Split Pea Soup (p. 134) and Ham Salad (p. 164)

I really like most of the recipes in Joy (of course) but some of the foods are foods that I really don't like. This is a problem. The whole point of this project is to make ALL of the recipes and I don't want to start down the slope of not making recipes for any reason. On the bright side, some of the stuff that disgusts both Josh and I the most are dishes that my mother really likes. So I've decided to make some of the foods that I do not want to eat every time I visit her. This has the additional positive of giving my mom food to eat when I'm gone--she's still tired from chemo and is usually unmotivated to cook, even though she is getting way too thin.

The first recipe I made her was Split Pea Soup (p. 134). Did you know there were two types of split peas (yellow and green)? There is just something about pea soup that turns my stomach. Maybe it's The Exorcist. Maybe it's the hidious color. But I can never motivate myself to eat it, much less make it. Even so, it's a hot, filling soup. Perfect for mom!

The ham hocks called for in the recipe were not easy to find in the white-bread mega-grocery I went to. I knew that I wanted them, though, because ham (like bacon) is one of the signs that a higher power exists and loves us.

A ham hock, water, and peas:


The recipe was easy but WAY too thick. It was more of a porridge than a soup. I recommend using more water or broth or something...I ate a bowl and it was extremely filling. It would be good with a good crusty bread.


Why would anyone eat something that looks like this?? And sadly, I think that's how it's supposed to look!





I also made Ham Salad (p. 164). I HATE ham salad. There is just something gross about the pink sludge. Yuck. But for some godforsaken reason, my mom loves it. She buys it at the grocery store disturbingly often. And, of course, there is a recipe for it in TJOC.

So I bought a slice of ham and made ham salad. I almost forgot to include the mayo which would have made for a real strange, dry salad. It's really pretty easy to make--other than the ham, she had everything in the refrigerator. This itself was bizarre, considering that my mom idolizes Old Mother Hubburd and likes her cabinets bare. The ham salad looked as good as was possible but was too chunky for mom, so we pushed it through a food processor at the end...just like the grocery store. Yuck!

Pre-food processor. Hard boiled eggs, ham, pickles, mayo, spices:





I stand by it...why would anyone eat these items???