ZooFit Recipe of the Week: Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Back in 2014, my husband had befriended a gym buddy who lived down the street. We would take turns cooking dinner, mostly using his perfect grill to create the most divine meals on earth.

I learned to get super creative with my recipes I had grown up with because Chris’ friend was not lactose intolerant, but allergic to cow’s dairy (might be misconstruing this just a hair). Brent could have goat and sheep’s milk products, but not cow’s cheese. I felt utterly sorry for him (haha, honestly when I first wrote that, the pun was not intended- utterly/udderly). Until I started cooking with ingredients he could enjoy.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have been missing out. For an eternity, if I wanted to make a casserole (and I have a fair share of casseroles I like to make), I relied on Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. But there is only one major problem. Campbell’s soup uses cow’s milk. And so if I wanted to make Brent my famous Broccoli Casserole, I’d have to find another way. And that “other way” opened my mind to and possibilities to delicious, nutritious, and wonderful food.

Now, I thoroughly enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. What I didn’t realize was how much of an impact this experiment would have on my life and my Eating Green philosophy. Something I’ve sort of learned throughout the years about eating well and enjoying life, AND promoting a healthy environment is this: If you really want something, make it yourself, from scratch.

And so, that’s basically what I did with the cream of mushroom soup. I made it myself, from whole ingredients.

Now, while I don’t PERSONALLY eat cream of mushroom soup on its own, there’s really nothing wrong with enjoying this as a hot bowl of soup. But I love making casseroles- green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, stroganoff, and anything else which calls for a cream of something soup.

This super easy recipe is vegan, paleo-approved, and depending on the milk alternative you use, fairly keto-friendly, too. Although, what I use it for is usually not vegan, paleo, or keto-friendly. But the soup is.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk alternative (coconut /almond/oat milk)
• 3 cups mushrooms, diced/minced
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 Tbsp (or more, as necessary) tapioca flour

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except tapioca flour in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Simmer until well heated, stirring frequently.  
3. Stir in tapioca flour, one teaspoon at a time, stirring thoroughly after each scoop to mix well and avoid clumping. 
4. Remove from heat and continue stirring.  Add more tapioca flour, one teaspoon at a time if needed until desired thickness and consistency of creamy soup is achieved.

Now that you’ve made your cream of mushroom soup, you can enjoy it like canned soup. My favorite is making casseroles. Here’s my favorite Green Bean Casserole recipe:

Ingredients

• Cream of mushroom soup 
• 4 cups green beans, rinsed and cut
• 5 slices bacon (or use Portobello bacon recipe)
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 1 small onion, diced

Directions

1. Make cream of mushroom soup following recipe.  Place in a greased casserole dish.
2. Steam green beans for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add green beans and goat cheese to casserole dish
3. Preheat skillet over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of olive oil and brush to coat
4. Place bacon strips in skillet and cook for 2 minutes on each side. You can substitute portobello bacon in place of real bacon, if you want this to be vegetarian.
5. Remove bacon from skillet and place diced onion in pan.  Saute until brown and caramelized
6. While onion is cooking, cut bacon into small pieces and add to casserole.  Stir all ingredients until well blended.
7. When onions are finished, sprinkle them over top of casserole. Set oven to 350F. Place casserole dish in oven for 35 minutes. Turn off oven and let passively bake for 10 more minutes.

What will you make with Cream of Mushroom Soup? Let me know in the comments.