120 Calories per Serving: Finnish-Style Pea Soup Recipe

January 2nd, 2008 · No Comments · Print This Post

Finnish people make a meal out of pea soup, so the soup isn’t just peas and a few vegetables for flavoring.

It is a hearty, somewhat chunky soup that contains not only the peas but ham, carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes. Pair it with a slice of homemade rye bread spread with real butter and you have a wonderfully satisfying and filling meal for the cold weather months.

If you don’t have rye bread, French bread is good, too, as are saltine crackers. I love pea soup, perhaps because of my heritage. It is my favorite soup with French onion coming in as a second.

I use Hormel Cure 81 Ham in my pea soup. Generally I buy a small ham and use the first few slices for one meal along with au gratin potatoes.

I cube the rest of the ham, first into about 3/4 inch cubes that I freeze and use when I want to make ham and scalloped potatoes. I cube the balance of the ham into about 3/8 inch cubes which I freeze for use in pea soup.

I recently noticed that you can buy Hormel Cure 81 ham pre-packaged by the slice. Each slice weighs about 6.4 ounces (.41 lb.) and will produce about 1 cup of cubes when the rind is carefully removed. I appreciate the convenience of this packaging. I can buy just the amount of ham I need for the meals I plan. Hormel figures their ham is 70 calories for every 2 ounces. A small 3 oz. serving (about half the slice) is 112 calories. Great for any diet.

This Finnish style Pea Soup is low in calories at 120 calories per 1 cup serving. At that low calorie rate, help yourself to 1-1/2 cups or even 2 cups of the soup. Enjoy 5 saltine crackers with your soup and it adds only 100 calories if you butter them lightly. Today, I enjoyed some fresh fruit (1/2 cup for 80 calories) with the soup and had a delicious meal of 300 calories. Can’t go wrong there. Here’s how I make it:

Finnish-Style Pea Soup Recipe

Ingredients	Calories
1 lb. dried green split peas (about 2-1/2 cups)	1100
2 cups carrots, diced (about 1/2 lb.)	104
3 cups Hormel Cure 81 ham, diced (3 ea .40 lb package = 6.4 oz)	529
1 cup celery, diced	17
3-1/2 cups potatoes, diced (about 1-3/4 lbs.)	203
3/4 cup onion, chopped	50
Salt and pepper to taste	0
7 cups water	0
Total for ingredients:	2003
Calories per 1 cup serving (simmers down to 16-3/4 cups):	120

Method: Pick over the dried peas and soak in water covered overnight. Some instructions on packages of dried peas don’t call for soaking. I still soak them.

I use a 4.5 quart capacity slow cooker in which to make my soup. You can also make it in a soup pot on top the stove. It takes less time and more careful watching to prevent sticking to the bottom.

Place all ingredients except the potatoes and seasonings in the slow cooker. Add the water.

I generally set the slow cooker to simmer for 7 hours. At the 5 hour point I add the potatoes and season the soup. I don’t season earlier; I want the ham to impart its flavor and seasoning first.

If you prefer a thicker soup, add the potatoes earlier so the starch in the potatoes can thicken up the soup.

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