I love cream of soups, but I'm watching not only my sodium these days, but I ended up on a soft foods diet for a few weeks, thanks to some dental work. So I decided to go ahead and make a cream soup base I could add various flavorings to. I used to make this many years ago, but my husband wanted the 'real' thing in the cans, so I stopped making it.
I'm the only one in this house whose opinion counts anymore, so I decided to whip up a batch to have on hand, and then started experimenting...
I had dehydrated some mushrooms the other day, and decided that they would be great in this soup. And, umm, they would have been great, but I added an Umami Mushroom Seasoning that had red pepper in it, and the red pepper hijacked the bowl. I ate it anyway. And discovered along the way that this soup works best if it's whisked into cold water before heating, cause otherwise, you get clumps. I'm not sure if it's potato or cornstarch clumps, but it does take away from the soup. I'd dehydrated some mushrooms, then chopped them up a bit, added the dried mushrooms to some water, and let them cook for a few minutes before adding the cream soup mix to it. There is absolutely no reason you can't use fresh mushrooms, just saute them first, or not, as you wish.
And along the way, I experimented a lot. I made my base up and then added stuff, as in the featured recipe.
I even ordered some Tomato powder so I could try and recreate one of my faves, Cream of Tomato soup. And it worked, really well.
I do keep a can of mushrooms in the pantry for 'emergencies', using them when I get a craving for something mushroomy, and when I don't have fresh or frozen mushrooms on hand. So I decided to go ahead and make some more cream of mushroom soup using the canned mushrooms along with some mushroom powder I'd purchased. I'm not saying it's the same as the gloopy mushroom soup in a can, but it did/does taste good. And if you make it yourself, you know what the ingredients are. There is some sodium in the potatoes, as well as a bit of sodium in the mushrooms and ghee, but I don't think it translates out to too much overall.
I even made some 'cream' of celery soup: I added 1/2 teaspoon celery salt to the base, simmered the celery in a 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes before adding it to the cooked soup, water and all. I think it could have done with a little more celery flavour, but my mouth was happy, so that's all that counts. 😋
Can you tell I had fun? It was a delicious sort of fun.
Another caveat: this is a milk-based soup, so it can scorch on the bottom, as I found out, and develop a 'skin' on top if left uncovered. I usually put the leftovers into a container, float some plastic wrap on top, as if you were making custard.
Check out the fun soups from the other Sunday Funday Bloggers:
Cook With Renu: Budget Friendly Minestrone Soup
Cream Soup Base
Rather than opening a can of cream soup, make your own base from scratch and customize it to your taste.
Ingredients
- 6 oz. non-fat dried milk powder
- 4 oz. instant mashed potato flakes
- 3 tsp. chicken bouillon mix (I use Herb Ox, salt-free)
- 2 tsp. Salt-free Garlic Herb seasoning.
- 1/2 cup cornstarch + more if needed.
- Mushroom Soup: Add 1 -2 teaspoons Mushroom Powder + 1/3 cup chopped dried mushrooms for Mushroom soup. You can also add either some chopped fresh mushrooms or a can of mushrooms.
- Add more chicken bouillon for cream of chicken soup, along with 1 teaspoon dried parsley.
- For cream of celery soup: Add finely chopped celery to the base mixture and cook for a minute or two. This is a good place to use up celery leaves and trimmings. You can also cook the celery in a couple of cups of water, let it cool, and add the strained celery water to the base mix.
- If you're craving Tomato Soup, add a tablespoon of Tomato Powder to taste.
- Have fun with the flavours, and customize it to your taste. I did.
Instructions
- Mix together the base ingredients, place them in a jar or plastic container, and dip out as needed.
- 2 1/2 cups cold water to 3/4 cup mix for soup. Whisk into cold water and heat up. The cold water helps to keep it smooth. Let it cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often, season if desired, then serve and eat.
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