Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tasty Tuesday

{Better Than} Campbell's Cream of Whatever You Want Soup
submitted by Patty at Mrs. John in Ghana
When we first went to the field I knew a little bit of basic cooking. I had a tiny
collection of recipes I'd gotten from my mother. Unfortunately, my mother hardly used
recipes; I hadn't paid much attention to what went on in the kitchen; I just figured
cooking from scratch couldn't be that hard. Let's just say....that there wasn't a lot
of variety or very good stuff for John and I to eat our first year or so on the field.
On top of that, we had minimal internet access. Very minimal. So......no recipe sites to save
the day.
When we came back to the States for our first furlough, I knew my cooking needed help.
I began searching for meal ideas in magazines, but most of them required 'cans of this' or 'boxes
of that'. What could I do with those? Then one day, I was given a gift....a cookbook written by a
missionary! Thus began my adventure in cooking real food, good food, from scratch!
Today I present you with a basic condensed cream soup. It can be made into so many
delicious dishes!
Now maybe you already have a recipe like this. But maybe there is somebody out there
like I was. Somebody who needs just such a recipe.....
{Better Than} Campbell's Cream of Whatever You Want Soup
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
dash of garlic powder or 1 clove garlic, minced
dash of onion powder or 1 small onion, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 c. milk
Melt butter in medium pan. Stir in flour and seasonings. Stir until blended and bubbly. Add milk.
Stir constantly until very thick. This is as condensed soup would come from the can. Makes about
1 1/2 cups or the equivalent of one 10-oz. can.
If you'd like to eat it as a soup, stir in milk until it is the consistency you desire (app. 2 cups).
Variations:
CREAM OF MUSHROOM: Saute 1/4 c. chopped mushrooms in butter before adding flour.
CREAM OF CELERY: Saute 1/4 c. chopped celery in butter before adding flour.
CREAM OF ONION: Saute 3 Tbsp. chopped onion in butter before adding flour.
CREAM OF CHICKEN: Add one chicken bouillion cube with the flour and seasonings.
CHEESE SOUP: Add 1/2 c. grated cheese after the milk.
Slightly adapted from Missionary Manna by Rosey Dow

2 comments:

Rachel said...

Thanks for this recipe!

I have one similar - it's a dry mix that can be stored in an airtight container. It was given to me by my sister in law - missionary to Cambodia. It was such a blessing to get.

I too had much to learn about cooking. Thankfully I've learned a lot over the past 9 years =)

I'll give this one a try too. Sounds great and I can get everything here.
(Estonia)

Unknown said...

I too have a similar creamed condensed soup recipe...know that it doesn't have all the salt the others have nor the 'extras' so know all the way around it is so much better. A great one to share!