Smoky & Creamy Corn Soup

Yum, can I say, yum! for this one. Also extremely healthy. And very fast and easy. The only prep is cutting up the vegetables; everything else comes from a package.

(From Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites cookbook.)

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
• 1 16-oz bag frozen yellow corn kernels
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4-1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and saute, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes until the vegetables are slightly browned. Add the corn kernels, 1 cup of vegetable broth, and the chipotle chili powder to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer soup mixture in batches to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Return soup to original pot, add remaining 3 cups of vegetable broth, and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes until heated through. Serves 4 (1 1/2 cup servings).

Now, what I did differently was instead of completely puréeing the entire soup mixture I briefly spun half of it in the blender so that some chunkiness was retained. I like my soups to have some bite, you know? There were still whole corn kernels in it. Then I really puréed the remaining half. I also only added two cups of vegetable broth at the end because the soup looked thin enough already. The chipotle chili powder provides the interesting smoky flavor, but I'm sure regular chili powder would do in a pinch. I was fortunate to find some chipotle powder (McCormick brand) at the grocery store. I also courted kitchen disaster by not letting the soup cool before transferring it to the blender!