In preparation for Friday’s post, I think I will share our ho hum, nothing exciting but very yummy and cheap meals with you.
Last week, I picked up some yellow split peas from the bulk bin. I hadn’t planned on adding it to this weeks meals but for $1.99 a pound, knowing I only need to add carrots, celery and a few things I always have, I quickly added it to the list. Split pea soup is very easy to make and unlike many other beans, you do not have to soak them so if you forgot to take out your dinner ingredients you can still pull this one together in no time and let it cook while you all get the house back together before dinner. It is one of the most inexpensive dinners I can think of and it fills tummies.
This recipe is very easy to turn into a vegetarian/vegan recipe by substituting the chicken broth for veggie broth and the bacon fat for olive oil but I might add some smoked paprika to give it that taste you would normally get from the bacon.
8 c chicken broth
2 – 3 c yellow split peas (or green)
3 carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp oil or fat (we use the fat saved from organic, sulfite free bacon)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
In the oil/fat, sautee the onions and garlic until fragrant (don’t let them burn or brown), add the carrots and celery
add the broth and all other ingredients and let it boil for a minute or two then reduce to simmer, put the lid on and go do something. Check in on it every 10 minutes or so and give it a stir. When it is starting to look thickened (about 30 minutes), remove the bay leaf and use an immersion blender (stick blender) to puree it or add it in batches slowly in the blender. Don’t totally puree it, just enough to make it thicker.
Serve with bread, cracker, on top of rice or nothing if you have a bare pantry, I promise you will still feel full after a bowl.
I was out of onions this day so I went over to my kitchen garden pots and cut the tops off of about 8 green onions and it worked perfectly.
For the cost of this soup which feeds about 4-6 people:
the split peas were $1.99 a pound for the 2 cups
3 carrots would be about .50
2 celery stalks .50
1 onion (free from my kitchen garden) but about .50
the garlic and all other ingredients would probably add another whole .50 to $1 if that.
So, for $4, you have a very nutritious meal which is very easy to make.
I will see you back here tomorrow for this weeks guest blogger on Real Food on a Real Budget! See you then.
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It looks delicious. Can't wait to try this tomorrow. I hope my kids would love this.
I have never seen yellow split peas! MUCH more appetizing that green ones! I might have to try to find some!
Perfect for Ash Monday’s meal for the kids! Your ingredients are pretty much the same for my lentil soup. Yummy warm soup.
Question. Did you always eat this way? or did you transition to a more bean, brown rice kind of diet? Your (and your guest bloggers') recipes look like food I would enjoy and that my husband would eat, but not like something I could get my kids to eat. We eat reasonably healthy, food made from scratch but much more on the lines of: meat, starch, & veg; or baked noodle dish; or salad with meat on top. I am hesitant to try some of these recipes, despite wanting to, because if I can't get them to eat it… I have six people to feed so budgets are important. If you transitioned do you have any suggestions?
Julia, I guess we have been transitioning them for years. We used to eat meat at every meal but now I use it more as a condiment. We do eat pork and chicken often when we raise our own. I am preparing to build enclosures for chickens and pigs in the next few weeks. What I found with my kids is what I was raised with but had somehow forgotten. If I make it, you eat it and if not then you are going to be hungry which they learn quickly they do not want to be. It sounds harsh but I was raised not ever asking what's for dinner and we are what we were given. I have never liked eggplant so my momma let me slip with that one but I have not really found a food yet that my kids will not eat, except I never make eggplant so, don't know about that one.
Thank you for sharing. I am always looking for new, simple and inexpensive meals to feed our growing family.
Tina Marie, you are welcome!!
Thank you so much for sharing your life with us, for free? Am I correct? I have never seen any kind of advertising or sponsorship on your blog so thats why I am thinking you are doing all of this for free? In any event, thank you. I am a mama of many also and you just can't know how many times you have helped me through a bad day. This recipe is very appreciated as I want to feed my kids better and I have to stay on budget but I need inspiration. thank you really, for all that you do. I just think maybe you don't realize how much you are appreciated.
Wilma, Thank you so much for your words!! You are the reason that I blog 🙂 Yes, I do it for free though someday soon I may take sponsors to cover the cost of maintaining this blog and pay the designers. I'm so happy you are here.
I made Nissa's brown rice & chick pea casserole this week & it was delicious! I doubled the recipe & am enjoying leftovers for lunch today. Monday begins the Great Fast for us Eastern Catholics & I will definitely be trying a vegan version of your yellow split pea soup. I froze some chives from the herb garden that I think will nicely complement the soup. Thanks for the recipe!
Patricia, I plan on making Nissa's casserole too. As for the chives, I bought a small bunch of green onions at WF and most of the time when you buy green onions, they still have the roots attached. I replanted them and have been enjoying fresh chives and green onions from my kitchen for two months!! All for just .50. I use them almost everyday and they just keep growing and growing.
I have a celery root growing on the kitchen windowsill the same way & will have to add green onions to my kitchen garden the next time I pick up a bunch! 🙂