Chipotle Split Pea Soup

Today I'm sharing a new recipe I made earlier this week. I changed things up just a little from the original recipe but here's a link to the original recipe:

Slow Cooker Chipotle Split Pea Soup with Ham

This was so good! I didn't have the 10 hours it called for and thought I'd attempt to Instant Pot the recipe. Success after 30 minutes! Definitely a keeper. We love the heat of the Chipotle peppers and it tastes like it's been simmering all day. Good and thick with great flavor. If you don't like heat, skip the Chipotle peppers, but we think it's what makes this soup so delicious.

So here's my version:

Chipotle Split Pea Soup

8 C chicken broth (I use the better than bouillon)
1 lb split green peas (in a bag)
1 onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped, plus the sauce from the can
8 oz diced ham (I used sliced ham steaks)
pepper

I set my Instant Pot to saute and added about 3 Tbsp of butter. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and saute for a few minutes. Dump in the ham - saute a few minutes. Add the split peas, Chipotle peppers and sauce, pepper, and chicken broth. Hit the soup setting. It cooked for 30 minutes. I let it release naturally for 10 minutes and then turned the vent to quick release.

The original recipe calls for 6 cloves of garlic and we love garlic, but DH and I had an unpleasant garlic experience the day before at a restaurant and I think it'll be a while before I'll be cooking with it again.

I know ya'll are wondering so here's the story. 😊
We'd been on the road since 7 am and it was now 7 pm and we had not eaten a thing all day. We were on our way home and stopped in a town to eat at a little place that had been recommended to us. It was Tuesday night and the place was packed. We were road weary and hungry and on his best day, DH might wait 10 minutes, but they said they just needed to clear a table and we were seated. 3 other parties came in directly behind us and they were told the wait would be 40 minutes.

We both ordered a NY strip steak and a potato. Basic. Simple. Oh, and fried mushrooms. The waitress was sweet and kind. She came back a few minutes later and said they only had 1 potato. We laughed and said we'd split it. LOL. We were hungry and cleaned our plates, but talked about how the seasoning on the steaks was a tad garlicky. We were still an hour from home and I think we ate almost an entire container of mints before we hit the dirt road. We stopped at a grocery store and bought some mint chocolate chip ice cream, thinking it might cut the garlic. Brushed our teeth before even taking showers. Ate ice cream. Brushed our teeth again. Used mouthwash. And we still woke up tasting garlic. What on earth?!

Here's something funny too. We washed our hands when we arrived at the restaurant and were both perplexed when we found a complimentary mouthwash machine in the bathroom. We've never seen such a thing and couldn't figure it out. Well, apparently there is a need for such a thing. Who knew?

So, needless to say, I won't be cooking with garlic anytime soon and this soup was still amazing!

I'm so thankful that DH is a willing guinea pig - it makes it fun to try new recipes and he loved this one. His only suggestion was to add some diced smoked quail. 😋 What can I say? It's quail season and he has quail on the brain. Just please hold the garlic!

What I've Been Up To

Whew! The days are just flying by. Life is not chaotic here, just too busy to be on the computer so today I thought I'd pop in with a 'This and That' post. The day after Thanksgiving we sent off 4 truck loads of calves:

When the kids come home, they can always count on being put to work:

Shipping out calves calls for a double batch of cookies:

4 trucks. 1 brand inspector. 1 buyer. = 6 bags of cookies. The rest will suffice for dessert for the crew, a mid-morning snack with a second cup of coffee, and a container to send back with our boy.

When the mornings are chilly, potted kitties grow well:

We played in the mud:

Nary a week passes that a leak doesn't need attention:

And were smitten with a kitten:

The boys chased a few birds when they made a mineral run (this is an old photo)

                                   

And shot some steel:

We spent one evening socializing with friends at the Safari Club Christmas Party

Made a year supply of jerky

And made another batch of Whiskey Praline Pecans:

The WNFR (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo) runs for 10 days and I'm working on binding a quilt while DH and I watch in the evenings. We can't keep our eyes open that late so we record it and watch it the next evening.

And somewhere in the mix, we're getting ready for Christmas:

Road Trip

It was good to spend a few days with our girl. Our morning beverages were served in style - so cute and thoughtful!

The company she works for has farm and ranch country and their employees have access to their properties so we drove up so DH could accompany her on her first deer hunt:

Deer were located, but 'the one' was never seen. She still had a week, but we had to come back. I'm so glad they were able to spend this time together...priceless

She worried about how I would occupy my time while they hunted. I could have gone along, but I wanted them to have this time with just the two of them and I don't think there was room for a 3rd bucket to sit on in that blind. 😉

and I had plenty of company:

Her state of residence was on it's best behavior while we were there:

The weather could not have been more perfect.

We don't get Fall like this:

I enjoyed hanging out with the dogs who were eager tour guides:

They have lots of room to explore

and we soaked in the trails

daily

I don't think I've ever seen a puppy grow so much in 6 weeks:

The feline patrol kept me in line when I cleaned a few windows:

I mixed up the first batch of Whiskey Praline Pecans of the season to share with some of her friends who invited us over for supper:

I also met the pigs:

And the donkeys:

Who are sweet:

And eager to visit

Especially when you come bearing treats

More please!

We were up before 5 and they were out the door soon after. I worked on a quilt binding before the sun rose:

She's made an inviting, cozy home:

And Odin hugs are always welcome - he's kind of irresistible:

                        

I could not get enough of the crunchy, Fall leaves:

Honestly, the prettiest piece of property and we just had the best time. Thanks for rolling out the red carpet Sprout!

Quilt Shop Stop Ahead

Our girl's been in Oklahoma for 18 months and although I've been there a couple of times, her Daddy never has. She makes the trip home quite a bit (we'll take her and our boy anytime we can get them) and it hasn't been long since her last visit. This last weekend we remedied that with a little  road trip that allowed us time to catch up on podcasts:

On a 7 hour trip, we pass through 2 decent sized towns and lots of little towns with 500 residents. One of those little towns has a quilt shop. It's hard to resist a shop called Front Porch Quilts

When you bring up their website, this is what it says:

It's a little shop, with lots of treasures.

I assured DH that I only wanted to pop my head in for a minute. Famous last words. LOL. So, as much as I would have liked to linger, I hurried  as much as one can hurry in a sweet little quilt shop where folks are friendly and a good visit is always welcome.
I snapped a few fast pictures - Texans are proud of their country and state - these patterns are popular:

Western prints are big sellers too and I was tempted, but I have 2 bins of western fabrics and need to use some of what I have first:

They have a wall of patterns:

And books:

And a good selection of tempting fabrics

and sample quilts from which to choose:

She was starting a big sale and I caved to temptation. It's been a good while since I bought fabric. This plaid really spoke to me so I bought the rest of the bolt - 9 yards - half price. It'll be perfect for a backing.

I bought a yard of this green check for a couple of baby quilts as well as a yard of this little flower print:

And a couple of yards of these 2 brown prints - all for $4.50 / yd

I loved these 2 Fall fabrics and bought 3 yards of the one on the left and 7 of the one on the right - $4.50 again

And I topped it all off with a layer cake of this flannel for a masculine quilt:

After our stop, we continued on. We know the way, but turn on the GPS anyway. It made me chuckle when these directions popped up:

Dairy Queens are a major spot in vast, rural Texas. Even if you have to drive 196 miles to get there.

I'll share more about our trip in my next post. I have too much I want to share for 1 post. :)