Vegetable and corn chowder

Hmm, two soup posts in a row - clearly it is getting colder in Ottawa! Soup goes a long way towards helping me tolerate the dropping temperature - they are warm and comforting, easy to throw together, and a great way to cram a lot of veggies into one meal. This chowder has more lovely chunks of vegetables in each spoonful than it does liquid. The small amount of cheese gives nice flavour to this soup without adding a lot of fat, but you could omit it and use soy or almond milk for a dairy-free soup.

This recipe is from the fantastic cookbook Quick and Easy Soups.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large potato, diced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups broccoli florets
3 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup old Cheddar cheese, grated
Pepper to taste
Cilantro for garnish (do NOT skip this - it adds great flavour to the soup. I used this fresh frozen cilantro which is really convenient)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic and potato and sauté over low heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in the milk and broth.
Add the broccoli and corn. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese. Season individual bowls with pepper and cilantro.