Is it Wednesday? Cuz I have a soup recipe!

It's Monday and I'm off work today thanks to Presidents Lincoln & Washington.  I hope you had a grand weekend and if you're off today you're doing something fun.  I will be spending hours basking in the warmth of.... the heated rooms and soaking in the tubs at the Olympus Spa.  I love this place and I try when I have a weekday off to get there and treat myself.  My loving husband gave me not one, but two gift certificates for Christmas so I can treat myself many times over.

Because I don't do well in the cold weather, this is the perfect time to go and heat up my body.  I just wish I could store it somehow.  I've been dreaming of a warmer climate, trying to figure out where we could go for a week in the early spring.  I am soooo looking forward to going to the Fuhrman Getaway in San Diego at the end of June.  It seems so far off in the future, though.  April sounds like the perfect time to get away to somewhere sunny too!

Until I can get into the sun and bask like a lizard, I will have to do some warming from the inside out and for me that comes in the form of a soup.  I know, I know... it's not Wednesday and I'm handing out a soup recipe.  I'm just so darned excited for this one I can't wait.  I created the recipe myself -- Yes, no stealing or borrowing from anyone else!  So let me share...

The corn getting browned

Corn Chowder
RECIPE:

1 onion

16 oz bag of frozen corn

1 clove garlic, minced

5 c. water

4 small red potatoes, cubed

1 zucchini 

1 Tbsp. parsley

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1/2 c. unsweetened soy milk

1/3 c. cashews

1 roasted red pepper, chopped

fresh ground pepper, to taste

Water saute the onion and garlic until very soft.  Add the corn kernels and cook on a high temp until brown.  (They will actually be sticking to the pan)  Add the water and potatoes.  Boil for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Puree 2 to 3 cups of the soup with the zucchini and add back into the pot.  Blend the liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, soy milk & cashews in a blender until smooth.  Stir back into the pot.  Add in the roasted red pepper and parsley, season with freshly ground pepper.  Heat through & serve.

Confession time:  We didn't actually eat the soup for dinner!  I made it and put it in the fridge for tonight's dinner.  We had company Sunday night, so I made a pasta sauce that we served over spaghetti squash.  This recipe I did steal from my friend Carrie's blog.  She posts a wonderful group of vegan recipes on Fridays.  I will include the link to the sauce here.  It is fairly involved, but very much worth the effort.  It makes a LOT of sauce and I now have four jars in my freezer, plus leftovers from dinner that will satisfy many lunches throughout the week.

I think I was feeling a little extra adventurous Sunday evening because I created my own dessert too.  The idea came from my craving of frozen yogurt from the local shoppe that is a mere five-minute drive from our house.  That makes it a little too convenient and dangerously addictable (is that a word?)  Maybe it is actually the candy toppings that I pile on top that I was really craving.  In any event, because I'm really not wanting to eat added sugars except what is already in my soy milk for my hot beverages and other treats, my loving husband helped me decide NOT going to the yogurt shop was a good idea and that my frozen dessert was much better for us.  I actually said it tasted better too, but I'm not sure he was completely convinced.  Let's just say there were no leftovers so it couldn't have been that bad! 

We even had spoons from the frozen yogurt shop.

Here's what I did:

Strawberry "Ice Dream"

4 dates
1/4 c. vanilla soy milk
1-1/2 c. frozen strawberries
cacoa nibs for garnish

In a high-speed blender, blend the dates and soy milk until the dates are chopped up fairly small.  Add in the frozen strawberries and using the tamper, continue to blend until you have a nice soft-serve consistency.  Top with a sprinkling of cacoa nibs & enjoy!

Making new recipes takes a little bit of creativity and now that I've been doing this for a while, have tried others recipes and know what flavors I like, it is getting easier to come up with some of my own experiments -- some better than others.  I hope to be able to continue doing that.  Of course, I will still share other dishes that I try from my trusted sources and give credit where it is due.

I hope you have a good start to your week.  Check back here on Wednesday where I'll give my review of a recipe a fellow nutritarian shared with me.  Think... salad with no dressing.  Is that possible?  Oh, and it's got kale in it.  I can't wait to give it a try!