Baked Potato Soup

It's been a little cooler in Wisconsin for the past couple of weeks which is totally welcome, if you ask me!

I was looking forward to apple picking this weekend because the weather felt cool, my sweaters are making their way to the front of my closet, and pumpkin candles have been burning all day long on my stove... AND THEN I found out that because we had such a weird spring (super warm temperatures in March, then really cold again in April) that there aren't a lot of apples to be picked... which means orchards are not offering pick-your-own this year, they've pre-picked apples instead.
And now I'm bummed! Trevor and I found a great family owned apple place last year and were looking forward to making it a tradition...

Anyway, I'm totally off track now.
Darn apples getting me sidetracked.

I was telling you about the cooler weather lately! Cooler weather = soup weather! And I want to share a delicious {and easy, and healthy} baked potato soup with you that you can make in a flash - tonight, or whenever the mood strikes.

The best part about this soup I'm sharing with you? It's not as carb heavy as the usual baked potato soup. How does such a wonderful thing happen? You use cauliflower in place of some potatoes! It's pretty darn amazing, and you can't even taste a difference!

Here's a link to the original recipe that I started using, but my modified version is what you'll find typed up in this post.

Source: skinnytaste.com via Sara on Pinterest

It looks pretty darn great, right?! It tastes just as good as it looks, I promise.

You'll need:
2 baking potatoes (I use small ones)
1 head of cauliflower cut up (I use mostly the florets but throw in some of the stems to bulk it up)
1 1/2 cups of no sodium added, fat free chicken broth
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
salt and pepper
*some* cheddar cheese (we only put cheese on our soup after serving it, so this amount is determined by each person)
*some* bacon bits (again, each person puts their own amount of bacon bits on, so this amount is different every time)

Ok! Let's make some soup!

Poke some holes in your potatoes after washing and drying them. Toss them into the microwave for 5ish minutes or until tender. Then, cut up the potatoes into chunks.
While your potatoes are in the microwave, cut up your cauliflower and toss it into a stock pot/soup pot with about an inch of water in the bottom. Cover then bring to a boil. Let your cauliflower "steam" this way for about 5 minutes. Drain the water out.
Add the potato chunks to the pot with the drained cauliflower. Then add the chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil.
Use an immersion blender or regular blender to puree the mixture into a smooth soup. You'll be surprised by how fast it thickens up!
Add the sour cream and salt & pepper to taste. Cook on low for a few more minutes.
Serve it up in bowls and portion your own cheese and bacon bits.
Enjoy!

The whole recipe takes 15-20 minutes and is SO filling. I usually only need to eat 1 ladle of this soup to keep me full for the rest of the day. Because this recipe makes so much and is so filling, we always have leftovers. I'm happy to report that the soup is just as good a couple days later as it is fresh.

I've shared this recipe with family and friends and I've only heard good feedback about it! Head to the grocery store and pick up what you need to try this soup tonight!

Enjoy the return of soup weather!

Have you substituted carbs with cauliflower before? Have you liked it?
Have you tried this recipe? What did you think?!