Yes, the cold weather brings thoughts of homemade soup. Last week I found a ham bone in the freezer so I took it out and made soup. Usually when I have a ham bone, I make yellow split pea soup. I remember eating it at Aunt Emmy’s house when we visited.

Using yellow peas is a Swedish thing. Actually, when I buy them in the Swedish store, they are whole, not split. I prefer the split ones if I can find them because they cook so much faster.

I remember asking Emmy how to make the soup because my daughter liked it a whole lot. She still likes it, her brother not so much. Don liked it too. He liked most of the soups that I made. I felt good serving him soup because then he got his vegetables – otherwise he did not always eat them. Those last few weeks that is what we ate the most of. I think they were easy to eat as well.

Emmy gave me her recipe so that I could make it at home. I recently found another recipe that uses my ham bone. That was Dolly Parton’s Stone Soup.

The story goes that her mother sent all of the children out to look for the perfect stone. Then she washed all of them and carefully chose the one she liked best. She chose the stone of the child who needed the boost that day. After the stone was added she put in more things. She boiled the ham bone and cut off the meat. She added potatoes, chopped cabbage, diced tomatoes, an onion, whatever vegetables she happened to have, and some extra broth – either vegetable or chicken.

The children thought that the stone soup was delicious. Of course, they attributed that flavor to the stone they contributed. I used to read a story to my class about stone soup. Often, we made some of it as a culminating activity. The children loved this. Not a one refused to eat any – even though many of the mothers told me their child would not eat all of those vegetables. There is just something about getting in on the making process. We served our soup with crackers and cheese.

One of my grandsons was especially fond of my homemade soups. When he visited, he always wanted soup for lunch. Now that he does not live around here, he told me he misses my soup.

One day when we were making vegetable soup, I accidentally put in too much salt. When I discovered it, he asked what I was going to do. I told him I would just double the recipe, and add potatoes and celery. Each of these vegetables absorbs salt.

Yellow Pea Soup

1pkg. of yellow split peas (if you cannot find the yellow peas, use green ones)

1 ham bone

Water to cover the bone – about two quarts

2 carrots chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

Boil the ham bone and the water. Remove the ham bone and let it cool. Taste the broth that you made. Some hams are quite salty. If the broth is salty just add pepper to taste. I like to use freshly ground pepper. If it is not salty enough add salt. Add the split peas and the vegetables. When the bone is cool cut off the meat. Add to the soup. The soup will have to cook for at least an hour or until the peas are tender.

Here I add another recipe that was a favorite of my husband.

Homemade Tomato Soup

2 c. milk

¢ tsp. celery salt

2 ¢ c. canned tomatoes

1 tsp. sugar

1 sm. onion

3 T. flour

§ tsp. salt

2 T. butter

1/8 tsp. salt

Pour milk into 2-qt. pan. Put remaining ingredients into a blender. Cover and run on high. Slowly add tomato mixture to the milk stirring constantly. Heat on low. Makes 6 – 8 servings.

This is much better than the condensed soup you buy. It is great with grilled cheese sandwiches. By making your own you control all of the ingredients – including the salt.

I served a lot of one dish meals while my kitchen was being renovated. That is when I discovered this recipe in my blender cookbook. I have varied it to taste, but other than that it is mostly as written. That cookbook is now 55 years old.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.