It got up to 92 degrees on Saturday, and it felt like 102…summer is definitely here, and will remain here until at least mid-October. Therefore, we have to start our days outside earlier than I would like, or wait until early evening to play outside (and face the evil Mosquitos that LOVE Henry). Saturday morning all three of us went to Largo Central Park to play. The Hen and I play at the park soo much, but Keith doesn’t usually get to play so it was awesome he could come, too. These days, the Hen is most excited by climbing up walls, ladders, spiderwebs, rocks…pretty much everything. Sure, the swings and slides are fun, but they cannot compare to climbing as high as possible. Since the Hen is only two, this means I have to climb up after him so I can help him down, because he hasn’t quite mastered climbing down all these various apparatuses. He’s getting better all the time though, so hopefully I will be able to watch from the ground soon enough. 

 

  
  

    

 Despite the heat on Saturday, I decided to make soup for dinner because the ingredients we had left in the fridge were perfect for it. Pinterest is my secret weapon when I want to make something using up ingredients just sitting around and this soup was delicious – Sweet Potato Corn Chowder (http://immaeatthat.com/2013/01/11/chobani-recipes-sweet-potato-corn-chowder/). I modified it a little (less onion and different seasonings), but otherwise it will now be part of our soup rotation. Hen helped me cook; well, mostly he pretended to cook his Mickey Mouse in a separate pot, but he tried shucking the corn husks and helped dump the ingredients in the pot. He is shaping up to be an excellent sous chef (boiling Mickey alive notwithstanding). 

   

   Sweet Potato Corn Chowder – serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into cubes
• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 4 ears of corn on the cob
• 1 cup celery, chopped (more is fine)
• 1.5-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (Penzeys preferred)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup plain yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Toss sweet potatoes with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Stir sweet potatoes and then bake for another 15 minutes.
2. While sweet potatoes are baking, boil corn on the cob, and then cut the kernels off. In a high powered blender, combine 1.5 cup of the corn kernels with 1 cup water. Blend until smooth. Set aside corn puree, but leave it in the blender.
3. Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and allow it to get hot, ~2 minutes. Add onions and stir frequently for 5 minutes allowing the onions to slightly soften. Add in the celery and allow vegetables to soften for ~5 minutes, continue to stir frequently. Once vegetables are soft, add in Cajun seasoning and stir until fragrant. Turn heat to low.
4. By this time your sweet potatoes should be done roasting so use a spatula to transfer all of the roasted sweet potato cubes into your blender with the corn puree. Blend the corn puree and sweet potatoes together until smooth. Add in 1 cup chicken broth and continue to blend. Pour this puree into your soup pot with the softened vegetables. Add in remaining 1 cup chicken broth, remaining corn kernels.
5. Partially cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup plain yogurt and serve immediately. Add salt and pepper to taste.