Split Pea Soup

I like to have ham for dinner just so I can have split pea soup with the leftover ham and bone.  Surprisingly this is a hit with my kids (even the picky one). 

2 cups dried split peas
1 ham bone
3 celery stocks, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1//2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and pepper

Rinse split peas and soak overnight (sometimes I forget to soak over night, a couple hours works fine).
Boil ham and bone in water 4-5 hours. 

About 1 hour and 15 min. before serving add the rest of the ingredients to the boiling ham stirring occasionally until peas are tender and liquid is partially cooked down.  Stir frequently towards end of cooking to keep from scorching. 

 Before serving, transfer ham and bone to cutting board and cut into bite size pieces, return ham to soup and discard bone.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  If soup is too thick add water. 

Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

This is an easy, rustic, no knead bread.  The hard part is remembering to start it the night befor you eat it.

3 c flour
1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c warm water

Make dough the night befor serving. Mix all ingredients by hand (no mixer).  Set it on countertop in a bowl, covered with towel and leave overnight.  3 hours before serving dump dough onto a floured counter top and fold into thirds (like an evelope) 3 times.  Cover with cloth and let rise for 2 hours.  1/2 hour before baking place dutch oven into 425* oven to heat.  After 2 hours of rising place dough into hot dutch oven and bake for 30 min with lid on.  Remove lid and bake for another 10-15 min.  Remove from dutch oven and listen to the bread crackle as it cools.

I like to just break the bread apart with my hands and dip into olive oil with balsamic vinegar and pepper like at Macaroni Grill.  Yum Yum!

happy cinco de mayo!

baked creamy chicken taquitos.

i made these today for lunch. good ... very much kid food. i used corn tortillas. it made 20. i would double it next time since i love lots of leftovers - and to freeze some.

made this too.  kim has mentioned it before. i love this salsa. and all mexican foods. thank goodness for cinco de mayo for an excuse to have mexi food all day long.

clam chowder

 this is one of our favorite go-to-frozen-easy meals.

It's really good, you can find it in the deli/cheese section of costco (at least that's where I found it).  I don't really even like clam chowder, I originally got it for Jeff to take to work, but have ended up eating it on nights we get home late and dinner isn't ready, and now I can say I do like clam chowder.  It tastes homemade and isn't very fishy/clam-y.

I usually serve it with homemade bread and some raw fruit or veggies or edamame because the servings are pretty small.

here's the nutrition info if you are interested: