Cream of Mushroom soup

I love being able to make my own "cream" soups and broths and "those canned things that are expensive and full of junk" - this is a recipe I have adapted a little from THIS WEBSITE. It's one of my favorite crockpot websites, I use my crockpot alot! I have mentioned my adaptions in italics.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

This recipe is for a LARGE crockpot.

Don't attempt these proportions in anything smaller than a 5qt.

--2 lbs mushrooms

--2 cups water

--2 cans (4 cups) vegetable broth

--1 qt of milk (to add later)

--juice of 1 lemon

--1/2 t salt

--1/2 t pepper

--1 T dried minced onion

(I have used fresh, depends on how much time I have at the moment!)

--2 T Italian seasoning

(I use oregano cause my husband doesn't care for some spice in the Italian seasoning!)

The Directions.

Wash your mushrooms well and cut them into fourths. Put into your stoneware and add the spices and lemon juice. Pour in the vegetable broth and water. (I used organic mushroom broth this time, but I usually just use vegetable broth)

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

CAREFULLY use an immersible hand blender and blend until soupy. If you don't have an immersible hand blender, very, very carefully blend in batches in a regular blender.

(I don't have one of THESE cool gadgets, so I just use my blender and it works fine)

Stir in an entire quart of milk. I used fat free cow's milk. You can use any percentage you'd like; even cream.

(I used half heavy whipping bream and half organic whole milk, please oh please, don't use fat free!)

Let cool on the counter for quite a few hours, then pour into freezer bags to store or plastic containers. I used 2 cups per bag--which is 16 fluid ounces. A can of cream-of-soup is 10 ounces.

(I didn't let it hardly cool, cause I wanted to go to bed. I freeze this and then thaw and use as needed. Freezing doesn't seem to affect the milk product at all, but I do always use it in a recipe not by itself, so that might make a difference)