Cream of Anything Soup
A while ago, I tried this recipe out to make a casserole involving ham. I decided I wanted cream of ham soup, which is not something Campbell’s sells, so I gave this a try, and holy cow! It has changed the way I cook. It’s not often you can say that about something, but this is it. The soup is a perfect consistency – exactly like canned soup – but the flavor is fresher and fuller. I also opt to use skim milk and replace some of the butter with olive oil, which means that my soup is not the saturated fat and preservative laden mess that you get from a can.
And I can make it any flavor. There are the usual ones that you’ll find on a grocery store shelf (cream of mushroom, chicken, broccoli), but then you can gear this to whatever you’re making. For my ham casserole, I did cream of ham, and you could do cream of just about any meat or vegetable you’d like. One of my favorite is the cream of broccoli, which is pictured, because it’s just this gorgeous shade of green!
It keeps for about 1 week in the fridge, and it freezes for months – the longest I’ve kept mine was 3, and it tasted just fine when I thawed it!
I would definitely recommend checking out Once a Month Meals’ post, since they have these really neat tables where they tell you what to change in order to make things gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, etc. I changed their process a little to make it a one-pot wonder, but they’re definitely the authority on how this goes.
Cream of Anything Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- ½ small onion chopped
- ½ cup main ingredient chopped
- ¼ cup butter or margarine
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup broth
Instructions
- Saute garlic, onions, and main ingredient until onions are translucent.
- Add butter, flour, milk, and broth.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened (about 5 minutes).
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Instructions
In a saucepan, saute the garlic, onion, and main ingredient until the onions are translucent.
Then, melt the butter and add in the flour, milk, and broth. Mix everything well, then bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until everything thickens up (this took me about 5 minutes).
This last step is optional. You can use the cream of anything soup as is with all the chunks intact, but I wanted mine to be smooth. Enter the Ninja! I poured the soup into my food processor and ran it until I got a nice, smooth texture that mimics the commercial product.
This recipe keeps in the fridge for about four days, and can be frozen if you need. It makes about 2 cups of soup, or roughly the equivalent of two of the standard size soup cans from the store.
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