Going green starts in your kitchen – another reason to love your slow cooker. One of our slow cooker favorites is split pea soup.

Using your slow cooker is a great way to reduce the energy consumption of your kitchen. Try our easy split pea soup - a good source of folic acid, recognized as an important colon cancer preventative.

Ingredients, 10 servings (1.5 cups):

• 1 16 oz bag dried split peas
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• 1  smoked ham hock or pork butt (3/4 lb)
• Pepper to taste
• 10 cups of water

Directions:
Rinse split peas. Please ham hock and onion in slow cooker with water and cook on high for 1.5 hours. Remove ham hock and let cool. Remove meat from bone, discard bone. Return meat to slow cooker and add onion, carrots and split peas. Cook on low for 2 hours. For a thicker stew, remove cover and cook for 30 minutes on high or until desired consistency. Add pepper to taste.

For more tips on going green in your kitchen