Coconut Corn Soup & Vegan Chocolate Shakes

Last night I made a Coconut Corn Soup and Vegan Chocolate Shakes.
I felt like it would be good to say au revoir to summer with a nice dish. Although, the first day of fall is September 23rd, it feels like summer is over. Sure, we had a few days where it’s nice, warm and sunny. But I have a feeling chilly weather will sneak up very quickly and then winter will come and beat the crap out of us again.

 Tada! Finished product topped with the jalapeno salsa and the chocolate shake.

Last winter was way too cold! Once it drops down to -40 degrees with a windchill I want out. If this is a continuum in Chicago, I may have to look at investing and going to a beach in the winter time. Truthfully, I would love (as it's one of my goals) to go to a tropical place for Christmas. Maybe Bora Bora or the Bahamas? I like the thought of spending one Christmas in a bikini. Then again, Seattle is supposed to have milder winters. Either way I am not looking forward to winter. So, I am going to enjoy Autumn as much as I can!

I digress...originally, I wanted to get fresh ears of corn and grill them for that smoky flavor but sadly we don’t have a grill. I’d love to have a grill. Chicago has restrictions about grilling which sucks. But then again I get it because you are cramped together on a street.  Part of me can’t wait till we move out to Seattle (fingers crossed for 2016) then hopefully we can get a grill.

For this I chose frozen corn because I wanted something quicker. I also was a bit hesitant to use fresh corn because I couldn't get out to a Farmer’s Market. But the last time I got corn was from Trader Joe’s and it had a chunk that was rotten. It really sucked. I like Trader Joe’s but I prefer more of their frozen or bagged items. But Trader Joe’s is way better than Mariano’s. To be honest, I don't like Mariano’s. Maybe I just went into a bad store...but the last time I went in there, the produce was utter crap. The mangoes were bruised, apples beat up, and vegetables were wilted! Blah. I guess I am finicky with fresh produce. Wayne wants to try Peapod, but I don’t think I’d feel comfortable getting my fresh produce from a truck. Maybe it’s the inner chef inside telling me, “YOU MUST PICK YOUR OWN VEGGIES!” Or it could be years of socialization of watching my mom cook. Who knows really....but I like to pick the vegetables/fruits out myself.
Pretty much my list of place to shop is:
1. Farmers Market
2. Whole Foods
3. Trader Joe's
4. Mariano's

Anyway, let's get to it!
First, Wayne helped me by making the Vegan Chocolate Shakes.

Used some Almond Milk with protein.

Chocolate Coconut milk ice-cream. Yum!

Zest of 1 orange.

Then Earl Grey tea!

Wayne had to put the milk in a pan and heat it up. Then add the Earl Grey tea bags, and orange zest. We were a little skeptical about if the earl grey tea would be too strong. We added the Chocolate Coconut ice cream, a bit of maple syrup and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. Then blended it.  By golly! Was this amazing. You could taste each individual flavor. Yet each of them were in harmony. I really loved the orange zest because there was a small hint of it but it complimented the chocolaty flavor!  

For the ZOUP!

First, I took the corn kernels then covered them with cold water and salt. Then I boiled it for 3 minutes and drained.

Next, I chopped up the onion and added coconut oil to the pot. The recipe calls for olive oil, I felt like if I was going to use coconut might as well have coconut oil!

Then I chopped up the celery. The recipe calls for one medium celery but I figured might as well add two of 'em. Then I threw it in the pot and let it cook down for a couple of minutes. 

While all of that is going on in the pot, I moved onto the salsa. I chopped up the avocado and put it aside. Then I chopped up the red onion, added corn, lime juice and cilantro. Wayne then chopped up the jalapeno pepper. I have very sensitive skin and sometimes the spicy juice irritates my skin.

Isn't it pretty? I still need to throw in the avocado...

After they were cooked down a bit, I added the celery and onion mixture to my Ninja blender. Then added 2 cups of Organic Chicken Broth and 1 cup of water. 

It's beginning to look like soup!

 The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut, but I felt like it was a bit too much. I threw in 1 cup.

Then you add 4 cups of corn. Don't make a mess like I did though! The bag exploded on me while trying to open it!

Blend baby, blend!

 Kind of looks like baby meal at first...but the results were delicious!

BONUS!

We had a leftover (and very ripe) avocado. So I decided to make them into Dark Chocolate Truffles. All I did was mash up the avocado, heat up the chocolate in a separate bowl. Merge the two and mix. Then put in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. After it cools down, we made them into balls and rolled them in crushed almonds! The result was delicious! They're super easy and tasty too! This could get deadly as there's only 3 ingredients. lols!

Coconut Corn Soup Recipe here.
I found Jennifer Pallian's blog on a random search for top food blogs in 2013 but never really gave her blog a second look. But in the Bonapetit September magazine, I stumbled across her advertised soup recipe.
Vegan Chocolate Shake Recipe here.
I can't quite remember how I found her blog, but Laura has a lot of great vegan recipes. Plus this shake is fantastic.
Dark Chocolate Avocado Truffle Recipe here.

Here's some other recipes I peeked at that look really good!
Butternut squash and mascarpone ravioli with hazelnut brown butter
Roasted Squash Lasagna
Ginger Rhubarb Crisp
Dark Chocolate and Fig Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan Cauliflower & Roasted Garbanzo Rice and Peas
The Green Drink

Emma