Servings: 8 Calories: 304 Fat: 4g Protein: 22g Carbs: 45g

1 lb dried green split peas, rinsed and drained
1 lg or 2 small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced (reserve peelings)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped.
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
2 lbs ham hocks
6 cups beef broth (or a combination of water and broth totaling 6 cups)

Combine all ingredients into a crock pot, set LOW for 8 hours
Remove ham hocks, remove any meat from bones, discard bones
Remove bay leaf and discard
Using an immersion blender, blend soup, adding additional water until desired consistency. Do not over blend, you want to leave some texture. If you don’t have an immersion blender- get one Amazon has this super great Red one that I love, they are awesome.  But you can use a potato masher heck even a fork will do the trick. You just want to mash it up a bit. I don’t recommend putting the hot soup in your blender- Yikes this will make quite a mess.  Add the ham reserved from the bones and serve it up.

Subsitute – If you don’t have a ham hock- I just happen to have save one in the freezer from our Thanksgiving Ham, but I’ve also made this using precooked diced ham. just add it after you’ve blended it.  Just a good. Sour cream would be a great topping but don’t forget to add those calories… Trust me this is amazing without it.

Bonus: You might be tempted to toast up some crusty bread to dip, but save those calories and carbs for dessert and try using the peelings from the potatoes… Put them in zip top bag, add a drizzle of olive oil, s & p and toss. Then lay out the peelings on a baking sheet and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 5-7 min. Yum!