06 Jan, 2011
A potential pea soup disaster and a bit about sugar and flour-free snacks
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Recipes and Food
I’m waiting for my split-pea soup to boil, and when it does I’m going to boil it and boil it and boil it.
I made it last night, or should I say, I started making it 36 hours ago. I bought a bag of dried yellow split peas and when I went to make the soup I realized they needed to be soaked. For a long time. Doh. According to the directions they need to soak in water anywhere between 12 to 24 hours. I soaked them for 20 hours, then made the recipe (which was a slow-cooker soup recipe that required 6 hours on low.) I cooked it for 8 hours, served it for dinner, and those blasted peas were STILL hard and crunchy. WTH?
So I’m boiling a small pot of it again, hoping they’ll fall apart and take on the consistency of a proper French-Canadian Split Pea Soup, you know, like a kind of like a mush, but a yummy kind of mush? (Here’s the recipe BTW).
You know what’s the best part of this soup, BACON. It calls for a ham bone, but I didn’t have one, so I subbed bacon. Oh, I love bacon.
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In a previous post I mentioned crustless veggie mini quiches that were providing me with a hot and healthy breakfast that’s faster than fast food.
This morning I scrambled an egg in a bowl, microwaved it for just over a minute (remember this post?) and then sprinkled some grated cheddar cheese on top. It was so good. Sarah had one too.
I had a lovely little afternoon snack yesterday. Here it is:
It’s plain yogurt (regular fat*) with a handful of blueberries and some almonds for crunch.
* Low fat products often substitute something for the missing fats, like sugar. Or in the case of yogurt, corn starch and gelatin. So read the labels!
I think I’ve discovered the trick to eating well; eat whole foods you love to eat.
It’s so important I’ll say it again: eat whole foods you love to eat.
The thing about ditching sugar and flour from my diet means that I’m not eating any processed foods. (Yay!) The funny thing is that the foods that I am eating now seem to taste better. Isn’t that strange? I’m not sure how to explain it. Maybe it’s because I’m savouring them more, or because they’re unadulterated. Like bread, for example (not that I’m eating it right now) but you know it’s a good slice of bread when you can eat it without anything on it… because then and only then can you *really* taste the bread. That’s what I’m feeling like today. Everything tastes amazing.
Other things I’ve been noshing on lately include nuts, and celery with cream cheese. Mark and I shared a giant bowl of popcorn last night. And I’m going to make a batch of black bean hummus today to eat this afternoon.
Off to check my soup! Wish me luck. If this doesn’t work I have a lot of peas to chew.
UPDATE: I simmered them for an extra TWO HOURS and they’re still crunchy! Turns out, you can buy bad peas. Either they’re old or were improperly stored. Bah.
