CHEEZY CORNY CHOWDER

While a lot of my Connecticut friends were suffering in the cold and dark, I was without my phone and Internet in Florida.  I'm not complaining, mind you, just dealing with the lack of all that the 21st Century has to offer.  Now that I am back online the good news is so are our northern friends.  I am so sad that they had to live through a week of no power.  Here is a soup that  may not turn your power on in your house, but may provide super-power for your energy level.

If you don't have fresh corn like we do in southern Florida, frozen corn will work just fine.  Please see my notes on nutritional yeast.  It is a life saver in the kitchen when you need a little something that will add a protein punch and it tastes good too.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 sweet onions chopped fine
4 ears corn cut from cob (approx. 2 cups)
1 - 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 13.5 ounce can coconut milk (light or regular)
2 cups water
4-6 small potatoes cut into bite size
1/2 cup nutritional yeast *
1 teaspoon  vindaloo spice *
1 teaspoon toasted cumin *
1 teaspoon  balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onions with the olive oil  until translucent - add corn and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.  Add water, coconut milk, and tomatoes with their juice.  Add potatoes, nutritional yeast and spices. Cook for about 20-30 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.  Use an immersion blender to cream half of the soup.

Season with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste.

*nutritional yeast is not a baking yeast.  It is a yeast product that sprinkles like Parmesan cheese and has a slight nutty cheesy flavor.  It is full of protein, fiber and minerals and it is what give this soup a thick cheesy flavor.

 * Vindaloo spice is a mixture or ground coriander, garlic cumin, ginger, cinnamon, brown mustard, red pepper, jalapeño, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper and clove.  My jar is from Penzey's Spices.  Substitute with your favorite mixture if you would like.

* Please see a previous post on toasted cumin.  It is one of my favorite to make fresh from cumin seeds.  Purchased  ground cumin is fine.  I like the complexity in taste that the toasted cumin provides.

Cucumber Avocado Soup

Beth should get first billing for this soup because she inspired me when she whipped up something similar for a picnic this summer.  She served her soup in colorful martini glasses which made it super fun on top of being super tasty.

This past Labor Day Weekend Tom, Madison and I scoured NYC for great vegan food and not totally surprising to us Pure Food and Wine knocked our socks off.  It is a raw-vegan restaurant that I had heard about but I didn't think much of it until my carnivore friend, Marsha was raving about it.  If a big beef eater can rave about a raw-vegan restaurant it really must be good.  We concur with Marsha!  It really is WOW.  We just tried another raw-vegan food restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens, Christopher's Kitchen  and we were WOWED again!  Madison and I found out that this raw food restaurant owner cut his teeth at Pure Food in NYC.  We think the food is better here in Florida though.  Both are GREAT and worth a try.

This soup is also raw and if you wanted to add a bit of protein I would suggest adding some hummus and a bit more coconut milk.   Another idea is to soak raw cashews and blend them into the soup.  I think you can add or subtract as you see fit.

Cucumber Soup Recipe:

1 English cucumber
1 avocado
1/2 can coconut milk, light
1/3 cup sweet onion
1 lime, juiced
1 - 2 cloves garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Rough chop your cucumber, avocado, onion and garlic.  Place the garlic in the food processor first so it is chopped fine.  Add the onion and scrape down the sides.  Repeat until the onion and garlic is in very small pieces.  Add the cucumber and avocado and continue with the food processor until it is soupy.  Add the coconut milk, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Adjust seasoning to your liking.  Makes 4 starter portions.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

 (vegan ice cream - shhhhhh - don't tell anyone, they will never know!!)

This is by far the best recipe for vegan ice cream that I have come across.  We recently purchased an ice cream maker at Sur La Table by Cuisinart in bright citrus orange.  The price was half off and the machine seemed simple enough so we went for it.

We have made this recipe before, but not with the ice cream maker.   What a huge difference.  It was creamy and flavorful.  And best of all it is easy and packed with protein!!

www.vegetariantimes.com has the original recipe and I adjusted it to our tastes.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 13.5-oz. can light coconut milk

½ cup agave nectar (we like it less sweet so put in a little less if you wish)

½ cup crunchy peanut butter (add a little more if you like it more peanut buttery)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup French vanilla soy or original flavor soy creamer

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix well.  Pour into an ice cream maker and within 20 minutes you will have a creamy dessert.  Voila!!