Wallet Padding: Split Peas

Did you hear? We're moving to Germany! It looks like September will be our reporting month. So, I want to save up around $3,000 between now and August 1st, so that we can have a little padding in the wallet when we arrive. We'll want to take some vacation time and tour a bit of Europe, plus we need to set money aside for out-of-pocket expenses as they arise.

One of the easiest ways to cut household costs and save money is in the grocery store. Going vegetarian is almost always a surefire way to slash the cost of a meal. Take today's soup, for example: It's split pea. By leaving out the traditional ham, I'm saving at least $3.00. That's $3.00 toward my trip to Italy/France/Spain/Portugal/wherever my heart desires. ;)

I mean, really. Which would you rather have: ham in your soup, or a pair of Italian shoes...bought in Italy?

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
in the slow cooker

What You Need:

• 1 lb dried split peas, sorted through to remove debris
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4" thick coins
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp minced basil
• optional: 1/2 tsp curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste

How it's Done:

1. Add everything but salt and pepper to a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, then reduce heat to low and continue cooking until ready to serve.
2. Consider taking your potato masher and mashing up the veggies a little bit at the end of the cooking time. I like for my split pea soup to have an even texture. Doing this gives me the mouth-feel I like from split pea soup.
3. Before serving, taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
4. I like to serve this soup topped with garlic-cheese croutons and a dollop of sour cream.