Split Pea Soup with Corn and Carrots

In July I apparently was on a soup kick, because not only did I make the Chicken and Chile Pepper Stew that I posted about last week, but I used a soup mix that my mother had gotten for me and made that in the crock pot as well.  (I think that my mom got this mix at the store at the Wayside Inn actually.) The soup mix was for Split Pea Soup with Corn and Carrots.  Now, for a while I saved the bag from this because the directions and ingredients were on the back, but eventually I think I threw it out because I just looked everywhere I thought I might have put it and I cannot find it anywhere.  The soup mix, as you can kind of see from this image, has the split peas and spices already.

Even without the ingredient list, however, you can see what went into it from my pictures.  It's pretty easy, just the soup mix, chicken broth (or you could use vegetable broth), chopped up carrots, chopped up onion, and frozen corn.  Now, the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook has a recipe for making soup from a mix, suggesting certain additions, but I borrowed the cooking time from that.  That recipe actually says to cook it on high for one hour to quick soak the bean mix, then cook it low for eight to ten hours.  In all honesty, I probably just turned the crock pot on low before I left for the day and let it cook while I was at school (or, more likely, while my husband was at school and while I was sitting around the house reading for exams).

Now, the problem with making this soup recipe in the crock pot instead of on the stove is that the beans absorb all of the liquid while cooking for that long so I had to add some more broth after it had finished cooking.  Here's what I would recommend, after going through this experience: pour in enough broth -- from one of the cartons that has about four cups in it -- to just cover the soup mix and the added vegetables.  Then, after the soup cooks, pour the rest of the broth into a microwave-safe bowl, zap it in the microwave, and add it to the soup before serving.

This is what the soup looked like after I added some more broth.

Now, the unfortunate thing about having thrown away the bag is that I don't have the nutrition information that was on the mix or the number of servings that the recipe is supposed to make.  But to finish this post I will note that you can always use soup mixes in your crock pot.  And, yes, some of the soup mixes are easy enough to make on the stove, but if you don't even have the 30-40 minutes that it would take you to make one of these on the stove because you have your exams coming up as I did at the time, the crock pot is a good alternative that makes things easier.

Soup, salad, and a loaf of French bread.  Perfect.