Soup Party!

My friend and co-worker (the same friend who I traveled to DC with) and I have been talking about having a soup party for a long time.  It finally came to fruition tonight.  The instructions were that everyone was to bring a pot of soup to share and Tupperware containers to share the leftovers.  It was an ingenious plan and all of us had a good time tasting different soups and enjoying the array of flavors.  As soon as the invite went out I knew just what soup I wanted to make: Sweet Pepper Coconut Corn Chowder out of ExtraVeganZa.  I hate to play favorites with my cookbooks but after my great experience with the Lemon Blueberry Lavender Muffins I found I couldn’t wait to try another recipe from this cookbook.  The chowder was the next recipe on my list and I knew I couldn’t let anymore time go by before I tried it.  Combining leeks, carrots, garlic, cayenne, jalapeno, garbanzo beans, roasted red and yellow peppers, corn and coconut milk I just knew it would be a winner.  Lucky for me it really was.  I was worried that the coconut milk would be too sweet and overpower the other ingredients, but it was actually a perfect backdrop.  I followed the recipe almost as is with the exception of substituting light coconut milk to keep it more waistline friendly.  I also pureed some of the soup and added it back in to give it a richer body and incorporate the flavors of the vegetables into the milk.  The result was something that was pure bliss.  The soup was gone by the end of the night and given Laura’s great recipe I am not surprised.  Everything was perfectly balanced and so flavorful that no one guessed it was vegan.  I think this recipe alone is worth the cost of the book, but you can also find it here.