Do you remember exactly what the warning said? sometimes those anti-virus software warn you if there are a large number of outgoing links even and I do try to link to recipes if I haven’t changed them significantly to give the original offer credit. I’m wondering if it’s that because I went through all the files on the server and did find some harmless pranks (graffiti style) which I removed. Hoping my new host can update to a more secure version of wordpress for me and that will take care of it.

It’s funny, I never ate cream of mushroom soup plain, ever. I always used it as an ingredient. The homemade stuff is excellent though!

How fun to grow your own mushrooms!! Good luck finding a tree. Hopefully you’ll blog about it when you try it. I wish we had more room here, but at least I can grow lots of herbs, tomatoes, peppers and a few other things thrown in. Other than that, we rely on our CSA for lots of local, homegrown goodies.

I don’t have an exact recipe for the cream of mushroom soup; I wing it. Here is the method though, with approximate amounts. Obviously you can scale it up or down depending on how much you want to make.

1-2 cups chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
butter or olive oil to saute
6 T butter
6 T flour (I’ve used arrowroot before)
1 1/2 cup milk, cream, or half and half
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the mushrooms, garlic and onion in butter or olive oil; set aside. Make a roux; melt 6 T butter in a saucepan, then mix in the flour. Cook while stirring a few minutes to get rid of raw flour taste. Slowly add milk/cream/chicken stock while stirring until it thickens to desired consistency. Add in sauted veggies, then salt and pepper to taste. This is usually enough to substitute as 2 cans of soup, plus a bowl to eat.

I’ve used onion and garlic powder in a pinch, but I like the real thing better. You can also add more stock of milk if it’s too thick.

My husband absolutely loves this soup. Every time I make it, I have to make enough for him to have a bowl or two, in addition to how much I need to use for a recipe, and hopefully enough to freeze a little extra for next time.

For cream of chicken soup, I do the same thing, except add cooked, chopped chicken instead of mushrooms. I also add in a little poultry seasoning, or herbs that go well with chicken for additional flavor.