Make a Mix Monday: If you can't can it - make it a mix!

I've been really excited about making my own cream of chicken soup.  Not having all the preservatives and ingredients that are difficult to pronounce just is a wonderful prospect!  So, I searched Pinterest and found some great recipes for Cream of Chicken soup.

I even made some and found that I had so much leftover that I couldn't use it all fast enough!  This recipe is so delicious!  I have a tiny freezer though and can't fit all that the recipe made in it.

This got me searching the internet to see if I could can her recipe (it was so yummy!).  Unfortunately, I found that "Creamed soups are not suitable for home canning because their ingredients interfere with the proper transfer of heat during the processing step and can result in food borne illness. Freezing some soups is a safer option." And "adding flour or other thickening agents to a product for home canning, prevents the heat from penetrating to the center of the jar interfering with safe processing to destroy the bacterial spores that cause botulism."  And also, "Butter, milk, cream, cheese and other dairy products are low acid foods that should never be home canned." Penn State Extension 

I then started looking for recipes without dairy products and found this recipe from justapinch.com. Instead of flour or cornstarch she uses Clear-jel as a thickening agent.  The only thing I don't like about this is that it's not very creamy. 

So, on to more research...In a previous post, I referenced the Utah State University Extension office.  Low and behold, they have a fantastic cream of chicken soup MIX recipe!  I didn't even know a mix for cream of chicken soup existed!

 Now, I've made the mix, I've made some soup, and three of the four of us LOVE it! (My son only likes hot dogs, pizza and peanut butter - 13 year old = picky eater.) 

The recipe and many others are here.  I don't have any affiliation with USU, nor did I ever go to school there, it just has a lot of great recipes!  And I didn't get permission to put the recipe here, though it is from a booklet that they let anyone print on their own computer. 

What I like about this recipe is that it calls for the mix, water, and butter.  It made it simply scrumptious!

Since finding the recipe online, I found a few more soup mix recipes to try on Pinterest. 
http://www.cuckooforcoupondeals.com/training/homemade-cream-of-something-soup-mix/
http://kottinthegarden.blogspot.com/2013/03/diy-dry-cream-of-mushroom-soup-mix.html?m=1
http://savingslifestyle.com/2014/02/homemade-cream-of-something-soup-mix/#_a5y_p=1303253