This creamy corn chowder will warm you up and excite your taste buds!
Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Place in a high-powered blender along with a 1/2 cup of water and the 1 cup of roasted corn kernels. Blend until smooth and set aside.
In a large pot, sauté the yellow onion in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until soft. Stir in minced garlic and cook for another minute. Then toss in celery and carrots and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes until everything is soft and has started to release moisture.
Add in the thyme, smoked paprika, and chili powder and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes while the herbs and spices become fragrant. Add in sea salt and ground black pepper plus 2 cups of low-sodium vegetable stock and stir to combine. Simmer this mixture for 8 minutes.
Add in all the cashew cream you blended earlier, 2 more cups of low-sodium vegetable stock and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of roasted corn kernels. Simmer on medium for 15 minutes or until a light bubbling occurs. Then fold in 4 cups of spinach leaves and simmer on low for another 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine and ensure you don't over cook the spinach!
This recipe uses about 4 barbecued cobs of corn from this recipe.