Copy Cat Zupas Cauliflower Soup

It's Copy Cat Week!!  Yay!!!!

You know that one of my favorite things is to get recipes from my favorite dishes at restaurants and make them at home!  I've gotten requests to find recipes of foods I haven't eaten and that's fun too!  If someone else talks about how good a dish is at a restaurant I am more than happy in finding a copy cat recipe and trying it.  Like this one!!!

I have never eaten at Zupas, however, I have heard so many people rave about this soup, so I had to try it! 

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it claimed to be identical.  I have no idea if it was, but it was creamy and delicious!  So delicious that I made it twice within one week!  I told my kids that it was like potato soup, and they ate it!  Even after I told them it was  made with cauliflower! 

It was a great meal for our snowy cold days.  Also, a relatively nutritious meal you can feed your family for under $10 and have some leftover for your husband to take in his lunch the next day (if you don't claim it yourself!)

Seriously, it was sooo delicious.  I encourage topping it with the cheese, bacon, and onions - so good!!!

Copy Cat Zupas Cauliflower Soup
Recipe from HERE

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 T butter
• 2 pounds cauliflower, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• ¼ C flour
• 2 C half and half
• 1½ cup water
• 1 14½ ounce can chicken broth
• 1½ C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• ½ C pepper jack cheese, shredded
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• Optional Toppings:
• Green Onions
• Bacon Bits
• Additional Cheese

Instructions

1. In a large pot, melt 3 T butter and cook the chopped onion until translucent and golden brown. Whisk in the flour. Gradually stir in half and half, water and chicken broth.
2. Add the chopped cauliflower and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium low and allow the cauliflower to cook until tender about 15 minutes.
3. In a blender with the center of the top removed to allow steam to escape, blend the soup in batches until smooth. Return to the pot. (Instead of using a blender I use my immersion blender - much easier!)
4. Heat soup to medium heat and add in dijon mustard and cheese and stir until melted. Serve with optional toppings.  (I just take my soup off the heat, use the immersion blender, then add the cheese and mustard without putting it back on the heat.)
5. Enjoy!