairs in the unattached cold garage. Brrrr...don't know when I'll start packing. This cold spell looks like a long one. There is a fire in the wood burner out there in that garage of ours, but I'll have to stoke it up some before I venture out in my heavy jacket, furry yooper hat, warm gloves, while wearing my Muck boots because they come up to my knees. 

Looking forward to a week of sunny and (hopefully) 75...Sing it with me if you are a Country Music fan!

Somewhere, somewhere, Sunny and 7555555...

by Joe Nichols

Steve and I are under the weather a bit. Steve more than me. Just head/sinus colds with the cough. He is sleeping in a bunk by the wood stove, the dogs on a blanket right next to him on the floor. I can't tell you for sure which one of those dozers is snoring.

So when there's nothing else to do -- make soup! And maybe I'll perk up our spirits a bit by sharing with you pictures that remind me of summer. If yer so inclined to try this recipe, it is available to print at the bottom of this post. Here goes...

Last week we were in the Soo and I stocked up on fresh produce. I knew what I wanted to do with them purdy peppers - put them in a soup of some sort. Well, with all the venison in the freezer, the meat was a no-brainer. I took out a package of ground venison and instantly thought of a juicy hamburger, topped with all the fixins'. But I was cold, and I wanted to make something that would take the chill out of me. So I began making a soup while thinking about what I would put on my burger were I to have one. (But I didn't. I made soup instead. Are you still with me?)

Now, normally I wouldn't put peppers on a burger. But they were such purdy peppers. Onion. Yes, definitely an onion would be on my burger.

And bacon.

I love bacon burgers.

Add ground venison and garlic (because I love garlic, too).

At this point things don't look all that yummy.

Remember the purdy peppers?

I chopped them up...

...and tossed them in.

I added 3 cups of beef broth, a bunch of spices, a few sliced jalapenos out of the jar, as well as a large tablespoon of the jalapeno juice in the jar, and I let it simmer awhile. Now for the kicker...I love tomatoes on my hamburger, don't you? And I had all these cherry tomatoes I picked up at Gordon Foods Service last week. I love to munch on them as a snack, but they just looked like they needed to be in my soup. So this is what I did...

I popped one in my mouth, then I washed and dried the rest.

I drizzled extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) over the tomatoes and tossed them up. (Don't you love the EVOO decanter? My mom gave me that for Christmas. Thanks mom!) This picture is freaky blurry but it hides the clutter that has nothing to do with tomatoes or EVOO. Remember, I live in a teeny, tiny, minute, small, itty- bitty, pocket-sized, modest, meager, humble ...oh, where was I? Back to turmatoes...

I placed them in a single layer on a roasting pan lined with foil which I had sprayed with cooking spray. After that they went into a preheated 425 degree oven for an hour, turning them at 30 minutes.

They came out so yummy. Roasting them gives them a sweeter, summery taste.

Once the soup had simmered 20 minutes or until the peppers were tender, but not mushy, I added the roasted tomatoes.

Add shredded cheese (cheeseburger!) and enjoy! And yes, it takes the chill out! And what I found nice is without beans or pasta (I love both), the result is a low carb yummy winter soup that reminded me of summer, only if I didn't look out the window, and see the cold, and all the snow out there, and the big snow plow that just turned around in our driveway, and the cold. But if you don't care about carbs, get yourself a big hunk of your favorite bread to dip into this soup (the bun, perfect ending).  

Do you want to give it a try? Here is the link to the Printable Recipe.

Delishness from the back country woods!!