It's almost March- I know, right?

Let's just say my attempt at vegan Thanksgiving was good and bad- the vegan "cheese" was so bad that I had to take a recipe blogging hiatus for four months! I've been really busy doing things like:

planning for a big day,

enjoying the beautiful Central Coast weather,

dancing,


and wearing silly hats!

But in the meantime, I bring you this glorious soup recipe. I really enjoy the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup at California Pizza Kitchen, so I made an attempt at recreating it. Recipe follows:

Smashed Pea and Barley Soup




Ingredients
1 t olive oil
half of a white onion, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup diced celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 quarts vegetable broth
2 cups split peas, rinsed

1/2 cup barley

1.5 t salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t fresh thyme
juice of half a lemon

Snipped green onions, parsley and cracked pepper for garnish

Directions
Coat a large stock pot with olive oil and sautee the carrots, celery, onions and garlic for 5-7 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Add the peas and reduce to a simmer. Let this cook covered for about an hour.

Meanwhile, in a separate pot, cook the barley according to package directions. (It should take about an hour.)

When the peas are done cooking, turn the heat off on the soup pot and roughly blend with an immersion blender making sure to keep some of the peas still intact and not pureed. Add the cooked barley to the soup and season with the remaining ingredients. You may need to add more broth at this point to get a desired soup consistency. Garnish with parsley and chopped green onions and serve.