Greyden (10 years old) makes most of our crock pot meals.  This morning I asked him to make split pea soup.  He has been trained on this meal and is capable of making it by himself.

First he washes his hands with our goat milk soap (of course).

Then he removes the kid-friendly recipe I made for him and gets out a dry-erase marker.

He rinses the split peas and sorts through them:

Adds them to the crockpot:

Scrubs the potatoes:

Chops up the celery:

And the carrots (note the plastic container filled with scraps for the chickens):

And the onions (his least favorite part):

He peels the sweet potatoes:

And dices them up:

Dices up the ham (note the separate plastic cutting board that we just use for meat):

He can check off the items he finished on the recipe.  We keep the recipes in a sheet protector and he uses a dry erase marker which can be wiped off when he is finished.

He adds the ingredients to the crockpot:

Covers it with chicken broth:

Checks the liquid level (it needs some more):

Adds more broth then sets the crockpot on high:

We season it before serving and add more liquid if it needs any.

Split pea soup is one of those recipes that doesn’t look very pretty, but is super tasty and one of our favorites.  It is a very easy meal for beginning cooks to start with as it is very forgiving and you don’t have to be exact in your measurements.

Recipe

Printable (kid friendly) version

In a crockpot add,

• 1 bag of split peas (16 oz, rinsed and sorted)
• 1 large red onion (diced)
• 4-6 celery stalks (diced)
• 6-8 carrots (scrubbed and cut into circles)
• 3 large or 6 small/medium potatoes (scrubbed and cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
• Ham (2-4 cups diced – use meat cutting board)

Cover with liquid (chicken broth, veggie broth, or water)
Cook on high
Check in early afternoon to see if needs more liquid
Season to taste with

• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder

Serve and enjoy!