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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

31 Days to a Cleaner Diet {11}: Cream of *Anything* Soup Recipe

I’m going to share a recipe today that will hopefully help a lot of you that have started the clean foods journey and have been looking for a way to keep cooking your recipes that require cream of _______ soup. 

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{Click here to see the other posts in this series.}

This recipe is a life-saver!  My friend Lindsay found it for me and passed it on, and I’m so glad she did. 

I mentioned before that we are able to get grass-fed beef from my husband’s uncle, who raises cattle.  I love putting a roast in the crockpot in the morning and letting the house smell good and then getting to enjoy it that evening! 

My standard way of cooking roast, back in the good ol’ days, was to douse it with cream of mushroom soup, then sprinkle onion soup mix on top.  Well, in case you haven’t looked lately, those two food items aren’t exactly on the top of anyone’s clean foods list.  Icky fillers, unpronounceable chemicals, and MSG, to name just a few reasons to dislike them. 

However……the taste?  On a roast?  SO good. 

So I was thrilled when Lindsay shared this recipe with me.  I actually make mine plain – as in, I don’t sauté bits of mushrooms or celery to add to it.  For me, the roast is enough of a flavor – I just want that extra thickness that helps make the gravy so good!  Feel free to experiment though! 

Don’t you just love foods that have 5 ingredients or less?!

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First, melt butter in a saucepan. 

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Whisk in flour and stir vigorously. 

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Remove from heat and add milk, salt, and pepper.

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Return to heat and stir until thickened.  (Also? How does the Pioneer Woman do it?!  It’s SO hard to cook and take pictures!)

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Dump on top of your roast – and enjoy! :)

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Cream of Anything Soup {Printable Version}

2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In heavy saucepan, melt butter.  Sprinkle in flour and stir to incorporate.  Cook over medium-low for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Slowly whisk in milk (remove from heat to do it).  Add salt and pepper.  Return to heat and allow to bubble and thicken, again stirring constantly.  Can use in a recipe immediately or store in fridge for later use. 

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I doubled it this time so I have an extra on hand!  (Keep it in the fridge, obviously.)  I just make mine plain because I really only use it for roasts – like I said, I just like the thickness it adds to gravy.  But you can totally add other flavors as needed! 

Hope this helps someone else as much as it helped me! :)

 

Linked to these parties:
Tuesday @ Beauty and Bedlam
Tasty Tuesdays @ 33 Shades of Green

11 comments:

  1. IS THAT EVER EASY!!! Does it have to be whole milk or would 2% work? Love it!

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  2. I'm sure that you could experiment! If you do let me know!

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  3. um way to diss how i make my roast...aka how mom makes it. mmm i just love me some campbells cream of mushroom soup and a nice beefy onion dry soup packet! haha this does sound yummy though, and super easy. i might have to try it out!

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  4. Are the amounts the recipe calls for equivalent to "one can"? I have several recipes that call for cream of _______ soups and most take 2 cans or more, depending on if I double or not. This would be much easier!!

    I'm also curious about the milk... we generally have 1% on hand.

    Thanks!

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  5. What you are making is a Bechamel sauce. It's the same base as I use for my homemade macaroni and cheese. I routinely make it with 2% milk - I'm sure 1% would be absolutely fine.

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  6. Hi Erin,
    Yes, it's about equal to one can. And I've stored it in the fridge and used it later and it comes out just fine, as well. I prefer whole because I want it to be as creamy as possible - but you could certainly experiment!

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  7. About how long does it last in the fridge? I love the convenience of the canned soup but NOT what's in them!! Thx :)

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  8. Hi Catherine, last time I made extra it kept for about 2 weeks in the fridge. I've never tried longer but that doesn't mean it wouldn't keep! Good luck! :)

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  9. We use so many cream of soups around here and I absolutely detest having to stock up on so many bulky cans at each shopping trip... (Were a family of five so its hard to leave the store with less than two carts!) This will be a huge help. Thanks for the idea!

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  10. Lol, this is a basic recipe for my mom's southern gravy. :)

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  11. this is a basic white sauce recipe. My mom taught us how to make this back in the '60's by sing songing it to us. This is the sauce we used for chicken ala king. So funny?

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