Creamy Mushroom Soup

Ahhhh, cream of mushroom soup. You warm, cozy old friend.

Up until last week I hadn’t enjoyed a bowl of plain cream of mushroom soup in years. As a child I frequented the just-add-water, from a can variety.

That’s right folks, as a child I ate that gloppy, gloopy, gray matter straight up. Not mixed into casserole or thrown over some chicken. Plain.

I also enjoyed eating mushrooms straight from the can. When we made homemade pizzas I managed to eat half the can before it ever made it’s way onto the cheese. I guess canned mushrooms and I kinda had a fling back then.

Thankfully, our relationship has matured over the years. Now I enjoy them soaked in wine and butter, stirred into stews, or stuffed in grilled cheese. I haven’t thought much about the canned variety in a while, but when I saw a version of homemade mushroom soup (on Pinterest. of course.), I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. A craving set in, and it would not be satisfied until the soup was mine.

A few weeks later, it came to be. This soup was darn easy to make and tastes 1,000 times better than the canned variety. It’s cozy, comforting, and filling. The perfect lunch for a blustery day.

I served this with grilled bread for dipping, because grilled bread is awesome. Duh.

Not surprisingly, the combo of the slightly crunchy, buttery bread and the creamy, garlicky, mushroomy soup was to. die. for.

I used dried thyme to season the soup, but would definitely recommend using fresh if you can. I always find the dried variety ends up being a tad too strong.

I enjoyed this soup all by itself, but if you want to use it in place of canned condensed soup, you could take out some of the liquid and add additional cornstarch to thicken it. But be sure to try a bite of it before throwing it in a casserole. You may just be surprised how wonderful plain ol’ mushroom soup can be.

Recipe adapted from Season with Spice