Week 13 : Split Pea Soup, Vegan Style

1 1/2 cup dried peas

6 cups vegetable broth

2 cloves garlic

2 stalks + 3 in piece celery

handful of baby carrots, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

3 whole cloves

1/2 tea salt

1/2 tea pepper

1/2 tea cumin

1/2 tea curry powder

1 small bay leaf

1 Tbs brown sugar

Poke cloves into 3 inch piece of celery stalk.  Place all ingredients, except brown sugar, in Crock Pot.  Cook on LOW for 12-15 hours.  Remove celery with cloves and bay leaf.  Add brown sugar.  Depending on what consistency you want, place soup in food processor and pulse a few times.  Soup should be thick and slightly chunky.

What is this Vegan recipe all about?  As a sacrifice for Lent, my friend has chosen to become vegan and asked for a little help.  Now, I gave up chocolate and it is going to be a long enough 40 days and 40 nights.  I figured he was in for a tough time too, but I had no idea until I actually started looking for vegan recipes.  Imagine going that long without a piece of bacon or slice of cheese!!  Or a dollop of sour cream!!  This was my first attempt of intentionally cooking vegan.  Not sure its my thing.  The soup tastes good, but its a little different for my taste.  It didn't so much taste like pea soup, but more of a sweet carrot soup.  And it's not very pretty- notice the carefully placed croutons in the pic to make it fancier!  Not sure this is a winner in my book.  But rest assured, no animals were harmed in the making of this recipe.  In fact, my dog even got a few baby carrots out of it!

http://www.vegetarianslowcooker.com/2009/10/split-pea-soup.html

*Note: After giving this more time, I am actually really enjoying it!  I would probably make this again.