Split Pea Soup

We invited some friends over for lunch after our Good Friday service, and I decided to keep it simple with build-your-own grilled cheese sandwiches and some soup.  I wanted to do something that could be cooking in the slow cooker while we were gone, and bought all the stuff for split pea soup, only to read the directions and realize that this is not a "dump everything in and go" sort of soup!  But, in More-With-Less fashion, I determined to make it work, and use the ingredients I already had on hand, rather than buying stuff for a different soup.  The nice thing about split pea soup is really, the longer it cooks the mushier and thicker it gets, which is really what you want.  Adapting it for the slow cooker was a little extra work, but in the end, it actually worked quite well!  This is my grandmother's recipe, and I will post it as is, but I will add some notes in the directions section for what I did to use the slow cooker.  

Split Pea Soup
Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. (1 lb.) dried green peas, rinsed well
8 c. (2 qts) cold water
Ham bone or just chopped ham
1 1/2 c. chopped onions
1 c. diced celery
1 c. diced carrots
1/4 tsp marjoram (optional) [I didn't have any, so I omitted it]
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c. cream, half & half, or milk [optional]

Directions:
In a large, heavy bottomed pot, cover peas with cold water -- bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat & let stand for one hour.
*Slow Cooker addendum: Boil the peas on the stove in a large pot.  While it is heating/ boiling, "charge" your slow cooker pot with hot water (fill it with very hot water and let it sit).  When ready to "remove from heat", dump hot water out of slow cooker pot, dry off the outside and pour the peas/ water into the slow cooker pot (I did this over the sink, in case it made a mess), and put the pot into the cooker.  Put on the lid and let the peas sit for one hour (cooker turned off).
After one hour, add the remaining ingredients, except the cream. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.  Then remove the bone and cook for another 30-40 minutes or until soup is thick.   *Slow Cooker addendum: Add ingredients & replace the lid, cook on high for 2-3 hours (or low if you need it to be a longer time frame, like 5-6 hours).  
If using, stir in cream right at the end, reheat and enjoy.  *Slow Cooker addendum: Turn cooker to low, add cream and reheat (covered) for about 15 minutes.