Split Pea Soup, Southwestern Chunky Chicken Chili and Fried Hoecakes

We went to Kennesaw Georgia for our Grandson's Baptism. Tuesday morning we headed down to Savannah Georgia with Clayton's family.  Deep Fried Chicken, Deep Fried Shrimp, Deep Fried Green Tomatoes, Deep Fried Dill Pickles, (which by the way I really liked), and Hoecakes(which were also really good) at Paula Deen's restaurant was what we tried!
However I really liked Paula Deen's brother's restaurant near Tybee Island called Uncle Bubba's better.
  What was really fun, was walking down to the sweets store and buying DARK CHOCOLATE CARMEL COVERED PECANS-TURTLES.  They were so darn good! Now I have to get back to the real world and lose weight!
Here are a couple of soups you could have with the Hoecakes.  The recipe is on the Food Network.  Type in Hoecakes and Paula Deen's recipe will come up. Cheese Biscuits would also be good with the Split Pea Soup.

This recipe comes from: For Your Kitchen-at the New Gate Mall in Ogden.
Split Pea Soup:
1 tlbsp. Butter
2 cups onions sliced
2 large celery stalks, diced
2 long carrots, sliced
8 cups water
1 pound green split peas (Approx 2 1/2 cups)
1 pound smoked ham (optional) (We sometimes omit this and just add some bacon bits and grated cheese.)
3 large bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp. Dried Thyme, add after cooking.
Add all ingredients into your pressure cooker and stir. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.  Allow pressure to release naturally, remove lid and stir well.  Add Thyme, if desired, and stir.  Serve and enjoy.

This  recipe I adapted using the ingredients from cans.   It is fast and you can have these ingredients in your food storage.
Southwestern Chunky Chicken Chili
2 tlbsp. dried minced onion
1-2 tlbsp. taco seasoning
3 tlbsp. ranch dressing mix
You can mix the above 3 ingredients and have in a plastic zip bag, with all the other ingredients for you food storage.
1 can of chicken, shred it with a fork when you put it in the pressure cooker.
1 can of black beans, drained
2 cans tomatoes with cilantro and lime (Can use other tomatoes)
1 can of corn (Cosco now has sweet corn in the can with just corn and sea salt and no sugar added.)
Pressure for 5 minutes, natural release.
Serve with cilantro, sour cream, cheese and tortilla chips.