Creamy mushroom soup

This creamy mushroom soup is a far cry from the gloopy, gray stuff that comes in a can, but is almost as easy to make.

Take me to the recipe!

Two mushroom recipes so close together, huh? Yes! But hear me out. This recipe is so unctuous, so creamy, so warming, and so filling, that I couldn’t hold onto it any longer.

What makes this better than the canned version? Well, the color, first of all. The golden sautéed mushrooms, the purple shallots, and the red paprika lend this soup a much richer and nicer color than the gray stuff (it’s not delicious).

A note about adding dairy to hot soup: It’s possible to split the cream if you add cold dairy to other hot liquids. Split dairy basically looks like you’ve added thousands of little dots of cream rather than the soup looking uniformly creamy. Does that makes sense? It’s totally fine to eat and will taste good, but it sometimes doesn’t look as appetizing.

To avoid this, you can either heat up the dairy or cool down the base soup. The fattier the dairy, the less likely it is to split, so if you’re using heavy cream as I recommend for this recipe, let the cream sit at room temperature while making the rest of the soup. If it still feels chilly when you’re ready to add it, microwave it for 30 seconds before adding. If using a lighter milk or non-dairy milk, I would actually heat it to just simmering in a separate pan on the stove or significantly cool the base soup before adding it.

The texture is also completely different to the canned version. Theoretically, you could throw the mushrooms into a food processor and whizz for a few seconds to quickly chop the whole lot, but I like to cut them myself to get a range of sizes and shapes. I halve the really small shrooms, quarter the medium sized ones, and chop up the large ones. Remove the stems or don’t- that’s entirely up to you.

A note about how I tell if my mushrooms are cooked enough: I cook the mushrooms until they release some water and then that water evaporates. They will have cooked down significantly.

Creamy mushroom soup

½ cup heavy cream
24 oz mushrooms, cut into various sizes
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Heaping ½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp paprika 
2 tsp kosher salt
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2-3 large shallots, minced
½ cup white wine
4 cups stock (chicken, beef, or vegetable)

Time: about 45 minutes
Yield: 5-6 cups of soup

Measure out the heayy cream and let sit at room temperature while you make the rest of the soup. See note above about using other types of dairy in this soup.

Chop the mushrooms in varying sizes (see note above).

In a large pan, melt 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of olive oil over a medium flame. Once the pan is heated, add the mushrooms and cook over a medium flame, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and that liquid has evaporated, about 8-10 minutes. 

Prep the rest of the ingredients while the mushrooms cook.

Once the mushrooms are relatively dry, add the thyme, paprika, salt, garlic, and shallots. Cook until the garlic and onions are fragrant and translucent, about 3 minutes. If the mixture seems very dry, add another Tbsp of olive oil.

Add the wine and stir, while scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. 

Add the stock and increase the flame to medium high. Bring to a boil. Lower the flame all the way and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. 

Add the cream and stir.

Cheap and easy chicken meal prep

If the idea of “meal prepping” makes you roll your eyes, then this post is for you! A mostly hands-off process yields lots of rich chicken stock and shredded chicken that allows you to be flexible with your week’s meals while also being prepared for busy weeknights.

Take me to the chicken!

October is Hunger Awareness Month and it’s honestly kind of embarrassing that we even need an “awareness” month for a problem that’s so huge. According to the USDA, in 2019, over 13 million households experienced food insecurity including 2.4 million households with children. On top of those stats, unemployment in the US hit an all-time high in April 2020, so that’s a lot more people facing food shortages this year.

To that end, over on Instagram, Chelsea from The Dancer’s Pantry has created a new account which highlights original meals from different food bloggers, each costing less than $10 and aiming to serve at least 2 adults, but most serve 4 or more. There are vegetarian and carnivorous meals; breakfasts, lunches, and dinners; and I’m contributing this meal prep strategy! Check out Feed for 10 to see more.

I finally wrote down the ratios and cooking times for my favorite (and basically only) weekly meal prep. I don’t like rigid meal planning because, while I’m a devoted rule follower most of the time, when it comes to food rules, (even ones I make for myself!) I have a real “burn it all down” vibe.

Also, with kids it’s important to be able to pivot when suddenly they HATE something that was previously a favorite.

Enter: This easy, cheap, and mostly hands-off meal prep strategy. You come away with a huge amount of rich chicken stock that is so much more delicious and filling than the boxed stuff or a bullion cube. It freezes well and lasts frozen for 6 months. It also makes soups and stews much richer, which is helpful when you’re trying to make things stretch. I use this stock in any recipe that calls for stock, obviously, but also to cook these super easy and fast one-pot pastas because it really boosts their flavor.

The shredded chicken is also a lifesaver on busy nights. Throw it into tacos or enchiladas (if you’re feeling ambitious), stovetop mac and cheese or any other simple pasta dish, or smother it with your favorite BBQ sauce and have some messy but delicious pulled chicken sandwiches. The chicken also freezes well if you want to save it for later dinners.

$10 Meal prep (chicken stock and shredded chicken)

Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, mostly hands off +15 minutes for straining 
Yield: 11 cups stock, 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 chicken, cut into pieces (about 3½-4½ lbs) $11.95 from Trader Joe’s (I bought a pre-cut chicken, but there were whole chickens available for $7-$9)
1 large bag frozen veggie and aromatic leftovers (save everything from the previous week’s cooking in a large bag in the freezer including onion skins, garlic skins, tiny cloves of garlic, leek and fennel fronds, lemon rinds, dried up fresh herbs, unused parts of celery, carrot peels, potato peels, etc)
14-18 cups water (enough to cover the chicken and veggies entirely, but the full amount will depend on how much chicken and veggies you use) 
3 Tbsp kosher salt

Place everything into a large stockpot and bring to a boil over a high flame, about 20 minutes. 

Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low or just high enough to achieve a low rolling boil. Cook, uncovered, until the water has reduced by ¼, about 1 hour. 

Add enough water to return to roughly the original amount (about 4 cups) and turn the flame back to high. Stir the mixture and check the seasoning. Add more salt if necessary.  Bring the mixture back to a boil and then reduce back to a low rolling boil.  

Boil for 20 more minutes. Let cool.

Remove the large pieces of veggies and chicken bones. Strain the broth into a large container. Save all of the cooked chicken meat.