Slippery Pea Soup

I'm not entirely certain how split peas became slippery peas in my family, but it's stuck for a few generations now and no matter the nomenclature, it gets slurped up by the bowlful. Serve with crusty oven-warmed French bread.

Ingredients
6 bacon slices, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 large onions, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
64 oz chicken broth
1 3/4 cups green split peas
1/2 teaspoon dried Spanish rosemary

Directions
Sauté bacon in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Do not discard grease. Add onion, carrot and garlic and cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Add broth, peas, and rosemary and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until peas start to break down, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lid for last half hour. Season with salt and pepper. Easy-peasy!

*Cook's note: to reduce time, mess, and calories, skip bacon and use nonstick oil to coat pan and saute veggies. Add a small amount of precooked picnic bacon for flavor. This is four not-so-generous servings, so I usually double or triple the recipe.

Zucchini Zoop!

This recipe is embarrassingly easy, but there's never a drop left of this soup, and kids especially seem to love it. Take 6-7 medium zucchini, cut them into 5-6 chunks each, bring a quart of chicken broth to a boil, and simmer the zucchini until fork tender. Puree with a hand blender, then throw in 5-8 wedges of Laughing Cow cheese (depending on how thick and creamy you want your soup to be) and blend until smooth. Serves 4, or 3 really hungry people. I promise you, someone will wipe the pot clean with a piece of bread...