Cream of Mushroom Soup

Cream of mushroom soup is an easy and delicious soup that both adults and kids love. The leftover soup, if any, can easily be transferred to different dishes, such as
baked chicken, fish or simple green bean casserole that will be enjoyed on Thanksgiving day. Learning to prepare this soup at home beats any brand of canned cream soup. Also, home preparation allows for controlling the amount of cream desired or using skim or low-fat milk to reduce calorie intake.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of white mushrooms, cleaned, roughly chopped
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs butter
1 shallot minced
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs fresh thyme chopped or 1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt, black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup cream or half and half
1 cup milk
2 tbs all-purpose flour
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley

Directions:
In a food processor, add the coarsely chopped mushrooms and lemon juice.
Melt butter in sauce pan and sauté' shallot over medium heat. Add mushrooms and stir for 5 minutes or until the liquid released from mushroom disappears. Add flour to make a roux. Stir to keep the flour get burning. Add chicken stock, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add cream and continue over low heat. Cook mushroom soup for another 10 minutes . Taste the soup again. Add more salt, pepper or lemon juice as desired. Sprinkle chopped parsley and serve.