Homemade Cream of Chicken/Mushroom/Celery Soup Mix.

Ok, so cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup and cream of celery soup were hard for me to give up at first.  Who am I kidding???  I wouldn't be writing this post if I had given them up 100%....right?  Lol

But have you ever read the ingredients on a store bought can of "cream of" soup???  Good grief.  What is 98% of the stuff in there?!?!  Of course don't forget BPA from the can.  Then I thought ok, I will go to the tetra pack organic cream of soups.  Then again....nope.  Aluminum from the lining of the tetra packs leaches into my soup.  Nope.  Not good.  So, I went to the next step.....make my own cream of soup and freeze it.  Talk about yum!  But it does require some time in the kitchen and space in your freezer.  Then I found this....a dry powder that you add water or broth to, bring to a boil, then add to the recipe you are preparing.  Ok, so let's give this a try.

Most of the "condensed cream of" recipes call for bouillon.  Bouillon is a tricky one.  Conventional bouillon is full of MSG and other crap.  Frontier even makes one that is organic.  But after you read the list of ingredients, you think twice.  I've heard about a safe bouillon paste but have not found it yet.  So, I came up with this.  I am open to feedback, so as you make and cook with these recipes feel free to comment below so we can learn from each other.

Here we go...........

Condensed Cream of Powder (this will make somewhere around 8 "cans" of soup)
2 cups organic valley dry milk
3/4 cup organic cornstarch (or arrowroot, tapioca starch or potato starch)
2 tablespoons organic minced onion (blend into a powder in your bullet, food processor or blender first)
1 tsp organic basil
1 tsp organic dried thyme (or organic parsley)
1 tsp pepper

Mix together and store in a glass jar in your refrigerator or freezer.


Cream of Soup
1/3 cup of your homemade powder
1 - 1 1/4 cup of broth or water (this is where I love to use my homemade chicken stock)
1 of the additions below
Whisk
Saucepan

Place 1/3 cup of the dry Condensed Cream of Powder into a stainless steel sauce pan.  Measure out 1 1/4 cup reverse osmosis water (or homemade chicken stock) and set aside.  Review 1 of the 3 options below, depending on what you are wanting to make.  Either cream of chicken, cream of mushroom or cream of celery.

Add 1 tablespoon of your water or broth to the powder and whisk like crazy with a fork or whisk.  (IF you add the 1 1/4 cup of water or broth to the powder you will regret it.  I had to use a submersion blender the first time I made this because the lumps were horrible.)  Once you have a roux (a paste made of your powder and broth) add more broth to the roux and keep whisking.  Slowly add all of the broth while whisking until you have achieved a lump free soup.  Add your choice of additions from the list below and bring to a boil over medium to medium high heat, reduce heat and cook until soup is thick, stir continuously or this will burn.


Add to your dish just like you would if you cracked open a can of the cream of ______ soup from the store.  SOO easy!!!!  AND SOOOOOOOOOOO much healthier for you!!


Additions/Full Recipes
To make Condensed Cream of Chicken soup
Cooked chicken, diced (optional)
1/4 tsp organic poultry seasoning
1 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth (I think the broth offers a fuller flavor over water)

To make Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
Mushrooms (I bought organic mushrooms at Meijer washed them, diced them and froze them in ice cube trays.  Then I popped out the mushroom ice cubes, placed in a glass storage bowl and froze.  Then pull out how many cubes you want to add to your soup.)
1 - 1 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth (or water)

To make Condensed Cream of Celery soup
1 tsp Organic celery flakes or organic fresh diced celery
1 - 1 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth or water

I wrote the recipe for the powder and for the soups on an index card and taped it to my glass jar.  Now everything is right at my finger tips when I need it.  :-)

Hope you enjoy!

  

Homemade "Cream of" Soups

Ok, I have to admit, I LOVE Cream of Mushroom, Chicken and Celery soups for cooking.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!  But now that I am no longer buying anything in cans....I needed to do some research.  I found 3 recipes that look really good and are really easy for each of the 3 "Cream of" soups and can be frozen.  Let me know if you try them before I do in your recipes.

Enjoy!!


Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
Yield: 3 cups (about 2 cans)    Prep time:  5 minutes    Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

1 1/2 cups organic chicken broth (can be left over from an oven roasted chicken, refrigerate, fat removed)(Meijer and Whole Foods sell this for a good price)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp onion powder (or diced onions)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour

1.  In a medium sized saucepan, boil the chicken broth, 1/2 cup of milk, and the seasonings for a minute or two (longer is using fresh onion and garlic).
2.  In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and flour.  Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.

Soup can be made in larger batches and frozen and used later in recipes!!  How awesome is this!!!!  Just make sure if you are freezing, either use glass to freeze (allow space for soup to expand) or let it cool first then place in plastic containers that do not have the numbers 3, 6, 7 or nothing. 



Homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
Prep time: 5 minutes    Total Time:  20 minutes   Serving:  1 Serving makes just about 2 3/4 cups

2oz fresh mushrooms (Recipes calls for 8oz, that was just way too much for us.  8oz container will make us 4 batches.)
2 Tbsp onion, chopped (I used 3-4 dashes of minced onion) (or you can use 1/4 tsp onion powder)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (Fresh tastes awesome!!)  (or you can use 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
2 Tbsp butter (if using fresh mushrooms, onion and garlic.)  (Cut back to 1 Tbsp if using powdered onion and garlic.)
1/2 cup flour (using different amounts at different times, see below)
2 cups organic chicken broth (Meijer brand organic and 365 brand at Whole Foods, good prices)
1 cup light cream (I did not use light.  Just my preference.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1.  Cut the mushrooms into slices or diced them very fine (I diced). 
2.  Melt butter in large frying pan (I did 4 batches and used a big stock pot instead of a frying pan.)  Add onions, garlic and mushrooms.  Cook until onions are soft and mushrooms are sauted.
3.  Blend in 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp flour and stir until all flour is dissolved.
4.  Add in the chicken broth and heat until slightly thickened, while stirring frequently.  Use a whisk to break up any clumps.
5.  Stir cream with additional 2 Tbsp flour and seasoning.  Add this cream mixture to the soup.  Heat till soup thickens, stirring and whisking frequently (milk can scorch).
6.  Let soup cool.  Stirring occasionally.
7.  Freeze in 1 1/2 cup amounts for later cooking!!  (A regular can of cream of mushroom soup is 10 3/4 oz.  I have to look the next time I go shopping to see what a Family Size can is.)
DELICIOUS!!!!!


Homemade Cream of Celery Soup

4 TBS extra virgin olive oil

3 ribs and one inner rib celery, chopped
1/2 small sweet onion, chopped (or ¼ tsp onion powder)
4 TBS all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur's all-purpose flour)
3/4 cup chicken or light-colored vegetable stock
3/4 cup room temperature milk


1. Puree or mince celery and onion in food processor
2. Heat oil in a medium sized pot over medium-low to medium heat. When oil is hot, add celery and onion and saute gently until soft.
3. Slowly mix in flour, mixing very well to avoid lumps. It will look like a big, green pancake. Stir while cooking until it begins to color slightly.
4. Slowly whisk in broth, and stir until smooth.
5. Slowly whisk in milk. Let mixture cook without boiling until thickened the way you like it.
6. This looks like a 1 or 2 serving recipe. Will know more when I prepare it.
Once again let me know if you make this before I do.  And I will be either making this earlier in the day for that nights dinner or freezing this in 1 1/2 cup containers.