The Book Thief Split Pea Soup

      So, my book club had recently read The Book Thief (which is a pretty moving book if you haven't read it) and were planning to get together for a discussion.  I like to make theme food, but the ONLY thing they eat throughout this book is Pea Soup.  So, I whipped some up, not knowing at all what it would be like, as I wasn't experienced in making, or even eating ,this type of soup.  I added most of what was in my fridge and it turned out pretty tasty!  I will be making this again soon for easy lunches and a yummy way to sneak more vegetables into John's diet.  Obviously this recipe is flexible, use whatever you have on hand.  This is what I happened to use:

Ingredients

1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 bag of peas (hard split peas - about 2 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup barley
1 potato cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
1 carrot chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cups water
salt & pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

      Heat a pan over medium heat, add oil, then saute the onions and garlic until they have begun to brown.  Turn off heat.
      Meanwhile fill a large soup pot with 8 cups of water, barley and split peas and bring to a boil.  When the onions are finished cooking, add those to the boiling barley and peas.  Boil for at least 40 minutes.
      At this point, you are ready to add the rest of the vegetables and herbs.  Add the potatoes, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, thyme and basil to the boiling mixture.  Cook an additional 30 minutes and makre sure that the barley and peas are soft.  If they are not, keep cooking!  You can't really overcook this.  That's the beauty of it.   Enjoy!