Pea Soup

At first, I thought this would be gross, but I have recently realized that I love peas.  I got the idea from Ina Garten's cook book but, of course, I needed to make healthier substitutions.  The soup is bright green so it looks delicious and it tastes sweet and hearty.  The recipe serves 4 to 6.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek
1 small yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
4 ounces of low fat cream cheese
5 cups frozen peas
Salt and pepper to taste


First, you need to clean the leek.  Just slice it in half longways then cut slices about a half inch thick.  Fill a large bowl with water and put the leek slices in the bowl trying to separate the layers with your fingers.  Let them sit in the water for about 20 minutes.  There tends to be sand between the layers and since the sand sinks and the leeks float they clean themselves by soaking.

Roughly chop the onion and garlic and add it to a soup pot with olive oil and the washed and chopped leek.  Saute them together on medium low heat for about 10 minutes.  Add the stock and bring to a simmer.  Then add the peas and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Add the cream cheese and puree the soup until smooth.  To serve, I add black pepper on top.