Practice Makes Perfect...Soup, that is!

Winter is a great time of year for practicing with food storage items. Why? Because there are so many great possibilities for food storage soup! Combined with food storage bread, we can have great winter lunches or dinners while rotating storage and learning better ways to use long-term storage items. My favorite storage soup is Split Pea Soup. It is so easy it almost makes itself, and it is really good! I use as much as I can from my #10 cans. Ingredients 1/4 cup dehydrated carrots 1/4 cup dehydrated onions 1-2 Tbsp cooking oil Ham, bacon or ham jerky 1/4 to 3/4 tsp dehydrated garlic powder to taste 1 or 2 cups dehydrated split green peas 8-12 cups water and/or broth Salt and pepper to taste Reconstituted sour cream powder (optional) Directions Rehydrate carrots and onions in ½ cup warm water. Saute vegetables in oil with ham, bacon or ham jerky. Add between 1/4 and 3/4 teaspoon of dehydrated garlic powder to taste. Add a cup or two of dried split green peas. I stir the dried peas around in the moist mix of flavors for a minute before adding water or chicken broth. This allows the peas to soak up the concentrated flavors first. Add about 6 cups of water or broth, cover and simmer. Check every 10 minutes or so for the first half-hour, and replenish liquid as it is absorbed. Depending on how thick or thin you like your soup, 8 to 12 cups of water and/or broth will be the total requirement. For a smoother soup, you can use a hand-held blender or a potato ricer to puree the peas, once they are softened. Just before serving, add salt and pepper to taste. We serve this with a large dollop of reconstituted sour cream in the middle of the soup and a chunk of fresh whole wheat bread on the side. I use my stored wheat, ground with my grain mill. This recipe will make enough for 8 generous servings of thick soup, or 10 to 12 servings of thinner soup. Leftover soup makes a great gravy over rice for the next meal. --Gretchen, Arizona