Southwestern Creamy/Chunky Spicy Veggie Soup

I had soup similar to this at Panera a while back during one of winters. Now they don't have it on their menu anymore. I always wanted to make similar soup.  I had some chopped veggies, cream cheese and sour cream left over from the crescent roll pizza that I made earlier so I decided to make this soup.

Ingredients:
* 1 yellow onion
* 1 (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened)
* 1/2 c. sour cream
* 2 cloves of garlic
* ¼ cup pickled Jalapenos (optional)
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 2 tablespoon AP flour
* 2 cups milk
* 1/2  cup any salsa con queso medium
* 1 cup shredded Pepper jack cheese
* 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Veggies:
* 1 small bell pepper chopped
* 1 small Yellow bell pepper chopped
* 1-2 Tomatoes chopped
* 1 cup florets finely chopped
* 1-2 fresh Jalapeno chopped
* 1 bunch Green onions chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
* 2 long carrots Shredded carrots
* 1 avocado (firm not mushy)chopped
* One small can  of corn kernel: any kind, white, yellow or I used can  of Chipotle yellow corn kernel  
* 4-5 mushrooms chopped
* 1-2 fresh Serrano pepper of fresh jalapenos
* 1-2 garlic cloves
* 2 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
* 1 teaspoon any salsa seasoning
* 1 cup of water
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt (don't add too much as all the cheeses and salsa con queso are quite salty) you can always add more salt later if needed.

Method:

• Chop yellow onion separately and set aside.
• Chop all veggies finely or to desired chunkiness.
• Mix sour cream, softened cream cheese, chopped garlic, chopped pickled Jalapenos and pepper jack cheese, set aside.

• Mix one cup of cold milk with AP flour until all the lumps are gone.
• Heat butter in a sauce pan.
• Gradually add the milk and AP flour milk and cook it on low heat until thickens with no lumps.

• Heat olive oil in pan
• When hot,  add salsa seasoning, white pepper and chopped yellow onions.
• Saute until onions are translucent.
• Add chopped garlic saute for 1 more min.
• Add chopped veggies and cook for 2 min.

• Add salt and white sauce.
• Mix well.
• Add one cup of milk and shredded cheddar cheese.
• Cook for 2 min, stirring in between.
• Add cream cheese,  sour cream,  pepper jack and pickled jalapeno mix.

• Add one cup of water and cook on medium low heat until all  the cheese is melted.
• Lastly add salsa con queso and cook for 1-2 more minutes stirring in between.
• Serve hot with sour dough bread.

Enjoy !!

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.