Meatless Friday: Split Pea Soup with Hearty Beer Bread

Something I enjoy doing as a dietitian is taking tasty recipes and adapting them for those with dietary restrictions or special dietary needs. These recipes are two such examples. For those who need to watch their sodium intake, this meatless split pea soup can be made in a lower sodium version that the rest of the family can enjoy, too. The bread recipe, unfortunately, is harder to adapt to a lower-sodium version because of the sodium in the baking powder and salt needed for leavening. This bread, though, might help nursing mothers. Aside from being fairly easy for busy new moms to prepare as it's a batter bread, it contains several ingredients (like oats, brewer's yeast from beer, and seeds) that some claim can increase milk production. Again, of course, anyone can enjoy it!

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

• 1 cup dry split peas, sorted and rinsed
• 1 cup [reduced-sodium] vegetable broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt [omit]
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions      

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups rolled oats 
• 2 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons flax or chia seeds                        
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt                         
• 2 tablespoons honey            
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) bottle beer (inexpensive beer is actually better!)                        
• 3 tbsp butter, melted