Split Pea Soup from Christmas Ham & Bone

My wife, and I, love split pea soup, and it ends up turning out good every year.  The problem I have is forgetting how I made it, year after year.  This recipe is more of an ongoing experiment.

Ingredients:
Basics:

• Leftover Ham, Including Bone
• 2 Pounds of Dried Split Peas
• 4 quarts of water
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Veggies:

• 2 Bell Peppers
• 6 Carrots
• 4 Onions
• 6 Stalks of Celery 
• 4 Tomatoes ***

Spices:

• 5-6 Cloves of Garlic Minced
• 2 Teaspoons Black Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 2 Pinches of Marjoram
• 2 Teaspoons Oregeno
• 1 Teaspoon Tyme

Instructions:
Soak the dried split peas over night. (Trying a pressure cooker, to skip this step.)

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a stock pot on medium heat.
Cut Onions, Carrots, Celery & Peppers into small pieces, and pour into the stock pot.
Caramelize the vegetables.

Cut the ham off of the bone and dice into small pieces.

Put the ham bone in the stock pot, and add 4 quarts of water.
Bring to a boil, and the back off to medium heat.

Add ham, peas, spices & garlic to the stock pot.

Cook until peas and vegetables are broken down to desired texture.

Remove the bone.

Add diced tomatoes to the stock pot, and cook until desired texture.

Note:
*** Do NOT add tomatoes to the soup right away.  The acid retards the breakdown of the peas.

Grandma's Banana Bread

This is a banana bread recipe that my grandma got from who knows where.  I just know that it turns out great.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/3 Cup Chopped Nuts
• 1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips
• 2 Bananas
• 3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°
Cream butter & sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Sift flour, salt & baking soda together and mix with nuts & chocolate.
Mash bananas and add vanilla.
Add flour, nuts, chocolate & bananas to creamed mixture and blend thoroughly.
Pour into a greased & floured pan.
Bake at 60-70 min. @ 350° preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Notes: 
Sometimes I will use half white sugar, and half brown sugar.
Try this next time: French Toast Trick