Split Pea City
Evening, all! Did you have a good day? Can you believe tomorrow is Friday? This week went by really quickly to me!
I was up at campus all afternoon teaching. Between classes, I snacked on a juicy apple (I’m loving pink ladies these days—so crisp!), as well as a 100 calorie pack of plain almonds (I actually like the seasoned ones better, but they have all sorts of weird chemically ingredients in them, so I just get the plain ones now). I also had a big mug of hot tea. Yum!
When I got home around 6:30, I got to work on dinner: a big, comforting pot of soup. Nothing better in the dead of winter, am I right?
Actually, today our temps got up to the high 30’s, and it felt almost tropical!!
Still, when I got home, I really wanted something warm and comforting. Enter…
Smoky Split Pea Soup With Maple Tempeh Strips
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
2 cups dried split peas
5 cups vegetable broth
1-2 cups water
2 cups fresh spinach
1 tsp. liquid smoke
Directions:
In a large soup pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and carrots and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for another five minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add split peas, and vegetable broth. Bring to a rapid boil, then reduce heat to a high simmer or low boil and cover. Cook for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, if soup too thick, add more water (I ended up having to add about another 2 cups to get it to the consistency I wanted). After adding more liquid, cook for another 10-20 minutes, until peas are soft. Stir in liquid smoke and spinach, and stir until spinach wilts down. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
To make the maple tempeh, rub thin slices of tempeh with about a tsp. of maple syrup, and cook in a skillet in a tsp. of oil (I used safflower) until browned and crispy.
Yum!
As I cooked, I enjoyed a little celebratory libation in honor of another semester’s first week completed. Here’s hoping that spring semester flies by!
Double, double, toil and trouble:
And finally, a lovely dinner with my hub:
With my brewski:
Look how pretty the lilies have gotten:
Now we’re relaxing on our couch with the dogs, watching a little 30 Rock. Hope your week is wrapping up nicely.
Good night, dear readers!
I love split pea soup and although I add spinach to many things I make, I had not thought about adding it to split pea so that is what I’ll do next time! I hope those Pink Ladies are from Washington
this week has flown by, hooray! The temps where I am are in the high 30s too- it’s like a heat wave. I’ll take it! Beautiful flowers by the way
Yeah… I took the trash out in shorts this morning. It was 25 degrees and I was basking in the glory of the heat wave
Yummy looking dinner and beautiful table setting!
That bowl is beautiful!! That whole place setting is so elegant. I need to try putting tempeh in soup–sounds great and hearty.
What a lovely bowl, cup, flowers and soup!
I made tempeh once, it was okay…. not a huge fan though
Really?!? I love it!!
That looks really good and I love the dishes! Pink Lady apples are definitely delicious, they’re one of my favorite apples too.
LOVIN the split pea soup! i could eat soup every meal during the cold weather and be happy. tempeh is the best touch!
That looks delicious!! We ate at Earthereal yesterday (hoping to see Kevin Bacon – he had been there THREE days in a row!! – but he didn’t come) Anyway, Katie and John had made a delicious Greek stew with chickpeas, spinach and other veggies, over brown rice. I could eat soup or stews every meal in the winter! We’re off to New Orleans – I’ll try and call you at some point. Have a great weekend.
Y’all have fun!!! Tell MM that I said hello!
Yummy! I may have to try this one out soon. I bet it’d be great with kale too. Thanks so much for sharing!
OH MY . . . your dinner table and place setting is amazing . . . so blog photo worthy
yum, looks delicious and cozy. will have to try the recipe!
Mmm, nothing like a hot soup and a cold beer! Funny, I had that same combo last night!!!
Regarding your question about soy, I don’t have a definitive answer for you (you will read many different things in the literature) but the suggestion is to not take supplemental doses (which can be quite high, ranging from 100-maybe 200 grams). Here is some more information
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-soy.html
I would suggest no more than 30-40 grams, especially if you have breast cancer in your family.
Thanks Gina! Yeah, I would never even think about taking soy supplements…I get enough in food as it is!
Oh that tempeh on top looks so amazingly good! And I love the napkin and placemat! It’s so fun to make dinner feel special
The week totally flew by didn’t it?
I love mixing almonds with soy sauce and roasting them. So good and less boring than the plain ones!
That soup looks fantastic!
Hearty soups are wonderful this time of year. I made navy bean soup this week. Now I have five different kinds in the freezer: split pea, lentil, taco, turkey-rice, and navy bean.
I made GF pumpkin cookies last night. They were wonderful. I haven’t shared this GF website with you yet, but you might like to check it out: http://www.gling.com/. It has the best recipes I’ve seen yet. Most postings have feedback from users who’ve tried them, which helps.
Stay warm!
Thanks for sharing that site, Kristi! I’ll have to check it out! Sounds like you’ve got a great supply of soup in your freezer
Such a pretty place setting! I really need to do better on making my meals more presentable like yours. The soup looks great!
I love tempeh…this looks fantastic! Thanks for always posting such healthy and tasty eats!!
Pink ladies are the bomb– forget about the crispness, I’m all about the sweetness! Congrats on your first week of teaching. I’d love to hear about how your classes go and what you find most difficult. Can you believe your half way through the vegan challenge??
That tempeh looks incredible! Pink ladies are hands down my favorite apple.
thanks for stopping by my blog last night! everything i’ve read on yours looks fantastic – the soup and especially the beer! we watched 30 Rock last night too…by far my favorite show