Recipe Redux -- Zen Split Pea and Barley Soup

I've been bogged down with my knitting the last couple of days. I'm still slogging through Jammie. I'm about a third of the way done with the first sleeve. It's actually going pretty fast now that I'm focusing on it. Maybe another week or so before I'm wearing it!

I had all the ingredients on hand, so I thought I'd retry making the Zen Split Pea and Barley Soup. I made all of the changes I said I would and it definitely came out better. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but this time around the peas cooked down perfectly. It was much thicker from the get-go, and really thickened up overnight. The barley cooked to just the right consistency, the spices weren't so strong, and the vegetable broth didn't overpower everything. I took this picture the day I made the soup so you can't really see how much it thickened up, but now the consistency is much more like traditional split pea soup.

A few new changes: This time I had fresh basil on hand so I used that in addition to only using 1 tsp. of thyme instead of the Tbsp. called for in the recipe. I also had some celery on hand that I wanted to use up so I threw that in and reduced the amount (but did not omit completely) of celery salt.

We've been having pretty mild weather right now (I know, I know, I'm jinxing it). This is definitely a cold-weather-stick-to-your-ribs kind of soup, so I'll probably make it again when it's one of those days that I don't feel like going anywhere. If you want the recipe, click on the link up there to my previous post.