Cream of Mushroom Soup

Serves Four

10 oz chopped baby portabella mushrooms

8 oz white mushrooms

1 small onion, diced

1 small carrot, diced

1/4 stalk celery, diced

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Black pepper to taste

1 large bay leaf

4 fresh sprigs of thyme (leaves only)

1 tsp paprika

1 oz sherry

2 tbsp flour or corn starch

3 cups low fat milk

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat oil in a medium size soup pot.

Add the onions, carrots and celery and simmer for four minutes.

Remove from the fire and stir in the paprika, pepper and thyme. 

Return to the fire and add the stock and bay leaf.

Simmer for 20 minutes then remove from fire.

Remove bay leaf and puree the mixture, either in a blender or with a hand held immersion blender. (Be careful of the hot mixture).

Return blended mixture to the fire and add the milk.

Bring to a simmer.

Mix the sherry and flour in a cup until all lumps are gone. 

Add this to your soup and simmer for another four minutes.

Side note: During serving, I garnished each portion with a teaspoon of low fat sour cream.

To remove most of the saturated fat and still keep the creamy appearance of cream in your cream soup, I used a fat free milk like Smart Balance. You can also use evaporated skim milk, but this tends to burn if not consistently stirred while simmering.