Sunday, January 25, 2009

Condensed Soups

I learned I can make my very own Condensed Soups! Who knew? This will save you sooooo much money. And I like to make a lot of soup in the winter and it's a great company meal,"just add more water to the soup carol" (Little house fan :) )
Just save your jars and fill it with your condensed soups. I am going to try freezing a jar of my cream of potato today so I will let you know if that's a go or not.


Ingredients

2T butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup stock(low sodium broth can probably be used)--veggie or chicken is usually best, I think
1/2 cup milk(low fat is okay)
salt and pepper
***1/4 cup of whatever your "of" is needed to be...(ie mushroom, celery, chicken, onion, potato, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) finely chopped***

Directions

In small saucepan, put butter and the "of" ingredient and cook until soft, not just tender.(if using chicken, just make sure it's cooked through)
Add flour and stir together. It will be thick and gooey, and that's okay.
Slowly add stock while stirring or whisking to avoid lumps.
Bring to a boil and cook a few minutes until thickened.(if seems too thick, you can add a tsp or so more broth, just don't forget, you've still got milk to add :)
Add milk and salt and pepper and stir until combined and thick. Taste to know your seasonings prior to using it in a recipe so you can adjust salt and pepper as needed.
***the main photo is cream of celery using veggie stock, and the other is mushroom using chicken stock. Please remember, you can combine ingredients to make blend, or add garlic, etc, to make a cream of mushroom with garlic, etc. Just play around and make it to suit your needs and taste!**
PS Please note, this is a CONDENSED version of the soup...it's meant to be thick and not intended to eat straight! ;)