Quinoa Corn Chowder

The other day, as I was looking through my cookbook shelf, I found a loose recipe that I just had to make. It was a page torn out of a Jan/Feb 2008 Vegetarian Times Magazine. The recipe was Quinoa Corn Chowder. I, of course, didn't have all of the necessary ingredients so it became a variation. I didn't even have an onion, which really would have made this better. But it was still good. The quinoa gives the chowder a nice texture. Feel free to add an onion, take something away, etc. Here is my version:

Quinoa Corn Chowder

1 large red-skinned potato, cut into small dice
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into small dice
1 red bell pepper, cut into small dice
3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
4 cups fresh or frozen (defrosted) corn kernels
1 1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1-2 TBSP lime juice

Add 4 cups of water to a soup pot and bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat. Add the quinoa and red bell pepper and boil uncovered over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
In a food processor, process 3 cups of the corn kernels with 1 cup of water to make a coarse puree.
After the 10 minutes of cooking time, stir the corn puree and the remaining 1 cup of corn kernels into the quinoa/potatoes. Add the salt and pepper.
Continue cooking about 2-3 more minutes or until quinoa/potatoes are tender.
Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice.

The original recipe called for a lot of things that I did not have and that would probably make this an even better soup: cilantro, green olives, scallions, leek or onion. The red bell pepper and sweet potato were my additions.