I've mentioned before that we eat soup for lunch almost every day. Sometimes slowing down in the middle of the day to savour a bowl of homemade soup is exactly what a big busy family needs.
We do opt for cold lunches more often during these warm summer months, but soup is still a favourite way to enjoy the great seasonal produce that is becoming available at the farmer's markets. Your homemade cream of whatever soup can also be a healthier alternative to the canned ones in your favourite casserole recipes!
This recipe will work with so many different ingredients. Make cream of broccoli, or cream of asparagus, or cream of mushroom, celery or spinach. You can also do cream of chicken or turkey this way. Or a combination of several of these!
Here's how:
Start by cooking your main ingredient in some butter or oil. For veggies, you don't need to cook them completely just yet, they will get a chance to simmer and cook some more later. If you are making cream of chicken soup, you will want to cook the chicken thoroughly during this step.
Next, add garlic and/or onions if you want, and any herbs you may like to use. Also, add a sprinkle of salt.
When the garlic and/or onions are browned just a little, add a large handful of flour. (or the thickener of your choice, if you are gluten/wheat free)
Stir the flour around for about a minute and then add 4 cups of chicken broth.
Bring to a boil over high heat and then turn the heat down and simmer until your veggies of choice are soft.
Once the veggies are soft, use a stick blender to blend your soup and break up the chunks. If you don't have a stick blender you can use regular blender, mash it with a potato masher, or just skip this step all together.
Take your soup off the heat and add enough milk to get the texture, colour and flavour you want. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.
That's it! Enjoy your simple, delicious, cream-of-anything soup!
Yummm....
Some extra tips:
- For an extra awesome soup, consider swapping the butter or oil at the beginning with bacon fat. Cook bacon in the pot, use the drippings to cook your main ingredient and then use the bacon as a garnish crumbled on top of your finished soup.
- Some veggies will benefit from a quick roasting in the oven first. Roasted cauliflower soup is especially good! Most veggies can be roasted by tossing them with olive oil and baking them in the oven at about 400 degrees until they start to turn golden brown and soft.
- This time of year, my absolute favourite is cream of asparagus soup with lots of garlic and freshly ground black pepper. Do try it!
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This is awesome (and so easy) and you are an amazing woman. i think I've read through all of your post and i love it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOh thank you than yo thank you! It's so simple and will try it immediatelyy, seeing we're in soup season now.
ReplyDeleteThis looks simple and delicious!
ReplyDeleteKelly, as always you make it sound so easy... thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this! I am so ready to give up the canned stuff - gross, gross, gross!
ReplyDeleteYou know Jenny, I once worked a mushroom farm. There were three basic destinations for the mushrooms: The nice ones went to the grocery store, the not so pretty ones that were still half decent for eating were sent to restaurants. And the ones that no one would buy, the ones that were spongy and gross....those ones went to a notable soup company. All this to say, I agree with you, the canned stuff is GROSS!
DeleteMy husband worked for "a notable soup company" for 31 years and he would not bring home anything with mushrooms in it. They could buy products at the company store, but it was not allowed in our home. He said I did not want to know!!!
DeleteThanks for sharing this technique and all the recipe ideas. I have completely given up canned soup because of the toxic amounts of sodium and the BPA from the cans. I wasn't going to get around to looking into how to make homemade creamed soups until the holidays. I'm so glad to see this post. I can enjoy soup again in the fall!! Thank you again. ~ Jamie
ReplyDeleteyour so amazing and inspiring.. I love a lot of your ideas <3 congrats on the 6th we are trying for #3! love big families
ReplyDeleteI love homemade soup. i've been on a ham and bean kick for a while now. this sounds good and easy.
ReplyDeleteWe often have soup for lunch too, and that's pretty much how I do it. I just sauté half an onion and a bunch of garlic in the butter first, then add the main veggie and a small chopped potato for extra creaminess. And out of perfectionism, I measure the butter and the flour (1/4 c each) to be sure the roux works well :) If you make cream of spinach or cream of asparagus (two of my favorites), try adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end-- perfect addition :)
ReplyDeleteTo do a chream of chicken would you leave the chicken in? And does this freeze very well for use in casseroles?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this, Kelly! I've nevere thought of roasting the vegetables before cooking and I will definitely try it.
ReplyDeleteI have a few 'tricks', too - different country, different cooking tradition. :-)
*When I use fresh herbs, I chop and add them only just before serving the soup. I feel that they lose a lot of their aroma when cooked too long.
*To add some extra "finesse" and creaminess to the soup I use a few tablespoons of unsweatend whipped cream. To save calories I cut down on the butter and milk. ;-)
*Try the combination of pumpkin, carrots and potatoes with just a touch of curry spice and sugar! My kids and I love it! :-)
Thanks for the tips. The pumpkin, carrot and potato sounds like a wonderful soup for autumn...yumm :)
DeleteI think some herbs are best fresh (like cilantro) and others need some cooking time(rosemary can be a little unpleasant if it isn't simmered, in my opinion.)
I stumbled upon this recipe a few days ago and yesterday found a big bunch of broccoli on sale that I just couldn't pass up ($1 for 4 big heads!). Needless to say, I made a batch of cream of broccoli soup yesterday and it was terrific. The onions and garlic just made it that much better. And it was so easy!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I wanted to say how excited I am to have found your blog. I am a new mother and a lover of all things homemaking and organizing. This recipe looks delicious. I am always looking for things that I can make myself rather than purchasing at a store, especially food! I have one question though about the recipe; how much veggies/meat do you typically use for a batch of soup?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to exploring your blog!
It's hard to say Hailey....just use whatever you have!
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