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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 5 garlic cloves (minsed)
• 1 teaspoon dried bay leaves
• 8 1/2 cups of water
• 2 cups split peas
• 1/2 cup barley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 carrots (chopped)
• 3 celery stalks (chopped)
• 3 potatoes (diced)
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

Instructions

1. In a large pot add oil. Heat on medium-high. When warm add the onion, garlic and bay leaves. Cook till tranlucent (roughly 5 minutes).
2. Add water, peas, barley and salt bring to boil and then reduce to low.
3. When at a simmer add carrots, celery, potatoes, basil, pepper and thyme. Let cook 2 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Inspired by

I would like to give some credit where credit is due! I started off with this link for inspiration. I made slight variations with the bay leaf and by adding the vegetables sooner with an additional cup of water since I felt it was light in that regard.

Closing

I love all of the textures in this soup, the barley adds a nice touch. Also another neat facet about this recipe, there is no call for any vegetable broth base as it is very flavourful in its own right. There is enough in this batch that you can store some in the freezer and it keeps very, very well. I have to say, I had some leftover split pea soup last night, which was frozen (then reheated!), it was fantastic!