Split Pea Soup

Ingredients
1 lb green split peas
1 lb yellow split peas (can use all green if you want)
8 cups water
1 meaty ham bone
1-2 bay leaves
1 finely chopped onion (about 3/4 cup)
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
3-4 carrots, chopped
1 potato, shredded
1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Dash of soy sauce
Dash of pepper

Directions
Wash, sort, and and drain split peas. Combine everything in a 6 quart crockpot and cook on high for four hours (or more). Add a drizzle of olive oil (a trick I learned from my Italian mother-in-law) and adjust seasonings as needed. I often add some additional garlic powder and maybe a dash of salt or celery salt.

Cook's notes
This recipe is similar to the one on the back of split pea packages. Feel free to add/subtract ingredients according to your tastes. For example, I often don't add salt because usually there's enough from the ham bone and celery. And if I have leftover ham, I add that too. Some people don't like the carrots, but I like the contrasting color and sweetness it adds.

This soup is very thick and will be even thicker after sitting in the fridge for a day. When reheating the soup, add a bit of broth (water usually dilutes the flavor too much). I always make this soup in the crockpot because I've had problems with the soup sticking and burning when I cook it on the stove.

Blog notes
I'm trying to put all the recipes I've typed out in one place. Hopefully, blogger will be around for a long time and I can just come back here when I'm looking for one my favorites.