Hi Kate! I'm glad you enjoy the blog. I'm afraid I'm not great at thinking vegetarian...I think the split pea soup would be pretty bland without the smokiness of the ham to flavor it. That said, I've had good luck with a vegetarian lentil/rice soup (though I use chicken broth for the liquid) where I brown the onions before adding in the other ingredients. You might try using an additional onion and dicing/browning it and experiment with a bit of smoked paprika or something to jazz up the flavor.