Tightwad Tuesday

Well, it is that time of the week again. Time for me to share a tip with you that I use on a regular basis to save money.

This week's tip is:

Make your own Cream of Mushroom Soup!

This is so wonderful because, not only is it a money saver-but it is real food. Not a conglomeration of preservatives and chemicals that you can't even pronounce!

What I do:

INGREDIENTS:
2T butter
2 onions
1 lb mushrooms
68 oz beef broth
2 Bay leaves
6 T flour

Get out a stock pot
Melt a couple Tablespoons of butter in the pot
Cook chopped onions over medium heat 5 min
Add chopped mushrooms and bay leaves
Cook 3-5 minutes
Sprinkle flour over the top and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly
Add broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat
Use immersion blender to make smooth
Let soup reduce by 1/2

Freeze in 10 ounce portions

When adding to a recipe, replace liquid with cream and an egg yolk.

If heating up to enjoy as soup: Heat and add 1/2 cup cream and one egg yolk, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1 t Cream Sherry just before serving.
**Egg yolk will curdle if heat is too high

Now, sometimes I am just plain lazy and I use a wonderful recipe from RecipeZaar that you can find here:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
I double the mushrooms and I reduce the stock to 1 1/2 quarts and I use 1/2 c of heavy cream in addition to the called for half and half. I also use my immersion blender to smooth it out.
Then, I just freeze it like it is in 10 oz servings. When I use this one in recipes, I just omit any liquid called for.