Sorry Campbell's, My Recipe is Better.

The other day a link to a recipe popped up on Facebook and it referred to a recipe called "Angel Chicken".  Basically it was a crock pot recipe where Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup, a packet of Italian salad dressing mix, cream cheese and white wine cooked for about 4-5 hours and was then served over angel hair pasta.  Simple recipe and I was willing to give it a try, that is until I went grocery shopping.  At City Market, a Kroger store, they had 2 cans of the condensed soup for $3...that's $1.50 per can if you had a shopper's card.  Otherwise it was $1.79 per can...seriously, almost $2 for a 10.5 ounce can of condensed soup?  I don't think so!

I went home, got online and looked up the ingredient list for the soup; salt and sugar were the first two ingredients and the listing of preservatives and chemical additives was longer than the natural  ingredients.  I broke down the basic ingredients to beef broth which already has salt in it, tomato sauce, white wine, a roux of butter and flour, water and mushrooms.  Finding 8 oz packets of sliced mushrooms on sale for 2 for $3 and having the other ingredients at home; I was off to make my own golden mushroom soup.  But wait you're now saying, the price for the mushrooms was the same as if I'd just bought the 2 cans of soup.  I know, but the idea of deconstructing the processed soup and then recreating from scratch was a much better prospect than convenience.

As the cooking process of the soup commenced, the smell in the kitchen was heavenly; if the entire recipe tasted as good as it smelled, this would be one heck of an accomplishment.  Now unknowingly, I had run out of angel hair pasta, so served the chicken, mushrooms and sauce over linguine instead...it was amazing; simply amazing.  More work than opening a little can of soup...oh yes, but so, so worth all the effort.

So sorry Campbell's, but mine is better.

Golden Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp butter
8 Tbsp flour
1 (8 oz) package, cut into cubes and softened
1 (14.5 oz) can beef broth plus ½ can water
¼ cup white wine
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp each crushed, dried basil, thyme and marjoram
¼ tsp ground black pepper
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of fat
1 lbs sliced white mushrooms
1 ½ lbs angel hair pasta

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, medium-high heat, melt butter and whisk in flour; add cream cheese and stir until cream cheese begins to combine with the roux. Add beef broth, water, wine, tomato sauce, garlic powder, herbs and black pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low; let simmer for 5 minutes.

Set 6 qt crock pot on low; place in chicken breasts, mushrooms on top of chicken; pour the sauce over all. Cover and let cook for 5-6 hours; until chicken is moist and tender.

Prepare pasta according to package directions; place a chicken breast on top a serving of pasta and spoon sauce over all.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour