Real Food Substitute for Cream Soups

One thing I try not to feed my kids is Cream O' Chemical soup. I found this very versatile recipe on a blog I just love called A Frugal Simple Life and adapted it slightly to work for us.

Basic White Sauce (thick):

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter/olive oil/coconut oil
• 3 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• dash of pepper
• 1-1/4 cup liquid, milk or stock
• Melt butter or oil in saucepan. Stir in flour and seasonings. Cook over medium heat until bubbly. Add liquid slowly, stirring with wire whisk to prevent lumps. Cook until thick. Makes 1 cup or 1 can of condensed soup.

Tomato Soup: Use tomato juice for the liquid. Add dashes of garlic, onion powder, basil and oregano.

Chicken Soup: Use chicken broth for half the liquid. Add 1/4 t. poultry seasoning or sage.

Mushroom/celery/chive soup: Saute 1/4 C chopped mushrooms, celery or chives and 1 T minced onion in butter before adding flour.

Spinach Balls

I had gotten a lot of fresh spinach on sale a few weeks ago and had frozen it, but it was taking up a lot of space in the freezer so I wanted to make something that would use it all up in one big batch. This worked perfectly for that purpose.

9 bags fresh spinach (rinsed, dried, frozen airtight in ziplock, and then defrosted the night before I made these and then blended a bit to chop it up once defrosted)- I have been told that a frozen block squeezed and dried as much as possible is equivalent to a bag of fresh)

2 boxes dry stuffing mix (I used turkey flavor bc it was on hand)

2 16 oz blocks of cheese, shredded (I used Monterey Jack bc it was on hand)

2 containers of Parmesan cheese (mix one in the batch and save one for later)

6 eggs

Oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste

Enough whole wheat flour to make the "dough" not super sticky and wet, just tacky

I mixed this all up and then poured the remaining Parmesan cheese into a little dish. I made these balls the size of meatballs and then rolled them in the dish of Parmesan. I ended up with 120 balls, but I imagine this could differ based on your ball size. We ate some straight from the oven (350 degrees for approx 20-25 mins until they start spurting cheese a bit and are slightly browned on at least a couple). 

And the rest I flash froze on a pan before baking/raw and not touching for about 30 mins and then transferred to a freezer bag. I baked the frozen ones at 350 for approx 30-40 mins. 

They were delicious both ways, but the fresh were soooo good and the frozen first ones were just pretty good. I think the stuffing mix is affected somehow in the freezer. That still won't stop me from freezing them first though probably just due to the convenience of having them ready to pop in the oven at any time. I might sub breadcrumbs for stuffing mix next time though and see if that changes the quality of the frozen ones. I put them about 15 or so to a bag to add to speggetti bc with marinara they are delicious. The kids begged for as many as I'd let them have and fought over them until they were gone. They were unanimously voted for to be added to our regular dinners list. 

Yellow Lasagna

This is a favorite of my 3-year-old whose favorite color is yellow. I used yellow squash, but zucchini would work just as well I imagine.

*1-2 yellow squash depending on sz, sliced lengthwise into strips (No need to peel but discard the top strip and the bottom strip bc they are mostly peel and hard to chew.)

*A jar of speggetti sauce

*4-8 oz of cheese, shredded or sliced in strips if you're lazy (depending on how much you like cheese and on if you're making 8 x 8 or 13 x 9)

*Fresh garlic or garlic powder/fresh onion or onion powder/oregano/salt/freshly ground pepper to taste 

*1/2-1lb of cooked, crumbled ground turkey/beef if you really want to add meat (optional). Frozen Morningstar farms veggie crumbles work too. If you precook your ground meat before freezing, there is no need to defrost it completely. Just break it up a bit.

*Parmesan cheese (optional)

Start with a layer of sauce on the bottom, just enough to coat the pan. Add a layer of squash slices. Follow with a thin layer of sauce, top with meat crumbles (if using), top with shredded cheese, top with spices. Repeat until pan is full or you're out of sauce. Make sure one of the cheese/spices layers is on top. I will usually sprinkle some dried parsley on top to make it look fancy. Bake at 350 degrees for approx 40-50 mins until bubbly and a fork inserted in the squash feels like the squash is pretty tender.

Alternately, you can layer this in the crockpot and either cook immediately (low 6-8 hours or high for 3-5, just look for the same things as baking: fork tender squash, bubbly sauce, and melted cheese) or make a day ahead of time and stick it in the fridge so it's ready to pop in the slow cooker the next morning/afternoon. (Pictured is the crock pot method -all layered together and ready to cook- bc I'm a crockpot lover.)

We frequently make this meatless, but we do like meat in it sometimes for a change. Sometimes I'll also top it with turkey pepperonis to make it look like a pizza. The kids love anything that resembles pizza.