Vegan White Bean Corn Chowder

On a cold winters day we positively crave this deliciously creamy chowder with scrumptious sweet corn topped with crunchy garlic chips. Silky heirloom white beans deliver creamy texture and plant-based protein to this guilt free dish your entire family will love.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cooked and drained white beans  (we like White Tepary Beans, Great Northern Beans or Cannellini Beans)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 rib of celery diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 medium red, orange or yellow bell pepper diced
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups vegetable broth. (we recommend a home made corn stock or corn broth from PlantStrong.)
• 4 cups fresh or frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt and Pepper
• Green onions and fried garlic slices for garnish

Directions:

1. Cook white beans on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker with just salt, water and one bay leaf. In this instance I don't use kombu in the pot because I don't want potential flecks of brown in the soup from the seaweed. Read our definitive guide to cooking heirloom beans. Strain one cup of the cooked beans and reserve the rest in the cooking broth for other recipes.  
2. Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a thick bottomed pot over medium heat and sauté the onion, celery, garlic and bell pepper until soft. 
3. Add the broth, cooked beans, corn and bay leaf to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes to let all of the flavors develop. 
4. Ladle half of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth, then return to the pot. 
5. Stir in the nutritional yeast, taste and season with salt and pepper. Taste again and adjust seasonings.
6. Ladle into bowls and garnish with green onion and garlic chips.

**To make fried garlic chips, slice garlic cloves very thinly. Heat a skillet with a good coating of oil to medium high heat. Place the garlic slices in the pan and watch carefully with tongs in hand. When they start to brown, turn to the other side and then watch like a hawk. Pull them from the pan and place on a paper towel just before you think they are done because they go from brown to burnt in a heartbeat.