TASTY THURSDAY!

Seeing how we're in for a pretty cool weekend in most parts of the country I thought I'd share with you a very yummy PEA & HAM SOUP recipe for your slow cooker. Perfect to pop on in the morning then curl up on the couch with the family & have a movie day or go outside to catch a bit of winter sun!

It's funny that I should be showcasing this as my first TASTY THURSDAY recipe as I have never been a fan of this soup, I don't like peas & the sight of green soup is just so unappealing to me. That was until a few weeks ago while staying with my sister. She cooked this up & I thought I would at least give it a taste. I took a taste from a spoon & that was it I love it! So I hope you love it too.

First up is the ingredients lineup

1 onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 sticks celery, finely chopped (you'll notice there aren't any of these in my pic, that's because hubby doesn't like it & we're trying it without this time around)

3.5 ltrs chicken stock (this is an approx. amount as it will depend on how much liquid your cooker will take, I have a Kenwood 6ltr but once all the other ingredients are in I can only fit in about 2.7 ltrs)
500g split peas, soaked overnight & rinsed well (I used the no soaking required peas but I still soaked them overnight as I think it helps them break down completely during cooking)

1 bacon hock

bacon bones & cracked pepper (optional)

Now throw all of the above together in your slow cooker & cook on low all day. I put mine on at 8.10 am & we will eat around 6 - 6.30 pm tonight. Check the soup early afternoon, remove the hock, peel off the skin & the meat should just fall off. I then ripped the meat apart & threw it back in the cooker. You can put the skin back in too if you want to get the extra flavour from it, just removed it before serving.

Now serve with some yummy crusty bread & enjoy!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Tuesday's Crafty Tip

Have you got children? Have you got broken pieces of crayon laying around at the bottom of pencil cases???? Then this week's Tuesday's Crafty Tip is for you!

Recycling your child's broken crayons!!!!

You'll need;

broken crayons (all paper removed)
flat baking tray
baking paper *

mini cookie cutters

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Line flat baking tray with baking paper. Place broken crayons on prepared tray.

Put them in the oven for about 8 min. You will need to remain close by and check in on them periodically because they will melt quickly.

Once your crayons have melted, take them out of the oven carefully, and then take a toothpick and swirl the wax around.

Allow the mix to harden but not completely.

When you think the mixture has hardened slightly try using a cookie cutter to punch out a shape. It might take you a couple of goes until the mixture is hard enough to take the cookie cutter. If you muck up that's fine just put those bits in a snap lock bag for next time.

Now you will have some cute little recycled crayons all ready for your child to draw with.

*I use baking paper instead of oil spray so that the crayon wax doesn't have contact with my tray, this way I can use the tray for baking food as well.