Once a Month Cooking: Bejeweled Bow Tie Soup

A steaming bowl of soup is the best comfort food in the middle of a snow storm or a winter cold snap. This pasta, legume and vegetable soup is both nutritious and satisfying. The tomato gives it a lovely tint, and the carrot and turnip chunks nestle in the thick broth like jewels in a treasure chest.

Bejeweled Bow Tie Soup Recipe
This recipe uses make ahead beef and vegetable spaghetti sauce. Make up a large batch of sauce once a month, and use it for pasta dishes, casseroles and other family meals.

8 cups (2 L) water or broth
1 cup (250 mL) split peas
1/2 medium turnip, peeled and cut into chunks
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut
3/4 cup (175 mL) beef and vegetable spaghetti sauce
a few handfuls of small or medium bow tie pasta (farfalle)

Bring the water to a boil in a large soup pot; add the split peas and cover. Let simmer about 20-30 minutes, until peas begin to soften. Add vegetables to the pot and continue to simmer another 20 minutes. Once the vegetables are tender, add the spaghetti sauce and bow ties. Cook about 20 minutes more, until the pasta is just done. The broth should thicken on its own, and should develop a reddish orange tinge from the blend of split peas and tomato. Serves 6-8 people.

Bejeweled bow tie soup is very filling! We like to serve it in mugs, as a big bowl is too large a portion for our kids. Bow tie soup goes well with buttered bread or potato pancakes on the side.

Vegetarian Option:
Having a vegetarian meal once or twice a week is beneficial to your health and your budget. To make a vegetarian version of bejeweled bow tie soup, make your spaghetti sauce without the meat or simply substitute a can of diced tomatoes for the sauce. If you choose broth instead of water for cooking the peas, use a vegetable based broth.

Use Up your Leftovers:
Bejeweled bow tie soup is a very flexible recipe. Feel free to toss in leftover cooked vegetables, or to switch out the split peas for another type of legume. Macaroni or other bite sized pasta will work well if you don't have any bow ties, as will rice. Bits of cooked meat can be added too. Adjust cooking times as necessary, if using a lot of precooked or canned ingredients.