Put the Ham Bone, onions and garlic in the soup pot with water to cover or close to it. If the bone is tall like this one was, you can use tongs to flip it over part way through the cooking process. I like to simmer the bone for atleast a couple of hours.

Yep them the ones you want! They also come in Yellow and would work fine.

Sift the peas through your fingers, sifting out any non-edibles you may find. Although I have never found anything in dried peas - this is something my Granma Edna tought me and I did it religously, especially with dried beans when making chili.

After removing the hambone and meat from the soup pot and its cooled, pick the meat off the bone and dice it up along with any additional ham you reserved and add this back into the soup pot. 

YUM! the finshed soup. Very hearty and tasty. Add some good crusty bread or toast for dipping. My dad likes to add a few dashes of Cider Vinegar to his, I think this is an English thing! LOL Taste test before serving to check for seasonings. Some Ham is more salty, so I try not to add to much salt when cooking, you can always add more but it's tough to take it away.

Earlier this week I FB'k about some Split Pea soup I was making. I had made a ham over the weekend that had a large bone in it - so what else could I do but make some good ol', rib sticking, wonderful smelling and great tasting Split Pea Soup! It turned out so good! As usual it was pretty thick, so instead of watering it down with water, I added a can of beef broth - my hubby Mark loved the extra hearty flavor. You couldn't really taste the beef broth, but it just added a wonderful flavor.

Here's my basic recipe:
Ham bone and some extra ham to dice up and add later
about 8 cups of water - enough to cover the ham bone or close to it. May need to add more through the cooking process
1 small Onion - diced
2 cloves of Garlic - diced
1 bag (2 cups) of dry Green Split Peas, sift through and check for any non-edibles, dirt, rocks, etc.
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 15 oz can broth Vegetable or Beef

Place the ham bone, onion and garlic in a soup pot, add enough water to cover the bone, cover with lid and boil till meat is loosened from the bone. Remove bone and any large chunks of meat to a plate to cool. Add the dry, sifted through Split Peas. Cover and simmer on medium untill the peas are softened and loose their shape - kind of creamy. When the meat is cooled enough to handle, pick any meat from the bone and dice up along with any additional reserve ham, add back into the soup pot. Continue cooking until the peas are the desired softness, stirring occassionaly, you may need to add more water or broth to thin to desired consistancy.

You can also add:
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced potato or cubed hashbrowns
1 cup diced celery
I've also used bacon in place of the ham - taste great too!

You can also make this soup totally vegetarian by omitting the ham, saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil to soften. Add about 6 to 7 cups of water and a 15 oz can of vegetable broth, bring to a high simmer and add the dry peas.

For a really creamy texture you can  process this soup with a blender or an emmersion blender. I like a little chunkiness so I don't do this step.

I hope you try this recipe, great anytime but especially on a cold day, warms you right up and it's so hearty! Enjoy.

 

 Beginning view, the C is still in it's beginning stage and I have 1 coat on the A and the M. It took 2 coats of the dark puple acrylic paint to cover the brown paper of the letters.

 2 coats of the dark puple on, then the "crackle" medium, let dry and then add the top coat.  I used white acrylic paint for the top coat. When using the crackle finish I have found that it is definately easier and a better end result to use a foam brush to apply the top coat.

 Look at those wonderful cracks! A time worm effect in a matter of minutes, gotta love that!

The finshed results!

It's going to be a busy week, I'm doing the flowers for a wedding this weekend for a friend's daughter. Beautiful colors, purples, pewter and white. Part of the decorations are some paper mache' letters for the bride and groom's initials. I made up some samples of possible paint finishes for Amanda (the bride) to choose from. She chose the crackle finish with a dark purple base and white top coat. I really like how this effect turns out and it something that she'll be able to keep and place in their home. I love things like the paper mache products, they lend themselves to so many finish options. I have several boxes that I'm planning on doing a decorative finish and then some paint designs on for the holidays. Here's pics of the letters I did for my bride, I'll post pics of the wedding flowers this weekend.

Some Homemade Fried Zuchini

 I sliced up 3 fresh Zuchini into about 1/4 inch thick slices, removing both end of course.

 Everybody in the pool! I stir the slices around so both sides are coated with the batter.

 Into the hot oil for a minute or 2 on each side. They cook pretty fast so keep an eye on them. When done frying remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet to drain. I sprinkle them with some salt while still really hot.

VIOLA! The finished product, add a little dipping sauce if you like.

My oldest son Josh went to the store with me today and talked me into making fried Zucchini for dinner. I haven't made these in so long due to the "frying" and the "battering" - not really 2 items that are currently on my diet! But they did taste good. Easy batter recipe is 1 beaten egg, 1 cup of cold water, 1 to 1.5 cups flour and 1 tsp baking soda. Mix ingredients together and dip veggies, fish or whatever in and then deep fry. I used to call this kind of meal a "lard ass meal" for what it does to your waistline and butt! But hey everything in moderation right????

                           Yeah, the finished product! The London Broil turned  out fantastic!
                                                         Tender and juicy, we all loved it!

                                  Hubby Mark's slicing it up after it rested for a few minutes.

The full finished plate. It was so good. I will defineately make this marinade again.

Picked up a London Broil steak at the store this morning to BBQ tonight for dinner. I didn't feel like using my usual teriyaki marinade, that we all just love - old family recipe.  I wanted to change it up a bit. So to the spice cupboard I went. This is what I ended up mixing together:

Greek Herb Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil, 3 medium sized cloves of garlic-minced (you could do this to your own taste), 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, about 2 Tbspns Balsamic Vinegar (good stuff please) and 1 Tbspn dried Greek herbs. Put all of this in a heavy ziplock bag and mush it around to mix well, place your steak, chicken, pork or lamb in and zip up - pressing the air out. Place in the fridge to marinate for 3 to 8 hours. Then just BBQ to your desired doneness and enjoy!

To go with this BBQ's London broil, I'm thinking a nice cool pasta salad (recipe below) and a green veggie, either green bean or broccoli? With a little morning prep or the night before, this will be a quick to fix meal and hopefully we'll have some leftovers for Mark's lunch.

Tracy's Quick and Easy pasta Salad
Cooked, rinsed and cooled Salad Pasta - seashell, small elbow, etc, 2 cups dry, 1 can of Black Olives, sliced, 2 to 3 Green Onions - sliced, 1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar or a Cheddar Cheese mix, 1/4 cup each diced Red and Green Bell Peppers. Dressing: 1/2 cup Mayo, 1/8 tsp Black Pepper, 1/4 tsp Salt, dash or two of Garlic Powder. Mix all ingredients together, place in the fridge to cool for at least 1 hour and serve.

This Past Salad recipe can be added to and doubled easily. Make it a main dish salad by adding cooked, cubed chicken or tuna. Frozen peas are great in it too - especially with tuna!

Getting back on TRACK!

Wow I didn't realize how easy it was to just forget about my dear old blog - I did it again! Shame on me!!! My friend Tanya is so diligent about posting to hers once a week, good for her, always posting great pics of things they're doing or events they're at or even just nature's beauty.

I watched a show today that I've watched many times. It has a homely little gal host, who shows how to be "creative" around the house, cooking, gardening, etc. It's a good show, it's on PBS, so not quite cable quality. Everytime I watch this show I ask myself why, the ideas aren't any better than mine, the mechanics of her projects stink and she's really kind of annoying to listen too! Then I ask myself, why is she on TV and I'm not? I think having a TV show showing fun and creative cooking, arts and crafts, gardening and entertaining would be a blast! Yes a lot of work, but oh how much fun could I have coming up with things to do, cook and create!

So with this question in mind I'm giving a sort of re-birth to my blog, I am going to dedicate this blog to doing just that.  Who knows maybe just the right person will read it and I'll have my chance in the spotlight?? How fun would that be! - OH I think that's a line from my favorite cook, Ina Garten from the Barefoot Contessa (her and Paula Deen are my heros).

I got an early birthday gift this weekend while camping at my fav place - Ocean Shores WA, my hubby Mark and niece Jamela surprised me with a new camera. So with this nifty little camera I'll be bringing lots of great pics of foods, crafts, gardening and more.  I hope people will follow my blog, comment and share with me their ideas and thoughts.