Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Let’s Dish! Day 4

Over the past few years I've struggled to find the meaning of "healthy eating."  Does it mean raw, organic, free range, low carb, or low fat?  I still don't have perfect answers on those buzz words, but I do know it means consuming fewer processed foods.   But processed foods are fast and readily accepted by the little people around here and many of my casserole dishes contain at least one highly processed ingredient.  Being that I already prepare a lot from scratch, including biscuits, salad dressings, pancakes, and brownies, I figured I'd try my hand and un-processing those needed ingredients.  Here are a few that work from The More-with-Less Cookbook:

Non-canned Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 Tbsp. onion, grated or finely chopped
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk

Sauté mushrooms and onions in butter.  Blend in flour and salt and stir until bubbly.  Slowly add milk, whisking all the while to prevent lumps.  Cook until thickened.

Non-canned Cream of Chicken Soup

3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning or sage
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth

Melt butter.  Blend in flour, spices and salt and stir until bubbly.  Slowly add milk and broth, whisking all the while to prevent lumps.  Cook until thickened.

 

My next attempt is stuffing mix from scratch.  I haven’t tried it, but the Homemade Chicken Stuffing Mix at Tammy’s Recipes looks pretty good.

4 comments:

Monica said...

Thanks for these recipes! I'm excited to try them. I'm not a fan of creamed soups, but many recipes call for them. Nice to know there will be other options.

Do you use fresh mushrooms or canned mushrooms?

Saralyn said...

I use fresh when I have them for a better flavor. My produce market sells them loose and I only need about 3. Canned will work also.

eureka said...

What, you aren't going to raise the chickens yourself and turn them into broth?! ;)

Saralyn said...

Hey, don't laugh. I did consider it!