Give Campbell's a run for their money, of course!
We had celery** on hand already, and when our CSA (community supported agriculture) organic vegetable box arrived this week, we had still MORE celery. A gigantic bunch. Stalks like palm trees.
J. mentioned he liked Campbell's Cream if Celery soup so I was off and running! (And here was me thinking you just used that for a base for sauce when you didn't have any cream of mushroom...)
Here's my made-up, rather luscious recipe...
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
8 or so HUMONGOUS stalks of celery or the equivalent, chopped (more if you really want to move celery)
2 carrots, sliced (or about 8 baby ones if that's what you have)
(Some recipes call for a potato, but I had potato yesterday and my arthritis gets grumpy if I have too many nightshade family members)
2 T. butter (we mix unsalted organic butter with canola oil to cut the saturated fat, and add a bit of sea salt)
Saute' the vegetables in butter till they begin to soften, then add:
2 Q. chicken stock--we'd bought a roast chicken the other day and J. made stock from the bones and bits
A splash of white wine (we had Pinot Grigio on hand)--1/4- to 1/2 cup, unless you're an alcoholic, then forget it...it's good without, anyway (and yes, of course the alcohol cooks out, but hey...)
1 bay leaf
A couple of sprigs of thyme if you have it
A shake of sea salt
Pepper to taste (we've got a wonderful pepper mix called Pepperman, and don't really need salt in that case--it's got some in it.)
Simmer till the vegetables are soft, then blend in batches in your food processor or blender. Make sure you hold the lid down, I HAVE caused Vesuvious' Return in the past...
Add about 1 C. milk and a couple of T of sour cream, if you want.
OK, so much for the saturated fat thing...go read Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
!
If you need to thicken it, stir 1 T. flour and about 1/4 C. cold water until smooth, and pour into the hot soup. Stir till it thickens, and serve.
Top with more pepper, if you like, and we discovered a sprinkling of Parmesan/Asiago cheese was a pretty decent accent.
....AND, since we still had celery left, I mad a variation on the theme today! ALSO really good...
1/2 sweet yellow onion, chopped
8 or so of those ginormous stalks of organic celery or the equivalent, chopped
2 carrots, sliced (or about 8 baby ones if that's what you have)
2 T. butter
Saute' the celery, onion, and carrots in butter till they begin to soften, then add:
1 potato, red or Idaho, chopped...we had a red one from our CSA
2 quarts chicken stock--this time I used the commercial organic stuff from the store. Still good, though not quite as flavorful, so I added a spoonful of Better Than Bullion's Chicken flavor...
A shake of sea salt
Pepper to taste (I used Pepperman pepper mix again, but a nice coarse-grained pepper would be good.)
2 or 3 T. Worcestershire sauce, white or original--try a bit at a time and taste!
Again simmer until the vegetables are soft, then blend till smooth,
Add about 1 C. milk, especially if the celery is strong flavored. Ours was!
Top with more pepper and grated cheese...tastes good with whole wheat crackers, too! We just had a cloudy-day lunch and it was lovely...
**And by the way, Joseph reminds me that unless you get organically grown celery--which we did--it's one of the most sprayed and contaminated vegetables out there. Sorry! <:-{