February 18, 2010

Cream Soup Alternatives

I found the recipes (reposted below) to use as a substitute for various canned condensed soups at this website.

There is no longer any need to buy canned tomato or mushroom soup to use in your recipes. What a great find...no MSG or any other scary ingredients! The one thing I would like to substitute with a healthier alternative is the white flour ~ Any suggestions?


Cream Soup Alternatives

For one can of cream of “whatever" soup use the following simple, four ingredient recipe:

Basic Cream Soup:

3 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chicken stock, water or milk

Instructions:

Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Blend flour and salt into saucepan while cooking and stirring until bubbly. Use a wire whisk to prevent lumps and stir in liquid ingredient choice slowly. Medium thick sauce is comparable to undiluted condensed soups and makes approximately the same amount as a 10 oz can.

Variations:

Cheese ~ Add ½ C grated sharp cheese and ¼ tsp mustard
Tomato ~ Use tomato juice for the liquid in the basic recipe and add a dash each of garlic powder or garlic salt, onion powder or onion salt, basil and oregano.
Mushroom ~ Saute ¼ C finely chopped mushrooms and 1 Tbsp finely chopped onion in the butter before adding the flour.
Celery ~ Saute ½ Cup finely chopped celery and 1 Tbsp finely chopped onion in butter before adding flour
Chicken ~ Use chicken broth or bouillon for half the liquid in the basic recipe. Add ¼ tsp poultry seasoning or sage, and diced cooked chicken if available.

It's very simple to "reconstitute" this to enjoy as a bowl of soup. Just stir in about 1 cup of liquid such as broth or milk (for a cream soup) after you have made the initial recipe. You may need a little more to ge the consistency you want. If you are going to use this in a recipe that calls for the condensed soup straight from a can you would skip this step.

14 comments:

Wanting What I Have said...

Great info! Thanks for sharing. I'd love to hear if you find a flour substitute. Several of you ladies are really challenging me to make healthier choices for my family. Thank you!

PS We got our first Answers mag in the mail...only we have guests this week and they have hogged it. :) I am looking forward to reading it!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you posted this! I've been wanting to make my own cream of mushroom and chicken. I don't like using store bought ones. Thanks! <3

Lady Farmer said...

Bob's Red Mill makes White Whole Wheat ~ would that work? Would it be any healthier?
That's all the suggestions I've got! Would like to see what others suggest. ;~}
Blessings!

Camille said...

J ~ This is a super easy change to make...and SO much better than those tins of soup from the store! I am so glad you got the magazine...I am sure it will be a blessing to you. (I know it's already been a blessing to your friends!) ;-)

Kristy ~ Easy as anything...I hope they work for you! :)

Lady Farmer ~ I will have to look into that...white whole wheat? I don't know if it would work or not...regular whole wheat doesn't...I know that! :)

Blessings,
Camille

Becky said...

Very Cool! I can't use the cans because of Kaitlin's allergy, so I will have to give this a try!!!!!a

Camille said...

Hope it works out for you Becky! Allergies are so hard!! :)

Love,
Camille

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

I'm really looking forward to using this recipe. I've got some expensive organic condensed soups that I'm using up and then I'm using this recipe from now on. I always thicken my soups with whole wheat pastry flour (I do the same with gravy) and it works wonderfully.

Camille said...

Yaay Jackie!! I thought you might have an alternative to the white flour...that's wonderful!! I was counting on your input. :)
Question ~ Would you use the whole wheat pastry flour in place of white flour in every situation??

Thanks!
Love,
Camille

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Camille,
I don't have any white flour in my house. I works for substitute for almost everything, unless you are going to try doing an angel food cake or something like that. I use it exclusively in all my baked goods.

Camille said...

Thanks for the update Jackie! I have been looking for the Whole Wheat pastry flour and have yet to find it...but when I do it will be what I use. I really appreciate your input. :)

Have a great night!
Love,
Camille

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

I'm printing this out today! My kids have been begging me make celery soup. We saw it in a book about being picky. Can't wait!

Camille said...

OH Stacie, I hope you all enjoy it!! Be sure to thin it down some more if it gets too thick! AND how fun is that...your kids are asking for it because of a picky eating book...too cute! :)

Have a great day!
Love,
Camille

Make a Joyful Noise all ye Lands said...

Just saw this.. Thanks Camille.. I have started to mill my own flour and keep the left overs in the freezer to keep it fresh for a couple of days. Just the right amount for the soups. Perfect... I am going to use this recipe all the time..

Thanks again for sharing...

Camille said...

Hi Virginia ~ I hope you find it to be good. I am trying to stay away from the canned varieties and this is a good recipe to replace them with. Be sure to adjust the liquid to get the right consistency. :)

Blessings,
Camille