Split Pea Soup for You & Baby

I love to use my crockpot on the weekends and last weekend was no exception (I can never quite get it together on a weekday morning.) I made split pea soup. Now don’t think “gross”. Split pea soup may look gross but it’s actually pretty good and very good for you.

Split pea soup is typically made with ham. I don’t eat ham. I actually haven’t eaten ham since I was a kid. There’s something about the color and the texture that weirds me out, even before I gave up meat all together.

So in searching for a meat- free version, I found this recipe:

Crock Pot Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

I was happy to give it a try.

When I started putting the soup together in the crock I thought that my baby Jack might like split pea soup. But I wasn’t sure about feeding him some of the ingredients like garlic and celery. So I got out my baby crock and made a baby version alongside the adult version. Here’s what I did:

Crockpot Split Pea Soup for Baby
Makes approximately 3 cups

1/2 cup split peas
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup peeled & diced potatoes
2 cups water*
A pinch dry mustard
A pinch dry thyme
A pinch dry cumin

Combine everything in a baby crock. Cook on high for an hour and then low for at least three hours or until vegetable are soft and peas are broken up.

Purée using an immersion blender to desired thickness depending on what your baby can handle. Save some in fridge for serving immediately and freeze the rest in small jelly jars for later. I froze all of it immediately and got 6 little jars out of it.

Two are not pictured because they didn’t look as pretty. 🙂

*Now for the note on water. When I pulled this out of the freezer to serve to Jack this week, I noticed it was a lot runnier than I intended. So next time I make this I will either increase the vegetables or decrease the water a little bit so the soup is thicker. We had to add a little cereal to give it some substance.

Jack really liked the soup and I was happy I made it for him. I tasted it and although it’s not as flavorful as the adult version it still tasted pretty good. And a lot better than some of the jarred stuff! We use both homemade and jarred baby food and while the jarred orange veggies and fruits are pretty good, the jarred green vegetables are horrible. I know because I taste them all!

And here is a picture of the adult version:

No it’s not much to look at but it’s tasty, cheap and good for you. One batch got us dinner and lunch the next day plus a big bowl for the freezer that we can pull out for a quick dinner on a busy weeknight (and possibly two more lunches).

I’m so glad it’s Friday! I think I say that every week. Have a wonderful day!