Dairy-free, wheat-free corn chowder

My husband was so amazed by this velvety faux cream soup, he insisted that I start a blog to share my impromptu dinner artistry, and here you are. It all started because I hate going food shopping at 5pm, so tonight I looked around the kitchen and used what (little) I had to invent a warming soup for a cool night. Like most of my improv cookery, this makes two hearty portions for two people. I started with:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced in thin rounds
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• 1Tbsp. buttery spread
• 12.3 oz carton silken tofu
• 1 can corn
• 2 large links or 4 small links of cooked breakfast sausage (not a sweet flavor, like maple)

Cook vegetables and buttery spread over low heat, stirring, until onions are soft and begin to brown. Dump in tofu, about 1/3 of the corn, and apx. 1/2 cup water (I just swept the pan over to the sink and splashed some water in, so I'm not entirely sure how much). Break up the tofu with the back of a spoon or a nylon mashing tool like the Pampered Chef's mix n mash. When I'm literally whipping up dinner, I like to use this great gadget to mash potatoes right in the pan. Last night I used it to smash chickpeas for an Indian inspired chickpea stew.
Now leave the pan to simmer on low for about 20 min, until the vegetables are all soft enough to blend. In my 10 foot wide kitchen/dining room, I sit at the kitchen table fishing around online, doing sudoku, or reading a book at this point. Actually, today, I was looking at the real estate magazine and dreaming of a larger kitchen!
Before blending the soup base, I let it cool for a few minutes. I suppose you don't really have to if you've got a good blender or processor, but I have a thing about putting an almost boiling substance in my mini food processor with its plastic bowl.
Dump the blended mixture back into a small pot and add the rest of the corn and the chopped sausage. Flavor with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and any herbs you like (thyme or poultry seasoning would work well). I also tried adding a sun-dried tomato herb seasoning to some of my soup and it was pretty good, in spite of the fact that said seasoning was made for flavoring bread-dipping oil. And that, my friends, is how you make a tasty chowder with a little bit of fat and a lot of flavor, gluten and lactose-free. Stay tuned for more slightly edgy but undeniably palatable recipes for the adventurous last-minute chef.