corn | i eat food

The gas in our apartment complex was recently shut off for a week due to a leak the city found. Having no hot water or gas for our stove was not the best thing to happen in the middle of the summer (especially when it’s consistently over 100 degrees!) Fortunately, my job outside sends me home super hot & sweaty, so a cold/lukewarm shower worked for me. But as far as cooking went, well, there is no microwave and we got rid of 2 hotplates before moving. We did a lot of eating out, to say the least. When we did eat in, it was sandwiches and salads. I also made a couple of raw soups which I’m going to share with you.
Gazpacho is the essential summer soup that everyone knows and loves. People put together their own concoction based on the veggies they like, and no two really ever seem to taste the same. I used to hate tomatoes and cucumbers, but they are growing on me which is awesome because they are crucial for gazpacho. This time, I used:

4 vine-ripened tomatoes
1/2 large cucumber
1 orange pepper
2 small carrots
2 shallots
cold water (to create the right consistency for me)
1 hot dog bun (to add a little more texture/weight)
olive oil & balsamic vinegar

I mixed all the veggies & bread in the blender, then added the water to get it just right. I chilled the gazpacho for about 30 minutes, then topped with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The next soup I made was Corn Chowder. It was so delicious! You must adjust the amount of corn kernals and garlic to your liking, because the soup can turn out rather thin & the garlic is a very strong flavor with the corn. For this chowder, you need:

3 ears fresh corn
2 cups of Almond milk
1 garlic clove
Cayenne pepper & salt to taste

You want to mix the kernals of 1 ear of corn with your almond milk and garlic in a blender. Process it until it’s smooth. Add the rest of the kernals and spices to your mixture. Allow to refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. I topped mine with a little black pepper. Yummy!