Vegetable Gnocchi Soup

My first soup of the Fall! Ok, so it's not officially Fall yet. But it's close! And the weather has been a lot more Fall-like around here. Anyway, my friend Julie (aka ladychicago) from The Nest's What's Cooking message board shared a recipe she had for Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. I have had a package of premade gnocchi sitting around for a little while and I wanted to use it up. I didn't have any chicken in the freezer, so I decided to try this soup meatless. It was wonderful and flavorful and I will definitely be making this again, although next time I think I'll try it with the chicken and see how that goes.

The original recipe that Julie gave me called for frozen peas, and although I was positive that I had some lurking in my freezer, I did not have any. So I used frozen corn, much to the merriment of my husband. He doesn't like peas, but corn is one of his favorite vegetables. So he was very happy. He claims that the carrots were not cooked well enough, but I disagree. I think they were perfect. Maybe he just likes mushy carrots. Anyway, here's the recipe in it's original form, with my changes in italics and parenthesis.

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (but I'm calling it Vegetable Gnocchi soup tonight :-)
Source: nestie ladychicago

6 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned (I used fat free vegetable broth in a box)
4 cloves of garlic, minced (I have to admit that I used jarred, minced garlic here)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sugar
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
2 cups prepared potato gnocchi, about 11 ounces, thawed if frozen (I probably used more like 2 1/2 cups)
2 cups frozen peas, 8 ounces (I used frozen corn)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken, about 1 large chicken breast (I omitted this)
Freshly ground black pepper
Hunk of good Parmesan

Put chicken broth, garlic, butter and sugar in a large
saucepan over medium-low heat, bring it to a simmer,
and cook, uncovered until the garlic is tender, about
2 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and continue to
simmer until almost tender, 2 minutes. Bring to a full
boil, stir in gnocchi and, cooking until the gnocchi
are al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in frozen peas and
chicken and turn off the heat. Season with salt —take
into consideration that Parmesan cheese is salty, and
a generous amount of pepper, to taste. Ladle the soup
into warmed shallow bowls and shower each with freshly
grated cheese.