Trying New Food Blog: Manischewitz Split Pea Soup

I love split pea soup, especially with bacon in it.
So, because I'm on a diet this caught my eye as being something that could be potentially healthy and tasty. I mean, beans are a good source of protein and iron without having to eat meat, which is good because I'm not a big beef fan. I'm not intending on putting any bacon in this, as it would make the fat content go way up that sort of destroys the purpose.

Right now, it's after school, and I'm hungry. I tend to break my meals down into 5 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 big ones. The reason being is that it keeps me fuller throughout the day, I eat smaller portions in the long run, and I'm not nearly as tired in class. For some reason, if I eat a big lunch I tend to get very sleepy in my Critical writing class, then come home and sleep in the afternoon. Sleeping after eating? Bad idea as well.

So today hasn't been the greatest day food wise, basically because I've been in such a rush.. But the fact that I walk very long distances to get from my car to class, then to my next class, then to my car again, up and down stairs, etc... should make up for it. Plus I'm doing pilates on a daily basis. So I'm not too down on myself over it. I am going to start recording what I eat on here every so often so I can sort of keep track of how I'm doing.
For breakfast I ate:
-1 small bowl of marshmallow matties.

-1 cup of coffee with milk.

For Early Lunch I ate:

-Mini cracker with cheese sandwich things (got them at the book store), 6 pack
-Diet coke
-5 hour energy
-Little cup of mandarin oranges.
For Late Lunch I'll have:

-Bowl of split pea soup.

-Glass of orange juice

And then for dinner I'm not sure what I'm going to have. Last night my mom made tacos and I managed to be satisfied with just one taco... but I was bad and ate taco bell earlier that day because I was stuck in town. At least they have that Fresco menu now, only making my lunch about 700 calories. So with that dinner being about 350 calories, and eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast, my day yesterday looked pretty good. I'm just trying to keep an eye on things.

So anyways, this soup....

The soup comes in a funny tube bag full of dried green peas and yellow peas. I think the odd shape of the packaging is what caught my attention in the store. I thought this looked pretty delicious because it takes more effort then the canned kind. More time spent on something usually means higher quality food in my opinion, even if how you make this is similar to top ramen.

When you open the packaging a little bag of seasoning comes out (just like top ramen!). So make sure you open the package on the right end or all the peas will fall on the floor. The seasoning is loosely packaged, and started leaking on my hand a bit. This is the flavoring for the soup, because it'd be pretty damn bland otherwise.

Boil 5 cups of water and add the pea mix. Cover TIGHTLY and turn the heat down to low. This is where I messed up a bit. This stuff boils like crazy, even when it's on low. I turned my back on it for a minute, and water was overflowing everywhere into the stove. I had to add another cup of water to it, and continued to cook it on low...
Stir the mix every so often, like every 10 minutes or so. Let simmer for an hour. In the last 10 minutes of simmering, add the seasoning package.

When I lifted the lid to add the seasoning, the consistancy of the soup had gotten thick. I added the seasoning, and it smelt really fantastic. It mainly smelt like onions. The seasoning is made of onions and ground celery seed.
When it was done I was a little nervous because it looked sort of like baby food, but it tasted fantastic. I had about a cup and a half, and it made me feel way better than before. That 5 hour energy made me feel sick and this settled my stomach. The soup tasted a lot like onions and celery seed.

Though the soup takes longer to make then Campbells, it tastes WAY better. It tastes really homemade, and made about 5 servings. I'm going to leave the stove on warm so if my mom wants some she can have some later. Doubt it though, she's gonna be home probably in three hours. Yawn, I'm tired now.

On a side note, I had my Japanese test today and I think I did very well. My only real concern is the particles, but for the most part I think I did well just on instinct. I know I filled in the past tense verbs correctly, probably due to hours of repeating them in my head... benkyoshimashita, benkyoshimashita... (wow, looks weird in romaji)..

yours,

Emily