Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

Last week I decided to make a recipe that included cream of chicken soup but I quickly realized I had none in the house.  So began the task of figuring out how to make it from scratch... I asked friends, searched the internet, and ended up using this recipe I originally found on Pinterest.  It turned out great!  And given that I had all the ingredients I needed, it was cheaper (and probably healthier) than store bought canned soup... and so easy!  I'm sure many of you are making recipes this week that call for cream-of-whatever so definitely give this a try!  I'll be using this in my Green Bean Casserole.

Here's what I did.  It varies slightly, but for the most part follows the original recipe here.  The original recipe also includes ideas for making cream-of-all-the-other-things...

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 small pack chicken stock (I used Knorr Homestyle Stock - one pack from a four pack.  The packs say they make 3 1/2 cups of broth so you could probably use less than one, or a half chicken broth, half milk mixture)
• OR in place of the store bought stock, use your own (see recipe here) or simply make up some broth with bouillon and water
• You want 1 cup of liquid.  I do 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup homemade stock

Hint from original recipe: Use equal amounts of butter and flour and eight times as much liquid.

Directions:

• Melt butter in a pot
• Add flour and stir until smooth (about one minute)
• Add chicken stock
• Add milk, a little at a time, and whisk over heat until smooth and thickened (the longer you cook, the thicker it will be)

I may never go back to canned cream soups again!