Oat & Turkey Soup with Tex-Mex Flavors, pg. 126/ Split Pea Soup

Soup season is in full force.  I can't think of a better way to enjoy my Sunday evening after skiing than kicking up my feet while watching Netflicks with a big bowl of soup on my lap.  I usually only cook slow cooker soups.  Recipes that I can toss together all at once and come back several hours later to a soup that is ready to eat.  I'm not one to stir a big pot over the stove continuing to add ingredients.  Lorna's soup was not made in the slow cooker, but rather one I could toss together fairly fast and then freeze extra for an upcoming Sunday.

I started this soup in a large pot and cooked the onion and celery.  I then added the cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles along with several seasonings including cinammon. Once I could smell the spices, I poured the water in the pot along with the 3 chicken thighs.  The turkey simmered, and the oats cooked.  As usual, I never follow the full directions so I added several items in my fridge.  For this soup, I added leftover kamut, butternut squash, fresh cilantro and parsley.  The Tex-Mex flavors came together nicelly and I will for sure be making this in the future. 

While skiing last weekend, my friend Jackie had the pefect idea, soup bowls in the "brown bag" lunch area.  Enjoy.    
Split Pea Soup w/Couscous
Modified from Fix-It and Forget-It
1 lb. pkg. split peas
6 slices of thick ham
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
4 potatoes, diced
1 qt. water
1 qt. chicken broth
Seasoning (pepper, bay leaf, allspice, sugar)
1 cup couscous, cooked (add to soup before serving)

Directions: Wash and sort split peas, removing any stones.  Combine all ingredients except cooked couscous in the slow cooker.  Cover in slow cooker. Cook on low 8-10 hours.  Add couscous to soup before serving.   -amy