Split Pea Soup!

We're supposed to get up to 10 inches of snow tonight! What better to have for dinner than a hearty, warming soup! And one that's ridiculously good for you to boot!

I found this Curried Split Pea Soup recipe on the food network website; it's an Alton Brown recipe. What inspired me to try it was that out of 93 ratings, I only saw 3 that weren't 5 stars. People loved this soup, people!

Also, we loved this soup!

And we love exclamation points! But that's an issue for another day. ! Sorry, just had to get another one in.

Right now, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how good split peas are for you. But before I do that, take a few minutes to read about the worst foods in America for you: here's one list, and here's another. Did you catch that? Msnbc.com has named the worst food in America an appetizer at Outback Steakhouse that has 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. And we wonder why America has an obesity problem -- it's the Aussies' fault! Just kidding; I regularly drink mochas from Starbucks that have, um, eek, 580 calories in them (for the venti size; but I usually don't go that big).

Now doesn't that just make you crave some healthy (and cheap!) split peas:

• They are an excellent source of soluble fiber, which means they catch nasty cholesterols.
• The fiber also helps make you regular and minimizes irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis.
• They are the right kind of fiber to balance blood sugar - great for everybody, and especially for diabetics and hypoglycemics.
• A bunch of the minerals help your heart.
• The potassium helps with high blood pressure.
• A cup of cooked peas has 16 grams of protein! Now that deserves an exclamation point!
• The isoflavones can help prevent breast and prostate cancer.
• They have huge amounts of molybdenum, a trace mineral that helps detoxify sulfites, which are a preservative in just about everything.

In short, split peas are good for you, and this soup recipe has a great, creamy, slightly complex flavor and texture -- it's actually worth a try even if you don't like regular split pea soup. They're quite different in texture and flavor. Oh, and we paired it with a nice spinach/ham/cheddar salad and a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread.