A few weeks back, I posted a blog about some goals I had set for myself. Although I haven’t crossed nearly as many off as I’d like, I am making progress on a few. Although no plants have been planted yet, I did take some time to weed the future flower garden that I’d like to have. I continue to work on yoga and push myself. I DID clean out my pantry and reorganize, and I have been making an effort at couponing (which can give you a real rush if you do it right!). I have even been able to make some splendid dishes that I never thought I’d make. Last night I boasted on Facebook about my dinner entree of pork chops in a white wine mushroom sauce, with made from scratch cream of mushroom soup. Inspired by my tofu entry, I thought I’d snap some more pictures and show off my culinary art once again.

I pulled pork chops out of the freezer yesterday morning, and figured I’d do something with them for dinner. I googled some recipes, and decided on the recipe with the white wine mushroom sauce. The recipe called for a can of cream of mushroom soup, which I did not have. I knew that Drew could stop at the store for some, but I figured there had to be some alternative that I could use. I googled cream of mushroom soup substitute and found a recipe. I even had all the ingredients, so I decided to give it a shot.

I started by melting butter in a saucepan and then slowy adding flour and mixing until smooth.

Or chunky???

I had to add more butter, as the 1 tbsp. they recommended just didn’t quite do it. I removed it from the heat.

After that, I added 1/2 cup broth (I used beef broth, like they suggest in the recipe) and 1/2 cup milk…

…and sautéed mushrooms.

I slowly added the broth and milk, stirring until smooth.

I added in the mushrooms, then put it back on the heat, bringing it to a boil and stirred again until smooth.

Whaddya know? It looks like cream of mushroom soup!

I started on the pork chops, cooking them on both sides until they were about 3/4 done (I think I only cooked them halfway though…)

Then I took them off the heat, and sautéed more mushrooms and added in the soup mixture and then the white wine, once again stirring until smooth.

I sprinkled basil and marjoram.

Then I added the pork chops back to the pan and let them cook until done.

Add some steamed rice and steamed squash, and we had a really yummy meal!

I’m always amazed when I make something from scratch that I’ve just taken for granted for so long. I mean, cream of mushroom soup just comes in the can, right? I think I must have thought it just grew like that. It’s fun to see how it’s made.

Would I do this all the time? Probably not. It was pretty time consuming (Drew kept coming in the kitchen, commenting how the sauce took longer than the main course), and there are going to be some evenings where it’s going to be much easier to simply open the can and plop the stuff in the pan. But I’ll probably do it again! This Becky Home-echy (as Drew affectionately calls me) is quite proud of herself.