Ham Bone Soup

My grandma makes this soup so I called her to get the recipe and of course she just uses the recipe on the back of the bag of dried peas. The recipe varies depending on what brand peas you use, but here is the one on the Albertson's split peas.

1/2 lb green split peas
4 cups water
1 meaty ham bone
1 Bay leaf
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped carrots
1/2 tsp salt (no need, I just used pepper)
1 garlic clove, minced

wash, sort and drain green split peas. Combine all ingredients in large pot with lid. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered, approximately one hour or until cooked through and stir occasionally. Before serving cut ham off bone, dice it, and replace in soup.
Apparently this recipe makes a very thick soup so it says you can thin it by adding a small amount of water, chicken or beef stock, light cream, or undiluted evaporated milk.
I actually made the soup by using parts of both recipes (the one my grandma gave me and this one). The other recipe called for 2 quarts of water instead of 4 cups. And of coarse I changed a few of the other ingredient amounts based on what I have as always. My grandma's recipe also said to cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so I let my soup cook for about 2 1/2 hours. It was good, but next time I might do a little less water than 2 quarts and more carrots because I love cooked carrots.